Oh yes! These healthy Gluten-Free Vegan Cauliflower Hash Browns are crisp on the outside and moist on the inside, so irresistible!
Are you watching your weight and looking for low-carb healthy options? Well, this delicious Gluten-Free Vegan Cauliflower Hash Browns recipe is perfect for you! You can also try my Broccoli Fritters.
As much as I like Trader Joes Hash Brown Patties, my recipe is so much healthier and lower in calories. I use fresh ingredients and I also get to control what ingredients I put in them.
One good thing is I read that, Trader Joe's products do not contain genetically modified ingredients so they are a great option as a backup plan.
My hubby and son Daevyd loved my Gluten-Free Vegan Cauliflower Hash Browns so much that I'm making another batch for supper. I will serve it with homemade sugar-free ketchup, scrambled tofu and Guacamole (Yummy, I know right!).
I love the fact that cauliflower has so many health benefits, so I was delighted to use it as the base for this recipe. Here are some of them:
- Cauliflower is a good source of vitamins and minerals. It contains vitamin B, C, and K. It also contains magnesium, thiamin, phosphorus, protein, potassium, manganese.
- Boosts brain development, cauliflower contains choline a compound known to improve cognitive function, memory, and learning.
- Cauliflower contains sulforaphane, a compound shown to kill cancer cells.
How To Make Gluten-Free Vegan Cauliflower Hashbrowns
I processed the cauliflower and onion using my food processor until very crumbly, looking like rice. I then transferred the cauliflower rice to a bowl, I added besan flour, arrowroot powder, water, and seasonings. I then formed them into patties and cook them in a skillet on both sides (you can bake for 30 minutes in the oven set at 400 degrees Fahrenheit)
You can substitute the besan flour with chickpea flour or other gluten-free flour. They keep their shape perfectly and don't fall apart. You can make a double batch and freeze the rest.
To ensure that the patties are fully cooked on the inside is to cover the skillet for the first 5 minutes and then uncover for the remaining minutes.
I also find that when I wash my cauliflower then process in the food processor, I don't need to add water for the hash browns to be shaped into patties.
*Update January 2nd, 2019- I made another batch today and included a collage of the step by step process above. I baked mine this time and they were perfect.
I didn't add the extra water mentioned in the directions because it was moist enough after processing in the food processor. The chickpea flour worked perfectly. However, if you need for it to hold more I suggest you add a gluten-free all-purpose flour and not more chickpea flour.
Also, it is better to brush oil on the baking sheet rather than use oil spray. Make sure to let the hash browns sit at least 10 minutes in the baking pan before removing, the hashbrowns get firmer as they sit.
I am so excited to start a new facebook group, sharing lots of delicious vegan recipes, health tips etc. from our members, please join us at Vegan Recipes With Love! If you tried this recipe, please comment below and let us know how you like it. Also, please follow us on Instagram!
Nutrition
- Energy:
- 144 kcal / 602 kJ
- Fat:
- 6 g
- Protein:
- 6 g
- Carbs:
- 20 g
Cooking Time
- Preparation:
- 5 min
- Cooking:
- 10 min
- Ready in:
- 15 min
Ingredients
- 1/2 head of cauliflower, break into florets
- 1 tablespoon coconut oil
- 1/2 onion, chopped
- 1/4 cup besan flour, or chickpea flour
- 1 tablespoon arrowroot starch, or cornstarch
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 2 tablespoons water, (optional)
Instructions
- Preheat oven 400 degrees F. Line baking sheet with parchment paper, Brush parchment paper with oil or lightly spray with cooking oil.
- Process cauliflower and onion in a food processor or grate with a box grater until crumbly. Transfer riced cauliflower mixture into a large bowl.
- Add besan flour/chickpea flour, arrowroot starch, garlic powder, salt, water and stir to combine.
- Divide batter into 6 equal portions, shape into patties, about 3 x 2 inches.
- Place patties on prepared baking sheet and bake for 40 minutes, turning halfway.
Notes
I used a 12 oz bag of frozen (defrosted) Trader Joe’s Cauliflower Rice. Short on time, I cooked my cauliflower hash browns on the griddle with some coconut oil. I found that pressing them gently with the spatula on the griddle helped keep them intact and they browned up nicely. Hubby was impressed! These were excellent!
Hello Mary, I love your shortcut method. I will definitely pick up a bag of cauliflower rice the next time I go shopping. Thank you for sharing your tips. I’m happy you and your hubby enjoyed them.
If using premade cauliflower rice what would be my measurement? 2 cups? 3 cups? Weight in grams?
Leanne 2 cups of cauliflower rice are about right.
I was looking for a quick recipe (i.e. that did not involve steaming/squeezing the cauliflower) and this one fit my taste/time/dietary constraints. I omitted the oil and added nutritional yeast and dulce to flavor… threw them in the air fryer for <10 minutes and they were FABULOUS! Thanks SO much for this simple, tasty recipe!
I’m so happy they turned out for you. Thank you for sharing your feedback.
Perfect !!! I did it and liked , Thanks for the recipe
Awesome Andrea, I’m happy you enjoy it.
I’ve made these twice. They tasted great but took forever to cook enough to be crispy, just sort of soggy in the middle, and fell apart. I think next time I will steam the cauliflower first and press out the moisture before mixing with other ingredients to prevent mushy texture.
Do you think the arrowroot could be replaced with xanthum gum to shave off a few carbs? I was thinking almond flour instead of chickpea flour for the same reason, but I saw the earlier comment that it makes them fall apart. I’m wondering if psyllium husks might work. Any ideas welcome.
How about flaxseed gel with the almond flour, I’m not sure about xanthan gum though. Psyllium husks sound great as well. Please let us know if it turns out.
Do you have the nutritional information on this? It doesn’t seem very healthy to me. Maybe I am wrong! I just wanna know the calories and carbs.
My fitness pal and very well fit both have nutrition calculators for you to check.
I followed your directions exactly, but my hash browns were very crumbly. It was more of a hash brown scramble because they fell apart. However, they tasted great. They didn’t resemble your photograph where they appear like a dough. Where did I go wrong?
Valena, I’m sorry it didn’t turn out. I have just updated the recipe and it works every time I make it. I’m going to edit the recipe for readers to bake it only since it could be the kind of skillet being used, or the oil isn’t hot enough etc.
These are SO good! I make them frequently!
Dawn that is so great to know, thank you so much for your feedback, I really appreciate it.
I am so super glad that I have found this!!! I have been obsessed with broccoli and cauliflower tots for months but the store bought ones spike my blood sugar and have a lot of junk in them. I am so excited to try these and your recipe is so easy!!! Thank you so much!
Thank you Jenny, I’m so happy you found these, I hope you enjoy.
Hi love, whats the fiber content
La’Shay, in the 7 years of blogging you are the second reader that asks for fiber content. I will include it in the future. I manually plug the recipe in a nutrition calculator for results. Here is the link https://www.verywellfit.com/recipe-nutrition-analyzer-4157076 How it helps.
I am excited! Making these tonight with home made cole slaw! We are trying to stick to vegan and low carb….sometimes challenging , so nice to have new ideas!
That’s wonderful Laura, hope you enjoy. Sounds great with coleslaw, yum!
These look just like hash brown made from potatoes — which I love! Getting more healthy cauliflower into ones diet is always a good idea too.
Thank you David, hope you try it.
They looks absolutely amazing. And I’ll try this asap. I’ve been using Trader Joe’s gluten free all purpose flour and usually things turn out well. Do you have any experience using gluten free all purpose flour blends and this recipe?
Thank you Maike, I hope you enjoy them. I haven’t tried it with all-purpose blend but I bet it will turn out great!
Can I use almond flour instead of besan or chickpea?
Unfortunately, the almond flour won’t work.
What about ground flax ?
Cookie, you didn’t explain what you mean. I suppose you would love to add some ground flax, sure you can add a tablespoon or two, but it wasn’t necessary each time I made it.
With most recipes with cauliflower you have to “squeeze” the water out. I don’t see that step included?? Great if you don’t have to because that’s way to hard on my hands.
You don’t need to, the moisture helps the cornstarch and besan to hold the cauliflower.
These came out great! I just finished making them and I gotta say I will be making these again. I used almond flour first, but realized they were not sticking together so I added some of Bob’s Red Mill Gluten Free Flour Blend. After adding the second flour, they stuck together pretty well, I had to make “fat” hasbrowns to ensure they stuck together while baking. They have a crisp outside with chewing inner. I highly recommend this dish.
Wohoo, I’m happy you enjoyed them and you were able to make the necessary adjustments. Thank you for sharing!
I am not vegan, but would like to be and will have to try these
Jacqui, I hope you do they are one of my readers’ favorite recipes for many years now,
Followed recipe and made on skillet. Was too mushy to stay together so had to add buckwheat flour. Flavors got lost so it was a meh experience.
Sorry it didn’t turn out for you, I’m not sure what went wrong somewhere. I don’t think I would have added buckwheat flour because the flavor is real earthy so it could ruin a mild, savory and pleasant tasting dish, I would use buckwheat where I needed to add a sweetener to counteract the flavor. I think a starch like cornstarch or arrowroot would bind and then I normally taste to make sure it is seasoned right, if not, I would then add extra salt, onion, and garlic make the flavor pop. If I did the first one in the skillet and it was soggy, I would pop the rest on a sprayed baking sheet and pop them in a preheated oven at 400 degrees for 30 minutes. This recipe is worth visiting with these troubleshooting ideas, many feedback I received on Social media is that it tastes better than regular hash browns.
Hi Michelle,
Loving your recipes. I doubled the recipe and it was a hit with my family. For some reason I thought that parchment paper would work, and I didn’t need to oil that. I suggest that you oil even parchment paper, because mine got stuck. I was able to save them. I baked half and tried the other half on the stove top. I’m making these again for my mom’s bday for Breakfast for Dinner themed party. I will bake them this time around. Both ways of cooking are great. I try to avoid as much oil as possible. I had fun adding in Italian seasoning and this time I will use a diff kind. Thanks for your healthy vegan recipes!
Tay thank you for your feedback. I’m so happy you enjoyed them. Yes, I always brush oil on my parchment paper. I love the idea of adding Italian Seasoning. Hope you have a lovely time on your mom’s bday.
If I plan on freezing these, should I cook them and then freeze, or form the patties and freeze uncooked?
Misty, I haven’t freeze mine but you could cook them and freeze then reheat in the oven. Let us know what worked for you.
Hey! Can you tell me what the arrowroot starch does in this recipe? Please and thanks! I am going to try this recipe.
It acts as a binder, you can substitute with cornstarch. Hope you enjoy
Am I reading the recipe right if I assume there’s no oil in the patties unless I fry them?
Anna that’s right, oil is for frying or baking.
Fabulouse recipes
Hello
These were amazing, I skipped the oil, added some chia seeds and put on parchment paper. Thanks for the recipe it was sooooo good.
That’s wonderful, I’m so happy they worked with the chia seeds. I’m so happy you enjoyed them, thank you for your feedback.
Thank you very much for your feedback Elke, I’m happy they turned out great by leaving out the oil and adding chia seeds.
Michelle, these look delicious. I will definitely try this recipe.
You also mentioned home made ketchup without sugar. I’ve been looking for such ketchup for quite sometime, as I have eliminated sugar from my diet. Can you share the recipe, please?
Nice idea.I only wanted to say, that Besan and the chickpea flour are both the same. It is called Besan in Hindi, and Chickpea flour in English. I was surprised to see you use the term Besan, probably you have been making a lot of India dishes. These hash browns look amazing, going to try them.
Thank you Rama, I have very close friends from India, shop a lot in Indian grocery stores here in the USA, I also tend to eat at Indian restaurants when I travel.I thought the same also from research I find that it is confusing, here is what someone had to say, ‘Chickpeas are of **two** main kinds : Beige and dark brown Besan is made from Chana daal or bengal gram **daal** or yellow daal which is made by peeling and splitting Bengal gram (dark brown chickpea). What is Bengal gram? Whole chana is also called** **Bengal gram or Kala chana** **or Desi chickpea. It is small, from light to dark brown color with a rough coat. Whole chana flour is made from this **whole chana** and is different from besan. ‘If you come across chana daal flour and chickpea flour on the same isle of the store, do not get confused. It is ground from bengal gram daal, and suppliers use different names to sell their products ( that’s what I was told when I asked a popular specialty store in Richmond). However, if you read garbanzo bean flour on the label, it is definitely made by grinding beige chickpeas/ garbanzo beans.’
Cooked these today for a staff morning tea for the gluten free and vegetarian people. They were amazing! Even the meat eaters got into them! No photo as unfortunately they were all eaten! Would definitely make these again as they were so easy! I baked mine in the oven and was surprised how firm they were. Didn’t need to add the water.
Leigh, I’m so happy they turned out great and they were all gone. Thank you very much for your feedback!
I had another lightbulb moment with these: I’ve added a 1/4 cup of panko breadcrumbs and a tablespoon of black chia seeds to the mixture and formed them into balls (measured and help shaped by an ice-cream scoop). I’ve put them on parchment and sprayed with a little EVOO and baked them in the oven at 180 degrees C for about 20 minutes, turning at the 15 minute mark. They develop a nice light brown colour and are evenly cooked throughout. Makes about 10 balls/parcels all up.
Oh wow, I love lightbulb moments! So happy it turned out for you Mike, such a great idea. Reminds me of tater tots.
I used frozen cauliflower rice. They didn’t stick together at all. Added too much water then, in trying to get them to stick together. Maybe I need to steam the frozen rice first?? And they were a little too salty for me. I used almond flour because that’s what I had and green onion. And I ended up using more oil than I would have liked, BUT, I’ll try tweaking the recipe a little as the flavor was delish!!