Home » Savory » Crispy Mongolian Cauliflower

Crispy Mongolian Cauliflower

Name: Crispy Mongolian Cauliflower
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 25 min
Total time: 35 min
Cuisine: mongolian
Ingredients: 6 cups cauliflower florets (approx. 1 head); 3 tbsp oil (olive oil, vegetable or grapeseed); 1/2 cup corn starch; 1 tbsp olive oil; 1″ ginger root, diced; 2 cloves garlic, minced; 1/2 cup soy sauce; 1/2 cup water; 1/3 cup brown sugar; 1 cup shredded carrot; optional: 1 tbsp cornstarch + 3 tbsp water; green onions, sesame seeds, rice, for serving

Published on January 13, 2021

Jump to Recipe

You won’t miss the meat when you make this crispy fried cauliflower dish! This Mongolian cauliflower is sweet and sticky and so good! Serve it over rice for a delicious and quick 30-minute dinner!

Please note this post was originally published in 2018. I’ve since redone the post text but the recipe remains the same.

Every time I start writing out a new post, I wonder if it’s going to be my last one for a while – if baby girl is going to surprise me a bit early! That being said, the more time that goes on, the less “early” she’ll be. SO – if you don’t hear from me for a while, you’ll know why. Life is going to get BUSY, and I don’t know when my next post will be after the baby comes. It’s a little sad for me, but I know eventually I’ll get back on the blog!

In the mean time, I’ll be posting recipes as usual – like this crispy Mongolian cauliflower! As I’ve mentioned in the past, we’ve been trying to cut down on our meat consumption and dishes like this make it a little bit easier to not miss the meat.

Can we just take a minute to chat about how wonderful cauliflower is!? I feel like it used to be a totally underrated vegetable, only celebrated when it was dipped in a pile of ranch dressing; however, in recent years, cauliflower has been popping up everywhere in different forms and methods. Cauliflower steaks, cauliflower rice, cauliflower mashed potatoes, you name it. It’s a great alternative to starches for those low-carb diets and now, I’m using it in place of meat!

What is Mongolian cauliflower?

Please tell me you’ve tasted the delicousness that is Mongolian sauce before?! You’ll typically find it as Mongolian beef – a sweet, saucy, sticky dish that is served over rice. SO good. But guess what? This sauce is just as good served over crispy, oven-roasted cauliflower. Plus, it’s so easy!

The sauce is made up of only a few ingredients:

garlic
ginger
soy sauce
brown sugar
water

I usually always have these things on hand, which means I can whip this up when I have no idea what to make for dinner! I also add some shredded carrot to the sauce, just before it’s done cooking.

How do you make crispy cauliflower?

A little bit of cornstarch and oil will crisp up your cauliflower nicely in the oven; it’s a good method that works with just about any sauce! Start by cutting up the cauliflower into small florets, then place them in a large freezer-safe bag along with the cornstarch and oil. Shake everything together and place it on a baking sheet.

The cauliflower takes about 20-25 minutes in the oven, which is enough time to get your rice started and the sauce ready!

How do you make the Mongolian sauce?

When the cauliflower is cooking, heat some oil up in a saucepan and sauté the garlic and ginger, before adding the soy sauce, brown sugar and water. Once you’ve combined all of the ingredients to your sauce, you will need to let it simmer for about 10 minutes to thicken up. If you like your sauces a bit thicker, you can add a cornstarch slurry to the sauce near the end (I usually do).

A few minutes before serving, add a bit of shredded carrot to the sauce.

When the cauliflower is done cooking, toss it together along with the sauce and serve it over rice. Top it off with green onions and sesame seeds!

Dinner can’t really get much simpler, especially for a meatless meal! Toss the cauliflower with the sauce, pile some rice on your plate and top it with the saucy veggies and a sprinkling of green onions and sesame seeds. Yum!

Some other easy meatless dinner ideas for you: