This Easiest Ever Buffalo Cauliflower is a perfect healthy appetizer or snack idea for football season, and these cute bites are made healthier in the oven.
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Ingredients in Buffalo cauliflower
Of course, your main ingredient for this appetizer is a head of cauliflower. You’ll get the same great Buffalo taste as Buffalo wings but with fewer fats and calories. It’s a great choice when some of your guests are vegetarian or vegan. You can still offer a fun party finger food, but everyone regardless of diet plan will be able to enjoy it.
Always choose a head of cauliflower that is firm to the touch and tightly closed. Any areas that are soft, discolored or starting to shrink are a sign that the vegetable is past its prime.
Other ingredients you will need to make Buffalo cauliflower are pantry staples:
- Flour
- Garlic or onion powder
- Buffalo sauce
- Butter
How to make Buffalo cauliflower
The first thing you will need to do is cut your cauliflower. You want pieces that are about equal in size you so don’t have a mixture of over or under cooked cauliflower.
To cut the cauliflower easily, follow these steps:
- Cut the head of cauliflower in half and then quarters through the core.
- Run your knife between the florets and the stem. Once you do this, all the florets will fall apart.
- Cut or use your fingers to break the large florets into small pieces.
Now in a few quick steps, you can finish preparing your baked Buffalo cauliflower.
- Combine flour, garlic powder and water
- Toss the cauliflower pieces in the mixture
- Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and put the cauliflower on it. Keep them in a single layer so they can bake evenly
- Sprinkle with salt and pepper
- Bake at 500F for 15 minutes
- Mix Buffalo sauce and butter and toss with cauliflower
- Bake for another ten minutes
What to serve with Buffalo cauliflower
If you are serving this for a party, you want a variety of dips to go with the Buffalo cauliflower wings. Offer any or all of these:
- Ranch
- Blue cheese
- Nacho sauce
- Salsa
- More Buffalo sauce
- Hot sauce
I also like to serve veggies on the side, just like you would get with Buffalo chicken wings. To keep it vegetarian friendly, I recommend:
- Chives
- Carrot sticks
- Celery
- Cucumbers
- Radishes
What type of Buffalo sauce?
Buffalo sauce is a combination of hot sauce, Worcheshire sauce, vinegar, butter and seasonings. It’s easy to make your own, but there are lots of options on the market for just purchasing a bottle.
The original special ingredient in Buffalo sauce was Frank’s Red Hot Sauce. Some choices will have more hot sauce and some will have less. The biggest factor is how spicy you want your Buffalo cauliflower bites to be.
You can control that even better if you make your own.
If you find a combination that you really like, you can make a big batch of it. Homemade Buffalo sauce will last for about a month in a tightly sealed container in the refrigerator. You can make it once and eat the Buffalo cauliflower bites for every football game!
Storing and reheating
Without a doubt, these Buffalo cauliflower bites are best straight out of the oven.
However, you can store them in the refrigerator for four to five days.
To reheat Buffalo cauliflower wings, put them back in the oven for five to ten minutes. If you heat them in the microwave, the batter on the cauliflower will get soggy even if they still taste great. You want it to have a nice crisp texture.
If you have extra Buffalo cauliflower, you can use it in lots of other dishes. Try some of these ideas for using up the extra florets:
- Filling for tacos
- In a pita
- Crumbled on a pizza
- On a salad
Can I freeze Buffalo cauliflower?
You actually can freeze this Buffalo cauliflower!
Let it cool completely then put the cauliflower florets on a baking sheet in the freezer. Try not to let any of the pieces touch. After an hour, you can put them in a freezer safe container. This will keep the pieces from sticking together in the freezer.
Reheat the Buffalo cauliflower from frozen. Put them on a prepared baking sheet and cook at 375F for 15 minutes.
How to make it gluten free
With one simple substitution, you can make this Buffalo cauliflower appetizer gluten free for your guests who can’t eat wheat.
Substitute almond flour or cornstarch for the wheat flour. Use the same amount as the wheat flour listed below.
Why use butter?
Butter may seem like an unusual ingredient to add to Buffalo sauce, but there is a reason!
I use butter to cut the Buffalo sauce. It makes the flavor of the sauce richer and increases the flavor of the final product.
More cauliflower recipes
Meal prep tools for this recipe
- Grab some glass meal prep bowls if you plan on turning this recipe into leftovers
- This is the buffalo sauce I use
- Freeze this recipe in glass microwave-safe bowls up to 3 months
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Easiest Ever Buffalo Cauliflower
Ingredients
- 1 cup water
- 1 cup flour
- 1 tsp garlic or onion powder
- Salt & pepper, to taste
- 1 head cauliflower
- 2/3 cup buffalo sauce
- 3 tbsp melted butter
To serve (optional)
- Ranch dressing
- Blue cheese dressing
- Chives, chopped
- Carrot sticks and celery
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 500 F. In a large bowl, combine flour, garlic powder and water. Add cauliflower, tossing to combine.
- Add florets to a parchment-lined baking sheet. Season with salt and pepper, then bake for 15 minutes.
- Meanwhile, mix buffalo sauce and butter together. When cauliflower is done, pour sauce overtop and gently toss to combine. Bake another 10 minutes.
- Remove from oven and serve with dressings and veggies of choice. Enjoy!
Video
Nutrition
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Zahra says
I wonder if these would work in the air fryer! Do you do any air fryer friendly recipes? Recently got one and I’m obsessed! Love all your recipes.
Taylor Stinson says
Hi Zahra – I’m sure they could be cooked in an Airfryer! I have a couple other Airfryer recipes on my site that you can search for in the search bar 🙂