Amazing Cauliflower Poppers (Vegan)
Posted on January 6, 2015. Filed under: Accompaniments & Side Dishes | Tags: accompaniment, almond flour, dairy-free, vegan, veggies |
Are you bored of those old cauliflower sides? Then try out these amazing cauliflower poppers! They are incredibly tasty and again a great example how versatile veggie cauliflower really is. I haven’t even counted how many batches of these cauliflower poppers I’ve made during this week. I just cannot stop eating them! And the best thing is, that these poppers are simple as well, you need only 5 ingredients. No long ingredient lists to remember. Now, go and make some!
Amazing Cauliflower Poppers (Vegan)
Directions
Preheat the oven to 400 °F (200 °C).
Wash and trim the cauliflower.
Cut the cauliflower into bite-sized chunks.
Place the cauliflower and the oil into a large mixing bowl.
Toss to cover well.
Lay the cauliflower pieces on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper in a single layer.
Roast the cauliflower for 15 minutes.
While the cauliflower is in the oven, clean and dry the bowl where you had the cauliflower and the oil.
Place the almond flour, onion powder and the salt in the clean bowl. Mix well.
Remove the cauliflower from the oven.
Add the hot cauliflower to the bowl with the almond flour mixture. Mix gently but well, so that the cauliflower is completely covered by the almond flour mixture.
Place the breaded cauliflower pieces back on the baking sheet in a single layer. Return to the oven and continue roasting another 10–15 minutes or until the almond flour mixture is slightly toasted and the cauliflower almost tender.
Remove from the oven and serve immediately. The breading becomes mushy if stored too long.
Nutrition information
Protein
Fat
Net carbs
kcal
In total:
47.5 g
117.8 g
28.0 g
1363 kcal
Per serving if 4 servings in total:
11.9 g
29.5 g
7.0 g
341 kcal
Per serving if 6 servings in total:
7.9 g
19.6 g
4.7 g
227 kcal
Tips for making these Amazing Cauliflower Poppers
So, these cauliflower poppers are very simple to make. Chopping the cauliflower takes the biggest effort, but the rest is a cinch.
Let’s take a look how to make this amazing side dish, which you can also serve as healthy snack:
Cut a large, cleaned cauliflower head into bite-sized pieces.
Place the pieces in a large bowl. Pour the oil over the cauliflower pieces.
Toss to cover well. I use two spoons, that makes things easy.
Lay the cauliflower pieces on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper in a single layer. Roast the cauliflower for 15 minutes.
Meanwhile, clean and dry the bowl where you had the cauliflower and the oil.
Place the almond flour, onion powder and the salt in the bowl.
Mix well.
Remove the cauliflower from the oven. Add the hot cauliflower to the bowl with the almond flour mixture.
Mix gently but well, so that the cauliflower is completely covered by the almond flour mixture.
Place the breaded cauliflower pieces back on the baking sheet in a single layer. Return to the oven and continue roasting another 10–15 minutes or until the almond flour mixture is slightly toasted and the cauliflower almost tender (personally I prefer slightly crispy cauliflower). Serve immediately, before the cauliflower poppers become mushy.
My experiments with these Amazing Cauliflower Poppers
Lately I have been into oven-roasted cauliflower. I think my addiction began when I developed a recipe for ghee-roasted cauliflower for my book “Easy Everyday Recipes“. It’s also a simple and tasty recipe, but now I wanted something a bit different.
I was fancying cauliflower poppers, i.e. bite-sized cauliflower chunks with tasty breading. I always use almond flour for low-carb breading and then just season it according to what I happen to fancy at the moment. Well, I have developed a recipe for perfect low-carb breading mixture, but before publishing that, I hope you enjoy this simple but delicious breading.
So, for my first experiment I chopped a large head of cauliflower into bite-sized pieces. I tossed the pieces with 2 tablespoons light olive oil and roasted the pieces for 15 minutes. While the cauliflower pieces were in the oven, I poured another 2 tablespoons olive oil into the empty bowl where I had had the cauliflower pieces. I added 1 cup (240 ml) almond flour, 1 teaspoon unrefined sea salt and 1 teaspoon Garlic Bread Seasoning. I didn’t want to add this breading (almond flour mixture) to the raw cauliflower, since I was afraid that the breading will turn too brown and burn if baked too long. The cauliflower, on the other hand, needed long baking time to get soft and tender enough.
I took the prebaked cauliflower from the oven and sprinkled the breading mixture evenly on the pieces. Then I returned the breaded cauliflower in the oven for another 15 minutes.
I removed the nicely browned cauliflower poppers from the oven and anxiously tasted how they were. Well, the breading was mainly scattered on the baking sheet and only a little on the cauliflower pieces. So sprinkling the breading on top of the cauliflower pieces wasn’t a good idea, I should toss the cauliflower pieces in the breading mixture instead.
Moreover, the breading was too mushy and not crunchy at all. I definitely should use only dry ingredients for the breading, not add any oil. Instead, I could use more oil when tossing the raw cauliflower pieces in oil before prebaking. 2 tablespoons oil wasn’t enough, I could easily double the amount.
Also the Garlic Bread Seasoning tasted, hmm, somehow burned. I guess it was the dried garlic in it. I was wondering and pondering which seasoning to use instead. I thought of different herbs, but after asking from my husband I decided to try out onion powder.
My next experiment was a complete success, the result is this recipe! I just couldn’t keep my fingers off of the successful test batch of these cauliflower poppers even I just had eaten my stomach full of lunch. I just grabbed a piece after piece in amazement how good they were and how simple the whole recipe was! Incredible!
Tips for variation
If you are in a hurry or simply don’t want to waste your time for chopping the cauliflower, you can use frozen precooked cauliflower florets, though fresh cauliflower is always preferred for the ultimate result. Cook or melt the frozen cauliflower according to the instructions in the package, however leave the cauliflower crispy. Then just toss well first in oil and then again toss well in the breading mixture so that the florets are well covered with it. Bake in the preheated oven until almost tender.
You can vary these cauliflower poppers endlessly by using different spices and seasonings. If you tolerate dairy, you can even use melted butter instead of oil.
This version is kid-friendly and tastes mild, however if I made version for adults, I would use cayenne pepper or chili powder in addition to onion powder.
Below a photo of Rinderrouladen (beef rolls) and these cauliflower poppers as side dish (that green stuff is my broccoli ball experiment, tasty but the balls didn’t keep their shape…). You can find the directions for my simple Rinderrouladen on my Facebook page.
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