This takeout-inspired Sesame Cauliflower tosses crispy baked cauliflower in the best sticky, tangy, and sweet sesame sauce. Serve it over rice for an amazing appetizer, lunch, or dinner!
Want even more finger-licking good vegan cauliflower recipes? You’ll have to try this Orange Cauliflower, these Buffalo Cauliflower Wings, and this Easy Bang Bang Cauliflower!
My family eats at Veggie Grill way too often, but I can’t get enough of their crispy glazed cauliflower appetizer. My Sticky Sesame Cauliflower recipe is like a lighter, baked version of both my favorite appetizer and Chinese takeout sesame chicken. It has the same crispy crunch and sticky-sweet sesame goodness in every bite.
I love to pile the sticky cauliflower over a bed of rice for easy dinners, but it’s just as amazing served as a crispy party appetizer with the sesame sauce on the side for dipping. If your family is anything like mine, this recipe will be an instant hit!
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“I’ve made this more than 20 times. It is a weekly go to and a family favorite. Super easy and so delicious!” – Sarah
Why you’ll love this sticky sesame cauliflower
- A family favorite – Even my kids go crazy for this cauliflower! It’s such a hit that I pretty much make it for dinner at least once a week now. And my kids are NOT adventurous eaters, so this is saying lot!
- The best sesame sauce – Just like my popular Sesame Tofu, this recipe coats cauliflower in a finger-licking good sweet, tangy, and savory sesame sauce.
- Baked (not fried) comfort food – Baking the battered cauliflower florets puts a lighter spin on the takeout classic without losing any of the crunch. You can air fry the cauliflower, too!
How to make sesame cauliflower
Find the complete recipe with measurements in the recipe card below.
Batter and bake the cauliflower: Whisk the flour, cornstarch, salt, and water together until smooth. Coat the cauliflower florets in the batter, then place them on a prepared baking sheet.
Spray the cauliflower with oil, then bake it until crispy, flipping halfway through. Set aside.
Bake on two sheet pans
It’s best to bake the florets on two large sheet pans. If you try to crowd them all on one pan, they won’t get as crispy.
Make the sesame sauce: Meanwhile, add the soy sauce, agave, rice vinegar, garlic, Sriracha, and ginger to a saucepan.
Heat the sauce to a boil. Pour in the cornstarch slurry and whisk constantly until the sauce thickens. Remove from the heat and stir in the sesame oil.
Add the crispy baked cauliflower to the pot with the sesame sauce and stir to coat.
Serve the sesame cauliflower over a bed of rice and garnish with sesame seeds and/or chopped green onions. Enjoy!
Keep the cauliflower crispy
Tossing the baked cauliflower in the sesame sauce will cause it to lose its crunch pretty quickly. For maximum crunchiness, serve the sesame sauce on the side for dipping instead.
Frequently asked questions
Sure! Air fry the battered cauliflower in two or three batches at 400°F for 20 to 25 minutes, or until the florets are golden and crispy.
For gluten-free sesame cauliflower, replace the regular flour with a gluten-free flour mix and use tamari instead of soy sauce.
I haven’t tested it, but I’m sure frozen cauliflower florets would work just as well. Just make sure you thaw the florets before dunking them in the batter and baking. They may not be as crispy as fresh cauliflower, but they’ll still taste great.
Any leftovers can be stored in an airtight container for up to 3 days, although I like to serve sesame cauliflower as soon as it’s ready since it tends to lose its crunch pretty quickly.
To reheat, bake or air fry the leftover cauliflower at 400ºF for 8 to 10 minutes or until it’s crispy again.
Sticky Sesame Cauliflower
Ingredients
For the Baked Cauliflower
- 1 large head cauliflower, cut into florets (about 6 cups)
- 1 cup all purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup water
For the Sticky Sesame Sauce
- 1/3 cup low sodium soy sauce
- 1/4 cup agave or pure maple syrup
- 1/4 cup rice vinegar
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 teaspoon sriracha hot sauce, more or less to taste
- 1/2 teaspoon powdered ginger
- 2 tablespoons cornstarch
- 1/4 cup water
- 1 tablespoon sesame oil
For serving
- sesame seeds
- chopped green onions
- cooked white or brown rice
Instructions
Bake the Cauliflower
- Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F and spray one large or two smaller baking sheets with oil (may also use parchment paper). Prepare the cauliflower by chopping it into florets.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, cornstarch, salt and water until a smooth batter is formed.
- Add the cauliflower to the bowl with the batter and stir to coat each floret. Lift the cauliflower florets, shake off excess batter and place on prepared baking sheet. Leave a little space in between the florets on the baking sheet so they can get crispy; they shouldn't be touching.
- Spray the cauliflower lightly with oil and bake for 25-30 minutes, flipping halfway through, until lightly brown and crispy. Remove from the oven and set aside.
Make the Sauce
- While the cauliflower is baking, prepare the sauce. In a large pot or saucepan (you will add the cauliflower when it's finished, so make sure you have a big pan), add the soy sauce, agave, rice vinegar, garlic, Sriracha and ginger.
- Bring to a boil and stir to combine. Whisk together the cornstarch and water in a small bowl, and then add to the pan. Stir over medium heat constantly for 1-3 minutes, until the sauce thickens. Turn off the heat and stir in the sesame oil.
- When the cauliflower is done baking, add it to the sauce in the pan and stir to coat. Serve over a bed of rice and sprinkle with sesame seeds and/or chopped green onions. Enjoy! TIP: If you want the cauliflower to remain crispy, simple serve the sauce on the side for dipping.
Notes
- Gluten free: Replace the flour with a gluten free flour mix, and use tamari instead of soy sauce.
- May also use arrowroot instead of cornstarch if needed.
- Nutritional information is for Sticky Sesame Cauliflower only and does not include rice.
Nora – I am making a concerted effort to increase my plant based eating and your website consistently gives me great ideas and excellent recipes. I made your Sticky Sesame Cauliflower recipe last night and it was fantastic! Thanks for sharing your cooking genius with the world! Eating plants is easy when everything tastes delicious!
You’re welcome!!
Hello Nora –
I made this last night and it was FANTASTIC !! The only concern I have is that when you tap JUMP TO RECIPE and then PRINT it the printed recipe is different than the recipe on the screen ??
Kind Regards – Chad
I’m so glad you liked it! It looks like the same recipe to me when you hit print. But it was an older recipe I updated so perhaps the printable version hadn’t quite caught up yet when you looked! ? Not sure, but it looks correct now! Thank you so much.
I’m looking forward to trying this! Anytime I look for a recipe with an ingredient I’m in the mood for, you always seem to have the best one. Your website is the only one I get notifications from. You’re recipes have not let me down yet, and don’t expect this one to either! I’ll let you know how it comes out! Thank you for making being a vegan easy (and tasty)! My boyfriend, who is also a vegan, thinks I’m a vegan genius! 😉
Awww thank you so much! That means a lot to me.
So excited to try this! I want to try it with noodles instead of rice, do you have any recommendations on cooking this with maybe udon noodles? Would there be enough sauce to coat both the noodles and the cauliflower and mix it all together in the pan or would there be a better way to go about it?
Thanks for all the amazing recipes! You’re really helping keep me sane during quarantine!!
That sounds so good! I would probably double the sauce, because there is really just enough sauce to coat the cauliflower. I’m so glad you’re enjoying my recipes, thank you so much! These are crazy times, for sure.
This looks amazing! Wondering if you have ever tried using frozen cauliflower as that’s all I have on hand…
I have tried it and it works pretty well. Fresh is better but frozen will still be good! I would just use it straight from the freezer, and maybe bake a little longer if needed.
I just made this tonight for the first time and my wife and I loved it! The sauce was sticky, sweet, and tangy. I used a tsp of Sriracha and the spice level was perfect for us. It’s easy to make too, so I can see this becoming a frequent dish in our house. I served the cauliflower over long grain basmati rice, and had a good bit of leftovers, which I stored in separate containers. What I’m wondering is, what do you recommend to reheat the sauce and cauliflower? Thanks in advance for the reheat advice, and for sharing another great recipe!
I’m so glad you enjoyed the sesame cauliflower dish! Thank you. To reheat the leftover, you could either use a microwave or reheat the sticky cauliflower and sauce on the stovetop. The stovetop (in a small pan) would work best, but I’ve certainly microwaved it as well. Then just heat your rice up separately and serve.
Super delicious! Thank you!
You’re welcome! Glad it was delicious!
I found your site because we went to a party where your buffalo chicken dip (artichokes) was served; it was so yummy I asked for the recipe & saw that it was one of yours. So I perused your site. I made the sticky sesame cauliflower served over brown rice & my husband’s first comment was “we need to have this again, SOON!”
The only modification I made was to add 2 TBSP of garlic powder to the batter & I did this based on your Orange Cauliflower recipe. I increased the temp and cooked longer – every oven is different.
As I’m writing this comment, I am eating your Vegan Chicken Salad w/your Vegan Mayo recipe. All the recipes of yours that I’ve made have been WINNERS and will go into our meal rotation.
Wow, thanks so much for the great comment! I’m so glad the recipes have been a hit!
I haven’t tried this one yet, but my experience had taught me that ALL your recipes are fantastic! When I find a recipe that has your name on it, I know it’s gonna be great!!
Thanks, Nora, you’re the best!!
Wow, what a lovely comment! Thank you.
Have this one done as next to try. Would love to see a lot more chinese/asian recipes.
Hi! Do you think I could make these and your meatballs in an air fryer?
Yes, you could!
Hi Nora, could I substitute rice wine vinegar with apple cider vinegar? Looking forward to giving this a try. Your recipes are AMAZING!!!
Yes, that should be just fine! Thank you, and I hope you enjoy this one!
Oh.my.goodness!!! The flavor in this dish is UNBELIEVABLE! SO dang good! The flavor was strong, but I LOVE lots of flavor in my food, especially the Asian meals I make. I used all white flour and that worked just fine. The only reason I didn’t give it 5 stars is because the batter on the cauliflower didn’t toast up and get as crunchy as I would have liked, but I’ll definitely make this again and maybe try roasting the cauliflower just a bit longer. Thanks for a delicious recipe Nora! 🙂
Glad you enjoyed the recipe! Yes, just try baking a little longer. Oven temperatures can vary, and even the pan and what rack you have the pan on can affect the cooking time. Thanks!
Can I use coconut flour instead of brown rice flour
I haven’t worked much with coconut flour, so I’m not sure but maybe! Other flours work quite well as substitutes, such as almond flour.
I’ll be honest ….
I had little hope this would be crunchy and tasty
I was wrong.
It’s FABULOUS!!!!
I used all white flour.
LOL thanks Sue! So glad you enjoyed it, and that you were wrong! 🙂
Could I use broccoli ? instead of cauliflower? Just curious
I’m sure you could, yes, but I’ve never tried it. It will taste like broccoli of course, lol, so if you don’t mind that then go right ahead! 🙂
I have had this recipe saved and patiently been waiting to make it! Today I had the chance to make it for my family. They liked it (hubby and two toddlers), but I did have to really mellow out the flavor – the soy sauce was very strong even with sweetener and sesame oil. I ended up mixing all the cauliflower with the white rice I made on the side and added about 1 1/2 tbsp butter. My sauce was much darker than the picture as well though I followed the recipe (minus Srirachi). It ended up being a hearty & flavorful dish, but I don’t think I will make it again since the prep time ended up being much longer than 15 mins after individually removing the cauliflower florets from the batter. Thank you for the recipe, it was fun to try! I’ll keep trying out more recipes.
Could you replace the brown rice flour with something? Thanks!
You could substitute all purpose flour for the brown rice flour, if you’d like.
Would just all purpose flower work? Like as a substitute for both brown rice and almond flour?
Yes, that would work! Thanks.
Can you add chickpeas to this as well?
Yeah, you could do that!
I never leave reviews but for this recipe I had to! It is soooo good, Nora you killed it! Made it exactly like the recipe said and was dancing in my kitchen when I ate it
Aw thank you SO much! I’m so happy you were dancing lol. I could eat this every day!
This is delicious, thanks! I cut the sweetener by 25% and it still had that decadent sweet-tangy flavor of takeout. I only added sauce to the amount of cauliflower I was going to eat right away. Planning to store leftovers separately so I can re-crisp in the toaster oven.
Glad you enjoyed it Liz!
Panda Express? None of their food is even vegetarian. The fine print on their website states something to the effect that they have no offerings for vegetarians. The rice and vegetables both are cooked in chicken broth. Your recipe here certainly gives people a much tastier option.
This looks right up my alley! I’m definitely going to try it. Thanks for the recipe 🙂
Thanks Carissa! I’m sure you will love it!
This is SO good!
Will it work without the seasme oil? I don’t eat oil.
Yes, it will work without the oil, it just won’t have that “sesame” flavor. It will still be good though!