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Breaded & Fried Cauliflower Nuggets

These Breaded & Fried Cauliflower Nuggets are the perfect game day snack! Even when you’re not into sports, you’ll love these crispy veggie nuggets. It’s almost unbelievable that these are made with cauliflower! Dip them into BBQ sauce and enjoy!

Breaded & Fried Cauliflower Nuggets

I really don’t know how to begin to describe these Cauliflower Nuggets because they are UNREAL. You have to try them for yourself to find out how amazing these are!

They are super crispy on the outside, and soft on the inside. It’s almost unbelievable that it’s cauliflower!

These Breaded & Fried Cauliflower Nuggets are my favorite thing to make with cauliflower right now (and probably forever). I always felt that cauliflower is the meh-cousin of broccoli, but these nuggets made me fall in love with the vegetable for real.

Served with BBQ sauce, these are the perfect snack for game day get-togethers or parties!

How to make Breaded & Fried Cauliflower Nuggets

The Ingredients

The ingredients you will need for these Cauliflower Nuggets are super basic. You can find the whole recipe at the end of the post. But here’s an overview:

  • cauliflower
  • frying oil (strain leftover-oil and reuse it!)
  • for the batter, you will need:
    • flour,
    • water,
    • and spices
  • for the breading, you’ll need:
    • fine breadcrumbs,
    • panko flakes,
    • flour (to make sure the cauliflower florets are coated completely),
    • sesame seeds,
    • and spices

If you don’t have panko flakes at home, no worries, just use more fine breadcrumbs! If you’re missing some of the spices, feel free to experiment with what you have!

The basic steps

Cauliflower Florets
Step 1: Break the cauliflower into florets.
Cauliflower floret dipped in batter
Step 2: Dip cauliflower florets into the batter.
Breaded Cauliflower
Step 3: Coat the battered cauliflower florets in breadcrumbs.
Fried Cauliflower
Step 4: Fry the breaded cauliflower until golden brown (8 minutes). Place them on a paper towel to remove excess oil. Work in batches. Repeat until you’ve breaded and fried all the cauliflower florets. And enjoy!

If you’re unsure about frying, I’ve compiled a couple of tips on how to deep-fry in a pot.

More Cauliflower Recipes you will love

Love it? Rate it!

I hope you enjoy these cauliflower nuggets as much as I do! Let me know if you give them a try!

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Cheers, Bianca

Breaded & Fried Cauliflower Nuggets

Breaded & Fried Cauliflower Nuggets

Bianca Haun | Elephantastic Vegan
These Breaded & Fried Cauliflower Nuggets are the perfect game day snack! Even when you’re not into sports, you’ll love these crispy nuggets. They are quick and easy to make!
4.31 from 26 votes
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 30 minutes
Total Time 45 minutes
Course Snacks
Cuisine American, Vegan
Servings 4 people
Calories 443 kcal

Ingredients
 
 

  • 1 head cauliflower
  • frying oil

Batter

  • 1 cup all-purpose flour
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon paprika powder
  • 1 pinch turmeric powder
  • 1 cup water

Breading

  • 1 cup fine breadcrumbs
  • 1/2 cup panko flakes
  • 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
  • 2 tablespoons white sesame seeds
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons paprika powder
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
  • 1 teaspoon dried rosemary

Instructions
 

  • Break the cauliflower in florets and wash them.
  • For the batter: In a bowl, combine the flour, salt, paprika powder, turmeric powder. Add water and whisk until it’s a smooth batter.*
  • For the Breading: Combine all the ingredients listed above for the breading in a bowl. 
  • Heat the frying oil in a pot.** Make sure you don’t fill the pot more than half the height of the pot to prevent oil from spilling over. 
  • Then take one cauliflower floret at the stem, dip it in the batter, then in the breading (make sure it's coated well), then carefully lower it into the oil. Work in batches (4-8 nuggets depending on the size of your pot). Let them fry for 8 minutes until golden brown. 
  • Transfer the cauliflower nuggets onto a paper towel to remove excess oil. Repeat until you’ve used up all the cauliflower florets. They are absolutely delicious dipped in BBQ sauce or sweet & sour sauce! 

Notes

*You can adjust the consistency of the batter by adding more flour if it’s too thin and more water if it’s too thick. Ideally, it should be between a crepe (thin batter) and a pancake batter (thick batter).
**If you have a deep-fryer you can use it of course!

Nutrition

Calories: 443kcalCarbohydrates: 60gProtein: 12gFat: 18gSaturated Fat: 12gSodium: 1318mgPotassium: 567mgFiber: 6gSugar: 5gVitamin A: 431IUVitamin C: 69mgCalcium: 138mgIron: 5mg
Tried this recipe?Mention @elephantasticvegan or tag #elephantasticvegan!
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Recipe Rating




Monique

Wednesday 20th of April 2022

Made these for dinner today. They were a hit. I'm not the best cook, but I followed the recipe (except I sub bread crumbs and panko with crushed seasoned croutons) and tada. A mom staple.

Fran

Thursday 14th of April 2022

Fantastic Bianca! Thanks so much

Pauline

Sunday 8th of August 2021

These are absolutely incredible! Thanks for sharing this recipe

No I.d.

Friday 12th of February 2021

Bomb.com thanks for the recipe.

Alana

Saturday 16th of January 2021

These look amazing! I'm recently in love with finding clever ways to make my family eat cauliflower. I'm wondering if using almond flour instead of normal flour would effect the recipe? Thanks and I am looking forward to trying more of your cauliflower recipes!

Nel

Monday 3rd of January 2022

@Alana, Hi how did using Almond flour go please? I am going to try it with Almond Meal with both Cauliflower & Broccoli 🥦 😉