• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

our recipesĀ + your inbox = the eatmail

Join now

Subscribe for new recipes + 3 fan-favorite ebooks

  • About
  • Contact

Live Eat Learn

Easy vegetarian recipes, one ingredient at a time

free ebook

Subscribe for new recipes + 3 fan-favorite ebooks

  • Recipe Index
  • Vegetarian 101
  • Travel
  • Meal Plans
  • Course
    • Breakfasts
    • Lunches
    • Dinners
    • Appetizers
    • Sweets
    • Drinks
  • Diet
    • Dairy Free
    • Gluten Free
    • Low Carb
    • Paleo
    • Raw
    • Vegan
  • Season
    • Winter
    • Spring
    • Summer
    • Fall
  • Ingredient
    • Avocado
    • Bean
    • Cauliflower
    • Chickpeas
    • Eggplant
    • Mushroom
    • Tofu
    • Quinoa
    • View All
  • Collections
    • All Time Favorites
    • Air Frying
    • Budget Friendly
    • Comfort Food
    • High Protein
    • Meal Prep
    • Meatless Monday
    • View All
  • Visit our kombucha site
    Visit our dog food blog
Home Eat Dinners

Sticky Garlic Cauliflower

3.89 from 9 votes
Recipe Print Share
Share on:
By: Sarah BondUpdated: Jan 10, 2022 11 Comments

This post contains affiliate links.

This Sticky Garlic Cauliflower tastes just like the sticky garlic chicken from your favorite takeout place, but totally vegetarian (and WAY delicious!)

A pink bowl filled with white rice and sticky garlic cauliflower topped with green onions

I know that as a food blogger I should be comfortable with all types of cooking, but there’s one type of cooking that I just hate. And not because it’s unhealthy or anything, but because I’m a huge scaredy-cat who is already a walking fire hazard, even without the addition of this cooking method. Can you guess which it is? Yep, frying.

I hate frying! But sometimes this aversion to frying helps me to create the best (much healthier dishes). Case in point, Asian-style cauliflower. We made General Tso’s Cauliflower a while back, and today we’re changing it up to make Sticky Garlic Cauliflower! And the secret to non-fried yet crispy cauliflower? A quick dredge in panko!

In the past, a few readers noted that they felt this recipe turned out too salty. So, I improved this recipe by omitting the salt and balancing out a few ingredients to round out the flavors. Happy eating!

A pink bowl filled with white rice and sticky garlic cauliflower topped with green onions

Ingredients in this sticky garlic cauliflower recipe

This sticky garlic cauliflower tastes like a treat. It’s totally vegetarian (obvi), and the outside is nice and crunchy with a fluffy and flavorful center!

Cauliflower

The base of this recipe is the crunchy cauliflower, which we’ll dredge then bake.

  • Cauliflower: First, you will need ½ head of healthy cauliflower. This will break down to 4 servings.
  • Flour: Next, you will need ½ cup of all-purpose flour to help with breading the cauliflower. This will help the crunchy coating to stick to the cauliflower florets.
  • Eggs: We’ll use an egg wash consisting of two large eggs to act as glue for the coating.
  • Breadcrumbs: Finally, the cauliflower will be complete with 1 cup of panko breadcrumbs. This Japanese-style breadcrumb is ultra light and crunchy, helping to mimic the taste of deep frying!

Sticky Garlic Sauce

  • Cornstarch: First up for the sauce is 1 tablespoon of cornstarch. This helps thicken everything up a bit.
  • Hoisin Sauce: Next, you will need ½ cup of hoisin sauce, a thick and flavorful sauce often used for glazing meats.
  • Soy Sauce: From here, use ¼ cup of soy sauce.
  • Garlic: Next, add flavor with 4 cloves of minced garlic.
  • Ginger: Follow the garlic with 1 tablespoon of fresh grated ginger to brighten up the flavors.
  • Sriracha: 1 tablespoon of sriracha will add a bit of heat.
  • Rice Vinegar: Last but not least, complete the sauce with 1 tablespoon of rice vinegar to bring some acidity!
A pink bowl filled with white rice and sticky garlic cauliflower topped with green onions

How to make homemade sticky cauliflower

Making this garlic cauliflower doesn’t have to be too time-consuming! If you’ve ever breaded anything with an egg wash, this will work much in the same way.

Step 1: Prepare the ingredients
First, preheat the oven to 400°F (204°C). Arrange your workspace by placing the flour, eggs, and panko breadcrumbs in three separate bowls. In a fourth bowl, whisk together the cornstarch with 2 tablespoons of water and then set it aside.

An up close view detailing the texture of cauliflower florets

Step 2: Cook the cauliflower
Next, cut the cauliflower into bite-sized florets. Working in batches, coat the florets in flour…

A white bowl filled with flour with one cauliflower floret inside

…then egg…

One cauliflower floret being dipped in a white bowl filled with an egg wash

…and then breadcrumbs.

One cauliflower floret being dipped in a white bowl filled with panko breadcrumbs

Set the pieces in a single layer on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet and then bake for 15-20 minutes, or until crispy.

A baking sheet lined with a single layer of breaded cauliflower florets
A clear glass bowl filled with breaded cauliflower florets

Step 3: Create the sauce
Set a small saucepan over medium heat and add all of the sauce ingredients except the cornstarch and water slurry. Once the ingredients are hot, whisk in the cornstarch slurry and bring everything to a simmer. Cook for about 2 minutes, until it begins to thicken. Drizzle the sauce over the baked cauliflower and gently toss to evenly coat.

Try it in the air fryer

Want to enjoy extra crispy cauliflower sans the oven? Throw it in the air fryer! After breading with the flour, egg, and breadcrumbs, you can toss these florets right into your air fryer for a more “fried” feel that tastes just as delicious as the oven-baked version!

A pink bowl filled with white rice and sticky garlic cauliflower topped with green onions

Pairs well with

You can also use this as a side dish alongside a number of Asian vegetarian recipes. Here are some of our favorites!

  • Kimchi Bibimbap
  • Thai Cucumber Salad
  • Cauliflower Fried Rice
  • Vegetarian Egg Roll in a Bowl
A pink bowl filled with white rice and sticky garlic cauliflower topped with green onions

Sticky Garlic Cauliflower

3.89 from 9 votes
Prep: 10 minutes
Cook: 20 minutes
Total: 30 minutes
Author: Sarah Bond
Calories: 263kcal
Servings: 4 servings
Print Rate
This Sticky Garlic Cauliflower tastes just like the sticky garlic chicken from your favorite Chinese takeout place, but totally vegetarian (I listened to your feedback – recipe updated January 2022 to be less salty!)

Ingredients

Cauliflower

  • ½ head cauliflower
  • ½ cup all-purpose flour 60 g
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1 cup panko breadcrumbs 50 g

Sauce

  • 1 Tbsp cornstarch
  • ½ cup hoisin sauce 120 mL
  • ¼ cup low sodium soy sauce 60 mL
  • 4 cloves garlic minced
  • 1 Tbsp fresh grated ginger
  • 1 Tbsp sriracha
  • 1 Tbsp rice vinegar

Instructions 

  • Prep: Preheat oven to 400°F (204°C). Arrange workspace, placing flour, egg, and panko in separate bowls. In a separate bowl, whisk together cornstarch and 2 Tbsp of water – set aside.
  • Dredge: Cut cauliflower into bite-sized florets. Working in batches, coat the florets in flour, then egg, then breadcrumbs. Set on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, or until crispy.
  • Sauce: Set a small saucepan over medium heat and add all "Sauce" ingredients except for the cornstarch slurry. Once hot, whisk in the cornstarch slurry, then bring to a simmer, and cook for about 2 minutes, until it begins to thicken. Drizzle sauce over the baked cauliflower and gently toss to evenly coat.

Nutrition Information

Serving: 1serving Calories: 263kcal (13%) Carbohydrates: 48g (16%) Protein: 9g (18%) Fat: 4g (6%) Saturated Fat: 1g (6%) Cholesterol: 94mg (31%) Sodium: 1813mg (79%) Potassium: 282mg (8%) Fiber: 3.4g (14%) Sugar: 19.5g (22%) Calcium: 40mg (4%) Iron: 2.7mg (15%)
Did You Make This?

Leave a comment below and tag @liveeatlearn on social media! I love seeing what you’ve made!

Tag on Insta! Leave a Rating Pin on Pinterest

You may also like...

  • Orange cauliflower on a white plate.
    Sticky Orange Cauliflower
  • Air Fryer Buffalo Cauliflower
  • 17 Creative Cauliflower Recipes
  • This Hidden Cauliflower Strawberry Banana Smoothie has a serving of low-calorie veggies (without compromising on that classic strawberry banana flavor)!
    Hidden Cauliflower Strawberry Banana Smoothie
Previous Post
Next Post

Reader Interactions

Leave a Comment Cancel reply

Have a question? Submit your question or comment below.

Rate this Recipe:




  1. Jessica says

    Posted on 3/22 at 7:37 pm

    Easy recipe, especially for me being as clumsy as I am. I subbed the flour because I only had self rising & it came out well, but word of caution, do NOT sub low sodium soy sauce for regular, it made it way too salty. It was just my laziness not wanting to go back out.

    Over all it was yummy! Thank you!5 stars

    Reply
  2. Tara says

    Posted on 6/5 at 6:07 pm

    I followed all of the instructions to a tea and it was SUPER salty. Generally, it had pretty good flavor but I needed such huge scoops of white rice to drown out the salt, I ended up eating 2-3 pieces and tossing the rest. I think it was the recommended amount of hoisin. Very disappointed.1 star

    Reply
    • Sarah says

      Posted on 6/7 at 9:54 am

      Sorry to hear it, Tara! Thanks for letting me know, I’ll get to retesting this one.

  3. Courtney says

    Posted on 7/10 at 7:05 am

    Loved this! I was worried about the salt so made sure to get the low sodium soy sauce and didn’t use salt anywhere else and it turned out wonderful! Can’t wait to make this again!5 stars

    Reply
  4. Lulla says

    Posted on 8/18 at 7:18 pm

    I just made this for dinner and I agree with another commenter that this recipe is WAY too salt. I used low sodium soy sauce too, added no other salt, and it was still too much. I’m starving and can’t stomach this dish šŸ™1 star

    Reply
    • Sarah says

      Posted on 8/19 at 9:17 am

      Thanks for your feedback, Lulla! We’ll retest and modify this recipe to include less salt šŸ˜€

  5. June Storey says

    Posted on 1/11 at 5:41 am

    Carnt wait to try this.

    Reply
  6. Jose says

    Posted on 1/11 at 8:20 am

    Hi Sarah, what would you recommend the settings be for air frying?4 stars

    Reply
    • Sarah Bond says

      Posted on 1/11 at 9:33 am

      I would do about 375F for 8 to 10 minutes!

  7. Amy says

    Posted on 3/14 at 2:06 pm

    Oh my god…..my new favorite dinner.
    So tasty.
    Thank you Sarah-I love your food

    Reply
    • Sarah Bond says

      Posted on 3/14 at 4:33 pm

      YAY! So happy to hear it, Amy! šŸ˜€

Primary Sidebar

Hello

I'm Sarah

A flavor-loving nutritionist and sensory science specialist showing you how to make easy vegetarian recipes, one ingredient at a time.

Let's Meet

Freebie alert!

3 reader-favorite cookbooks delivered straight to your inbox.

Get in now!

Subscribe for new recipes + 3 fan-favorite ebooks

Air Fryer Recipes

Air Fryer Buffalo Cauliflower

Plate full of crispy chickpeas with a wooden spoon.

15 Minute Crispy Air Fryer Chickpeas

Personal size mozzarella pizza cooked in an air fryer

Air Fryer Pizza

Air Fryer Mozzarella Sticks

Brussels sprouts on a plate with wooden serving spoons.

The Best 15 Minute Air Fryer Brussels Sprouts

Kale chips on a white plate.

10 Minute Air Fryer Kale Chips

Dinner This Week

Vegan tikka masala with naan and rice in a white bowl

M

Chickpea Tikka Masala

Roasted Chickpea Gyros

T

Roasted Chickpea Gyros

Vegan Thai red curry in a bowl on a red background

W

Thai Vegetarian Coconut Curry

Vegan nachos on a black plate on a white background - These vegan nachos are piled high with easy mushroom BBQ "pulled pork" and a cashew-based queso cheese sauce that will knock your dairy-free socks off.

R

BBQ Mushroom Pulled Pork

Roasted Cauliflower Street Tacos

F

Roasted Cauliflower Tacos

Lemon risotto in a bowl with basil on a yellow background

S

Lemon Basil Risotto

As featured on:

3 bonus books!

Join our Eatmail newsletter to get free copies of our top 3 cookbooks, new recipes, exclusive meal plans, and more!

Follow Along

  • Easy Vegetarian Facebook Group
  • Kombucha Brewers Facebook Group
Back to Top
  • Web Stories
  • About
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms
  • Collaborate
© 2023 Live Eat Learn
Site Credits Designed by Melissa Rose Design Developed by Once Coupled Support by Foodie Digital
2.4K shares