General Tso Cauliflower Wings (Vegan)
These General Tso Cauliflower Wings taste just like your favourite Chinese takeout order! They are crispy, deliciously battered and are coated in a General Tso Sauce!
Let me tell you how these General Tso Cauliflower Wings were born. They weren’t even on my original editorial calendar for this month. I was sifting through ingredients and took out some cauliflower for my Indian Butter Cauliflower, and happened upon more than I needed. Cauliflower wings in a general two sauce came to my mind and I pushed the thought away. About two days later, I casually mentioned two separate ideas to Gav, one of which were these wings. He immediately stopped what he was doing and said “GENERAL TSO FOR SURE”. Yeah, needless to say, that was the push that I needed. Then they were born.
I’ve decided to embark on a mission (right this second) to create every single cauliflower wing flavour that I believe you would ever need. Apart from the fact that I love cauliflower (did I even need to say that? I think it’s obvious), I love love love watching the wing sauces come together. Before I even became vegan or vegetarian, exploring new wing sauces was one of my favourite Friday night delights, and it’s a driving factor behind why I continue to create new ones.
That and you guys asking me for me, and Gavin saying things like “GENERAL TSO FOR SURE”. So far, I’ve come up with:
Mango Habanero Cauliflower Wings
Sticky Sesame Cauliflower Wings
Cheesy Buffalo Cauliflower Wings
Sweet and Sticky Orange Cauliflower Bites
Sweet Sriracha Cauliflower Bites
Where should we go next? What flavours do you want to see next?
General Tso Sauce
I hope you dig in and absolutely fall in love these with cauliflower wings!! Eat up and enjoy!
YOUR QUESTIONS ANSWERED
Q: What can I substitute for the soy sauce?
A: I usually don’t recommend substitutions, but you can substitute the light soy sauce for liquid aminos or tamari equally. If you want to substitute it for regular soy sauce, be careful, it might be much saltier, so you’ll need to taste test the sauce first before putting on the wings and possibly add more water or sweetener to balance it out. IF you substitute for liquid aminos, be sure to add about 1/2 teaspoon more of cornstarch and 1/2 teaspoon more water to the cornstarch slurry to thicken up the sauce to the same consistency of regular sauce.
Q: If I’m not gluten free, can I use regular flour and panko breadcrumbs?
A: Yes!
General Tso Cauliflower Wings
Ingredients
General Tso Sauce
- 1 teaspoon sesame oil
- 2 cloves minced garlic
- ½ teaspoon grated fresh ginger
- 1/4 cup light soy sauce*
- ¼ cup raw unrefined brown sugar or coconut sugar
- 2 tablespoons hoisin sauce
- 1 teaspoon cornstarch + 1 teaspoon water, stirred together
- 1/2 teaspoon sesame seeds
- 1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar
- ½ cup water or broth
- ½ cup water or broth
- 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
- 1/2 cup all-purpose gluten free flour
- 1/2 cup unsweetened almond milk
- 1/4 teaspoon sea salt
- 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 cup crispy gluten free breadcrumbs, seasoned with salt and pepper OR toast your breadcrumbs slightly before using
- 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 same 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
YOUR QUESTIONS ANSWERED
Q: What can I substitute for the soy sauce?
A: I usually don’t recommend substitutions, but you can substitute the light soy sauce for liquid aminos or tamari equally. If you want to substitute it for regular soy sauce, be careful, it might be much saltier, so you’ll need to taste test the sauce first before putting on the wings and possibly add more water or sweetener to balance it out. IF you substitute for liquid aminos, be sure to add about 1/2 teaspoon more of cornstarch and 1/2 teaspoon more water to the cornstarch slurry to thicken up the sauce to the same consistency of regular sauce.Q: If I’m not gluten free, can I use regular flour and panko breadcrumbs?
A: Yes!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!