Recreate one of the most popular Chinese chicken dishes with this vegetarian recipe for General Tso's Cauliflower! In this recipe, crispy cauliflower is tossed with THE BEST spicy General Tso's sauce to create a delicious vegetarian meal.
In a large bowl, whisk all of the ingredients for together for the General Tso’s sauce. Set aside.
Add ½ cup canola oil to a large skillet on the stove over medium high heat.
In a large mixing bowl, combine the rice flour, salt, pepper and whisked egg yolk.
Add the cold water and whisk until a smooth batter forms.
Dip the cauliflower florets into the batter until completely coated, allowing any excess batter to drip off, then add the battered cauliflower to the hot oil in the skillet.
Fry for 3-4 minutes per side, or until all sides of the cauliflower are golden brown and crispy.
Remove the cauliflower from the oil and transfer to a paper towel lined plate, or wire cooling rack, to allow any excess oil to drip off.
Once all of the cauliflower is fried, add it to the bowl of General Tso’s sauce and toss gently to coat the cauliflower in the sauce.
Serve the cauliflower immediately after it's tossed in the sauce, or it will get soggy.
You can serve the cauliflower with white or brown rice and diced chili peppers and green onions, if you'd like.
If you’re planning to serve the cauliflower with rice or vegetables, make sure they’re prepared before you begin frying the cauliflower.
If you’re not planning to eat all of the cauliflower immediately, do not toss all of the cauliflower with the sauce. As soon as the cauliflower is sauced, it should be eaten immediately or the texture will become soggy.
I do not recommend using an air fryer to cook the battered cauliflower, or baking it in the oven. Refer to the blog post above for how to make cauliflower for this recipe in an air fryer or the oven.
This recipe is gluten free using the ingredients listed above.
To make this recipe vegan, swap out the honey in the sauce for maple syrup or agave nectar to make a vegan General Tso’s sauce. For the cauliflower batter, instead of an egg yolk, mix 2 teaspoons of oil, 2 teaspoons of water, and ½ teaspoon of baking powder together. Add this mixture to the batter with the rice flour, salt and pepper, before adding the cold water.
If you can’t find rice flour, you can use cornstarch or tapioca starch instead. The recipe will remain gluten free using either of these ingredients. I do not recommend using traditional flour, as the texture is different and the batter will not behave the same way.
You can make the sauce up to 5 days in advance and store it in the refrigerator until serving. This will save you 5-10 minutes when making the recipe.