Sticky & Crispy Sesame Cauliflower Recipe | The First Mess (2024)

Seriously amazing!!! I added more maple syrup though!
Also the cauliflower didn’t stay crispy after I put the sauce on it. I used chickpea flower and cornflour mixed and it was super crispy when I first took it from the oven but then went soft after the sauce.

I had been eyeing this recipe for awhile before trying it, so I have to say, my expectations were high. The cauliflower breading did not stay as crispy as I’d hoped (I used brown rice flour) and my partner and I both agreed the cauliflower ended up being too salty. I paired it with plain edamame and brown rice and still felt like it was too salty. However! The flavors were amazing, even if too salty for our taste, and my partner had the brilliant idea to use the leftover cauliflower to make ramen broth and oh man, was it good. I boiled some homemade veggie stock, added the leftover cauliflower and boiled for a few minutes until the breading dissolved, tasted, and added just a little bit of miso to round it out, but it made such a delicious broth! Served it with ramen noodles, some roasted diced sweet potato, and edamame, it was delicious. I may keep this recipe for the express purpose of having delicious instant ramen broth :)

This was a miss for me. My vegan son liked it. But I thought it was not worth the amount of time I invested—about an hour.. I used low sodium soy sauce and it was still too salty for me. I also used chickpea flour and it needed more than one cup to make it thick enough to coat with little pooling. I adore many recipes from this website, and I have the lovely cookbook, but I won’t make this one again.

I used sparkling water instead of regular it came out really nicely

These were addictive. Thanks for sharing!

Thank you for this recipe! I used wheat flour and agave since that is what I had. I ended up adding more water than flour for the correct consistency but man this was an awesome meal over brown rice.

I had this recipe bookmarked forever and finally made it last week. It was a huge amount of work and not great unfortunately. Mine didn’t look like the picture at all. I used chickpea flour and reduced the water as suggested. I thought the batter was the right thickness, but after cooking there was sort of a “batter chip” attached to the bottom of each one. For the second bake, 20 minutes was way too long. The sauce was extremely burned. The cauliflower was also try looking and not glossy like the photo. I love this site so trying to figure out where I went wrong!

This looks amazing! What about using coconut flour instead of cassava?

Another one of my favorite The First Mess recipes! I always make this when I have skeptical vegans to please. The sauce is unreal and I have used modified versions of it for other Chinese inspired dishes. I like this one over rice with a side of green veg as well for a full meal.

Super easy and super delicious. Will make again!

My husband and I ate a bowl of these on the couch in front of the TV with our bare hands as guiltily as if we were eating fried chicken. He doesn’t even like cauliflower. So delicious! I subbed brown rice flour for cassava and it worked great.

So so good! Thank you!! Perfect texture and taste!

I used the suggested tamari and thought this recipe was way too salty to enjoy! Need suggestions for tamping it down before I make it again.

Please consider adding a “jump to recipe” link to make it faster to navigate to the ingredients list of the recipe. Thanks,

Awwww man a bit disappointed :(
Used brown rice flour and 1 cup water and salted the batter (may have been the mistake!)
I used Braggs soy substitute (also may have been a mistake?) But mama was this a salt bomb. Otherwise so good just beyond salty! I think I’ll put the leftovers in a wrap with mango or avo to try to combat it! Amy suggestions?! Has anyone made this using less tamari/soy?? Thanks!

I made this for the first time last night and my husband and I both LOVED it! I used whole wheat flour and it seemed to work fine. The first batch came out laughably burnt, like 100% charred, but I forgot to keep an eye on them and left them in for the full 20 minutes. The second batch I set for 10 min and kept a close eye on them. They were perfectly done at the 6 minute mark with just a few tips of black starting to form. Thanks for the wonderful recipe!

Love this recipe. Brought it to a New Year’s Eve party tonight. At first everyone thought it was chicken. Then I told them it was cauliflower. The vegans were thrilled and everyone else loved it too! Served as appetizer. Terrific new option that will become a “go to”.

So yummy! I am going to make a big batch of the sauce for easy quick use. Winner winner, veggie dinner!!

Made this today and my cauliflower was not crispy followed your recipe exactly, just doubled it bc I made a larger batch. Why didn’t it get crispy?

Made it tonight, it was great!! Used almond flour instead and accidentally put 1.25 cups water prior to adding almond flour (she recommends 1 cup water to 1.25 cups flour if you use other than cassava flour) so added 1.25 cups almond flour to start and it was a little runny so added a little less than .25 cup more almond flour and it was great. Ginger was great addition to the sauce, don’t skip if you don’t have to. Used low sodium soy sauce as well. Will def be making again!!

I made this in the oven last winter and LOVED it. Is there a way to do it (or prepare most of the way and then finish cooking) on the grill?

Delicious, looks like chicken fried. Have to tried it

Do you get different types of cassave flour? Because I used tapioca flour (as far as I understand it is the same thing) and the water was way too much. The batter didn’t thicken at all. In the end I threw out some of the water and added more tapioca, but still the batter just “melted” from the cauliflower in the oven.

I substituted almond flour 1:1 for the cassava flour and only needed half of the water for the batter. I coated and baked the cauliflower, let the “breaded” florets cool a bit after this step and they where delicious. Then I made the sauce using reduced sodium tamari and it was insanely salty. I love salt, but it was far too strong. I probably could have cut the soy in half and used water as a partial replacement to cut the salt but I tossed it on the florets hoping it would mellow after baking. That didn’t help, still way too salty and strong. Great start though.

Do you think this would travel well? I was hoping to make for a party but need to prepare at home first. Thank you!

These look amazing!!! Looks pretty simply to follow. I’m looking for more ways to spice up cauliflower when I’m going through cravings and want something similar to “wings” without eating meat.

Made this last night. Super tasty! I doubled the sauce and also doubled the chili paste, which was a big mistake for me and a happy surprise for my husband. It is a lot of work, so I probably wouldn’t attempt it on a week night again, but super excited about this one! Yum. Thank you!

This is my first time trying one of your recipes, and this one is AWESOME! I doubled the sauce as my family usually likes extra, and I substituted AP flour as that’s what I had in the house. I took your advice and cut the water to 1 cup which made the batter the perfect consistency with the AP flour. Cauliflower took only about 12 minutes for me on the second round of baking but I pulled it right when it started getting brown and it’s perfect. And the sauce – YUM! This one’s a keeper!

Delicious, but somehow there was really not enough sauce…it was yummy but definitely not sticky or glossy-looking as in the pics. I did throw in some tofu but cut back on the cauliflower so not sure what happened! Will make an extra half recipe of the sauce next time.

This looks so delicious! Cauliflower is one of my favourite veggies and am always looking for news ways to cook it so thank you! Saved.

I had some problems with this – my sauce was lumpy, even though I microplaned the garlic/ginger, and I ended up with very little volume-wise – maybe it got too reduced? When I did the second round of baking after coating, it seemed like the sticky sauce dissolved the batter (I used chickpea flour instead of cassava). The flavors were good, but I’d love to get some pointers for getting the texture to work out for next time.

Very good but I would definitely double the sauce!

I have never commented on a blog before for a recipe but holy crap this is soooo good !!!! I’m writing it down, this is a winner ! And the sauce is perfection!

This recipe is BOMB. I made the sticky cauliflower tonight and tucked it in rainbow chard wraps with white basmati rice, fresh mango slices, red cabbage, and green onions and drizzled some lime juice on top. One of my new favorite meals! Can’t wait to share this one with guests. Thank you so much for sharing your creations!! <3 Love from Maine

I’ve only got white flour on hand. What do I do? Thanks!

I subbed fine sprouted spelt flour for cassava and it was no bueno :( immediately became super sticky and glutenous and did not create a batter and wouldn’t coat the cauli. Better luck next time when I get some cassava flour!

What’s a substitute for cassava flour?

Thank you thank you thank you for a savory, sticky, yummy looking sauce where chili is optional! I physically can’t process spicy foods so I appreciate a recipe that doesn’t use heat as a crutch for “flavor”. I mean, I get it, my husband loves spicy foods and tells me there’s a taste to most kinds of heat but too often I see sauces that have 3 ingredients and the third is copious amounts of red curry paste or gochujang or the ubiquitous sriracha, none of which I can eat (and are processed foods to boot).
So, sorry for the rant, but yay! a real sauce made of real ingredients that lets me tweek it for me! Yay!

Wondering of you’ve tried this in an air fryer?

I am so excited to try this recipe! All my favorite flavors and crispy cauliflower too. I’ve seen a lot of similar recipes, but this is the one I most want to make and eat. The sauce is everything, yum!

Have you tried this method with other vegetables? I’m not a cauliflower fan but this looks to die for

Oh my, yes! I’ve been in a big food rut lately and this recipe just got me excited. Perfection!

I never have rice vinegar in the house, can this be substituted easily?