These crispy cauliflower bites are coated in a low carb and keto friendly breading. They can be fried, baked or cooked in an air fryer. The breading comes out super crispy, just like a traditional flour or breadcrumbs breading.
I’ve been working on trying to find a good low carb keto breading. Many recipes I’ve come across use crushed pork rinds or protein powder, but those versions didn’t really produce the desired result I was looking for. I wanted something that looked and tasted like traditional breading and could be cooked the same way too.
These crispy cauliflower bites are everything I wanted them to be. The breading is super crispy and holds up well. I deep fried them, baked them and also cooked them in my new air fryer. All the versions worked, though my favorite two are deep fried and air fryer.
Low Carb Keto Breading
The low carb keto breading is a mix of almond flour and finely grated parmesan cheese. The breading sticks on fairly well and works like breadcrumbs. They become a deep golden brown when fried.
The parmesan cheese needs to be finely grated until it resembles grains of sand.
I also recommend using superfine blanched almond flour. I recently starting buying Kirkland brand almond flour from Costco. The price is reasonable and the almond flour is superfine and blanched.
When the two are mixed together, the two should be almost indistinguishable because they will roughly be the same color and size.
Egg Wash
Normally when I bread cauliflower or chicken, I follow the traditional method of moistening in egg and then dredging in breadcrumbs. However, for these cauliflower bites I whisked the egg with heavy cream. Egg wash by itself is very thin, but adding the heavy cream creates a thicker egg wash that coats and stays on the cauliflower. If you don’t have heavy cream, buttermilk may also work.
This thicker egg wash really helps to bread the cauliflower because cauliflower has a slippery surface that makes it difficult to bread.
How to Bread Cauliflower
Breading cauliflower is more difficult than breading chicken, but it can definitely be done. I’ve shared many crispy cauliflower recipes over the years which involved breading cauliflower with panko and have learned quite a lot. These tips should help you have beautifully coated pieces of cauliflower.
- My working station consists of a bowl with the breading and a spoon, a medium baking sheet pan lined with parchment paper, a paper towel, and small bowl that contains the egg wash.
- Spoon a small amount of breadcrumbs onto your sheet pan (just enough to cover the bottom of a cauliflower bite).
- Dip a piece of cauliflower in the egg wash. After it is fully coating, shake it a few times, making sure to shake off any excess egg drippings back into the egg bowl before adding it to the breading. The reason for doing this is that you don’t want the egg drippings going into the breading. The moisture will cause the breading to clump and they will no longer stick to the cauliflower.
- Place the cauliflower piece onto the small mound of bread crumbs, applying a little pressure so those breading sticks to the bottom of the cauliflower.
- Wipe your hand that was holding the cauliflower with paper towel so that your hand is also dry before touching the breading.
- Spoon a small amount of breading over the cauliflower and then use your fingers to press the breading onto the cauliflower until it is fully coated. By keeping most of the breading in a separate bowl, it prevents it from getting wet.
- Carefully set the cauliflower aside onto a clean part of your baking sheet.
- Repeat with remaining cauliflower.
Double Breading Tips
During one of my trial runs, I also tested double coating the cauliflower. As expected, the coating is thicker and even crunchier. I loved it! But it also more work, more time and more breading. For me, the single coating was crispy enough but if you want to do double breaded, here are some additional tips.
- Double the amount of egg wash and breading.
- Follow the process I outlined above in How to Bread Cauliflower.
- Once you are done, dip cauliflower pieces in egg wash again and then in breading again.
- Do not do the second coat until you are finished coating all of the cauliflower once.
- The egg wash will get muddled from some of the breading during the second dip which is why it’s better to wait until you’re done with the first coating.
- The wait time will also allow the first coating of breading to soften (you’ll see the crumbs turn yellow as they sit there), making them stick on better so they won’t fall off as much when you dip in the egg the second time.
How to Deep Fry the Cauliflower
To deep fry the cauliflower, pour 1 1/2 inches of cooking oil into a pot. When the oil reaches 350F, add a few pieces of breaded cauliflower. You may need to stir the cauliflower a few times to prevent it from sticking to the bottom of the pan. Cook a few minutes until a deep golden brown. Remove cauliflower with a slotted spoon and place onto a paper towel lined plate. Repeat with remaining cauliflower.
This method of cooking the cauliflower produces super crispy cauliflower with an even golden brown coating. The cauliflower also stays crispy longer than the other methods, so this would be best if you were planning to making this for a party.
All the photos in this post are of the deep fried version.
How to Air Fry the Cauliflower
Spray the fry basket of your air fryer with cooking oil spray to prevent cauliflower from sticking. Place cauliflower in a single layer into basket, spacing them about 1/2 inch apart. You may need to cook the cauliflower in more than one batch.
Spray the surface of the cauliflower before closing your air fryer. Coating the outside in oil will help the breading crisp up and brown.
Set your air fryer to 375F. Cook for about 12 minutes or until crispy.
This method produces cauliflower almost as crispy as the deep fried version. It’s also healthier than deep frying and less messy. The only real downside is that the coating doesn’t brown as evenly. If I’m just making this for myself, I would use this method.
How to Bake the Cauliflower
Preheat your oven to 400F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Place cauliflower pieces on baking sheet in a single layer, spacing about 1/2 inch apart. Spray surface of cauliflower with cooking oil spray. Bake for about 20-25 minutes or until cauliflower coating is crispy.
Crispy Low Carb Keto Cauliflower Bites
Ingredients
- 12 oz cauliflower, cut into bite sized pieces (about 1/2 a large head of cauliflower)
- cooking oil for frying
Egg Wash
- 2 large eggs whisked
- 2 tbsp heavy cream
Breading
- 1 cup superfine blanched almond flour
- 1 cup finely grated parmesan cheese use fresh and not shelf stable kind
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1/4 tsp smoked paprika
- 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper optional if you like a little spice in your breading
Instructions
- In a small bowl, whisk eggs with heavy cream. Set aside.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together almond flour, cheese, garlic powder, smoked paprika and cayenne pepper. Set aside.
- Line a medium baking sheet with parchment paper. Spoon a small amount of breading onto your sheet pan (just enough to cover the bottom of a cauliflower bite).
- Dip a piece of cauliflower in the egg wash. After it is fully coated, shake it a few times, making sure to shake off any excess egg drippings back into the egg bowl before adding it to the breading. The reason for doing this is that you don't want the egg drippings going into the breading. The moisture will cause the breading to clump and they will no longer stick to the cauliflower.
- Place the cauliflower piece onto the small mound of bread crumbs, applying a little pressure so those breading sticks to the bottom of the cauliflower.
- Wipe your hand that was holding the cauliflower so that your hand is also dry before touching the breading. Spoon a small amount of breading over the cauliflower and then use your fingers to press the breading onto the cauliflower until it is fully coated. It is important to keep the breading in a separate bowl, to prevent it from getting wet.
- Carefully set the cauliflower aside onto a clean part of your baking sheet. Repeat with remaining cauliflower.
Deep Fry
- To deep fry the cauliflower, pour 1 1/2 inches of cooking oil into a pot. When the oil reaches 350F, add a few pieces of breaded cauliflower. You may need to stir the cauliflower a few times to prevent it from sticking to the bottom of the pan. Cook a few minutes until a deep golden brown. Remove cauliflower with a slotted spoon and place onto a paper towel lined plate. Repeat with remaining cauliflower.
Air Fry
- Spray the basket of your air fryer with cooking oil spray to prevent cauliflower from sticking. Place cauliflower in a single layer into basket, spacing them about 1/2 inch apart. You may need to split the cauliflower in more than one batch. Spray the surface of the cauliflower before closing your air fryer. Coating the outside in oil will help the breading crisp up and brown. Set your air fryer to 375F. Cook for about 12 minutes or until crispy.
Bake
- Preheat your oven to 400F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Place cauliflower pieces on baking sheet in a single layer, spacing about 1/2 inch apart. Spray surface of cauliflower with cooking oil spray. Bake for about 20-25 minutes or until cauliflower coating is crispy.
Notes
- The finely grated parmesan cheese should be the size of grains of sand.
- You can grate with a cheese grater. Or you can take shredded parmesan cheese and place into a food processor and pulse until it becomes the size of grains of sand.
- I don't recommend using the shelf-stable grated parmesan cheese.
- For an even thicker, crunchier coating, you can double bread the cauliflower. I have provided tips and how to double bread in the post.
- Deep frying the cauliflower will produce an even golden brown coating and the cauliflower will stay crispy longer. The photos in this post are of the deep fried version.
- Air frying is also crispy but the breading will not brown as evenly.
- Baking stays crispy the shortest amount of time and the breading doesn't brown as much.
- Nutritional information does not include oil for frying or cooking oil spray. Nutrition facts assume all of the egg wash and breading is used, but in actuality, you will not use all the breading so the carb count is slightly less.
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.
Tried these today and they were to die for! I fried them and they were super crispy and delicious. The only thing i did differently was add a but of salt to the crumb mixture. Paired it with a lemon mayo dip and it was phenomenal, but was still super delicious on its on. For breading, i was able to easily put the egg wash dipped cauliflower in a bowl of the crumbs and shake it around to coat. It worked perfectly. Thank you for sharing such a great recipe!
We’re so glad you loved it!
What kind of oil did you use to deep fry these?
Avocado oil is great for frying. We also use peanut oil though it’s not as keto-friendly.
Oh! Joy! I’ve looked for a great recipe for Roasted Cauliflower for years. This recipe comes close. I air fried it tonight. The appearance was perfectly golden since I sprayed it with olive oil. In 12 minutes the Cauliflower was tender. Since my husband cannot have peppers, I omitted the paprika and cayenne for him. I included the paprika for my batch. I will add garlic and lemon rind zest next time to boost the flavor.
I’m so glad it worked out well!
I actually put a little of the crumb mix in a separate bowl at a time. Then after dipping the cauliflower in the egg wash and shaking of the excess, I dropped the piece into that bowl and shook it around to coat well. And just added fresh “bread crumbs” as needed. Came out perfect! I also used this crumb mix with mushrooms and pickles. Soooooo, good! Love this recipe.
I’m glad it worked out for you!
We’re the ones in photo above air, deep fried or
baked? Because I want to make those! Thank you.
deep fried
Hi can I make with chicken too?
yes
Whole lot easier to dump all your cauliflower into a large bowl with the egg and cream mixture then throw it in a plastic bag with the breading and shake, shake, shake!
That’s definitely faster, but we find that the breading is not as even and the drying breading gets clumpy.
These are delicious, My son and hubby loved them!
I want to to create this as a new food in my Fitbit app as I am sure I will be making this a lot!
I need to know if the nutrition info is for all 4 servings, or per serving.
( it states that there are 4 servings total for this recipe)
thanks!
Hi, the nutrition info I provide is always for one serving. I’m so glad your husband and son loved them!
Did anyone else try the baked method?
These are insanely good. The type of recipe you that you can’t even tell is low carb.
I love hearing that! So glad you liked it
I made these and thery were great. Thanks for the tip of putting them on baking paper after the egg wash, it helped keep bread dry.
I’m glad the recipe worked out well for you!
Omg! Just made these and I am beyond happy with them! I used the deep fry method. I planned to share them but that didn’t happen as they were too good! Maybe the next time I make them I will share…. maybe.
Lol! Sometimes it’s just too good to share. So glad you enjoyed them!