These Air Fryer Cauliflower Bites are quick and easy to make so that they come out roasted and crispy and perfectly tender on the inside. If you’re craving fried food that’s healthy, swap the air fryer chips for this bang bang cauliflower to get your tastebuds dancing.
Why Make This Recipe
- Its quick, easy and healthy to make, even if you’re new to air frying
- They’re made with a panko coating that gives them the perfect crunch
- Its simple to adjust the level of spice according to your tastes
- There’s no egg so no sticky mess to worry about cleaning up
- These cauliflower bites are perfect in tacos with a little slaw
- Add sesame seeds for extra crunch
- Enjoy it warm or cold as a delicious snack
- Perfect for people who thick cauliflower is “boring”. This will convince them otherwise!
Cauliflower bites are so easy to eat. They fill you up thanks to the fibre, but don’t leave you feeling heavy or weighed down. You could even use this cauliflower as the base of this Roasted Cauliflower Soup.
Ingredients
Ingredient Notes
Cauliflower: Chop a head of cauliflower into pieces of roughly equal size so they will cook evenly, making sure to discard the leaves.
Panko Breadcrumbs: These are light and coarse white breadcrumb that creates a crispy and crunchy coating. Alternatively you could use regular breadcrumbs for a smoother texture of cauliflower bites.
Flour and Cornstarch/Cornflour: Both of these flours work together with the milk to create a light “batter”. The combination of both, creates the right level of stickiness and lightness, however if you only have one or the other on hand, this will also work, just make sure to add the quantities of both flours together if using one type.
Chilli Powder, Salt and Pepper: These provide the seasoning which adds flavour to the cauliflower bites. The chilli powder also provides additional spice and heat. Adjust the level of powder to your taste, or leave out completely. Alternatively you could swap it with smoked paprika for less heat but a more smoky and earthy flavour. Or do a combination of both. Or substitute for parmesan.
Milk: The milk is used instead of eggs to create a batter. Any type of milk is fine, with the exception of coconut milk.
Vegetable oil: this is important to get a crispy coating on the outside. Only a little oil is used but it makes a big difference. If you don’t have vegetable oil, use whatever you have on hand, even spray oil will be fine.
Mayonaise/Sriracha/Maple Syrup: these ingredients are what makes the sauce. Any type of plain mayo will work, you could substitute sriracha with sweet chilli sauce, and the maple syrup with honey or a little powdered monkfruit.
For more cauliflower recipes, try this cauliflower fried rice bowl. You might also like to check out these Garlic Parmesan Zucchini Noodles for a great low carb side dish.
These cauliflower bites pair well with these Garlic Butter Roasted Brussel Sprouts for delicious sides to serve at a dinner party or Christmas feast.
How to Make
- Prepare the batter: Add flour, chili powder, cornstarch, milk, and salt to a bow and whisk together until you have a runny batter. Add the panko to a second bowl
- Batter Cauliflower: add cauliflower bites to the batter bowl and coat them with the batter
- Bread Cauliflower: one at a time, press the cauliflower pieces into the panko breadcrumbs so that all sides a completely covered, repeating until all are done.
- Initial Air Fry of Cauliflower: lay cauliflower bites in the air fryer basket in a single layer and cook for 8 minutes at 400 degrees F/200 degrees C (you may need to do two or more batches depending on the size of your air fryer)
- Make Sauce: add the 3 ingredients for the sauce into a bowl and whisk together until combined
- Coat cauliflower in sauce: Remove half cooked cauliflower from air fryer and put into a large bowl, add half the sauce and gently stir through with a spatula.
- Second Air Fry of Cauliflower: lay cauliflower bites in the air fryer basket in a single layer and cook for 4 minutes at 400 degrees F/200 degrees C . Remove immediately and serve.
Recipe Tips
- Cauliflower size matters: Larger pieces of cauliflower will affect the cooking time. Its important that the cauliflower pieces are cut into bite sized pieces. Bigger pieces will need a longer cooking time
- Best to cook in batches: to ensure the heat can flow freely within your air fryer its best to layer the bites in a single layer without overcrowding. This helps to create cauliflower that’s crispy an crunchy all over.
- Check how its going: Don’t be afraid to open the air fryer one or twice, pull out the basket and inspect how the cauliflower is coming along, maybe even giving the basket a gentle shake to move things around. This can be useful to do if you’re new to air frying and still trying to work out how it cooks things.
- Storage: Store cooked cauliflower in the fridge for upto 3 days in an air tight container
- Reheating: To reheat the Cauliflower place it in the air fryer's basket and cook at 400˚F/200 C for 2 minutes.
Ways to use Air Fryer Cauliflower
- Use it in tacos instead of meat, and just add slaw and sauce
- Use it in budda bowls, or burrito bowls
- Use it as a base for roasted cauliflower soup
- Eat it as an appetizer or snack with your favourite dipping sauce
More Air Fryer Recipes
- Air Fryer Crispy Calamari Rings
- Air Fryer Fish Tacos
- Air Fryer Honey Soy Chicken Wings
- Air Fryer Chicken Drumsticks
- Air Fryer Smashed Red Potatoes
Air Fryer Cauliflower Bites
Equipment
- Air Fryer
Ingredients
- 1 medium head of cauliflower - chopped into florets
- ¾ cup all-purpose flour
- 1 tbsp chili powder
- 2 tbsp cornstarch
- ¾ cup milk
- 1 tbsp vegetable oil
- 1 cup Panko breadcrumb
- Salt to taste
Bang Bang Sauce
- ½ cup mayonnaise
- 1 tsp sriracha - more if you like spicy food
- 2 tbsp maple syrup
Instructions
- Prepare the batter: Add flour, chili powder, cornstarch, milk, salt and pepper to a bow and whisk together until you have a runny batter. Add the panko to a second bowl
- Batter Cauliflower: add cauliflower bites to the batter bowl and coat them with the batter
- Bread Cauliflower: one at a time, press the cauliflower pieces into the panko breadcrumbs so that all sides a completely covered, repeating until all are done.
- Initial Air Fry of Cauliflower: lay cauliflower bites in the air fryer basket in a single layer and cook for 8 minutes at 400 degrees F/200 degrees C (you may need to do two or more batches depending on the size of your air fryer)
- Make Sauce: add the 3 ingredients for the sauce into a bowl and whisk together until combined
- Coat cauliflower in sauce: Remove half cooked cauliflower from air fryer and put into a large bowl, add half the sauce and gently stir through with a spatula.
- Second Air Fry of Cauliflower: lay cauliflower bites in the air fryer basket in a single layer and cook for 4 minutes at 400 degrees F/200 degrees C . Remove immediately and serve.
Notes
- Cauliflower: Chop a head of cauliflower into pieces of roughly equal size so they will cook evenly, making sure to discard the leaves.
- Panko Breadcrumbs: These are light and coarse white breadcrumb that creates a crispy and crunchy coating. Alternatively you could use regular breadcrumbs for a smoother texture of cauliflower bites.
- Flour and Cornstarch/Cornflour: Both of these flours work together with the milk to create a light “batter”. The combination of both, creates the right level of stickiness and lightness, however if you only have one or the other on hand, this will also work, just make sure to add the quantities of both flours together if using one type.
- Chilli Powder, Salt and Pepper: These provide the seasoning which adds flavour to the cauliflower bites. The chilli powder also provides additional spice and heat. Adjust the level of powder to your taste, or leave out completely. Alternatively you could swap it with smoked paprika for less heat but a more smoky and earthy flavour. Or do a combination of both. Or substitute for parmesan.
- Milk: The milk is used instead of eggs to create a batter. Any type of milk is fine, with the exception of coconut milk.
- Vegetable oil: this is important to get a crispy coating on the outside. Only a little oil is used but it makes a big difference. If you don’t have vegetable oil, use whatever you have on hand, even spray oil will be fine.
- Mayonaise/Sriracha/Maple Syrup: these ingredients are what makes the sauce. Any type of plain mayo will work, you could substitute sriracha with sweet chilli sauce, and the maple syrup with honey or a little powdered monkfruit.
- Storage: Store cooked cauliflower in the fridge for upto 3 days in an air tight container
- Reheating: To reheat the Cauliflower place it in the air fryer's basket and cook at 400˚F/200 C for 2 minutes.
Nutrition
Note: Sugars contained in this recipe are from naturally occurring sugars in fruits, vegetables or other natural sweeteners.
excellent we loved how the batter works so much better than the usual egg version new fave