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Buffalo Cauliflower Bites taste so much like traditional chicken wings, but are a healthier vegetarian version. Tender crispy cauliflower baked to perfection in a buttered hot sauce mixture is delicious!
Why this recipe works:
Buffalo Cauliflower Bites are surprisingly addictive. Even people who aren’t very fond of cauliflower love this recipe because they really do taste more like hot wings than anything else.
This recipe is very simple to make as you will see below.
When served with some bleu cheese dressing and celery sticks, you’ve got yourself one tasty little snack or appetizer!
Here’s how to make them:
- First step is to make a mixture of flour, water, olive oil, garlic powder and salt. This gets mixed well in a large bowl (photo 1).
- The cauliflower is then cut into bite sized florets (photo 2) and tossed in the flour mixture to coat (photo 3).
- The coated cauliflower is then spread in an even layer on a greased baking sheet and baked for about 15 minutes (photo 4). At that point, they are taken out of the oven, tossed in a mixture of hot sauce and melted butter (photo 5), and then placed back into the oven on the baking sheet (photo 6) until they are nice and crispy.
Cooking tips:
- You can use a head of cauliflower and cut the florets or you can buy a bag of pre-cut florets.
- Be sure to cut the florets are on the larger side. If they are too small, they will be mushy. The larger chunks allow the buffalo cauliflower bites to brown nicely while still maintaining some texture.
- Serve the buffalo cauliflower warm. They are still good at room temperature, but serving them warm will make your mouth water.
- For easier clean up, you can line the baking sheet with parchment paper.
- The cauliflower buffalo “wings” are easy to stab with little wooden toothpicks. Otherwise, no utensils needed!
Related recipes:
Love recipes that feature (or hide) cauliflower? Here are some of my favorites:
- Cauliflower Mashed Potatoes
- Hidden Cauliflower Mac and Cheese
- Cauliflower Fried Rice
- Two Ingredient Cauliflower Mash
- Parmesan Roasted Cauliflower Rice
Recipe video below!
Did you make this recipe? Be sure to leave me a comment to let me know what you think!
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Video
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 head cauliflower
- 1/2 cup flour
- 1/2 cup water
- 1 T olive oil
- 1 T garlic powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 2/3 cup hot sauce (I prefer Frank's Red Hot)
- 2 tablespoons butter melted
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 450 degrees F. Heavily grease baking sheet with butter. Divide cauliflower into bite sized chunks.
- In a large bowl, combine flour, water, olive oil, garlic powder and salt until well combined. Add cauliflower and gently toss to coat each piece evenly. Transfer coated cauliflower to prepared baking and bake in preheated oven for 15 minutes, turning once halfway through cooking time. Remove from oven.
- In large bowl, combine hot sauce and melted butter. Add partially cooked cauliflower and gently toss to evenly coat. Return cauliflower to baking sheet and continue cooking for an additional 20-25 minutes, turning once, until pieces start to turn golden brown.
- Remove from oven and serve warm with blue cheese dressing and fresh celery sticks.
Notes
Cooking tips:
- You can use a head of cauliflower and cut the florets or you can buy a bag of pre-cut florets.
- Be sure to cut the florets are on the larger side. If they are too small, they will be mushy. The larger chunks allow the buffalo cauliflower bites to brown nicely while still maintaining some texture.
- Serve the buffalo cauliflower warm. They are still good at room temperature, but serving them warm will make your mouth water.
- For easier clean up, you can line the baking sheet with parchment paper.
- The cauliflower buffalo "wings" are easy to stab with little wooden toothpicks. Otherwise, no utensils needed!
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
This recipe was originally published in January 2017 and has been updated with process photos, helpful information, and cooking tips. Don’t worry – I didn’t change the recipe!
Tried your recipe but turn out soggy thus replaced the cauliflower with tempeh and omitted the flour. I also reduced the oven temperature.
Works out well.
Thanks for trying again. I love the substitution recommendations!
I used Quinoa flour instead of white flour. Also used 1/2 T of garlic and 1/2 T of poultry seasoning. Yummy!!
I’ve never tried quinoa flour. Sounds fantastic!
followed recipe exact…they are amazing!!! made them numerous times now 🙂
Hi!
Mine turned out awesome!!! Not soggy, and broiled for the last 2 minutes, as someone else suggested and used FRANKS buffalo wing sauce… YUMMY
Thank you 🙂
Could you use frozen cauliflower?
I’ve only used fresh. I have no idea if frozen would work. If you try it, will you come back and let me know?
First I just want to say that these tasted pretty awesome.
However, I’m still extremely dissappointed. They turned out much soggier than what yours look like and I’m not sure if all of the pieces are edible because of this (some look like the batter didn’t even cook right). So, sadly, I will not be making theses again. Which is a shame because what I did Olean of them were really tasty.
I’m not sure where “olean” came from but that was meant to be eat.
We have made this recipe exactly the way it is 3 times and love it. Ours turns out crispy, but we live in colorado so the altitude and lack of humidity could play a large part in this soggy business. Even so its cauliflower and a little soggyness after being cooked was almost expected. Great dish and recipe, thanks!!
Shoot. Sorry to hear that! Not sure how to make them dryer other than to shake off any excess liquid before cooking and to allow ample air flow (ie don’t crowd them while cooking). Krissy
This a general comment and similar to others. Cailiflower has by nature a high water content. By adding a cup of water to the mix creates a problem. Also the only way to get those nice char marks on them is to roast them first in a wire rack. Start at 450 for 15 minutes, to remove moisture, then set the broiler on and watch them. Take them out, coat them with the sauce mix and return to the 450 temp oven for another 15 minutes.
Maybe dip in a non dairy egg wash then roll them in panco bread crumbs before baking. That always works for me.
Why didnt you use chicken?
haha!
These look delicious and I will definitely give them a try. Thanks for mentioning what kind of hot sauce you use so that I don’t kill my husband while attempting to keep us healthy. Lol! One time I used slightly too much Tabasco….haaaaa! How was I to know? ?
I make these at least once a week yummy better than the ones served at CPKso happy satisfy my appetite and my craving for hot wing excellent vegan choice Ihave to stop thedressinandsaucakedithiondpfium😟
I made these tonight. They were yummy! I was worried about the above comment however, mine turned out really good. I put them on broil for the last minute. Absolutely delicious.
Excellent, thanks for letting me know! Krissy
Followed recipe TO THE LETTER. (I’m annoyed by people who “modify” recipes and then complain about them in the reviews.) However… results were NOT AT ALL like the photos above. The whole thing was a soggy mess, not the perky crispy bites I expected. And we’re a family that LIKES cauliflower already, so it was a big disappointment. *sigh*
Shoot. I’m so sorry to hear that! Not sure if difference in oven temp or quality/quantity/moisture of cauliflower played a part? Krissy
Okay… we served this almost exact recipie at the restaurant I work at last year; we had some trouble with it. Like some others said they can have a tendency too come out soggy. It’s wierd because sometimes they came out amazing and others soggy with all the same steps taken. We ran it on the menu for 7 months with variable success before finally deciding too fry them to order after par-baking them. If your not concerned about the “healthy” factor ; frying will guarantee you crispy bites every time.
I think the “soggy” problem might be related too individual moisture content or maybe the size of the flourettes but we never could identify the exact problem.
For a non vegan option consider adding an egg for a firmer batter, I recommend smaller flourettes and parchment paper instead of pan grease for consistancy..
These are also amazing with curry instead of buffalo by the way. Good luck all.
Oh no! I recently made the recipe- followed everything exactly as stated as well- and had great results! I’m a vegetarian in a home of carnivores and THEY LOVED THEM! I agree with Krissy that maybe it was another varying factor she mentioned above?
This is fabulous. I melted the butter on my air fryer, then tossed in remaining ingredients. Air fyied in high for 15 min. YUM