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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!
This is a solid recipe…larger sized florets and turning halfway through cooking intervals ensures success. Also, I use a ziplock gallon bag to mix batter and toss cauliflower as well as parchment paper with a little cooking spray…everybody loves these. Thanks Krissy.
YUMMY. I’m just learning how to cook so this was a good beginner recipe for me. I put the cauliflower on a salad and served with garlic bread. Awesome recipe. Thank you!
I followed the instructions and tips, but when mine came out from the first bake, it looks like a mess… all the flour stuff had melted off onto the pan and cooked there instead of on the cauliflower itself so then they aren’t coated very well 🙁
Sorry for the delay in response – summer has been crazy busy! To answer your question, I’m not sure what may have happened? I’m guessing there was too much on the cauliflower so it melted off. Maybe next time give each piece a shake so there is only a small amount sticking to it?
Can u please re-write 4 KETO diets? What is the FIBER N the receipes? Cld bring down the CARB amt 4 we KETO Creatures😉
This sounds sooo awesome 4 a change from plain cauliflower.
Hi Jenn, I don’t follow a Keto diet so I wouldn’t be a good source for information. My friend Carolyn at https://alldayidreamaboutfood.com/ is definitely the expert in all things keto!
So delucious!
I have always wanted to try these and I’m so glad this is the recipe I clicked on. These were absolutely amazing! My 11 year old who I can’t get to eat any veggies even thought they were good and had more than one! Thanks for the recipe! Definitely a keeper!
I made this recipe last night and it was a hit! I followed the recipe by putting it on the oven for 15 minutes turning once and then only did 20 minutes after I coated the cauliflower with the wing sauce and it was a little mush so I think next time I’ll shorten the cook time by a few minutes- every oven is different! I also used oat flour because that’s what I had on hand and instead of butter and hot sauce I used a bottled wing sauce that was all ready to go. All in all I loved the cauliflower and can’t wait to try this recipe again!
Deliciously Awesome! Will make again and again.
I only used 1 tsp garlic powder and added 1 heaping tsp minced garlic to dry ingredients and 1 heaping tsp to wet ingredients. Only cooked 20 minutes after coating with sauce then broiled 3-5 minutes.
These are amazingly good! I love buffalo wings, I love cauliflower. Thought I’d give it a shot mixing the two. My husband knows that anything I touch has a good chance of not being great. Something always goes wrong. But, these came out so good! I will be making these for my next game night. So good!!