Spicy Korean baked cauliflower is a crispy, crunchy, tasty cauliflower recipe you will love! This spicy Korean baked cauliflower recipe is so easy to make; crispy on the outside and soft on the inside!
I love Korean food, and this spicy Korean cauliflower is one of my favorite recipes. The secret is in the sauce. This spicy Korean cauliflower recipe is a copycat recipe from one of my favorite Korean restaurants, Bim Bam, in Novi, Michigan.
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Like most homemade foods, baked cauliflower is easy to make, either baked or air fried. Also, making homemade sauce keeps all the ingredients free of additives and preservatives. In other words, homemade is better!
Korean Cauliflower Ingredients
- Cauliflower Florets: Choose a large head of cauliflower and cut it into florets.
- Unsweetened, Unflavored Plant Milk: I used oat milk.
- Flour: I used chickpea flour.
- Nutritional Yeast: Nutritional yeast is used as part of the breading.
- Cayenne Pepper: Cayenne pepper provides a little heat to the breading.
- Korean Gochujang Sauce: This is Korean chili paste; make sure the kind you buy is vegan, without fish sauce.
- Low-Sodium Soy Sauce: I chose low-sodium soy sauce because of the other sodium in the ingredients.
- Pure Maple Syrup: Maple syrup is used as a sweeter without refined sugar.
- Sea Salt: Sea salt enhances the flavors in the breading and sauce.
- Sriracha: Sriracha is another added level of spiciness added to the sauce.
- Water: The water is used to thin the sauce, and more water is used for cooking the quinoa.
- Quinoa: I used red quinoa.
- Sprouts: The sprouts are used as a garnish.
But first, my go-to flour for Korean Baked Cauliflower is chickpea flour. I prefer chickpea flour for most recipes because of its texture and versatility.
Additionally, I add nutritional yeast to my batter for a cheesy flavor and a thickening agent. If, for some reason, your batter is too thick, add a little water to thin it out. Remember, it should be the consistency of pancake batter.
Korean Cauliflower Ingredient Substitutions
- Instead of cauliflower, try broccoli.
- For this version of Korean Cauliflower, I chose gluten-free flour. This is because most recipes that call for flour can be made with gluten-free flour. Or choose any flour.
- Use any unsweetened, unflavored plant milk.
- Soy sauce or miso paste replaces nutritional yeast in recipes; however, if using one of these substitutions, combine it with the plant milk rather than adding it to the dry ingredients.
- Chili bean paste or Sriracha are excellent substitutes for Korean Gochujang sauce.
- Choose agave instead of maple syrup.
- White or multi-colored quinoa is an option instead of red quinoa.
How to Make Spicy Korean Baked Cauliflower
- First, blend plant milk, flour, nutritional yeast and cayenne pepper in a blender.
- Pour the mixture into a bowl.
- Dip each cauliflower floret in the batter and place on a silicone-lined baking sheet (or parchment paper) onto a baking sheet a few inches apart.
- Bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes.
- In the meantime, make the Korean sauce.
- Cook the quinoa according to the direction.
- Whisk all the sauce ingredients together.
- Remove the cauliflower from the oven, and let it cool to the touch.
- Next, dip each cooled piece of battered, cooked cauliflower in the sauce, put each piece back onto the baking sheet, and cook for an additional 10 minutes.
- Serve on cooked quinoa and sprinkle the sprouts.
Other Serving Options
- Serve with jalapenos slices and green onions and squeeze with lime juice.
- Instead of quinoa, serve with brown rice and add roasted vegetables such as carrots, broccoli, and onions.
- Make this a fabulous wrap sandwich using lavash bread and delicious yum-yum sauce.
- Add Spicy Korean baked cauliflower on top of Asian coleslaw.
Recipe FAQs
It is 100% vegan and made with rice flour, which is also gluten-free. The only thing that is not vegan with this dish is the ranch dressing which I usually tell them to hold. It's a great alternative for going out with people who like to eat at the cheesecake factory.
Nearly every Korean restaurant will have a selection of vegan-friendly dishes. Look for choices like vegetable soon dubu chigae (tofu stew), tofu mandu (dumplings), and bibimbap (rice with a bunch of cooked veggies thrown on top).
Cauliflower is a dietary superfood filled with vitamins, minerals, and other beneficial molecules despite its pale-colored appearance.
Tips
- Making the batter ahead of time and refrigeration helps it to thicken.
- Always preheat the oven before baking.
- Use parchment paper or a silicone baking mat to keep the battered cauliflower from sticking to the pan.
- Be sure to keep the cauliflower florets similar sizes so the cauliflower cooks evenly.
- When dipping the cauliflower in the batter, shake any excess batter off to prevent too much extra batter on the pan.
- Make the sauce and the quinoa while the cauliflower cooks for the first time.
- Cover the quinoa to keep it warm while preparing the other ingredients.
Add the extra Korean chili paste as instructed if you like it spicy. As a side note, you can always add more spice. But you cannot take it away. So, spice it up slowly.
Try more Delicious Vegan Entrees
If you love this spicy Korean baked cauliflower recipe, give us a 5-star review and comment below. We would love to hear from you.
📖 Recipe
Spicy Korean Baked Cauliflower
Ingredients
Cauliflower
- 1 head cauliflower large stalks removed, cut into bite-size florets
Batter
- 2 cups unsweetened, unflavored plant milk
- 2 cups flour or gluten-free flour of choice
- ¼ cup nutritional yeast
- 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
Sauce
- ½ cup Korean Gochujang Sauce Korean chili paste; make sure the kind you buy os vegan, without fish sauce
- ¼ cup low sodium soy sauce or Tamari
- 1 Tablespoon pure maple syrup
- 1 pinch sea salt
- 1 Tablespoon Sriracha
- 2 Tablespoon Water
Quinoa:
- 1 cup red quinoa
- 2 cups water
Garnish
- ¼ cup sprouts
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
- Line one large pan with parchment paper or a Silicone Baking Mat.
Batter
- Add the flour, nutritional yeast, cayenne pepper, and plant milk and blend until smooth.
- Transfer the mixture to a bowl.
Dipping/Dreading
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
- Prepare a baking sheet with a silicon baking mat or parchment paper.
- Dip each floret in the batter, shake off any excess batter, and place each floret on the prepared baking sheet one-half inch apart.
- Bake for 20 minutes in a 400-degree oven.
- Remove from the oven.
Quinoa
- In a medium saucepan, place one cup of red quinoa and 2 cups of water
- Add a little salt
- Bring to a boil
- Cover, and cook for 15 minutes
- Remove from heat covered; fluff with a fork.
- Cover until ready to use.
Sauce
- In the meantime, prepare the sauce.
- Add all the sauce ingredients and whisk together using a separate bowl.
- Remove cauliflower from the baking pan, and add to the bowl with sauce.
- Toss baked battered cauliflower in the sauce.
- Return to baking pan.
- Cook an additional 10 minutes
- Remove from the oven.
Serving
- Place a thin layer of quinoa across the bottom of the plate.
- Place cauliflower on top of quinoa.
- Sprinkle with sprouts and serve.
Notes
- Making the batter ahead of time and refrigeration helps it to thicken.
- Always preheat the oven before baking.
- Use parchment paper or a silicone baking mat to keep the battered cauliflower from sticking to the pan.
- Be sure to keep the cauliflower florets similar sizes so the cauliflower cooks evenly.
- When dipping the cauliflower in the batter, shake any excess batter off to prevent too much excess batter on the pan.
- Make the sauce and the quinoa while the cauliflower cooks for the first time.
- Cover the quinoa to keep it warm while preparing the other ingredients.
Nutrition
Hi! My name is Kathy, I am a retired high school English teacher & vegan enthusiast and blogger. My entire blog is fully plant-based vegan. I truly believe what we eat & how we live determines our health & the preservation of our planet! 🙂
Joan
This sounds absolutely amazing! We use Gochujang a fair bit with tofu and in noodle bowls. We make a cauliflower Buffalo Wing recipe that my husband makes anytime we have cauliflower. Its one of many veg that we can't get enough of. I will let you know once I give this a try.
Kathy Carmichael
Hi Joan, I love Gochujang too! I can't wait to hear what you think. I look forward to hearing from you.
Kirsten
I just made this and maybe you can help me here... I followed the instructions to a T, but as soon as I put the cauliflower in the sauce, the breading just falls right off! I recently followed a vegan fried zucchini recipe too and the same thing happened. Is there a trick to making the batter stick to the vegetable more and not falling off? Thank you for any tips you can provide!
Kathy Carmichael
Hi Kirsten, I'm sorry you had trouble. The only thing I can think of is that maybe your cauliflower was wet before dipping in the batter. What kind of flour did you use? Was it mixed enough? Let me know, so I can help you so this doesn't happen again.