Parmesan Cauliflower Bites
Crisp, crunchy cauliflower bites that even the pickiest of eaters will love – perfect as an appetizer or after school snack!
When it comes to snacking, I’ll munch on anything – donuts, chips, almonds, cookies – you name it. And since I work from home and snack for pretty much every minute of every day, I just had to find a way to sneak in some veggie snacking, like these cauliflower bites.
Now I’m all for veggies but I can’t just snack on raw cauliflower. I could, but I’d really rather not. So instead, I did something bad. Like really, really, really bad.
I tossed them in a light Parmesan coating and deep fried them to absolute crisp perfection. And then I dipped them in Ranch. And then I devoured every last one of them. Seriously, even the pickiest of eaters will want to lick the plate clean!
At least I’m getting my daily serving of vegetables with these, right?
Parmesan Cauliflower Bites
Ingredients
- ½ cup vegetable oil
- 1 cup Panko*
- ¼ cup freshly grated Parmesan
- 1 tablespoon Emeril's Essence Creole Seasoning
- 4 cups cauliflower florets
- ½ cup all-purpose flour
- 2 large eggs, beaten
Instructions
- Heat vegetable oil in a large skillet over medium high heat.
- In a large bowl, combine Panko, Parmesan and Emeril’s Essence; set aside.
- Working in batches, dredge cauliflower in flour, dip into eggs, then dredge in Panko mixture, pressing to coat.
- Add cauliflower to the skillet, 5 or 6 at a time, and cook until evenly golden and crispy, about 2-3 minutes. Transfer to a paper towel-lined plate.
- Serve immediately.
Notes
Did you make this recipe?
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I am making these right now. I absolutely love them! My only concern is how salty they are. I’m not sure if it’s just the ingredients I used, but they’re good!
The Parmesan cheese has a bit of salty kick to these. But if you prefer a less salty taste, I recommend reducing the amount of Parmesan.
Oh, that’s so yummy!!! I can’t wait to try it.
Happy New Year!!!
Is the Emeril seasoning anything like “Old Bay?”
Yes, they are a little similar to one another.
Thanks! This is going to make a great football-watching snack on Thanksgiving! Thanks for the great recipe and answering my question.
I just tried this – frying it, it turns out really tasty, but have to be careful about the size of the cauliflower, but when I baked it at 400 for even 20 min the seasonings and cheese turned black and burnt – could be my oven, but tried again at 350 for 15 min and still turning black 😛
Correction – 350 for 35 min seemed to cook the cauliflower through, It is a bit burnt, but it tastes ok.. wondering if anyone has tried a lower heat to cook through ?
what could I use instead of eggs?
Unfortunately, without further recipe testing, I cannot advise an appropriate substitute that will not alter the overall taste/texture of the dish. It is always best to use the ingredients listed in the recipe to obtain the best results possible.
The cheese mixture completely fell off as it cooked…any suggestions?
Holly, did you follow the recipe exactly as written using flour, eggs, and the Panko mixture? If you followed all 3 steps, nothing should be falling off!
This might be a stupid question but what is Panko?? Could be that I might know it under a different name thanks
Millie
Please refer to the NOTES section at the bottom of the recipe.
Thank you for sharing 🙂 I love it #Vegilover haha
I’m going to see if I can make a gluten-free version of these. They look awesome!
They have delicious “panko” crumbs that are gf and obviously, gluten free flour (like King Arthur) would be delicious I’m sure! Good luck. Eating gluten free has its challenges, I know.
What else can you substitute Emeril’s Creole seasoning Or, Old Bay seasoning in place of, if you don’t have either?
Jo, it is best to use either of these two ingredients to obtain the best results possibles. You can certainly substitute something else but I cannot speak for how much this will change the overall taste/texture of the dish as further recipe testing is needed.
Do you think whole wheat flour would work?
You can certainly substitute whole wheat flour but I cannot speak for how much this will change the overall taste/texture of the dish as further recipe testing is needed. It is always best to use the ingredients listed in the recipe to obtain the best results possible.
Currently scarfing these down for lunch. OMG. I Love breaded cauli and it is so hard to find already prepared. I can stop looking now. This is going to be made often in my house. YUM Thank you so much for the recipe. 🙂 BTW, I don’t use Emeril’s seasoning. I make my own cajun mix, and it must have less salt than Emeril’s as I thought they needed a sprinkle of salt out of the oil. Just FYI if you sub something for Emeril’s. <3
What could I use as a sub for seasoning if I can’t find Emeril’s?
Old Bay seasoning would be a great substitute.
McCormick’s Monterey Steak Seasoning works on EVERYTHING.
Thank you – nice recipe.
Don’t know if this is a dumb question but is the cauliflower raw or cooked when you bread it? I feel like it would take longer to fry raw cauliflower but I’ve never done it so not sure…can’t wait to try this!
Marie, you would begin with uncooked cauliflower.
Just made these, so good! I skipped frying and instead baked on my Silpat for 25 min at 425. I also used my nutribullet to blend the panko and parmesean cheese. This gave me a finer crumb/cheese mixture which stuck better (the last time I tried something with panko and parmesean as coating, it didn’t stick, so I was attempting a fix). I also used egg beaters b/c it’s what I had.
They were fantastic!! I just wish I’d had some ranch. I can see this will become a staple at home b/c it’s quick, easy and fills my junkfood french fry craving. Thanks!
Sounds delish, except for the frying part. I think I’ll try oven “frying”. It works beautifully for eggplant.
I’m a newlywed wife and even though I have years of cooking experience, my husband and I definitely don’t eat enough veggies. We have all the other food groups…both of us love fruit…but unless mashed potatoes counts as a veggie, we are severely slacking on the vegetable group. But the deep fryer is our most used kitchen appliance 🙂 So I made these to go with dinner! I think they’re delicious (I was snacking while I fried!) and we’ll see what he thinks!
Sinfully delicious – that’s what comes to mind after reading your post about doing something bad and making these little gems! Love this recipe, Chung-Ah! 🙂
The perfect snack! Plus, it’s cauliflower, so it’s healthy right??!