This baked General Tso Cauliflower recipe is easy, healthy, and delicious with hoisin sauce, brown sugar, soy sauce, ginger and garlic!
I love cauliflower.
This is a relatively new love affair.
Just a year ago I would have passed right by the cauliflower at the grocery store, but nowadays it is always on my list.
For the most part, I’ve always been a vegetable lover. Given the choice, I’ll always pick vegetables over fruit!
Over the last few years my veggie choices have gotten a bit exotic. I bring home bok choy, romanesco, Chinese cabbage, kohlrabi, and daikon radish while cruising right past the broccoli, carrots and cauliflower.
It’s truly a tragedy.
At least I can say that I’m finally working cauliflower back into my regular rotation.
I make this zaatar roasted cauliflower for vegan pitas way too often. It’s a good thing that cauliflower is cheap because I go through zaatar and tahini like crazy.
If you’re in need of a good Asian cauliflower recipe, look no further than this General Tso’s Baked Cauliflower!
If this sticky sauce doesn’t turn you into a cauliflower lover, then I don’t know what will.
When I decided that I wanted to make General Tso’s Cauliflower, I knew I wanted to bake the cauliflower rather than fry it.
You might think that this is because I want to keep things healthy, but really it’s because I’m too lazy to fry the cauliflower.
I loathe frying things. I made mejadra for Christmas and had to deep fry EIGHT sliced up onions to go with it. It was traumatic.
I like to serve this with some crisp greens added to the plate right before serving. It adds a little textural variety as well as color.
This time I used fresh bok choy leaves, but you could also use Chinese cabbage or sliced scallions.
I made this to go alongside the Sichuan bok choy tofu stir fry I made, but you could also eat this as a main dish.
I have a feeling that this Chinese cauliflower recipe would be just as delicious in some kung pao or sweet and sour sauce!
How to Make General Tso Cauliflower
Assemble the ingredients, for exact amounts see the recipe card at the bottom of this post.
Preheat the oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit.
Place the cauliflower in a large mixing bowl.
Whisk the canola oil, corn starch, and soy sauce together in a small bowl.
Pour over the top of the cauliflower and toss well to coat.
Transfer the cauliflower to a parchment-lined rimmed baking sheet and roast in the pre-heated oven for 25 to 30 minutes.
Turn the cauliflower once halfway through cooking, until tender and golden.
When the cauliflower is nearly done, prepare the sauce by whisking together all of the sauce ingredients from the soy sauce through the corn starch.
Heat a large skillet or wok over low heat. If you want to get a wok, we recommend this affordable wok from Amazon.
Add the chili peppers and toast for 1 to 2 minutes or until fragrant.
Pour in the sauce and bring to a boil over medium heat to complete this General Tso Sauce recipe.
Add the baked cauliflower and toss well until coated.
Turn off the heat and transfer the cauliflower to a serving dish.
Garnish as desired.
Enjoy!
Here’s the Recipe!
General Tso Cauliflower Recipe
Ingredients
- 4 cups cauliflower florets
- 2 tablespoons canola oil
- 1 tablespoon corn starch
- 1 tablespoon low sodium soy sauce
- 4 to 6 seeded and stemmed dried red chilies
- Garnish: fresh greens - toasted sesame seeds
For the sauce:
- 3 tablespoons low sodium soy sauce
- 2 tablespoons unseasoned rice vinegar
- 2 teaspoons sesame oil
- 2 tablespoons hoisin sauce
- 2 tablespoons brown sugar
- 2 tablespoons water
- 1 tablespoon dark soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon grated ginger
- 4 cloves garlic - grated
- 1 teaspoon corn starch
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Place the cauliflower in a large mixing bowl.
- Whisk the canola oil, corn starch, and soy sauce together in a small bowl. Pour over the top of the cauliflower and toss well to coat.
- Transfer the cauliflower to a parchment-lined rimmed baking sheet and roast in the pre-heated oven for 25 to 30 minutes, turning once halfway through, until tender and golden.
- When the cauliflower is nearly done, prepare the sauce by whisking together all of the sauce ingredients from the soy sauce through the corn starch.
- Heat a large skillet or wok over low heat.
- Add the chili peppers and toast for 1 to 2 minutes or until fragrant.
- Pour in the sauce and bring to a boil over medium heat.
- Add the baked cauliflower and toss well until coated.
- Turn off the heat and transfer the cauliflower to a serving dish.
- Garnish as desired.
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Amazing restaurant quality cauliflower. Delicious and full of flavor. Next time I will use larger pieces of cauliflower because they do shrink in size. I substituted bbq sauce for hoisin as I didn’t have any. This recipe is so forgiving . I used sriracha because I didn’t have peppers. The grated garlic is a must. I almost ate the whole recipe. This recipe is gold. Thank you😋
Hi Delaine,
I’m so glad you loved it and thanks for sharing your changes.
– Linda
Thank you so much for this recipe. I tried it with romanesco broccoli, rather than cauliflower, and just served it with rice and it was a stunner. The combination of hot, sweet, tangy, salty and savoury flavours in the sauce is a real winner.
Hi Harriet,
General Tso Broccoli! I love it!
– Linda
Well done! It was absolutely brilliant! Followed your instructions to a letter!
So many positive comments. Yet, no one mentions that the recipe says nothing about the rice vinegar, hoisin sauce, brown sugar or grated ginger and garlic. Would be good if these were explained.
Hi Adhi,
Thanks for the comment. It is explained in step 2, but could be clearer:
When the cauliflower is nearly done, prepare the sauce by whisking together the soy sauce through corn starch.
I have updated the recipe to be clearer with this new step 2:
When the cauliflower is nearly done, prepare the sauce by whisking together all of the sauce ingredients from the soy sauce through the corn starch.
-Linda
I made this just now (had to sub some ingredients like apple cider vinegar for rice vinegar, and just did 3 tbsp of coconut aminos because I don’t have soy sauce) and WOW I could eat the entire head of cauliflower like this. The green onions are a must, as with any savory dish like this. Too bad I need to save half for tomorrow’s lunch. Next time I will bake for ~20 minutes instead of 25, and go a little easier on the amount of sauce.
Hi Steph,
Glad you loved it. Thanks for sharing your adaptations.
– Linda
Made mine in the air fryer, otherwise just as described and it was delicious.
(My technique is to put in the batttered cauliflower on maximum temperature then, after 5 mins or so, return to coat it with the remainder of the batter in the bowl- the florets did NOT STICK TOGETEHR, which was perfect!)
Hi Mark,
I’m glad you liked the recipe. Thanks for sharing your air fryer adaptation!
– Linda
I made this a while back, and bought another cauliflower to make it again today. I almost panicked when I could not find the recipe again! I will definitely save it this time in my recipe box, where only the best recipes go. I’m going to try the Sichuan Bok Choy Tofu Stir Fry as well. If I could give this recipe six stars, I would. Thank you!
Thank you Michelle,
I’m glad you found the recipe again and glad you love it six stars worth!
– Linda
I made a low sugar version of this…I used jalopenos and red peppers. It was delicious.
Delicious recipe! I used 1/2 tsp of red pepper flakes instead of dried red chilies. Also, I used seasoned rice vinegar and regular soy sauce. All of my substitutions worked very well and used them because that is what I had available. I don’t have dark soy sauce so I omitted that. I love this sauce because it is more savory than sweet. Most sauces are too sugary and this sauce had more flavor and less sugar.
This was delicious! I loved everything about it, great recipe, thanks so much!
My wife is out for the day so I just made this for lunch for our youngest son and myself. This recipe was quite good, quick, and easy.
Next time I will make a couple changes…
I specially bought dried red peppers for this recipe, but next time I would just use some crushed red pepper flakes, as I always have those in the house.
Also, the cauliflower was overdone for my/our tastes. Next time I will skip the cauliflower “marinade” with it’s extra oil. I will just sear the cauliflower in a high temp, lightly sprayed, cast-iron skillet until it is charred a bit – without being overcooked. I will make the sauce with regular soy sauce (not low-sodium) since the cauliflower will be unsalted. I thought the sauce in this recipe was very good – and it will have plenty of flavor for the charred cauliflower when it is stirred in.
Thank you so much for this great cauliflower recipe!
I have dried thai bird eye chiles…will that work or do I need to get a more chinese-ish dried chile? I have everything for this recipe on hand I am so thrilled I’ll be making it tonight!!!!
Hey Denise! Sorry for the late response – Thai bird eye chilies may be quite a bit hotter than szechuan-style peppers, so use with caution 🙂