Orange cauliflower is a vegetarian friendly take on Panda Express’s popular Asian orange chicken recipe. Loaded with a sweet and spicy orange sauce, this lightened up take out classic will have your family happily eating their vegetables!
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What is Orange Cauliflower?
This is a vegan alternative to orange chicken. Orange chicken uses a sweet and spicy, thick sauce as a coating to the chicken. My orange cauliflower recipe uses breaded and air fried or baked cauliflower to make a healthy version of the well-known chicken recipe.
Replace chicken with cauliflower for a Vegan Orange Chicken Recipe
You’ll never miss the chicken with this orange cauliflower. Cauliflower makes a wonderful replacement for chicken. Its mild taste allows it to pick up the flavor of the scrumptious orange sauce, giving you the perfect vegetarian alternative.
How to make Orange Cauliflower Vegan?
This recipe is very simple! Let's break it down into a few key parts:
- Prep the cauliflower
- Cook the cauliflower in the oven or in the air-fryer
- Make the sauce
Prep the cauliflower
First wash and cut the cauliflower into bite size pieces. Set the cauliflower aside. The whisk together the water, flour and salt. When the ingredients form a batter, dip each piece of cauliflower into the batter and let the excess batter drip off.
Cook in the Oven
If you are cooking the cauliflower in the oven, preheat it to 400 degrees F. As it heats up, arrange the cauliflower pieces on a non-stick cooking sheet.
Or Cook in the Airfryer
If you are using an air-fryer or air fryer lid for the Instant Pot, place the pieces of cauliflower into the basket.
When using an air fryer cook the cauliflower for 15 minutes at 375 degrees F. When using a CrispLid for the Instant Pot, cook the cauliflower for 12 to 15 minutes at 375 degrees F.
Make the Orange Sauce
While the cauliflower is cooking, you can make the orange sauce. It only takes a few minutes to make, so you can wait until there is about 5 to 10 minutes left on the cauliflower before making it.
To make the orange sauce, heat the olive oil in a medium skillet or pan over medium heat. When it is hot, add the garlic, ginger and red chili flakes and stir together.
Once the spices are well combined, add the vinegar, orange juice, sugar and soy sauce.
Let the mixture come to a boil cooking over high heat for about 1 minute.
In a small bowl, whisk the cornstarch and water to form a paste. Add the paste to the orange sauce and whisk until it is well combined. Once the cornstarch is mixed in, cook the sauce for about 2 to 3 additional minutes or until the sauce begins to thicken.
After the sauce thickens, stir in the sesame oil and reduce the heat. When the cauliflower is cooked, add it to the pot and toss until it is well coated. Serve the orange cauliflower hot with your favorite rice or noodles.
Is Orange Cauliflower Vegan?
Orange cauliflower is a vegan take on orange chicken. It is a great way to enjoy the flavor of orange sauce without eating chicken.
Can I Bake Orange Cauliflower?
If you don’t have an air fryer or air fryer lid for your pressure cooker, you can make delicious orange cauliflower in the oven. To make orange cauliflower in your oven, preheat it to 400 degrees F. Arrange the cauliflower on a non-stick cooking sheet, leaving a little bit of space between each piece. Cook the cauliflower for about 15 minutes or until the cauliflower is golden brown.
Can I use an Air Fryer to make Orange Cauliflower?
I love air-fryers because they cook food fast and give them a bit of extra crunch and crispiness. To use your air fryer, set the temperature to 375 degrees F and cook for 15 minutes. Make sure you leave a little room between each piece to make sure all sides get crispy.
Can I use CrispLid to make Orange Cauliflower?
Yes, you can use the CrispLid to make this recipe. To do so, make sure you use the air fryer basket and provide enough space between the pieces. You will need to adjust the cooking temperature to 375 degrees F and cook for 12 to 15 minutes.
What do I serve Orange Cauliflower with?
You can serve this with other Chinese or Asian inspired recipes. Or you can simply serve it over rice. One of my favorite pairings is to serve the cauliflower with this Fried Rice Recipe.
If you prefer noodles, you could also try this with my Garlic Noodles recipe or my Chow Mein recipe. Both are sure to delight your family.
Can I make the Orange Cauliflower recipe Gluten Free?
You can make this gluten free. To do this, use a gluten free flour instead of whole wheat flour for the breading on the cauliflower.
Can I make the cauliflower more crispy?
You can make cauliflower crispier in the air fryer by tossing the coated veggie in breadcrumbs. To do this, add some bread crumbs to a medium bowl and gently place the battered cauliflower on top of the breadcrumbs. Gently turn the cauliflower until the outside is lightly coated with bread crumbs.
You can also use an oil based cooking spray or cooking spray bottle filled with oil to lightly coat the outside with oil.
More Delicious AIR - FRYER recipes you will enjoy:
- Cauliflower Steak
- Banana chips
- Gobi Manchurian
- Onion rings
- Potato chips
- Samosa
- Crispy Tofu Buffalo Bites
- Apple chips
- Kurkure Bhindi
- Onion Bhaji
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Orange Cauliflower Recipe
Asian Inspired Orange Cauliflower
Orange cauliflower is a vegetarian friendly take on Panda Express’s popular orange chicken recipe. Loaded with a sweet and spicy orange sauce, this lightened up take out classic will have your family happily eating their vegetables!
Ingredients
- 1 cup water
- 1 cup flour - gluten free or almond flour for keto version
- salt to taste
- Half head of cauliflower, cut into 1 1/2 inch ( 3 cm) florets
FOR THE SAUCE
- 2 teaspoon olive oil
- 2 cloves garlic- minced
- 1 teaspoon fresh ginger, minced
- ½ tsp red pepper flakes
- ½ cup orange juice
- ¼ cup distilled white vinegar
- 1 teaspoon sesame oil
- ½ cup brown sugar
- ¼ cup soy sauce (or tamari for gluten free)
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch
- 2 tablespoon water
- GARNISH
- 1 teaspoon sesame seed
- 1 scallions- thinly sliced -for garnish
Instructions
- Wash and cut cauliflower into bite sized pieces.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, salt and water.
- One at a time, dip each cauliflower floret in the batter to coat, let the excess batter drip off.
- Arrange the battered cauliflower on the prepared baking sheet, or in your air fryer making sure they aren’t touching one another.
Air fry -375 degrees F for 15 minutes.
Instant pot Airfryer lid - 375 Degrees F for 12 - 15 minutes
Bake- Pre heated oven 400 degrees. bake it on middle rack for 20- 25 minutes
ORANGE SAUCE
- Heat the olive oil in a medium skillet or pan over medium heat, add garlic , ginger , red chili flakes and give it a stir.
- Next goes the orange juice, sugar, vinegar, soy sauce.
- Cook for 1 minute on high flame and let it come to a boil
- In a small bowl, whisk cornstarch with water to form a paste.Add it to the orange sauce and whisk together.
- Continue to cook for 2 -3 minutes, until the mixture begins to thicken.
- Once the sauce is thickened, add in the sesame oil, and lower the heat .
- Toss the cooked cauliflower florets in the sauce until well coated.
- Serve the cauliflower over rice and garnish with the scallions and sesame seeds
- Enjoy!
Recommended Products
As an Amazon Associate and member of other affiliate programs, I earn from qualifying purchases.
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Arrowhead Mills Gluten Free All Purpose Flour -
King Arthur Flour All-Purpose Flour, 10 Pound
-
Kadoya Pure Sesame
-
Culinary Whole Sesame Seed
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Mealthy NonStick Hybrid 10-inch frying pan, 5-ply cookware, metal utensil safe non-stick, induction ready & oven safe, includes spatula
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Gourmia GAF400 Electric Multipurpose Classic Rapid Air Fryer with Dual Dial Timer & Temperature Controls, 10 Cup/4.5 Qt. Capacity, 1230W, Black
-
Instant Pot Vortex 6-Quart 4-in-1 Air Fryer
-
Mealthy CrispLid for Pressure Cooker - Turns your Pressure Cooker into an Air Fryer - Air fry, Crisp or Broil fits 6 & 8 Q Pot Basket, Trivet, Silicone Mat, Tongs plus Instant access Free Recipe App
Nutrition Information
Yield 4 Serving Size 1Amount Per Serving Calories 389Total Fat 5gSaturated Fat 1gTrans Fat 0gUnsaturated Fat 4gCholesterol 0mgSodium 474mgCarbohydrates 78gFiber 6gSugar 27gProtein 10g
All information and tools presented and written within this site are intended for informational purposes only. We are not a certified nutritionist and any nutritional information on TheBellyRulesTheMind.net should only be used as a general guideline. This information is provided as a courtesy and there is no guarantee that the information will be completely accurate. Even though we try to provide accurate nutritional information to the best of our ability, these figures should still be considered estimates.
Kat Greacen says
Amazing. Quadrupled sauce. Froze half. Used full head of cauli. New vegetarian here and very happy!
Soniya Saluja says
Hey Kat, so glad to hear that ?
Alejandra says
Hi. Thanks for your recipe.....I´ll be trying it this weekend; Can it be done 1 or 2 days in advance?
Sandra Fleming says
What brand should I buy for a small air frier?
Soniya Saluja says
We love Gourmia 7 qt is on sale in Costco its only 39.99$
Pat A says
Tried this today, it is actually very good. I’ll make the following changes next time: use 2 tbsp. rice vinegar instead of white distilled, use only 1/4 cup sugar. I used the air fryer and it came out crispy.
Bill B says
I don't see how this recipe could be bright orange like the picture if you add the full amount of soy sauce and brown sugar. I didn't even add the full amount of sugar and soy sauce and it still turned out dark brown and you couldn't even taste the orange flavor in it.
Lynette Randleman says
Why is this not considered vegan?
Louise says
Made this last night. SO good! I did swap out the brown sugar for Swerve, just to lower the sugar content. Used Japanese rice vinegar instead of distilled. Used whole grain flour. I wish I had a bigger air fryer! I halved the recipe because there is just two of us, and wish I hadn’t. It’s a new favorite for us!
Soniya Saluja says
Thanks ?Louise for sharing your experience with us
Michele says
Can you substitute swerve for the sugar? Or make the flour with almond to make this less sugar?
Soniya Saluja says
Ho Michele, yes you can use your choice if sugar, monkfruit works well and you can coat the cauliflower with almond flour. They turn our delicious.
Lisa says
Wondering is the oil was not included how well this would turn out? Trying to be oil free PB.
Any suggestions to another way to get the same flavor as sesame oil? Love your recipes.
Soniya Saluja says
Hi Lisa, they turn out amazing and so crispy without any oil . Hope you try it.
Mariel says
This is a really great recipe. Delicious, full of flavor, and very easy recipe. Definitely a keeper in our home, thank you so much for this aaaamazing recipe!
Soniya Saluja says
Hi Mariel, Thank you so much for sharing your feedback with us.. hope you try other recipes from our blog
Greg says
Either method, does batter drip off the cauliflower ? How does it stay on ?
Sharon M Cornett says
There are 2 different baking times. The recipe itself says 20-25 minutes, but the text about oven baking says 15. Which is correct?
Soniya Saluja says
Hi Sharon.. if you are using air fryer it's 15 mins cook time. If baking it's 20 minutes...as it's mentioned in the recipe card.
Katie Gonzalez says
This was really tasty! Thank you! I made it as written with the exception of slightly less brown sugar. It was easy and delicious.
Soniya Saluja says
Hi Katie, thanks for sharing your experience with us...hope you try other recipes from our blog :)
Meera says
Holy moly this recipe is delicious!!! 10/10 make it NOW!
Soniya Saluja says
Hey Meera,glad you loved it. Hope you try other recipes from our blog xoxo
lauren sing says
This was delicious. The baking in the oven didn't work so well so i ended up deep frying the cauliflower instead. Turned out great. Sauce is very good.
Stefannie says
Soooo delish! Didn’t even miss the chicken!
Soniya Saluja says
Hi Stefannie, thanks for sharing your feedback with us. Xoxo
Gerri says
The sauce is absolutely delicious! Couple of things that failed for me, was my sauce was black, not orange like the picture. I used the 1/4c soy as directed. Plus my cauliflower was overcooked, batter was not very crunchy like I’d hoped for, and it stuck to the rack. Then my pieces went soggy after stirring into sauce. I’m not sure if it makes a difference, but I have a front loading Nuwave air fryer. Do you have to cook it in 2 batches? Will definitely look for a way to try this again, as we loved the flavour!!
Soniya Saluja says
Hi Gerrit, thanks for sharing your feedback with us. The color of the dish depends on the soy sauce.you can Use less next time, just for the umami flavor. If your air fryer is big enough you can do all of them in one batch. The batter needs to be thick and runny.
Sue Marie says
OMG, this is a new favourite for me. You are right, I don't miss the chicken. In fact, I bet if I served it others, some would be fooled. I love the taste and texture. I did it as a side to dredged chicken but may use the other 1/2 of the cauliflower and make it again to go over rice in a day or two. Thanks for sharing!
Soniya Saluja says
Hey Sue, so glad to hear that... thanks for sharing your feedback with us. Hope you try our other recipes xoxo
Tyrone says
My kids, ages 2 through 12, all loved this recipe!
Soniya Saluja says
Hi Tyrone, so glad to hear that ❤️ hope you try other recipes from our blog.
Jesal says
I am planning to make it this weekend. As cauliflower varies in size, how many cups florets should I take?
Soniya Saluja says
Hi Jesal, its around 4-5 cups of cauliflower florets. Do share your feedback with us after you make it❤
Vivienne says
I made this for dinner tonight, super tasty, easy and fast to make ! Thank you for sharing!
Soniya Saluja says
Hi Vivienne, so glad to hear that ❤️ hope you try our other recipes from our blog.
Catherine says
My family loves cauliflower and this is a perfect new way to serve it up! Your cauli looks so crispy and delicious!
cocoandash says
Such a great meatless meal!!
Angela says
Cauliflower is so versatile. This sauce is amazing!
Patricia @ Grab a Plate says
OHMYGOSH! I love this! I'm pinning it right now to try it. I loooove using cauliflower in non-traditional ways, and this recipe is right up my alley. Love it!