Orange Cauliflower Bowls
Everyone’s favorite orange chicken made with cauliflower instead! But you won’t miss the chicken at all with this heavenly sauce!
Guys.
I just experienced -18 windchill here in Chicago. And it is cold. No, wait. That’s an understatement.
I did walk a mile to a workout class in this weather, which probably wasn’t the smartest move. But hey, I’m learning to be a Chicagoean.
Now I may not know what’s best in this weather but I do know what’s best here, and that’s swapping out the chicken for cauliflower in everyone’s favorite, most popular takeout dish.
And to be honest, I love this so much more than the chicken version. It’s crunchy, it’s crispy, and it’s smothered in the best orange sauce of your life. You won’t be missing the chicken here at. all.
I pinkie-promise.
Orange Cauliflower Bowls
Ingredients
- 1 cup basmati rice
- 3 cups vegetable oil
- 1 ¼ cup cornstarch
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 large egg, beaten
- ½ cup lager or pilsner beer
- 1 head cauliflower, cut into florets
- 2 green onions, thinly sliced
- 2 teaspoons toasted sesame seeds
For the sauce
- ½ cup chicken stock
- ¼ cup freshly squeezed orange juice
- 3 tablespoons sugar
- 3 tablespoons rice wine vinegar
- 2 tablespoons reduced sodium soy sauce
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 teaspoons orange zest
- 2 teaspoons Sriracha, or more, to taste
- ¼ teaspoon ground ginger
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch
Instructions
- In a large saucepan of 2 cups water, cook rice according to package instructions; set aside.
- Heat vegetable oil in a large stockpot or Dutch oven over medium high heat until temperature reaches 375 degrees F.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together cornstarch, baking powder, salt, egg and beer.
- Working in batches, dip cauliflower into cornstarch mixture, allowing excess to drip off.
- Add cauliflower to the Dutch oven, 5 or 6 at a time, and cook until evenly golden and crispy, about 3-4 minutes. Transfer to a paper towel-lined plate.
- In a large saucepan over medium low heat, combine chicken stock, orange juice, sugar, vinegar, soy sauce, garlic, orange zest, Sriracha, ginger and cornstarch. Bring to a boil; reduce heat and simmer, stirring constantly, until slightly thickened, about 2-3 minutes. Stir in cauliflower.
- Serve immediately with rice, garnished with green onions and sesame seeds, if desired.
Did you make this recipe?
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Wow! Delicious! Family loved this and is asking when we can have it again.
I must agree with other comments, that the concoction of corn starch, egg and beer is way off. I ended up with a crumbles. I added water, then a bit more beer, stir, water… I stopped at what I thought the consistency should be. It worked in the end but may look for another recipe to coat cauliflower with.
Looking for nutritional info. Did I miss it? Specifically calories per serving.
So good! Have made this several times and it’s always a hit. Could these be frozen separately from the sauce? How would I heat them back up if so?
Very tasty sauce! I didn’t fry correctly, as I mistakenly used less oil. But still very tasty. Â I will have to make again and fry correctly, but it was delicious, as is. Maybe it would have been a little crunchier. We’ll see. Â Thank you.Â
I thought the flavor of this dish was amazing! i have made multiple orange chicken recipes and I thought this sauce was the best. My only complaint is that my cauliflower immediately stopped being crispy once I put it in the sauceÂ
Excellent recipe, thank you, i added some sliced radish as i had a glut of them in the garden. extra ginger and a little bit of chilli- because I like the heat. will definitely be doing versions of this again. thanks.
Made this tonight. Absolutely amazing. I will definitely make again.
I thought this recipe was going to be way more complicated than it actually turned out being! I make the cauliflower in the air fryer now to simplify things a bit, but this is great! Also, the sauce has become a staple recipe in our house that we put on everything!
Loved it, second recipe I’ve made from your collection this week, and both were excellent.
THANK YOU!!!
Hi Josh, thanks so much. We hope you continue to find Damn Delicious recipes you love! 🙂
Made this tonight and it was great. Agree that I needed more liquid used beer to thin the batter. Also used small amount peanut oil in addition to oil. after frying I put pieces on cookie rack with paper towel underneath to catch drippings. Finished frying all pieces. Plated them then drizzled with sauce. Stayed crunchy that way. Husband like this alot! Will remake, thanks.
This was amazing. My very carnivore husband even loved it. Thanks!
Loved this!!!
The sauce is fantastic. I really thought I’d miss the chicken, but I actually prefer the cauliflower. As a few people pointed out, I needed more time to cook everything (about double). I’m not used to frying things, so I suspect my inexperience didn’t help. This is definitely going into the regular rotation.
This really was fantastic. The only thing I changed was less sriracha for me. Easy and delicious.
Which brand of rice wine vinegar do you use?
This sounds delicious! Â Is there any substitute to frying in the oil? Â
I am super excited to make this for my vegetarian friends! Do you think instead of frying the cauliflower in oil that I could instead do it in my hot air fryer? Thanks so much!!
I tried tonight with my Air Fryer. I used 350 degrees for about 15 min. I had to do multiple batches and used a toaster oven to keep things warm and crisp. It was definitely time consuming and not super crispy, but it fit my needs better than frying in oil. Overall, it was an A++ in my book and my husband’s (who told me to put a big star next to this recipe to use again!).Â
Chungah, making this tomorrow, can’t wait!  I will let u know how it comes out!  Love your recipes, you are my go to chef for simple deliciousness recipes!!!
Not a huge fan of cauliflower so I almost passed up this recipe but decided to make it this evening. It was delicious! Since I am cooking for only two I decided to halve the items listed under ‘Ingredients’ with the exception of the rice and the one egg. For the sauce, I used the measurements as shown in the recipe. I am glad that I did not halve the sauce ingredients because it doesn’t make a lot. In fact, if I were making this for 4 people I would double the ingredients for the sauce. It was that good! Following someone’s recommendation in an earlier review, I substituted apple juice for the lager or pilsner beer. Will definitely make this dish again!
We’re so glad you gave it a try, Nancy!
I was a little skeptical, but this did not disappoint! The sauce is delicious and you can’t tell you are eating cauliflower. I didn’t have beer so I used chicken stock and some water in the batter instead. I did have to use more liquid to thin out all the cornstarch than recommenced though. I would definitely make this again — first timers, give yourself more than thirty minutes!Â
We’re so glad to hear that you enjoyed this so much, Danielle!
Can this be made into a meal prep kit?
Kate, you can certainly give it a try but I find that this is best when served immediately.
Absolutely delicious!!!
This recepie honestly rivals anything you can get from take out!
For those other non-chef types like myself, the time needed for prep and cooking should be doubled. This does not take 20 minutes to prep & 10 minutes.
This came out great! I added in a little sesame oil for my sesame-loving husband and replaced the chicken stock with vegetable stock to make it fully vegetarian. I did find that I had to use a lot more beer than was listed in the batter though – 1 and 1/4 cup corn starch seemed like a lot, and it was more like a clumpy paste with 1/2 cup lager. But it came out great with 2.5x the beer. Other than that, delicious! I will definitely be making crispy cauliflower again.
This was amazing! Made last night and now I never want to order take-out/only want to eat this forever! I ended up doubling the sauce just because I had a really big head of cauliflower….and also because there’s no such thing as too much sauce right? Currently counting down the minutes until lunchtime. 🙂
We love it! Thanks for sharing! 🙂
Just made this for dinner – and it’s Damn Delicious!
I dusted off the deep fryer for this one, as it’s been on the shelf for a few years. I followed the recipe exactly using 2 teaspoons of Sriracha in the sauce. Chungah is right in saying it’s crunchy, crispy, and smothered in the best orange sauce I’ve had in my life! The cauliflower definitely beats chicken in this recipe.
Thanks for the recipe!
Awesome! Thanks, Jimmy!
You are perfectly creativeÂ
Thanks for sharingÂ
ClaudineÂ
Looks delicious! I’m definitely going to make this! Just a question-  can I substitute the beer with anything else?Â
Love your recipes.. and of course Butters!
Hi Ashley! You can either just omit the beer or replace with chicken stock or even apple juice. However, we haven’t tried doing that ourselves so as always, please use your best judgement when making substitutions or modifications. Hope that helps!
I love these bowls, such a perfect Monday night dinner idea!
Thank you, Laura!
6 c. Cooking oil seems like a lot. Is this correct???
You are right, SueD. It’s actually 3 cups vegetable oil. 🙂
I’ll have to try this, not a real fan of cauliflower, but then you never know this may turn me around. :~D