🌶️😍🙌 Kung Pao Cauliflower is an EASY recipe that has salty-sweet-tangy-spicy flavors all in one! Don’t call for takeout when you can make this HEALTHY dish at home in 20 minutes! You won’t believe how AUTHENTIC it tastes!
Quick and Easy Kung Pao Cauliflower
This is my kind of dream food. For most people, this would be a great side dish or appetizer, but I can easily make a meal out of it. Or, you can try my kung pao chicken for a more filling dish.
- The cauliflower itself and the red bell peppers are crisp-tender along with crunchy peanuts and a thick kung pao sauce.
- It’s salty and savory with a touch of sweetness from brown sugar and a hint of acid from rice vinegar. It’s so good I could spoon it over everything. This recipe makes plenty of sauce, and the extra sauce is great over rice.
- The vegan-friendly dish is healthy, filling, salty-sweet-tangy-spicy all rolled into one, and I kept going back for bite after bite. Until I pretty much ate the whole thing at once. No shame.
Omg this is amazing.. will be making this again
Tracey
Ingredients and Notes
For the cauliflower and veggies, you’ll need:
- Veggies – Cauliflower florets, red bell pepper
- Olive oil and sesame oil
- Salt and pepper
As for the kung pao sauce, it’s a very simple sauce with just a handful of ingredients. All of the ingredients are available at most mainstream grocery stores in the ethnic or Asian section. You’ll need:
- Hoisin sauce
- Soy sauce – I use dark soy sauce
- Brown sugar
- Rice vinegar (or substitute with another vinegar)
- Chili garlic sauce – Add more or less to taste, depending on your spice preferences
- Sesame oil
- Cornstarch
Note: Scroll down to the recipe card section of the post for the ingredients with amounts included and for more complete directions.
How to Make This Kung Pao Cauliflower Recipe
- Add the cauliflower and bell pepper to a baking sheet lined with foil. Drizzle the oils on top, season with salt and pepper, and toss to combine.
- Cook the cauliflower at 350°F until it is tender and lightly golden brown, stirring halfway through.
- While the veggies cook, add the sauce ingredients to a medium, high-sided stock pot. Boil over medium heat to medium-high heat, whisking constantly.
- Once the mixture thickens, set it aside while the veggies finish cooking.
- Add the roasted veggies to a large bowl. Pour the sauce on top, and toss to combine and coat the veggies. Garnish with peanuts and/or scallions, and enjoy!
What to Serve with Kung Pao Cauliflower
Recipe FAQs
You can chop up the cauliflower and bell pepper in advance, and you can even whisk together the sauce ahead of time. But once you make the recipe I recommend serving it immediately as leftover cauliflower tends to be mushy.
I haven’t personally tried it, but I don’t see why not! You’ll likely have to work in batches to ensure your veggies cook evenly. Then, prepare the sauce as normal, and toss to combine.
Yes, swap the hoisin sauce and soy sauce for alternatives like tamari or coconut aminos. Then, just be sure to double-check the ingredient labels for all your items.
Kung Pao Cauliflower
Equipment
- 1 Half-Sheet Pan
- 1 Medium High-Sided Stock Pot
Ingredients
Cauliflower
- 1 large head cauliflower, trimmed and diced into bite-sized pieces
- 1 large red bell pepper, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 to 2 tablespoons sesame oil
- salt and pepper, optional and to taste
Sauce
- ¼ cup hoisin sauce
- 2 tablespoons reduced-sodium soy sauce
- 2 to 3 tablespoons light brown sugar, packed
- 2 tablespoons rice vinegar, white or apple cider vinegar may be substituted
- 1 to 3 tablespoons chili garlic sauce, or as desired (use 1 tablespoon if you’re sensitive to spicy food and work up if desired)
- 1 to 2 tablespoons sesame oil
- 3 teaspoons cornstarch, dissolved in 3 teaspoons water (called a slurry)
- 2 to 4 tablespoons chopped salted peanuts, optional for garnishing
- 1 to 2 tablespoons green onions, sliced into thin rounds; optional for garnishing
Instructions
Cauliflower:
- Preheat oven to 450F (use convection if you have it).
- To a half sheet pan lined with foil for easier cleanup if desired, add the cauliflower, bell pepper, evenly drizzle with the oils, and optional salt and pepper.
- Toss with your hands to evenly coat and roast for about 15 minutes, or until cauliflower is as tender as desired; flip and stir once midway through roasting to ensure even cooking.
- While vegetables are roasting, make the sauce.
Sauce:
- To a medium high-sided stock pot, add the hoisin and soy sauces, brown sugar, rice vinegar, chili garlic sauce (start slowly if you’re sensitive to heat; you can always add more later but you can’t take it away), sesame oil, cornstarch slurry, whisk to combine, bring the mixture to a boil over medium-high heat, and allow mixture to boil for about 2 to 3 minutes, whisking nearly continuously. Mixture will thicken up slightly as it cools. Set mixture aside until cauliflower and peppers are cooked.
- To a large bowl, add the roasted cauliflower and peppers, add the sauce (start slowly and you may not need all of it if you don’t like saucy food), and stir to combine.
- Optionally garnish with peanuts and/or green onions and serve immediately.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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Originally posted February 26, 2020 and reposted with updated text April 4, 2025.
A beautiful dish, full of flavor, and a perfect dinner for two. Used a one Cup measure to place a mound of steamed rice in the middle of the plates then spooned a ring of Kung Pau Cauliflower, with all of the sauce, around the outside. Garnished with coarsely chopped, dry roasted peanuts and a couple of chopped green onions as suggested. Printed recipe went in the “Dinner” 3-ring binder.
Really enjoying your web site and recipes.
A beautiful dish, full of flavor, and a perfect dinner for two. Used a one Cup measure to place a mound of steamed rice in the middle of the plates then spooned a ring of Kung Pau Cauliflower, with all of the sauce, around the outside. Garnished with coarsely chopped, dry roasted peanuts and a couple of chopped green onions as suggested. Printed recipe went in the “Dinner” 3-ring binder.
Really enjoying your web site and recipes.
Thanks for the 5 star review and glad this was perfect! Glad you printed it to save in your binder!
Omg this is amazing.. will be making this again
Omg this is amazing.. will be making this again
Thanks for the 5 star review and glad you’ll make it again! Thanks for trying it the same week I posted it!
I absolutely love your recipes, so easy to make and love that you use a lot of the common pantry items. So glad that I found your website. Wish we could log in and save your recipes to your site.
You can log in more or less. At the bottom/right hand side area of your screen there is a heart. Click on that and that will save it as a favorite so that when you come back, you click on the magnifying glass underneath the heart and all your favorites will pull up.
This looks amazing! I totally need to try this asap!
Paige
https://thehappyflammily.com
It’s easy and has so much flavor!
Totally with you on saucy food! I need to try this–it is exactly the kind of cauliflower recipe I’ll love!