I feel like when the weather starts to get chilly is when I want to start frying things. This vegan bang bang broccoli is always the first thing on my mind! In the summer time, fried food just doesn’t appeal to me. It is heavy and greasy, which sucks in the heat of summer, but is an amazing comfort in the chill of winter and fall. Last week, I had the insane pleasure of going to Dirt Candy in New York City. It was hands down in the top 5 meals of my entire life. One of the many dishes I had was the Korean Fried Broccoli. So I immediately started brainstorming, and came up with a test for Bang Bang Broccoli!
This fried vegan bang bang broccoli is so good and filling and comforting, but still light and crisp. The perfect comfort food for a cold night in! The whole recipe has only 12 ingredients (including the oil for frying), the sauce is only 3! A customary Bang Bang sauce has sweet chilli sauce and honey. I thought that was WAY too much sugar, so I went with a simple Vegan mayo, chilli paste and agave. So easy, so sweet and spicy, but not too sweet:) The batter is only 5 ingredients, and everything is just thrown together. After dipping into the batter, you just toss it in panko, and it is ready to get nice and brown and crispy.
What You Need To Make This Vegan Fried Broccoli:
- Fresh Broccoli: It really is best to use fresh and not frozen
- Vegan Mayo: This starts the bang bang sauce.
- Chili Paste and Agave Syrup: I like to use garlic chili paste and light agave.
- Non-dairy Milk: I used almond milk, but any unsweetened plant milk will do.
- Apple Cider Vinegar, Cornstarch, Flour, Salt and Hot Sauce: Mixed with the milk, these create the wet batter.
- Panko Bread Crumbs: To coat the broccoli in and make it extra crunchy.
- Oil: For frying!
If you love broccoli, you should make my Vegan Crispy BBQ Broccoli Tacos!
Vegan Bang Bang Broccoli
Ingredients
Bang Bang Sauce
- 1/4 C. Vegan mayo
- 2 Tbsp. Chili paste
- 1 Tbsp. Agave nectar
Batter
- 1 C. Almond milk
- 1 tsp. Apple cider vinegar
- 3/4 C. All purpose flour
- 1/2 C. Cornstarch
- 1 tsp. Salt
- 2 tsp. Hot sauce
And the rest
- 2 C. Panko bread crumbs
- 1 Head of Broccoli
- Oil for frying
- Chives for garnish(optional)
Instructions
- Make the sauce, whisk together the mayo, chilli paste and agave in a small bowl. Set aside.
- Make the batter, add the apple cider vinegar to the almond milk in a small bowl and let sit for a few minutes to make vegan buttermilk. Add the flour, cornstarch, and salt to a medium sized mixing bowl, then add the hot sauce and almond milk mixture to the dry ingredients and whisk together until combined.
- Put the panko in a separate bowl.
- Cut broccoli into florets, then heat the oil on medium high in a large pan, I like to use a cast iron skillet, you need about 1/2-1 inch of oil at the bottom of the pan.
- Dip each floret of broccoli in the batter, then into the panko and coat thoroughly. Once the oil is hot add the broccoli to the hot oil. Fry for about a minute or two on each side, or until brown and crispy. Drizzle with sauce and serve immediately.
Video
Notes
