Deep fried cauliflower used to be one of my favorite childhood meals and I still love it to this day. Personally, I’m a real meat lover, but from time to time I feel like it’s time to prepare a meatless lunch or dinner. When such a day comes, fried cauliflower often wins 🙂

My preferred way of serving deep fried cauliflower is with a side of buttery boiled potatoes and tartar sauce. Baked potatoes or French fries would make up for a great side too, but since the cauliflower is already fried, I prefer to use a non-fried side dish. Enough of the intro, let’s start cooking.

TIP: Some vegetable salad would compliment this dish really well, try my Apple & bacon coleslaw or the salad I made in this Grilled chicken salad recipe.

Deep Fried Cauliflower Ingredients:

1-2 heads of cauliflower (1 for 3 people)
1kg (2lb) yellow potatoes
3-4 eggs
80-100g (3-3.5oz) butter
flour (all purpose is fine)
plain breadcrumbs
salt & pepper to taste
tartar sauce

How To Make Deep Fried Cauliflower

Watch the video or scroll down for step by step instructions:

The first thing we need to do is to clean the cauliflower and break it down into pieces. Start by removing the green leaves and the main stem or root. Proceed by cutting through the stems of the individual florets so they separate nicely.

You can divide each floret into several small pieces, or leave them intact, if you prefer larger pieces. Small cauliflower pieces are easier to fry and require less oil. Try to remove as much of the stem as possible from each floret, this will make the breading process easier later on.

NOTE: One medium sized head of cauliflower is enough for about 3 people. I have used two today, since I was cooking for the whole family of mine.

We need to boil the cauliflower pieces now, before breading them. This is a must, since the frying process alone isn’t long enough for the pieces to cook fully from the inside. Make sure to add a generous amount of salt into the water, which will nicely season our cauliflower pieces as they are cooking.

While the cauliflower is cooking, we can start working on the potatoes. All we have to do is peel and cut them into bite size pieces. I’m using standard yellow potatoes, but feel free to use your favorite type. Just like with the cauliflower pieces, we’re gonna boil the potatoes in generously salted water.

Once the cauliflower is soft enough for a fork to slide in, it’s time to take it off the heat and drain. Do not overcook the cauliflower or the florets will start to fall apart, 10 or 15 minutes of boiling should be enough.

Let the pieces cool down for a bit and prepare the breading ingredients in the meantime. I’m going with the most basic way, which is just eggs, flour and plain breadcrumbs. This is my preferred way of breading, whenever I’m about to deep fry anything, not just cauliflower. Don’t forget to season the eggs with salt and pepper. We are not using any other seasonings, so you can be generous here.

The breading process is as simple as it gets. Coat the pieces in flour first, then dip them into the beaten eggs and finish it up with the breadcrumbs. My son always loves to help me with this, I guess he enjoys making some mess in the kitchen. I don’t complain though, some help is always welcome.

Now it’s time to deep fry our cauliflower pieces. Heat up enough oil in a large pan, so even the largest pieces are at least halfway submerged in it. When deep frying cauliflower, especially the smaller pieces, do not aim for the maximum temperature, as the breadcrumbs would most likely burn. Medium high is perfect.

I like to flip the pieces a few times, until I reach a more or less even golden brown color from both sides. Keep in mind that the cauliflower is cooked already, so we just need to fry the breading layer.

Once fried to perfection, transfer the cauliflower pieces to a bowl with a paper towel in it. The towel will absorb at least some of the excess fat.

The potatoes are nice and soft by now too, and we need to do one last thing here. Drain them first, then add a nice amount of butter while the potatoes are still hot. I’ve used about 80g of butter which is roughly 3 ounces. Let the butter melt, then cover the pot with a lid and give it a proper toss. This will turn these simple boiled potatoes into a creamy and buttery goodness.

And that’s it, our deep fried cauliflower pieces are ready and the only thing left to do is plate our dish. I love to add a nice amount of tartar sauce and some freshly chopped parsley for garnish. Thanks for watching and don’t forget to follow my blog or Youtube channel for more simple homestyle cooking recipes. See you next time.

Tips And Tweaks For This Recipe

• I’ve used plain breadcrumbs, but you can use your favorite ones. Panko, Italian Crumbs… both would work well.
• Deep fried cauliflower can be served with a range of sides… French fries, baked potatoes, salad, mashed potatoes… or even with just a dip of some sort.
• This recipe uses just the basic seasonings, but you can definitely season the flour or breadcrumbs to your likings.
• When choosing the oil for deep frying, make sure it’s one with a high smoking point… pork lard works great too.
• For a more healthier version of this dish, use an airfryer or try to bake the breaded cauliflower pieces in the oven. Deep fried cauliflower tastes the best in my opinion, but the other options are not bad at all either.

TIP: Want to cook some meat instead? Try my Pork neck / collar recipe or Pork tenderloin steaks made on the grill.

Want to experiment some more? Here are some more cauliflower recipes from other bloggers. Jo has a nice one on her blog, for example. I also liked this one from Monica, it used a different breading technique so check it out. You might also want to try this broccoli cauliflower casserole from Sara.

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