Vegan Fried Cauliflower Bites

These pan-fried Vegan Cauliflower Bites are absolutely irresistible with their crispy breading made with vegan Italian breadcrumbs. I veganized a favorite family recipe to get rid of the egg and dairy in the batter. Enjoy this crispy vegan cauliflower as an appetizer, after-school snack, side dish, or as a main dish!

Ready from scratch in about 30 minutes once you get the hang of the recipe. And believe me, you're going to want to make this more than once! 

This recipe is one of my favorite ways to eat cauliflower. I love that I can eat a whole huge serving of cauliflower in one sitting because these fried cauliflower pieces are just so good! I like to serve these with a simple vegan mayo + vegan ketchup dip, but you can use any dip that you prefer for fried appetizers. 

Another great serving option for fried cauliflower is tossing these with Buffalo sauce (similar to these Buffalo Tofu Nuggets).

Related recipe: Cheesy Baked Vegan Cauliflower

Vegan breaded cauliflower

This fried cauliflower recipe has been in my family for generations, except the cauliflower was breaded in a mixture of egg and milk before being breaded in seasoned breadcrumbs or flour. I veganized the recipe by swapping out the egg and milk for an awesome dip for frying veggies: a mixture of chickpea flour and water as a vegan egg substitute.

The chickpea flour thickens the water enough to get a good coating on the cauliflower pieces, so that the breadcrumbs stick really well to the cauliflower while it's being fried, making for a really crispy topping.

I pan-fry the cauliflower instead of deep frying it to cut down on some of the oil. Cauliflower becomes really grease when deep-fried just because there are so many nooks and crannies for the oil to get into. Instead, the breaded cauliflower pieces are fried on 3-4 sides instead of all around, making for lots of crispy edges and a little less fat.

Related recipe: Vegan Cheesy Cauliflower and Rice Casserole

How to prepare cauliflower for frying

In this recipe, I parboil the cauliflower for about 5-7 minutes to soften it. You can also steam or microwave it, whatever method you prefer. Just try to get the cauliflower cooked to your liking because the frying step is pretty quick and the cauliflower won't cook much while frying. That's the reason I don't start by breading raw cauliflower - it would be way to crunchy and uncooked for my liking.

I like to cut the cauliflower into small pieces instead of breaking it up into florets. This creates lots of flat edges which make it super easy to pan-fry. More tips on frying cauliflower below, just keep reading the recipe!

Related recipe: Creamy Vegan Cauliflower Soup

Ingredients

For the fried cauliflower:

• 1 head cauliflower, cut into small pieces/florets
• 1 cup vegan Italian bread crumbs (seasoned extra with salt, pepper, or cayenne pepper if you like your fried foods extra salty or flavorful - see cooking tips below!)
• Optional: a few teaspoons of vegan Parmesan for the bread crumbs
• 1 cup chickpea flour
• 1 cup water + extra as needed
• 1 teaspoon salt 
• 1 teaspoon black pepper 
• 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
• ~4-8 tablespoons vegetable oil for cooking

For the dipping sauce, mix together:

• 2 tablespoons vegan mayo
• 2 tablespoons vegan ketchup
• Optional: a pinch of cayenne pepper or garlic powder

Related recipe: Vegan Chickpea Patties

Instructions

Step 1: Par-boil the cauliflower florets: boil a medium pot of water with cauliflower florets, and allow to cook for 5-7 minutes, or to your liking. I like to cook the florets until the cauliflower is pierced with a fork but there is still some give. If it is too soft, it will fall apart too easily and be too mushy when it's fried. Drain the water and rinse the cauliflower until it is cool enough to touch.

Instead of boiling, you can steam or microwave the cauliflower until it is cooked to your liking.

Step 2: In a medium bowl, combine the chickpea flour with the water, salt, pepper, and Italian seasoning, and whisk together. The mixture should be like the consistency of runny crepe batter - you might need to add a bit more water, depending on how fine or coarse your chickpea flour is.

When dipping cauliflower into this chickpea flour egg substitute, any extra chickpea mixture should drip off instead of being stuck on like thick batter. Please note that you might need to add a few teaspoons of water to the mixture as you keep dipping the cauliflower into it because it will thicken with time. Don't worry, there's no "wrong" way to do this, just play around with what feels right!

Place the seasoned bread crumbs in another bowl.

Step 3: Dip each cauliflower piece into the chickpea mixture, shake off excess liquid, then dredge in the bread crumbs on all sides.

If you're super coordinated in the kitchen, you can proceed to the next step to cook the cauliflower and quickly bread the other pieces while the pan is heating and the cauliflower is cooking. If you're newer to this, I recommend breading a bunch of pieces and setting them aside on a large plate or cutting board before proceeding to the cooking step.

Step 4: Heat a large non-stick pan to medium-low heat. Add 1-2 tablespoons of your cooking oil of choice and swirl or brush it around the pan. Use tongs to carefully place the breaded cauliflower pieces in the hot oil, flat side down. Allow to cook undisturbed for 3-4 minutes, or until the bottom is golden brown but not burned. Use tongs to carefully flip the florets one by one onto another side and cook for 2-3 minutes.

You want to keep the heat at medium-low to give the chickpea flour enough time to cook through from the heat of the pan without burning the bottom, since you don't want any soggy chickpea flour stuck inside the cauliflower florets.

Since most florets have about 3-4 sides to them, I recommend flipping them 2-3 times to get all the sides nice and golden brown and crispy. Use tongs to set aside cooked cauliflower pieces on a plate lined with paper towels.

Step 5: Wipe down the skillet between batches, if needed (use tongs to hold a clean paper towel to wipe the skillet), and repeat steps 3 and 4 until all the cauliflower pieces are fried. Allow to cool for a few minutes and serve warm with your favorite dipping sauce.

Cooking tips

→ Par-boil the cauliflower ahead of time, to save time when you need a quick meal fast.

→ Save time and cook in 2 skillets at a time. I do this all the time!

→ You can do a "test fry" with one piece of cauliflower to test our the flavor and then adjust seasonings, if needed.

→ This is worth repeating: The amount of water and chickpea flour you need might vary depending on the coarseness of your chickpea flour. The mixture should have a runny crepe batter consistency - it should coat the cauliflower but the excess should drip off instead of being stuck on like batter. The mixture will thicken over time, so you might need to add a small splash of water halfway through breading your cauliflower.

→ You want to keep the heat at medium-low to give the chickpea flour enough time to cook through from the heat of the pan without burning the bottom, since you don't want any soggy chickpea flour stuck inside the cauliflower florets.

→ Don't want to use chickpea flour as an egg substitute? Use Just Egg (a vegan egg substitute) to dip the cauliflower!

Reheating leftovers

Honestly, we never have leftovers. We can finish a whole head of fried cauliflower between us two, and our son loves it too. If you need to reheat the cauliflower, I recommend doing it in a toaster oven, air fryer, or a regular oven to avoid the awful microwave sogginess. Just a few minutes at 350 degrees, until it is heated through.

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