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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This was great and really simple to make. I highly recommend doubling the batter and sauce, it was so good. Can’t wait to try more of Katie’s cauliflower recipe.
Does no one proofread anything before posting it? Half way through the instructions it say “combine the rest of the ingredients except the corn starch. Add slowly as it thickens quickly. Turn heat to medium”.
Wait, what? So, we’re combining the ingredients in a saucepan on the stove, assumingly on high heat first, because it doesn’t say anything about that in the instructions. Please don’t leave out important details. This is the second recipe of yours that I’ve almost messed up because of instructions that are not very well written.
Thank you so much for the recipe! I’ve made it 5 or 6 times now and it is always a huge hit with my family! Even my picky three-year-olds love it and get excited when they see me making it! Seems like our family will enjoy this recipe for years to come 🙂
I have to hand it to you, Katie. I am not a vegetarian. I avoid cauliflower, I have never really cared for it, especially cooked. I also like Chinese Lemon Chicken… I made this, I had planned on it for several days and procrastinated. I wasn’t sure what to expect, and after it was finally done… (Prep took awhile, I used cauliflower, broccoli and some tofu, also using coconut milk) I made a double batch of the lemon sauce…. I took a small helping and carefully tried it. I can eat this, and enjoy it. Wow. I had a second helping and I will make this again. Thank you.
I tried to make this with gf panko. It did not stay crispy at all after adding the sauce. The sauce is tasty, but next time I’ll stick to my vegan breading mixture of gf oat flour and yeast flakes.
The sauce was delicious . Unfortunately I did not have plain breadcrumbs so I used herb seasoned breadcrumbs on the cauliflower ….NOT recommended. I did make a few without any added breadcrumbs and it actually worked very well.
I made the lemon cauliflower and while fine, it wasn’t great, I thought it was lacking in flavor, maybe some Chinese 5 spice in the panko/bread crumb mix…
This is a delish recipe! I made it with coconut milk and maple syrup!
❤❤
This is to die for!!!
❤😊
I thought this was excellent but needed more sauce. I made a lentil flour based faux rice to eat with it in order to add some more protein. I’m trying to significantly reduce my use of plastic so I simply put the florets and the Coating in a large bowl and mix it around with my hand. Worked out just fine. Also trying to avoid using paper, so I lightly oiled my metal tray. Everything stuck a little bit but not badly and the stuck crispy bits that I got off with my spatula were yummy!