General Tso Cauliflower
General Tso cauliflower tastes just like your favourite Chinese takeout order! Crispy on the outside, tender on the inside, and coated in a sweet, sticky and spicy sauce. Yum!
If you couldn’t tell from my Buffalo Cauliflower Wings, Roasted Cauliflower Hummus, and Roasted Cauliflower Steaks, cauliflower is one of my favourite vegetables. I love how it can be swapped in to veganise so many meat-based dishes—like this General Tso cauliflower! It’s sweet and spicy, with plenty of sticky sauce that clings to every little nook and cranny of the cauliflower florets. (I also ensured that this recipe makes enough sauce that you’ll have some extra for your leftovers. Yes friends, that’s how much I care about you!)
Why This General Tso Cauliflower Is Better Than Takeout
This General Tso cauliflower recipe is miles better than the takeout version—for one, it’s made with cauliflower instead of the usual chicken! Here are some more reasons to love it:
- Easy to make. With simple steps and easy to find ingredients, this dish comes together quickly, making it perfect for weeknight dinners and meal prep!
- Super crispy, but without the frying. Baking the cauliflower ensures a crispy texture without the need for deep-frying, so you get all the crunch without all the oil, mess, and cleanup.
- Sweet and spicy. It’s the best flavour combination if you ask me! General Tso sauce has the perfect balance.
Notes on Ingredients
Here’s a breakdown of the ingredients you’ll need. Scroll down to the recipe card to find the ingredient quantities and recipe instructions.
For the General Tso Sauce:
- Sesame oil – Use toasted sesame oil for a fabulous nutty flavour.
- Garlic and ginger – Using fresh gives the sauce punchy flavour, although dried can be used in a pinch.
- Light soy sauce – You can substitute liquid aminos or tamari. If you want to use regular soy sauce, cut back on the salt elsewhere in the recipe. If you use liquid aminos, add about 1/2 teaspoon more cornstarch and 1/2 teaspoon more water to the cornstarch slurry.
- Raw unrefined brown sugar – Or coconut sugar if you prefer.
- Hoisin sauce – This is thick and sweet, but it’s also got quite a bit of depth.
- Cornstarch + water – To make a slurry for thickening the sauce.
- Sesame seeds
- Rice wine vinegar – If you don’t have rice wine vinegar, don’t feel like you have to go out and buy it—just use regular vinegar!
- Water or broth – I love using my homemade vegetable broth.
- Whole chilis – Or use red pepper flakes.
For the Cauliflower Wings:
- Cauliflower – Use a medium head; if you use a large head, you may need to double the batter and sauce.
- All-purpose gluten-free flour mix – Or regular all-purpose flour if you’re not on a gluten-free diet.
- Unsweetened almond milk – This can be replaced with any plant-based milk as long as it’s unsweetened and unflavoured.
- Sea salt and ground black pepper
- Garlic powder
- Gluten-free breadcrumbs – Or regular breadcrumbs if you don’t need gluten-free.
- Chopped scallion and sesame seeds – For garnish.
How to Make General Tso Cauliflower
This is a quick rundown of the steps involved in making this recipe. Grab the full recipe instructions at the bottom of the post!
- Prepare. Preheat your oven to 450°F and line a baking sheet with a silicone mat or greased foil. Cut the cauliflower into bite-sized florets.
- Set up the dredging stations. Whisk together the flour, almond milk, salt, black pepper, and garlic powder. Adjust the consistency by adding more milk if needed. Place the breadcrumbs in a separate bowl.
- Dredge the cauliflower. Coat each cauliflower piece in the batter, shake off the excess, dip in the breadcrumbs, and place on the baking sheet.
- Bake. Place the pan in the oven and bake for 22 minutes.
- Make the sauce. Heat the oil in a pan over medium-high heat. Sauté the ginger and garlic until fragrant, then whisk together all the sauce ingredients to dissolve the cornstarch. Bring to a boil, then simmer for 4 minutes, whisking frequently until the sauce thickens.
- Sauce the cauliflower. Remove the cauliflower from the oven, toss in the sauce to coat, then return the florets to the baking sheet and bake for 5 more minutes.
- Serve. Garnish with scallions and sesame seeds, then serve.
Tips and Variations
- Cut the florets to an even size. This will ensure that they cook evenly and all finish cooking at the same time!
- Adjust the heat. You can add more chilis or red pepper flakes to the sauce if you prefer a spicier General Tso cauliflower. Or you can reduce the amount for a milder version.
- Try it with tofu. Make my General Tso Tofu!
How to Store and Reheat Leftovers
- Refrigerator: Store any leftover General Tso’s cauliflower in an airtight container and place it in the refrigerator. It will stay fresh for up to 3 days. I don’t recommend freezing this recipe.
- To reheat: For maximum crispiness, reheat the cauliflower on a parchment-lined pan in a 400ºF oven or air fryer. You can also reheat it in the microwave or in a non-stick skillet, but it won’t be as crispy.
More Tasty Cauliflower Recipes
Enjoy friends! If you make this General Tso cauliflower, please snap a photo and tag #jessicainthekitchen on Instagram! We’d also love it if you would leave a comment below, and give the recipe a rating! Thanks so much!
General Tso Cauliflower
General Tso cauliflower tastes just like the takeout version! Crispy on the outside and coated in a sweet, sticky and spicy sauce. Yum!
Ingredients
General Tso Sauce
- 1 teaspoon sesame oil, 4.5 grams
- 2 cloves minced garlic
- ½ teaspoon grated fresh ginger, 2 grams
- ¼ cup light soy sauce*, 60 grams
- ¼ cup raw unrefined brown sugar or coconut sugar, 50 grams
- 2 tablespoons hoisin sauce, 30 grams
- 1 teaspoon cornstarch + 1 teaspoon water, stirred together, 4 grams cornstarch + 5 grams water
- ½ teaspoon sesame seeds, 1.5 grams
- 1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar, 15 grams
- ½ cup water or broth, 120 grams
- Whole chillis, to boil or ¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes
Cauliflower Wings
- 1 medium head cauliflower, if using a large head, you may need to double the batter and sauce quantities
- ½ cup all purpose gluten free flour mix, 60 grams
- ½ cup unsweetened almond milk, 120 grams
- ¼ teaspoon sea salt, 1.5 grams
- ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper, 0.5 grams
- ¼ teaspoon garlic powder, 0.75 grams
- 1 cup crispy gluten free breadcrumbs, seasoned with salt and pepper OR toast your breadcrumbs slightly before using, 50 grams
- chopped scallion & more sesame seeds, to garnish
Instructions
Cauliflower Wings
- Preheat oven to 450 degrees F/230 degrees C.
- Prepare a baking sheet by lining it with a silicone baking sheet or greased foil. Using a knife, remove florets from the cauliflower (aka cut off the leaves and don’t use the stems). Chop the cauliflower into smaller pieces to resemble the size of wings.
- In a separate bowl, whisk the gluten free flour, almond milk, salt, ground black pepper and garlic powder in a bowl to make the batter. If the batter is too thick, feel free to thin it out with some more milk. In a separate bowl, place the breadcrumbs. Line it up beside the batter bowl.
- Toss the cauliflower in the batter mixture one at a time, shaking off excess batter. Do not soak. Then, dip the cauliflower into the breadcrumbs to coat completely, then place onto the baking sheet. Repeat until all of the wings are coated.
- Bake for 22 minutes. Please ensure your oven is completely preheated and hot.
- While baking, prepare the ingredients for the sauce by heating & whisking together.
- Remove from oven. Toss the wings in the sauce (I like to use a spatula to move them around to get properly coated) then using tongs, remove and place back on the baking sheet. Bake for another 5 minutes for the sauce to soak into the wings.
- Remove from oven and, and garnish with scallions and more sesame seeds. Eat immediately – enjoy!
General Tso Sauce
- In a pan over medium high heat, heat the sesame oil. Add in the ginger and the garlic and sauce for about 2 minutes until fragrant and sizzling.
- Mix all the other sauce ingredients, whisking together to help dissolve the cornstarch slurry. Bring to a boil, then a simmer for about 4 minutes until the sauce begins to thicken up. Whisk frequently so the cornstarch doesn’t thicken up in spots but instead mixes evenly throughout the sauce. Taste test and add more sugar if you want it sweeter. Remove from heat until needed.
Notes
- Refrigerator: Store any leftover General Tso’s cauliflower in an airtight container and place it in the refrigerator. It will stay fresh for up to 3 days. I don’t recommend freezing this recipe.
- To reheat: For maximum crispiness, reheat this cauliflower on a parchment-lined pan in a 400ºF oven or air fryer. You can also reheat it in the microwave or in a non-stick skillet, but it won’t be as crispy.
Calories: 124kcal, Carbohydrates: 25g, Protein: 4g, Fat: 2g, Saturated Fat: 1g, Cholesterol: 1mg, Sodium: 643mg, Potassium: 277mg, Fiber: 3g, Sugar: 10g, Vitamin A: 54IU, Vitamin C: 43mg, Calcium: 63mg, Iron: 1mg
Disclaimer: Although jessicainthekitchen.com attempts to provide accurate nutritional information, kindly note that these are only estimates. Nutritional information may be affected based on the product type, the brand that was purchased, and in other unforeseeable ways. Jessicainthekitchen.com will not be held liable for any loss or damage resulting for your reliance on nutritional information. If you need to follow a specific caloric regimen, please consult your doctor first.
Girl love your cooking .I ama Jamaican would like buy your cookbook.
Aww thank you so much Dianna!!! 🙂 You can buy it here: https://gumroad.com/l/jitkebook
The sauce ingredients have 1/2 water or broth listed twice. Is that a typo or do you need a full cup of liquid?
Hey Alie,
You need a full cup, but it’s so everyone knows they can use full broth or half broth and vice versa for water! So a cup of liquid in the end. I hope you enjoy!
These were amazing! My cauliflower was small so I had some extra sauce and tossed our tofu in it as well.
We’re so happy that you enjoyed this recipe Rachel! Thank you so much for reading and leaving such a nice comment!
Ps. We use it on everything lol
This is the most amazing general tao recipe I have ever made. I couldn’t even tell it was cauliflower because of the crispiness of it! No more need to order this as takeout, because this recipe is soooo much better! Thank you so much for sharing it with us, huge fan!
Hi! Thanks for all your amazing recipes Jessica. Just one thing, it says 1/2 cup of water or broth twice, I assume this is a typo? Off to make this now!
Hi Emilie thanks for reading, it isn’t a typo it was giving the option of half broth half water, full broth or full water. I hope this helps!
Oh my goodness I made this for dinner tonight and it was SO good. I think I’d double the sauce next time because it was sooooo tasty but it’s perfect as is. Wow wow wow. I wanted a version that I didn’t have to fry the cauliflower and this delivered – tastes fried!
That’s amazing Rikki! We’re so happy that you enjoyed it! Thanks for leaving such a nice review!
These were the best cauliflower wings I’ve ever made! I cannot wait to try more of Jessica’s cauliflower wing recipes! I air fried the wings and absolutely loved them.
Yay! Thanks so much Irene!!
Can you make this a day ahead it will it get soggy?
won’t get soggy! Just reheat like in your air fryer or in the oven. If doing a day ahead, I would wait until that day to sauce them though!
I absolutely loved these little bites. The sucede came out amazing and my “no vegetable eating” fiancé loved these as well. He’s a huge meat eater and was surprised on how delicious these were. I complimented the dish with some hibachi inspired noodles. Garlic butter, soy sauce, and teriyaki sauce. Yummy 😋 thank you so much for the recipe!