Dry Pot Cauliflower is a classic dish from the Sichuan province of China. The star is of course cauliflower, brought to life by tons of garlic, chili peppers, and flavourful pork belly slices.
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Dry Pot Cauliflower (干锅菜花) is one of Kevin’s favourite vegetable dishes. There are many variations, but he prefers the traditional Sichuan version, with pork belly instead of bacon and lots of aromatics. I tested this recipe half a dozen times, tinkering with it to get the taste and doneness just right.
See, cauliflower can easily go from too hard to too mushy in a matter of minutes. With Dry Pot Cauliflower it’s important that the cauliflower cooks to perfection just as the excess moisture evaporates from the pot—you don’t want the cauliflower swimming in sauce. So it’s essential to measure all the ingredients to ensure you end up with the best possible dish!
Ingredients + Substitutions
A few important notes on some of the ingredients used in this Sichuan Dry Pot Cauliflower recipe:
Pork Belly or Lap Cheong Sausage: A fatty cut of pork belly is the best choice for this recipe. As it cooks, the fat renders and coats the whole dish in a savoury glistening layer. For a leaner option, you can substitute Chinese lap cheong sausage, which we also use in our Lap Cheong Fried Rice recipe.
Garlic: Use at least one whole head of garlic. Peel them but leave them whole—they go into the wok as intact cloves to infuse the oil with a subtle garlicky flavour. Then at the end of cooking they’ll be perfectly cooked and ready to be chomped whole!
Ginger: Slice it into long thin strips, a technique called julienning. They add flavour to the dish but are not meant to be eaten (unless you’re a fool like Kevin who enjoys biting into whole pieces of ginger).
Red Chile Peppers: Either fresh or dried chili peppers will work. The traditional Chinese chili pepper is called Tien Tsin pepper. But Thai bird’s eye peppers and aji amarillo peppers are decent substitutes. Leave them whole for a very mildly spicy flavour, or slice them in half to infuse the oil with more spiciness.
Cauliflower: You’ll need roughly 1 small head of cauliflower, cut into bite-sized florets. The traditional cauliflower used is a variety called Taiwanese cauliflower also known as flowering cauliflower or caulilini. It has longer, more tender stems and smaller florets, and it’s better at soaking up the flavours of Dry Pot Cauliflower. But we tend to use whatever is on sale at our grocery store, which is usually just regular cauliflower, and it works fine.
Soy Sauce and Salt: You may be tempted to skip the salt and use extra soy sauce, but please don’t do that. Too much soy sauce will overwhelm the balance of flavours in this dish.
See recipe card for full ingredient list and quantities.
Directions
Step 1. Heat oil in a wok over medium heat. Add pork belly slices and cook until they turn opaque and start releasing oils.
Step 2. Turn the heat up to high. Add the garlic, ginger, and chili peppers and stir fry briefly, just until aromatic.
Step 3. Add the cauliflower florets and stir fry for a few more minutes until the cauliflower is fully coated in oil.
Step 4. Stir together the sauce ingredients. Drizzle this sauce over the cauliflower and cover for a few minutes to steam.
Step 5. Uncover and continue to cook until most of the moisture has evaporated.
Step 6. Sprinkle with the diced scallions and serve your dry pot cauliflower!
Storage Tips
Fridge: Because dry pot cauliflower contains pork, it's best to refrigerate and eat leftovers within four days.
Freezer: Dry pot cauliflower doesn't stand up well to freezing because the cauliflower will get slightly soggy and the flavours won't be as fresh. If you really need to freeze your leftovers, we'd recommend eating them within a month.
What to Serve with Dry Pot Cauliflower
These are our favorite dishes to pair with this recipe:
More Garlicky Veggie Dishes
Looking for more vegetable-forward recipes? Try these:
Did you make this recipe? Please leave a rating or comment below to give me feedback and help out other readers.
Recipe Card
Dry Pot Cauliflower
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon oil
- 3 ounces fatty pork belly or Chinese lap cheong sausage sliced very thin
- 1 head garlic around 10 to 12 cloves, peeled and left as whole cloves
- 1 inch thinly sliced ginger
- 5 fresh or dried red chile peppers see Note 1
- 1 pound cauliflower florets approx 1 small head cauliflower, cut into bite-sized florets
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce
- ½ teaspoon sugar
- ¼ teaspoon salt see Note 2
- ¼ teaspoon ground Sichuan pepper
- ¼ cup water or chicken stock
- 2 diced scallions
Instructions
- Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a wok or deep sauté pan over medium heat. Add 3 ounces fatty pork belly or Chinese lap cheong sausage and cook until they turn opaque and start releasing their oils.
- Turn heat up to high and add 1 head garlic, 1 inch thinly sliced ginger, and 5 fresh or dried red chile peppers. Stir fry briefly, just until aromatic.
- Add 1 pound cauliflower florets and stir fry for a few more minutes.
- Meanwhile, stir together 1 tablespoon soy sauce, ½ teaspoon sugar, ¼ teaspoon salt, ¼ teaspoon ground Sichuan pepper, and ¼ cup water or chicken stock to make the sauce mixture. Drizzle this mixture over the cauliflower and cover for a few minutes to let the cauliflower steam. Then uncover and continue to cook until most of the moisture has evaporated.
- Remove from heat and sprinkle with 2 diced scallions before serving.
Notes
- Chili Peppers: The traditional Chinese chili pepper is called Tien Tsin pepper. But Thai bird’s eye peppers and aji amarillo peppers are a decent substitute. Leave them whole for a very mildly spicy flavour, or slice them in half to infuse the oil with more spiciness.
- Salt: Start with ¼ teaspoon salt. If using Chinese sausage (lap cheong), which is already quite salty, this is likely all you need. If using pork belly, you’ll want to add a bit more salt to taste.
Cannella says
Thank u for posting one of my favorite childhood recipes! So much nostalgia for this dish.
Kelly Zhang says
No problem Cannella 🙂