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With a crispy coated exterior and a sweet and spicy sauce coating, these baked Asian Cauliflower Wings are downright addictive. These easy vegetarian bites are gluten-free, dairy-free and Paleo-friendly. We also offer instructions for cooking in an air-fryer too!
Sesame Asian Cauliflower Wings
Sesame Asian Cauliflower WingsCauliflower to the rescue again! We’ve made cauliflower masquerade as many different things, such as hummus, hash browns, rolls and pizza bites, But these Asian Cauliflower Wings, are our newest obsession. These vegetarian cauliflower wings are coated in almond flour and baked in the oven (we offer air-fryer instructions too), and once crispy, coated in a sweet and spicy sesame sauce. You can control how sweet and spicy you want the sauce to be, by adding in a touch more honey or sriracha.
These crispy wings are perfect to serve up as an appetizer, or even as a meal if pair with a side dish or two.
Ingredients Needed
- Fresh Cauliflower
- Eggs
- Almond Flour
- Avocado Oil Spray
- Salt
- Sesame oil
- Garlic
- Coconut Aminos
- Rice vinegar
- Sriracha
- Honey
- Fish sauce (optional)
- Tapioca Starch
- Sesame Seeds
- Green Onions
Common Substitution Questions
Eggs: It’s difficult to swap out the eggs here, since they are what makes the almond flour coat onto the cauliflower.
Avocado Oil Spray: The reason we suggest a spray here is because it really coats the cauliflower evenly, which helps promote even crispness. And of course, we always suggest avocado oil, but another high heat cooking spray can work just as well.
Almond Flour: This is our gluten-free alternative to breadcrumbs. If you don’t have a gluten-intolerance, you could use panko breadcrumbs in place of almond flour. You could also check out this nut-free chicken tender recipe, which has a nut-free breadcrumb alternative that would likely work for this recipe.
Coconut Aminos: This is a soy sauce alternative. If you are fine to use soy-sauce, feel free to swap it in if you want to, but start with a little less as we believe coconut aminos tends to taste less salty than traditional soy sauce.
Honey: This can be swapped easily with another sweetener of choice.
Fish Sauce: This can easily be left out if you don’t have it. Though we recommend using it if you can, as it adds a nice umami flavor to the sauce.
Tapioca: This is used to thicken the sauce, and can be swapped with arrowroot, or even cornstarch.
Tips for Making Cauliflower Wings
- Make sure to cut your cauliflower into similar sized pieces. The cook timing on this recipe is based on bite-sized pieces, which are around 1-1/2″ to 2″ pieces of cauliflower. Check your cauliflower for doneness by poking the golden cauliflower and making sure they are tender (but not mushy inside).
- Take your time coating each piece of cauliflower carefully in the egg first, and then the almond flour. You want to make sure the cauliflower is fully coated in almond flour, but to tap off any excess.
- Using a cooking spray is the best way to evenly coat the breaded cauliflower. We suggest not only putting oil on the sheet pan, but also spraying all sides of the cauliflower with the cooking spray so it evenly cooks. Just don’t overdo it, a thin layer of oil is best on both the sheet pan and the cauliflower.
- Treat these gently when transferring them to a bowl, and when coating in the sauce. The almond flour breading is both nutrient-dense and delicious, but it’s also quite delicate. Work with them gently so as to not knock off the coating.
How to Air Fry Them!
Feel free to air-fry these if you want! To do so:
- Pre-heat the air-fryer to 380ºF.
- Working in batches, cook for 7-8 minutes, turning halfway through.
- Repeat with remaining cauliflower wings until crispy.
- Gently place all the cauliflower back in the basket to warm through for 1 minute.
- Then coat the wings with the sauce as directed in the instructions.
Watch the video here:
If you like this cauliflower recipe, check out these other favorites:
- Low Carb Tuna Casserole (With Cauliflower)
- ‘Everything Bagel’ Topped Cauliflower Rolls
- Cauliflower Parmesan (Gluten Free)
- Cauliflower Pizza Bites
Asian Cauliflower Wings
Ingredients
For the Breaded Cauliflower:
- 1 tablespoon avocado oil
- 3 eggs
- 1-1/2 cups almond flour more if needed
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 large 2 lb. cauliflower, cut into 1-½”-2” florets
- Cooking spray we use avocado
For the Sauce:
- 1 tablespoon sesame oil
- 2 garlic cloves minced
- 1/4 cup coconut aminos
- 1/4 cup seasoned rice vinegar
- 2 teaspoons sriracha
- 2 tablespoons honey more to taste
- 1 tablespoon fish sauce optional
- 1 tablespoon tapioca starch
- 2 tablespoons water
- Sesame seeds for garnish
- Green onions thinly sliced, for garnish
Instructions
To Bake:
- Preheat oven to 375ºF and brush or spray avocado oil on a rimmed baking sheet set aside.
- Crack the eggs into a small bowl and whisk together. Whisk together the almond flour and the salt in a separate medium bowl.
- Dip the cauliflower into the egg, then into the almond flour, making sure to evenly coat the whole floret, and shaking off any excess. Place on the baking sheet.
- Spray the breaded cauliflower pieces generously with cooking spray.
- Bake for 22-28 minutes, flipping halfway through, or until the cauliflower are golden and just tender.
- Meanwhile make sauce: Add all of the sauce ingredients (except tapioca starch and water) to a medium pot and whisk together. Cook over medium heat until the sauce comes to a boil. Whisk together the tapioca starch and water to create a slurry. Whisk the slurry into the sauce and cook until it thickens. Taste and adjust seasoning, adding a touch more sriracha or honey if desired.
- Gently place the cauliflower in a bowl and pour 3/4 of the sauce of the top. Using a rubber spatula carefully mix the sauce to coat the cauliflower. Transfer to a serving plate. Sprinkle sesame seeds and green onions on the cauliflower wings and serve with additional dipping sauce.
To Air-Fry:
- Pre-heat the air-fryer to 380ºF.
- Crack the eggs into a small bowl and whisk together. Whisk together the almond flour and the salt in a separate medium bowl.
- Dip the cauliflower into the egg, then into the almond flour, making sure to evenly coat the whole floret, and shaking off any excess.
- Spray the air fryer basket with avocado oil and place in a few pieces of cauliflower, and carefully spray all over with the avocado oil.
- Working in batches, cook for 7-8 minutes, turning halfway through.
- Repeat with remaining cauliflower wings until crispy.
- Gently place all the cauliflower back in the basket to warm through for 1 minute.
- Meanwhile make sauce: Add all of the sauce ingredients (except tapioca starch and water) to a medium pot and whisk together. Cook over medium heat until the sauce comes to a boil. Whisk together the tapioca starch and water to create a slurry. Whisk the slurry into the sauce and cook until it thickens. Taste and adjust seasoning, adding a touch more sriracha or honey if desired.
- Gently place the cauliflower in a bowl and pour 3/4 of the sauce of the top. Using a rubber spatula carefully mix the sauce to coat the cauliflower. Transfer to a serving plate. Sprinkle sesame seeds and green onions on the cauliflower wings and serve with additional dipping sauce.
Your website is TERRIBLE!!!! There’s too many ads to do anything on it! You X out of an ad, your page refreshes and takes you right back to the top.
Thank you for understanding that ads are how we are able to create and test recipes over and over, employ our staff to make sure they’re perfect, and have it all free for you. With that said, It should not do that and you should be able to X out and access everything. Thank you for the heads up. We will fix it. All my love, Lexi.