Crispy baked cauliflower pieces are coated in an orange sauce. It’s like orange chicken but with cauliflower instead!
Yes, I’m still making cauliflower recipes. I really love cauliflower-izing everything. I’ve made several variations on orange chicken in the past, but this is my first time replacing the chicken with cauliflower.
The addicting sauce, as you can imagine, works wonderfully with the crispy baked golden cauliflower pieces that are first coated in panko bread crumbs.
Love love how this turned out and hope you will too!
If you love orange sauce, check out my other orange chicken variations. You can also check out my cauliflower recipe collection.
Baked Orange Cauliflower
Ingredients
- 1/2 head of cauliflower cut into bite-sized florets
- 2 cups panko breadcrumbs Kikkoman brand preferred for even baking
- 2 large eggs whisked
For the Sauce
- 2 tbsp water
- 1/4 cup + 2 tbsp orange juice
- 1/4 cup granulated white sugar
- 2 1/2 tbsp vinegar
- 1/8 cup low-sodium soy sauce
- 1 clove garlic minced
- 1/4 tsp ginger minced
- 1 tsp sriracha if you find this to be too much spice, you can replace half of it with ketchup to get the orange color without affecting flavor too much
- 1 tsp ketchup
- 2 tsp cornstarch + 2 tbsp water
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400°F. Set aside whisked egg in a small mixing bowl. Add about 1/2 cup of panko breadcrumbs into a Ziploc bag. Line an extra-large baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Dip cauliflower in egg mixture and then shake a few times so that excess egg drips off. You don't want to dampen your breadcrumbs with excess egg because then they won't stick to the cauliflower. Set aside dipped cauliflower on a cutting board or plate, so that more excess egg has a chance to drip off. Repeat with remaining cauliflower.
- Take an egg dipped cauliflower and place into a bag of breadcrumbs. Seal and shake a few times until it is completely covered in breadcrumbs. Remove and place onto baking sheet. Repeat with remaining cauliflower, adding an additional 1/2 cup of breadcrumbs to the bag whenever you run out. You can do a few cauliflower at a time, but I don't recommend more than 3-4 because your cauliflower won't be as well covered in breadcrumbs.
- Bake for about 15-20 minutes or until coating is a dark golden brown and crunchy.
- While the cauliflower is baking, make the sauce. Using a small saucepan, add all ingredients listed except the last set (1 tbsp water + 2 tsp cornstarch). Bring sauce to a low boil, stirring constantly. In a small bowl, completely dissolve cornstarch in water, then add to the mixture. Stir until sauce boils again and cook until sauce thickens. Drizzle sauce over cauliflower. Add fresh chopped scallions if desired.
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.
Made this for dinner tonight and followed the recipe exactly – it was FANTASTIC! Thank you so much. My husband raved about it. I will be definitely be making again, especially the sauce, it was the best orange sauce ever! Xo
that’s so great to hear!! so glad you guys enjoyed it!
My hubby and I made this for dinner tonight. Oh. My. This is outstanding! I love cauliflower, and the photos drew me right in. Soo delicious! This is going into the Definitely Make it On a Regular Basis file! Thank you!
yay!! I’m so glad to hear that!
Just made this! It is so good! I did not add the Sriracha. Thanks for such a delicious recipe!
so glad you liked it! I add sriracha because I like having that little bit of spicy kick and it also makes the sauce more orange, but of course you can definitely leave it out!
Panko really works with so many vegetables. It offers a great crunch. This orange cauliflower is on my list of recipes to try this week. Thanks for sharing!
I love working with panko!
Do you think I could substitute a Splenda type sugar blend in place of the white sugar? I would love to make this for mom and dad, but they are both diabetic now. The caretaking roles have reversed and cooking has been a challenge, but I can see this as being a favorite if I could lessen the sugar content.
Thank you.
I haven’t tried with a Splenda type sugar but I think it should work
I’m adding this to my meatless meals plan- any recommendations for sides??
You can check out my appetizers/side recipe index =): https://kirbiecravings.com/category/recipes/recipes-side-dishes
Just finished having this wonderful entree. The only change I made was to grate fresh ginger in the sauce – and a bit heavy handed. Over the top good. You rock! Thank you.
love the idea of adding fresh ginger!
i was wondering if anyone knew the nutritional value per serving of this dish.
calorie count and my fitness pal both have an option to allow you to input a new recipe and it’ll give you the nutritional information
Thanks love for a amaze ballzzzzz recipe. It’s going in the will make again file for recipes that I love and tried and would try again. It’s hard to make it to that file. So thanks again for the Yummers dinner. I’m a vegatarian/vegan and I need go to meals like this for me and my 2 kids!!! When there happy I’m happy 😉
The sauce is a keeper. The panko was hard to keep on as mentioned in the recipe. Ended up just sprinkling it on top. Just OK
I’ve been working with different techniques to best keep the panko on. As long as the panko doesn’t get too wet from egg drippings it should stay on nicely. If you look at this post here, I explain the technique I now use. Basically allow the excess egg to drip off before rolling in crumbs and placing crumbs into a ziploc bag. And you can also drizzle on the orange sauce. https://kirbiecravings.com/2016/10/lemon-cauliflower.html I’m actually going to update this recipe post now
I found another cauliflower recipe where it was breaded and I found it stuck a little better. You dipped the cauliflower in flour, then milk, then breadcrumbs. It gets a bit messy but seemed to work better!
Did you actually use orange colored cauliflower?
no the recipe uses regular white cauliflower. it’s called orange cauliflower because it uses an orange sauce like orange chicken
This looks sooooo yummy! My son loves orange chicken, so maybe this dish will tempt him to try cauliflower. For dripping the egg white off, I’m thinking about putting a cookie cooling rack on top of a cutting board (the kind with the groove around the edge). Thanks for tonight’s dinner idea!
i like the cookie cooling rack idea!
What orange juice do you use? Frozen or powder?
I used fresh orange juice
Doubled the hot sauce and added help of an orange peeled zest. Awesome
yes! so glad you liked it. that’s totally something I would do too
This looks amazing! Where it says vinegar- is that just regular white vinegar? Thanks!
yup!
Is it okay if I use rice vinegar?
yes
Thank you !! This is soooo tasty. Thankyou for sharing !! ABSOLUTLEY amazing. Cant wait to eat this with chicken.!!! Yum yum yum
so glad you enjoyed it!
Can I use frozen cauliflower that’s been thawed?
I think that should be fine!
i thought that panko, sugar, OJ, were higher in carbs.. Did you figure out the nutrional info on this recipe? Trying to eat LOW carbs.. thanks!!
this dish is a healthier version of traditional orange chicken because the chicken is not fried. I do not claim that it is lower in carbs. If you need to calculate the nutritional information, please use a website like caloriecount, which allows you to input the ingredients for a new recipe and will calculate the nutrition information
I made this last night for dinner, and it was amazing! I even got my [very picky] boyfriend to try and he ate more than just a couple pieces. In the orange sauce, I substituted the soy sauce for Bragg’s liquid aminos, and the white sugar for coconut sugar… love this orange sauce! Who knew cauliflower could have such a great texture when breaded and baked. Will be making again – thanks for sharing your recipes!
I love reading experiences like this! Thank you so much for taking the time to comment and share your story!
So excited to try this recipe. Have been looking for one to try but everyone else has the frying option…who has time for that? Thanks for the recipe and when I try it out I’ll be sure to report back
i hope you like it!
How many servings is this recipe? 2?
2-3
Amazing!!! Loved it and do did my family. Gonna use the same technique to make buffalo cauliflower.
I’m so glad you enjoyed it!
Anyone make this Vegan? Just wondering if the flax sub egg would work? Does the egg white do anything other than keep the pano on?
This looks delicious and I’ve got to try it. Thank you. I’m always looking for different ways to have veggies.
hope you enjoy!
This is one of the best vegetarian recipes I’ve ever had! I always find that cauliflower needs cooking at a higher temperature than 400 so I cooked mine at 425. It was delicious. Thank you for this amazing recipe.
I’m glad it worked out for you. I haven’t had issues cooking at 400 though
Just made this and added it to my Favorite Recipes board on Pinterest! Followed the recipe and didn’t have trouble with the breadcrumbs. The tip about letting the egg mixture drip was helpful! Thanks for sharing!
Thanks for taking the time to let me know how it turned out. I’m thrilled it worked out so well for you!
I tot is more economical to buy large bags of organic cauliflower. Can you substitute it for fresh in your cauliflower recipes?
I have not tested the recipe with frozen cauliflower. My concern is that frozen cauliflower will contain more water
The first time I made this, it was VERY sweet. Next time, I only included a tablespoon of sugar and then added a little more fresh-squeezed OJ and it was PERFECT. Thanks for the recepie! 😀
I’m glad you were able to adjust to your liking!
What can I substitute for the eggs to make this vegan??
Sorry, I do not know
I used the flax with water substitute and it worked just fine. I am going to try it with the Red Mill egg replacer next. I believe it should work just fine also.
thanks for sharing!
I whipped up a “syrup” of coconut milk and flour to the consistency of egg whites and acting like I knew what I was doing.
My vegan daughter loved it!
sounds delicious!
Thanks so much for sharing! Definitely a new favorite of mine! I love Asian food and the flavors but am not a fan of meat so this is perfect!
I’m so glad you liked it!
Very good recipe! My husband and 7 year old liked it. I used 1/3 of the sriracha and used fresh squeezed oj, dried ginger, and I tripled the sauce recipe. The cauliflower baked for 30 minutes and was perfect. Our bite size pieces were small as well. Will definitely make again.
So glad you and your family enjoyed this recipe!
Thank you so much for this great recipe. I followed it exactly and it turned out wonderful.
I’m so glad you enjoyed it!
I would love to make this for an upcoming potluck. Any idea on how well it holds up if made ahead of time (ie. made a few hours before eating), or warmed up?
This dish is best served right away because the crispy coating around the cauliflower will soften after the sauce is poured on. You could try making the dish without coating the cauliflower in panko and that would hold up better for a potluck
I made this for dinner tonight and OH. MY. GOODNESS. It was amazingly delicious. I can’t wait to make it again. I will definitely be checking out your other recipes. Thank you for sharing!
I’m so glad you enjoyed it!
I have regular white vinegar and rice wine vinegar from other asian recipes I’ve made. Does it make a difference as to which one I use?
Yes it does make a difference because they have different levels of acidity. This recipe uses regular white vinegar. If it’s anything beyond the common version of the ingredient, I will specify in the recipe.
I’ve made this twice now and it is excellent – comparable to good restaurant orange sauce. The only tweaks I made were to sub flax eggs for the eggs, and I only used 3 tbsp sugar as the 1/4 cup was a little too sweet for me. I also used tapioca starch instead of cornstarch because it’s what I had on hand. It’s a keeper for sure!
I’m so glad you enjoy the recipe!
Loved this! I made it with clementine juice since that is what I had and added fine clementine zest to the sauce. Since I am a vegan I used flax seed instead of egg and it worked wonderfully. Served over brown rice with a side of sauteed swiss chard and roasted green beans. Beans, chard and cauliflower were all fresh from the garden and it was superb! Thanks for the recipe.
Your meal sounds delicious!
This was AMAZING. I am a vegetarian but my husband and son are not. I think this recipe maybe have won them over. Seriously, it was amazing how close the texture was to chicken.
I’m so glad you and your family enjoyed the recipe so much!
Even beef-eaters will love this.
glad you enjoyed!
This looks so delicious and I can’t wait to try and make it this week for dinner! Could you please clarify though what kind of vinegar are we suppose to use? Thank you!
standard table vinegar works just fine.
This recipe is soooo f***ing good. I don’t ever leave reviews on recipes mostly because I’m lazy but, here I am taking the time to let everyone reading this recipe know how damn good it is. I absolutely loved everything about it. I made it with some white rice and it was so damn tasty. Thank u so much for this!!!
I really appreciate you taking the time to leave this review. I’m so glad you enjoyed the recipe!
So delicious!!! Pairs good with Jasmin rice and brocolli.
I’m so glad you like it!
Good recipe! Only issue was the sauce was way to sweet – I would cut the sugar by half or more. Also added way more sriracha. Otherwise delicious. Will definitely make again with the modifications.
In my experience, orange sauce is usually pretty sweet but of course you can adjust for your own personal preference
Just made this and it is AMAZING. It’s taking everything in me not to consume every single bit of it right now, tonight, by myself. I served it over brown rice and topped it with some sesame seeds and green onion. Will most definitely make again. Thanks for a fantastic recipe!
I’m so glad you enjoyed!
We found the sauce overly sweet with the need for more vinegar to balance and enhance the sour taste. The cauliflower did not brown and crisp in time the recipe called for in oven, so sprayed with oil after 20 minutes and cooked for 15 minutes longer. Next time, I will make adjustments as stated above and I would sprinkle with toasted sesame seeds.
thank you for sharing your experience