In this simple recipe, cauliflower florets are breaded and fried in a pan until golden, with a crispy crust. It's a traditional dish that Czechs love dipped in tartar sauce, and served with boiled buttered potatoes.
➜ What is this cauliflower recipe?
Fried cauliflower belongs to one of the few Czech vegetable dishes that even die-hard meat lovers do not hesitate to eat. To me, it's the perfect representative of comfort food!
The dish is characterized by its simple but full taste. Cauliflower florets are first boiled briefly in salted water and cooled down. The individual bites are then coated in flour, beaten eggs, and breadcrumbs. Finally, cauliflower pieces are fried in a pan with a fair layer of oil until golden brown.
MY TIP: If you are a fan of cauliflower, try this cauliflower soup (it tastes heavenly good!)
➜ Pronunciation
If anyone is wondering how to pronounce the Czech name of this recipe, i.e. 'smažený květák', I have recorded a short audio clip for you! I am a native speaker, so you will hear the authentic Czech pronunciation.
➜ Ingredients
For Czech-style fried cauliflower you need:
- Head cauliflower; fresh. Optional, cauliflower florets from the freezer can be used instead; but let them thaw first. Doing so will spare you the time and effort of cutting the whole cauliflower.
- All-purpose flour; in the UK plain flour. Serves as the first layer for coating cauliflower florets.
- Eggs; beaten in a deep bowl as the second step of coating the cauliflower.
- Breadcrumbs; shredded from dried, plain white bread, such as French baguettes, rohlik rolls, or housky braided rolls. No panko breadcrumbs, please. The breadcrumbs represent the final layer in which the cauliflower pieces are coated before frying.
- Salt; to season the water for cooking cauliflower and the beaten eggs
- Frying oil; Czechs mostly use sunflower or rapeseed oil (Canola oil), both have a neutral taste and smell. Olive oil is not suitable for this recipe. Pork lard for frying is a luxurious choice if you can get it somewhere.
For serving: boiled potatoes with melted butter, optionally topped with chopped chives. Tartar sauce for dipping is a must!
✅ You’ll find the exact amount of ingredients below in the recipe card, which you can also print out.
➜ Instructions with photos
Note: If you're using raw cauliflower, break it into bite-sized florets, boil it in salted water for a few minutes, and then drain and chill it as soon as possible. It is commonly known as the 'blanching' process. The cauliflower, when cooked in this manner, will be tender and flavorful thanks to the use of salt.
How to blanche cauliflower
Remove the outer green leaves and stem. Cut the cauliflower head into florets, which should be similar in size.
Pour water into a larger pot and salt it thoroughly. The water should be salty so that it tastes like seawater. Bring the water to a boil. Carefully drop in the cauliflower florets and cook uncovered, without a lid, for 3-4 minutes.
Meanwhile, prepare a large bowl of cold water. When the cauliflower florets are cooked, transfer them to cold water with a slotted spoon. This will stop the cauliflower from cooking. Add ice cubes to enhance the cooling effect.
Done! Once the cauliflower pieces have cooled down, take them out of the water, let them drain, and start breading the pieces as described in the next steps.
Breading cauliflower florets
The description includes the way how the Czechs bread cauliflower. It consists of three steps: coating in flour, then in beaten eggs, and finally in breadcrumbs. The Czech name for this method is 'v trojobalu' – triple-coated.
LAYER 1: Put the flour in a deep bowl or on a piece of baking paper. Coat the individual pieces of blanched cauliflower on all sides. Shake off any excess flour by gently tapping the cauliflower florets on the work surface.
LAYER 2: In a deep bowl, beat the eggs with a fork and season with a pinch of salt. Dip the cauliflower, previously coated in flour, into the egg mixture. Personally, I have found it works nicely to use a fork to turn the cauliflower in the eggs until the cauliflower florets are sufficiently wet on all sides.
LAYER 3: In a separate bowl or again on a piece of baking paper, sprinkle the breadcrumbs. Using a fork, remove the cauliflower pieces from the egg mixture, drain off a bit of the excess liquid and dredge them thoroughly with breadcrumbs. Again, tap the coated cauliflower lightly on the table to remove any excess breadcrumbs.
Now the breaded cauliflower is ready to be fried in oil.
How to fry breaded cauliflower in a pan
To fry cauliflower florets, you need a good sturdy pan with a thicker bottom. Personally, I have found cast iron frying pans to be the best, as they heat up evenly and work on all types of stoves (electric, gas, and induction).
Pour oil into the pan (sunflower or rapeseed oil is the Czech choice). Do not skimp on the oil. The layer of oil should be at least ¾ inch. Let it heat up to medium-high heat.
Using a pair of kitchen tongs or two forks, carefully place pieces of coated cauliflower into the hot oil in a single layer and fry until golden. Expect to have to turn each cauliflower to fry it regularly on all sides. One pan full of cauliflower should be fried in about ten minutes.
Expert tip: To save calories, put the fried cauliflower on a paper towel-lined plate to soak up excess fat.
➜ Serving
The cauliflower is fried; let's serve it on the table! Crispy fried cauliflower clearly goes best with boiled potatoes, topped with melted butter. For a better color display, sprinkle them with chopped fresh chives.
Also, the tartar sauce is a definite addition to this dish, the Czech favorite dipping sauce.
MY TIP: If you are preparing a complete lunch or dinner consisting of fried cauliflower and potatoes, I personally let the potatoes cook when I have the cauliflower ready for breading. That means I have blanched and cooled cauliflower florets and the flour, beaten eggs, and breadcrumbs for coating on the table.
➜ Useful tips
- Fried cauliflower can also be made from frozen cauliflower that you let thaw before preparing.
- STORAGE: Do you have any fried leftover cauliflower? Put it in the fridge and use it up in five days.
- You may also cook the cauliflower in a deep fryer if you don't want to use a pan. I don’t suggest preparing this cauliflower dish in an air fryer, nor to bake it in an oven.
More tasty recipes:
- Fried pork Schnitzel (Czech rizek)
- Fried cheese (Czech smazeny syr)
- Scrambled eggs with cauliflower (Czech kvetakovy mozecek)
Tried this recipe?
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Pan Fried Cauliflower (Czech Smazeny kvetak)
Ingredients
- 1 pound raw cauliflower (450 g) about half a head of medium-sized cauliflower
- 2 eggs
- ⅓ cup all-purpose flour
- 1 cup breadcrumbs (120 g) made from shredded dry white bread, e.g. French baguette
- frying oil sunflower or rapeseed oil (Canola oil)
- salt
Instructions
Blanche the raw cauliflower:
- Remove the outer green leaves and stem. Cut the cauliflower head into florets, which should be similar in size.
- Pour water into a larger pot and salt it thoroughly. The water should be salty so that it tastes like seawater. Bring the water to a boil. Carefully drop in the cauliflower florets and cook uncovered, without a lid, for 3-4 minutes.
- Meanwhile, prepare a large bowl of cold water. When the cauliflower florets are cooked, transfer them to cold water with a slotted spoon. This will stop the cauliflower from cooking. Add ice cubes to enhance the cooling effect.
Bread cauliflower florets:
- Put the flour in a deep bowl or on a piece of baking paper. Coat the individual pieces of blanched cauliflower on all sides. Shake off any excess flour by gently tapping the cauliflower florets on the work surface.
- In a deep bowl, beat the eggs with a fork and season with a pinch of salt. Dip the cauliflower, previously coated in flour, into the egg mixture. Personally, I have found it works nicely to use a fork to turn the cauliflower in the eggs until the cauliflower florets are sufficiently wet on all sides.
- In a separate bowl or again on a piece of baking paper, sprinkle the breadcrumbs. Using a fork, remove the cauliflower pieces from the egg mixture, drain off a bit of the excess liquid and dredge them thoroughly with breadcrumbs. Again, tap the coated cauliflower lightly on the table to remove any excess breadcrumbs.
Fry breaded cauliflower in a pan:
- Pour oil into the pan (sunflower or rapeseed oil is the Czech choice). Do not skimp on the oil. The layer of oil should be at least ¾ inch. Let it heat up to medium-high heat.
- Using a pair of kitchen tongs or two forks, carefully place pieces of coated cauliflower into the hot oil in a single layer and fry until golden. Expect to have to turn each cauliflower to fry it regularly on all sides. One pan full of cauliflower should be fried in about ten minutes.
- Expert tip: To save calories, put the fried cauliflower on a paper towel-lined plate to soak up excess fat.
Notes
- Makes 4 portions.
- SERVING: Crispy fried cauliflower clearly goes best with boiled potatoes, topped with melted butter. For a better color display, sprinkle them with chopped fresh chives. Also, the tartar sauce is a definite addition to this dish, the Czech favorite dipping sauce.
- Fried cauliflower can also be made from frozen cauliflower that you let thaw before preparing.
- You may also cook the cauliflower in a deep fryer if you don't want to use a pan. I don’t suggest preparing this cauliflower dish in an air fryer, nor to bake it in an oven.
- STORAGE: Do you have any fried leftover cauliflower? Put it in the fridge and use it up in five days.
DISCLAIMER: Because I come from Central Europe, my recipes are based on metric units such as grams or milliliters. Check out how I convert metric units to the U.S. system:
Conversion chart
Adela Suchanek
This was my mom's favourite thing to cook for me as a kid- even though I complained that it stinks when it cooks🤣 Thank you for bringing back this nice memory for me with your delicious recipe💗
Petra Kupská
I hear you! 😃 Just as my kids did the last time I made breaded cauliflower. My son urged me not to photograph this dish in his room (I have a small photo corner there), although he does not object to other meals. But, in the end, they handled the cauliflower well, and everyone enjoyed it on the plate!
Olga ulrich
Ahoj Petro
Smazeny kvetak je nejlepsi.
Ja si pamatuji jako decko,od babicky,maminky jak to delaji.
A ja to smazim stale,ne ze Jen decka to maji radi ale i vnoucata.
At je jakekoli sezeni,tak tam musi byt smazeny kvetak.Znami od mych decek ( Canadian) si to velice chvili. Mame to radi hned usmazene a taky po student na svacinu.
Dekuji.
Petra Kupská
Ahoj Oli, dekuji za mily komentar! A jsem rada, ze se u vas tradice smazeneho kvetaku drzi. U nas, kdyz dostanu velky kvetak, rozpulim ho a delam napul kvetak smazeny a z druhe poloviny "kvetakovy mozecek". To je povareny kvetak delany na cibulce s michanymi vejci - muj favorit! Moc te zdravim z Cech, Petra