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These Crispy Cauliflower Fritters are super easy and so tasty. This simple side dish is packed with flavor and is a tasty way to get more vegetables into your meals.
If you don’t call cauliflower “ghost broccoli”, what are you even doing with your life?
I’m a former cauliflower hater, but I fell head over heels in love with these little crispy baked cauliflower fritters and I think you will too.
Perfect for gluten-free, vegetarian, and/or dairy-free lifestyles, they are pretty much an awesome little side dish for anyone.
Ingredient highlights
- This recipe uses “riced cauliflower”. I pulsed mine in our food processor, but you can absolutely use premade and frozen cauliflower “rice” that’s sold at any grocery store.
- I used almond flour, but all-purpose works well here if you don’t need this to be gluten-free.
- If you eat dairy, I think it would be a crying shame to not add a little bit of shredded cheese into the mix. I would add 1/4-1/3 cup of shredded mozzarella or extra sharp cheddar.
Pro Tips/Recipe Notes
- You don’t need to cook or steam the cauliflower prior to chopping it. I make my patties with raw cauliflower. You can also use store-bought cauliflower rice.
- Start by adding 1/2 cup of the flour and mix the rest in a tablespoon at a time. Depending on the size of your cauli-“mince” you may not need the full cup.
- No food processor? Feel free to finely hand chop the cauliflower or grate it on a large box grater.
Crispy Cauliflower Fritters
These crispy cauliflower fritters are super easy and so tasty. This simple side dish is packed with flavor and is a tasty way to get more vegetables into your meals.
Ingredients
- 2 cups riced cauliflower {from ~3 cups cauliflower florets}
- 1 cup almond flour
- 1 egg
- 3 tbsp fresh parsley {chopped}
- 1 tbsp powdered nutritional yeast
- 1/2 tsp kosher salt
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1/4 tsp smoked paprika
- Olive oil spray
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400˚F. Place a rack in the top third of the oven.
- Pulse cauliflower in a food processor until it resembles a rice texture (see notes below if you don’t have a food processor).2 cups riced cauliflower
- Combine cauliflower, 1/2 cup of the flour, egg, parsley, nutritional yeast, kosher salt, garlic powder, and smoked paprika, in a bowl and mix to combine.1 cup almond flour, 1 egg, 3 tbsp fresh parsley, 1 tbsp powdered nutritional yeast, 1/2 tsp kosher salt, 1 tsp garlic powder, 1/4 tsp smoked paprika
- Add additional flour 1 tablespoon at a time until the mixture comes together and you can form a ball with the mixture.
- Line a baking sheet with parchment.
- Make patties with the mixture and place them on the baking sheet. Gently press down with your hand or the bottom of a drinking glass to flatten into patties.
- Spray patties heavily with olive oil cooking spray.Olive oil spray
- Bake for 12 minutes. Flip and bake for an additional 7.
Notes
- You do not need to cook or steam the cauliflower prior to chopping it.
- No food processor? Feel free to finely hand chop the cauliflower or grate it on a large box grater.
- Sub in 2 cups of store-bought cauliflower rice for an even faster meal.
Nutrition
Serving: 2pattiesCalories: 136kcalCarbohydrates: 7gProtein: 6gFat: 10gSaturated Fat: 0gCholesterol: 27mgSodium: 150mgPotassium: 211mgFiber: 3gSugar: 1gVitamin A: 240IUVitamin C: 28.3mgCalcium: 58mgIron: 1.3mg
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Tried this recipe?Mention @sustainablecooks or tag #sustainablecooks!
I would prefer not using almond flour, is all purpose flour ok to use?
Hi Gloria, yes, that’s fine! I noted that in the post and can copy/paste it below:
“I used almond flour, but all-purpose works well here if you don’t need this to be gluten-free.”
can you freeze cauliflower fritters?
Hi Susan, I haven’t tried it but I think it would work!
Oh my YUMNESS!! First time ever “commenting” on anything online review wise. However I did use egg whites tho, only cause doc recently said to limit egg yolks, grr. 1 LG head of cauli yielded 22ish patties. Pretty sure I squished them down more then your pics. Used about half amount of almond flour, added fresh bell pep, onion, garlic only because it was right there and seemed right & italian herb blend. Made this 3 days ago. Finished them off today and got 2 more LG heads. Thinking that’s enough to freeze some, yeah right. They won’t last that long. They reheat/crisp up perfectly in a regular toaster!! Hubby & I made sandwiches for lunch w them today w tomato, spinach, mustard. He’s hooked, so am I!!! Love how you don’t need to steam first & it works great.
Thanks for the recipe & inspiration Sarah 😃
Avery, I love hearing how much you enjoyed these!! I would have never thought to make them into sandwiches; that’s very clever.
We decided to give this a try as a side to our Sunday family dinner. They were super simple and very tasty. We used some frozen riced cauliflower instead of fresh. Once thawed, we patted out the excess liquid as Sarah recommended in a previous comment. I noticed that the fritters were a bit wet after 11 minutes at 400 degrees F, so I put it at 425 degrees F for the final 7 minutes after the flip. That did the trick! These tasted great with a homemade Sriracha dipping sauce but I bet you could modify the spice palette to fit almost any flavor scheme!
Rice cauliflower is soooo versatile! Love how you adapted this to fit what you had on hand.
why the nutritional yeast? can i leave it out or substitute something?
It adds a delicious white cheddar flavor. You can leave it out, but it will impact the overall flavor a bit.
Looks delicious! Since it’s a side dish, do you have any recommendations of what to pair it with?
Gudrun, *most* of my main dish recipes are one-pan kind of meals. But, I would say you could serve them with roasted chicken or some grilled sausage.
Honestly, I use them more as part of my breakfast. I serve them with a slice of bacon and some eggs because it is a super easy way to get some veg in at breakfast.
I can’t wait to try these! Would I do anything different if I used the frozen cauliflower rice?
I think you would definitely need to defrost it and press excess moisture out of frozen cauli rice before using. Otherwise I think they would be way too soggy.
These look great and I happen to have a bunch of frozen cauliflower rice in the freezer!