Crunchy baked pieces of cauliflower make a fun snack, side dish, or mini-meal. This is a healthier version of popcorn chicken that still tastes delicious.
I’ve been wanting to make popcorn cauliflower for a while now, but it took me a few attempts to get me to this recipe. My first thought was to coat the cauliflower in batter and then fry it, but then it would be as unhealthy as the original. So then I started working on various baked versions. And after a few trials, I’m excited to share this version.
To get the cauliflower bites to stay crunchy, I used crushed pretzels. I chose honey mustard flavor. You can use other flavors like buffalo or parmesan. What’s great about using flavored pretzels is that it adds bold flavor to your cauliflower too.
These were simple and easy to make. I really loved how they came out!
You might like to try my buffalo cauliflower, too!
Popcorn Cauliflower
Ingredients
- 1 small head cauliflower cut into bite sized pieces
- 2 cups flavored pretzel pieces I used honey mustard flavor
- 2 large eggs whisked
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400°F. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Pulse pretzels in food processor until they become small crumbs.
- Pour about 1/3 of the pretzel crumbs into a Ziploc bag. Dip and coat a few cauliflower pieces in egg. Tap off excess egg (this will prevent your pretzel coating from getting too wet; if it gets too wet it will be harder for it to stick to cauliflower) and then place cauliflower pieces into ziploc bag with the pretzel crumbs. Seal bag and shake a few times until cauliflower pieces are completely coated in pretzel. Place coated pieces onto baking sheet. Repeat with remaining cauliflower, adding more pretzel coating to the bag when needed.
- Bake cauliflower for about 15 minutes, until outer coating is crunchy and cauliflower is cooked. Serve warm with dipping sauces of your choice.
Nutrition
The nutrition information provided are only estimates based on an online nutritional calculator. I am not a certified nutritionist. Please consult a professional nutritionist or doctor for accurate information and any dietary restrictions and concerns you may have.
Yum, these sound great! I’ll have to try them. I love making appetizers- it’s so much fun to have all these different bite-sized foods. These would go great with the Curtido and Bacon Deviled Eggs I’m making this weekend!
hope you like them!