Sweet, sticky, savory, and seductively crispy lemon cauliflower.
One of my favorite restaurants growing up was a local Chinese place just outside of Philadelphia.
We’d often go there on weeknights, because it was close to home, offered quick service, and the food was consistently good every time.
Upon sitting down at the table, I’d always immediately start on the deep-friend crispy noodles and duck sauce while waiting for my order of sticky glazed lemon chicken to arrive.
(I was pretty much on a sugar high before we even got to dessert.)
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Years later when my family moved to China, I remember being initially confused by the cuisine.
Where were the General Tso’s, the fortune cookies, the sweet and sour?
Where was the lemon chicken???
Much of what we in America know as Chinese food is not actually Chinese at all.
For example, fortune cookies were invented in San Francisco!
And in all my time living in Shanghai, not once did I ever see lemon chicken listed on a menu.
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This crispy lemon cauliflower is my healthier, vegan answer to Chinese-restaurant lemon chicken.
The sticky lemon glaze is absolutely addictive.
And if you’re not feeling cauliflower, you can easily opt to pour the sauce over chickpeas, tofu, broccoli, or anything else you think would taste good with lemon sauce.
Here are 25 more healthy and super simple Cauliflower Recipes.
Adapted from Sticky Sesame Cauliflower
Sticky Lemon Cauliflower
Ingredients
- 1/2 large head cauliflower
- 1/4 cup milk of choice
- 1/4 cup fine cornmeal or flour
- 1-2 tsp oil
- 1/2 cup panko breadcrumbs, regular or gf
- 1/4 cup vegetable broth
- 1 1/2 tbsp lemon juice
- 2 1/2 tbsp pure maple syrup, honey, or agave
- 1 tbsp rice vinegar or apple cider vinegar
- 1 tsp minced garlic
- 1/8 tsp salt
- 1/8 tsp powdered ginger
- 2 tsp cornstarch or arrowroot
- lemon zest, optional for garnish
Instructions
- Finely crush breadcrumbs, either in a blender (easiest method) or by placing them in a bag and crushing with a rolling pin or heavy object. Preheat oven to 425 F. Cut cauliflower into florets. Whisk milk, cornmeal, and oil, then toss with the cauliflower in a large ziploc. Put the cauliflower in a colander to drain off excess batter. Toss with the breadcrumbs. Arrange in one layer on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Bake 35-40 minutes. Meanwhile, make the lemon sauce by whisking together all remaining ingredients except cornstarch. Then quickly whisk in cornstarch. Turn heat to medium. Stir frequently – it thickens pretty quickly. Remove cauliflower from oven and stir into the sauce. (If you wish to omit the oil, feel free to experiment. I have not tried and so can’t say how it would affect taste/texture.)View Nutrition Facts
Notes
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Loving all of your cauliflower recipe – my favorite veg! Made your cauliflower bacon last night and it was incredible 🙂 Can’t wait to try this as well.
xo,
Em
http://www.organicallyemily.com
Can’t wait to try this! I just picked up some cauliflower yesterday so the timing is perfect! When I first started making sweet and sour tofu the sauce was way too sweet. It was delicious, I loved it. But All the sugar made me feel sick. We’ve since toned it down quite a bit, and it’s still a favorite.
this sounds incredible!!!! what an awesome idea – i’ve never thought to make cauliflower with citrus flavors. pretty sure i have all of these ingredients in my cupboard right now and am hoping to make this for dinner sometime this weekend!! thanks for sharing 🙂
The homepage is showing a pic of the coconut bounty bars…
It’s doing that for me, too. Weird.
Sorted now 🙂
Sorry about that. It was pulling the wrong image. Computers are strange.
I am a sucker for new vegan recipes especially new ones. I am loving this recipe sounds so good and healthy, I cant wait to try this one, something that looks easy since starting a healthy way of eating along with exercise. Will definitely check out more!!
Looks so yummy! Definitely will try this with tempeh, tofu, chickpeas, your cauliflower, and any other roasted vegetable I can get my hands on!
This looks so delicious!
Paige
Can attest to this recipe’s gloriousness. So so good! Did not have any vegetable broth so I subbed in water + soy sauce and then omitted the salt. Served it with sticky white rice. Amazing stuff! Thanks for sharing another fantastic recipe!
this did not become a batter at all, nothing stuck to the cauliflower. Mixing milk, corn meal, oil & bread crumbs turned into a blob.
Just making this for the first time and same. I added an extra splash of milk (maybe 1/8 c more) and shook the heck out of it in the bag, the cauliflower did coat. It’s in the oven now.
The same thing happened to me, but I just added extra cornmeal and sprinkled extra breadcrumbs on top instead of just rolling the cauliflower in them.
Same here! Breadcrumbs would not stick. In oven now but most of the breadcrumbs are sitting around the cauliflower florets. :-/
Seeing this recipe caused me to deviate from part of my weekly meal plan to go grab some cauliflower and try this out. I just made it and it is OUTSTANDING! The sauce is amazing and I also love the crispy cauliflower method without frying or too much oil. Thanks so much for this recipe!