There are surprisingly a lot of options for us at our local Chinese restaurant. However, I’ve been craving General Tso’s since going Vegan. Here’s the thing you should know about me……

I am NOT a fan of Tofu.

It honestly freaks me out. I thought after a couple years of being vegan, that would change. That did not happen. Moral of the story, I like to use cauliflower in place of chicken when vegan-izing a recipe.

This recipe also uses all veggies instead of any noodles or rice. That means it can be made gluten free if you use a gluten free 1-to-1 flour blend when breading your cauliflower. You can also either omit the panko altogether or crush up your favorite gluten free cracker in place of the panko. Be careful of certain soy sauces though, if you are gluten free. I have heard people like to use coconut aminos instead of soy sauce, but don’t hold me to that because I have never personally tried it.

Don’t worry if it feels like your pan is too full of veggies! They will cook down, I promise!

I like to use a plethora of cabbage in place of noodles. Certainly you could do spaghetti squash, but that takes too long for my liking. Quick and easy is how I roll. HOWEVER! I do have a spaghetti squash stir fry recipe you can take a look at if you were interested in going that route.

Easy Vegan Lo Mein

I used a bottled General Tso’s sauce….because, well, easy. Again, this is something you could certainly make on your own but ain’t nobody got time for that. This one was a great one that my fiancé found. He made sure it did not have MSG, which is just as important to me as no animal products. You migraine sufferers will feel me on that one!

This is not gluten free though so feel free to use this recipe if you can’t find a gluten free bottled sauce:

General Tso Gluten Free and Vegan Sauce Recipe:

• ¼ cup gluten free soy sauce

• 1 tbsp olive oil

• 2 tbsp rice vinegar

• 1 tbsp sriracha

• 2 tbsp molasses or agave

• 1 tbsp fresh garlic (crushed)

• 2 tsp fresh ginger (grated)

• ½ tsp chinese five spice

• 1 tsp crushed red pepper flake

Someone found this one and shared it with me! Gluten free!

Ok so first thing is first. You will cut and coat your cauliflower and roast on a cookie sheet for about 40 minutes, turning half way.

While that is cooking, go ahead and cut your onion and sauté all of your veggies for about 10 minutes and then add soy sauce and sauté for about 15 minutes longer. The cooked down and soy sauced version looks like this

Then, we general tso that cauliflower!

Combine!

It’s kind of ridiculous how delicious this was! We will be making this quite often in our house! No more take out! So much less expensive too!

I couldn’t stop taking pictures, I was so pleased with myself! Hahahaha!

Ingredients:

• 1 head of cauliflower
• 1 bag of raw ‘cole slaw mix’
• 1/2-1 bag of spinach (depending on how much you like spinach, I LOVE it)
• 1 large red onion
• 1 bottle of vegan General Tso’s sauce
• 4-5 tablespoons of low sodium vegan soy sauce
• 1/2 cup + 3 tablespoons of flour
• 1/2 cup of cashew milk
• 1 cup panko bread crumbs
• A few dashes of salt and pepper
• 2 tablespoons olive oil

Directions:

1. Preheat your oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.
2. Cut your cauliflower in ‘nugget’ sized pieces. You can just do florets to make life easier, especially if this is your first cauliflower rodeo.
3. Mix cashew milk and 1/4 cup of the general Tso’s sauce. Then add that to your flour and stir with a fork.
4. Pour that batter-like mixture on top of your cauliflower and stir until it is all evenly coated.
5. Add your panko bread crumbs to the cauliflower and stir until evenly coated.
6. Place cauliflower in a single layer on a well greased cookie sheet and put in the oven for about 40 minutes, turning halfway. You want your cauliflower to be softer on the inside and a nice golden brown crunch on the outside.
7. While your cauliflower is cooking, begin cutting your onions.
8. Preheat a large frying pan on medium heat on the stove with your oil. Add your onions, your ‘cole slaw mix’ and spinach. Then add some salt and pepper because veggies neeeeeeed it! Sauté them for about 10 minutes. Then add your soy sauce to the pan and continue sautéing for about another 15 minutes. You want your veggies to be cooked down completely, but you also want your soy sauce to have been reduced down and cooked into the vegetables. You don’t want a puddle of soy sauce at the end. If you need to turn up the heat to medium-high for the second part because of oven/stove differences, that would be a great idea. Just get that soy sauce cooked down into the veggies.
9. Once the cauliflower is out of the oven, pour the rest of the General Tso’s sauce on top and gently mix until evenly coated. Make sure you do this while the cauliflower is still hot because it helps the coating process.
10. Make your plate of deliciousness and thank me later.

If you want to add noodles of your choosing, you can just cook them according to the directions on the back and after you drain them, add them to your cabbage and onions, with a little more soy sauce, at the end and crank on high and stir continuously for about a minute. And voila! (I had a random box of fettuccini noodles but any long noodle will work)