These spicy vegan cauliflower burgers can be air fried or deep fried and are absolutely delicious. You’ll want to make this again and again, guaranteed!
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Cauliflower has had the biggest come up of vegetables in the last decade and as a long-time vegan and parent let me tell you, I LOVE IT!
Cauliflower is so versatile and make not only amazing vegan bbq cauliflower wings, but once you have a bite of these cauliflower burgers, you’ll wonder where this has been all your life!
Our goal here was a soft interior piece of cauliflower with the crispy outer crunch layer from the breading. The hack for that? Parboil, or slightly boiling to soften, the cauliflower first so it has the perfect texture when finished.
Don’t like spice? No worries, you can tame it down!
Jump to:
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- Flavorful – While this dish uses simple ingredients, the mix of fresh ingredients and dried spices really bring the dish together into something wonderful.
- Pantry Friendly – so many of these ingredients are ones that we recommend having on hand for easy meal prep
- Filling – Cauliflower burgers are a great, whole food option for a burger that leaves you satisfied
Cauliflower Burger Ingredients:
Gather your ingredients:
Cauliflower
The star of this dish is cauliflower. It’s inexpensive, easily accessible, and easy to use. When used with this cooking method, you’ll be shocked at how good it is.
Substitute: “Meat” Base – While we love cauliflower and thing you will too, you can definitely play around with the base of this recipe with the batter. Try oyster mushrooms, tofu, seitan, jackfruit, and more.
Flour
We use all purpose flour as part of the breading method to add a nice coating and give the perfect texture
Substitute: You can use whole wheat flour for this recipe, in addition to gluten free 1:1 blend like King Arthur or Bob’s Red Mill
Corn Flour
A must for the golden texture and the absolute crunchiness vegan cauliflower sandwich you’ve had
Substitute: You can replace this with all flour but the texture will be different. It will still be good though.
Bread Crumbs
We prefer panko bread crumbs for this recipe. Just make sure whether you use panko or traditional that it is vegan as many regular breadcrumbs contain milk.
Substitute: Most breadcrumbs contain dairy so are not vegan, but if you do have regular breadcrumbs you can use those. Alternatively you could switch it up and try crushed chips, cornflakes, and more.
Hot Sauce
We start infusing the spicy flavor right into the batter.
Substitute: If you don’t want this to be spicy, you can omit this.
Dairy Free Milk
We lean towards oat or almond, but any dairy free milk works here
Substitute: While not as much flavor, you could swap the dairy free milk with water
Apple Cider Vinegar
When you combine vinegar with dairy free milk you get a vegan buttermilk and we wanted those flavors here together.
Substitute: You can use white vinegar or fresh squeezed lemon juice as well
Oil
We are using vegetable oil because it’s a great neutral oil that is great for deep frying and allows the food to retain it’s flavor without any compromise.
Substitute: You want to use a high heat oil that is neutral in flavor – other options would be canola, corn, peanut, soybean or avocado oil. Alternatively, you can air-fry these to be oil free.
Pro-tips for making cauliflower burgers:
Why do you have to boil the cauliflower first?
Often time when people make cauliflower steaks, the inside is still a bit firm. To get the best, closest to meat texture, we boil the cauliflower to get it a bit softer first. The end result is the perfect texture both inside and out.
Making in an air-fryer
We suggest not overcrowding the pan or basket of your air fryer. Then work in batches to cook at 425˚F for 10-15 minutes or until desired texture. It will not be as golden brown as the ones in the photos, but these are still great!
What do you serve with cauliflower burgers?
You can definitely eat these just buy themselves; however, here’s a few side dish ideas:
- Easy Vegan Garlic Parmesan Fries
- Vegan Grilled Mexican Street Corn
- Easy Vegan Broccoli Salad
- Vegan Potato Salad
- Vegan Lemon Garlic Butter Asparagus
Other vegan cauliflower recipes to try:
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🥳 Get the Full Recipe
Easy Vegan Cauliflower Burger
Ingredients
- 1 head of cauliflower, cut into 3-4 steaks
For the Wet Batter
- 1 cup all purpose flour
- ½ cup corn flour
- 1 cup dairy free milk (up to ½ cup more)
- 3 tablespoons hot sauce
- 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
For the Breading
- 3 cups panko breadcrumbs
- 1 tablespoon powdered sugar, optional
- 1-2 teaspoons cayenne pepper, optional (to make more spicy)
- 1 teaspoon black pepper
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon paprika
- ½ teaspoon chili powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
Vegan Spicy Mayo
- ½ cup vegan mayo
- 1 teaspoon hot sauce
- 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
Additional Ingredients
- 1-2 quarts vegetable oil, for frying
- 4 sandwich buns
- sandwich toppings of choice (lettuce, tomatoes, pickles, etc)
Instructions
For the Spicy Mayo
- Into a bowl, add ½ cup vegan mayo, 1 teaspoon hot sauce, 1 teaspoon smoked paprika, and ½ teaspoon garlic powder. Whisk together well. Then, place in the fridge until ready to use.
For the Cauliflower Burger
- Bring a large pot of water to a boil. While waiting, cut cauliflower leaves off but leave the stem intact. Carefully slice down and cut into ¾ inch thick steaks. When water is ready, add steak and boil for 4-5 minutes. Remove and place on a towel lined wire cooling rack.
- While cooling, in a wide bowl, add 1 cup flour, ½ cup corn flour, 1 cup dairy free milk, 3 tablespoon hot sauce, and 2 tablespoon apple cider vinegar. Whisk together. You want a thick pancake like batter, if too thick, add 1 tablespoon more dairy free milk until the right consistency.
- In a separate wide bowl, add 3 cups panko breadcrumbs, 1 teaspoon black pepper, ½ teaspoon each baking powder, paprika, chili powder, and salt. Whisk together.
- To Fry: Heat 1-2 inches of oil in a large skillet (we prefer cast iron) over medium-high heat (About 350˚F).
- Dip a cauliflower steak to the wet mixture and coat both sides well. Let excess batter run off. Then, dip and cover the cauliflower in breadcrumbs.
- Fry the cauliflower in batches for 4-5 minutes or until golden and crisp on all sides. Remove and drain on a wire rack with paper towels underneath.
- To Bake or Air Fry: Preheat oven or air-fryer to 425˚F (220˚C). After coating, place in a single layer and cook for 8-12 minutes or until crispy on all sides, flipping halfway if baking.
Notes
Video
Nutrition
Frequently Asked Questions:
Yes. You’ll want to use both Gluten Free 1:1 flour and breadcrumbs. For the vegan mayo, use a vegan, soy free version.
This dish is best served fresh out of the skillet. But good news is that you can heat that back up! We recommend doing so in an air fryer for 7-10 minutes. We recommend not adding any sauce if possible for the ones that you aren’t going to eat. Consume within 3-5 days.
Yes! You can freeze vegan cauliflower steaks for up to 3 months at a time. Store in an air tight freezer bag or container.
Yes! If making half a batch, then you can halve the batter ingredients. Similarly if you are doubling the recipe, you will add twice as much of every ingredient.
Try swapping the vegan spicy mayo with our vegan cheese sauce or one of our vegan homemade BBQ sauce recipes:
–10 minute vegan cheese sauce
–vegan peach BBQ Sauce.
–vegan blueberry BBQ sauce
–traditional homemade vegan BBQ sauce
This post was originally published on 6/8/2021 and updated to include a video instructional on 7/13/2025.
This is a crazy good recipe. I can’t tell you how many times I have bought a head of cauliflower hoping I would finally like it only to be disappointed yet again. I watched a number of videos before deciding to try again and this one looked like something I would enjoy. Cauliflower is such a bland vegetable that the spices in this recipe appeared that they would remedy that problem. They did! I followed the recipe exactly, including the confectioner’s sugar. The only change I ultimately decided on was to double the salt. Let me assure you you that this is cauliflower perfection. My omnivore husband ate 2 “burgers” and several of the small pieces. He wants this to go into our monthly rotation. I have finally found a use for cauliflower. I’ll try the piccata recipe next.
This is so amazing to hear! We love when one of our recipes makes an ingredient stand out where it may not have before. Thank you so much for giving the recipe a try, we’re glad to hear that you and your family enjoyed it so much!