Crispy cauliflower is tossed with a sticky, sweet soy glaze and topped with a colorful, crunchy slaw in these delicious gluten-free tacos.
During the holidays, I usually look forward to getting back on track. Of course, there will still be plenty of holiday splurges over the next couple of weeks but for the remaining days I’ve got an arsenal of lighter dishes planned and ready to go.
Enter my Asian Crispy Cauliflower Tacos. I mean, who doesn’t love tacos? They’re the perfect weeknight meal. Fun, easy to make, packed with flavor, and everyone can assemble their own. It doesn’t get much better than that!
In the past there were limited options for those who follow a gluten-free diet but in recent years, the number of gluten-free products on the market has increased dramatically. So that means that gluten-free cooking doesn’t have to be bland!
With products like Kikkoman® Gluten-Free Soy Sauce and Kikkoman® Gluten-Free Tamari Soy Sauce, you can elevate your everyday dishes and infuse them with rich, bold flavor. Soy sauce is a major flavor enhancer and brings out the umami in a dish, helping to balance and round out the flavors. Umami is known as the fifth taste (along with salty, sweet, sour and bitter) and is described as a savory, rich flavor.
Gluten is a protein found in grains like wheat, barley and rye. People with celiac disease have a serious autoimmune condition in which ingestion of gluten leads to damage in the small intestine. Those with non-celiac gluten sensitivity experience symptoms similar to those of celiac disease when they consume gluten but they don’t have the same immune response and intestinal damage.
The symptoms (like abdominal pain, headache, bloating, and fatigue) typically resolve when gluten is removed from the diet. For those who can’t eat gluten, they can enjoy gluten-Free soy sauce, which is a mild, preservative-free soy sauce made from rice instead of wheat.
I always like to put a twist on my dishes so I decided to incorporate Asian flavors into my tacos. For my Asian Crispy Cauliflower Tacos, I wanted to keep the dish vegetarian so I decided to use cauliflower for the filling.
Cauliflower is a hot ingredient right now and for good reason. Not only is it packed with antioxidants, fiber, protein and an impressive array of vitamins and minerals, it is also an extremely versatile ingredient.
To get a crispy coating on the cauliflower florets, I toss them in a simple batter made with gluten free flour and bake them at a high temperature in the oven. This will give you a crispy texture similar to frying but without all of the oil.
Once the cauliflower is cooked, I bathe them in a deliciously sticky, sweet soy glaze made with gluten-free soy sauce. To add sweetness to the sauce, I also stir some gluten-free sweet chili sauce and for a punch of acid, I toss in a splash of rice vinegar. It’s a simple three-ingredient sauce that just explodes with flavor!
The crispy cauliflower coated with the soy glaze is so good it will be hard to resist sneaking a few bites straight out of the skillet. In fact, you could stop at this point and serve this dish as an appetizer. But I decided to take it one step further and use these adorable florets as the filling for my tacos.
To assemble the tacos, I pile a bunch of cauliflower high on soft corn tortillas and then top them with a colorful, crunchy slaw. I make the slaw with shredded cabbage, carrots, and cilantro tossed in a light dressing made with rice vinegar and soy sauce. It’s packed with bright flavor that perfectly complements the richness of the cauliflower. Who’s ready for taco night? I sure am!
Asian Crispy Cauliflower Tacos
Ingredients
Tacos:
- ⅔ cup rice flour or other gluten free flour
- ¾ teaspoon garlic powder
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ⅔ cup cold water
- 1 head of cauliflower cut into florets
- ⅓ cup gluten-free soy sauce
- ⅔ cup gluten-free sweet chili sauce
- 1 teaspoon rice vinegar
- ¼ cup sliced scallions
- 8 small white corn tortillas gluten free
Slaw:
- 1 tablespoon rice vinegar
- ½ tablespoon neutral-flavored oil like safflower or peanut
- ½ teaspoon gluten-free soy sauce
- ½ teaspoon sesame oil
- ½ teaspoon honey (or agave)
- 2 cups coleslaw mix shredded cabbage and carrots
- ¼ cup cilantro leaves
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 450°F. Spray a sheet pan with cooking spray.
- Whisk the flour, garlic powder, salt, and water together in a large bowl. Toss the cauliflower florets in the batter until coated. Transfer the cauliflower to the prepared sheet pan, letting any excess batter drip off. Spread the cauliflower out in a single layer and bake in the oven 18-20 minutes until lightly browned. Flip them over halfway through.
- Meanwhile, heat the soy sauce, sweet chili sauce and rice vinegar in a large skillet. Simmer a few minutes until slightly thickened. Add the baked cauliflower to the sauce and toss to combine. Stir in the scallions.
- To make the slaw, whisk the rice vinegar, safflower oil, soy sauce, sesame oil, and honey together in a medium bow. Add the coleslaw mix and cilantro and toss to combine.
- To assemble the tacos, heat the tortillas and top them with a pile of crispy cauliflower and a handful of slaw. Devour!
url says
A great vegetarian taco dish. It can be used by itself if we don't want to eat it as a taco. Yummy!!
Julie @ Running in a Skirt says
Oh my! These look and sound incredible! Love the twist on traditional tacos. So fun!
Rachel says
These sound so good. My kids love tacos and I know they would love a new flavor to try!
Jessica Levinson says
These look so delicious! The crispy cauliflower and colorful slaw - everything sounds amazing!
Christine says
These!! Wow. I would definitely love these for dinner soon! They look amazingly delicious!
Lorie says
These are unreal. Cannot wait to try. I love the trick to getting them crispy!!!
Alisa Fleming says
When I saw this on Facebook, I actually thought it was chicken! Love the use of cauliflower here and how flavorful that sauce looks.