These oven baked buffalo cauliflower bites are delicious, spicy, and perfect for dinner or as a party appetizer. They have no breading, so they are super easy to make and naturally vegan and gluten free.
Cauliflower has had a major glow up in recent years—it's no longer a mushy, pale version of broccoli.
The secret to making cauliflower delicious is preparing it in ways that showcase its deliciousness (i.e., don't boil it), like roasting it or cooking it in a curry like aloo gobi (an Indian dish with potatoes and cauliflower). One of my favorite ways to prepare cauliflower is making these oven baked Buffalo cauliflower bites!
Roasting the cauliflower with spices and Buffalo sauce gives it a crispy exterior, and really brings out the flavor. It's great as an appetizer, in tacos, or even as a Buffalo Cauliflower Pizza!
If you're making it as a party dish or for game day, make sure to round out the food table with more vegan appetizers!
Buffalo cauliflower is a meatless alternative to Buffalo wings or hot wings (Jessica Simpson would be proud). But I wouldn't say they are meant to "replace" Buffalo wings. They're delicious in their own right.
The cauliflower florets are tossed in garlic, onion, and Buffalo sauce and oven baked until crispy. Then they're dunked into warm Buffalo sauce with a little brown sugar and vegan butter. It's an easy recipe to make, and I highly recommend doubling or tripling it since you will be eating them off the tray before you sit down to dinner. The cauliflower also shrinks a little as it bakes.
🌶 Ingredients
- Cauliflower
- Garlic powder
- Onion powder
- Buffalo sauce
- Vegan butter
- Brown sugar
See recipe card for quantities.
Buffalo Sauce
Buffalo sauce is a hot sauce made with cayenne peppers, so "cayenne pepper sauce" is the same thing. Some popular brands are Frank's Red Hot and Sweet Baby Ray's Buffalo Sauce.
Be sure to check the ingredients because some Buffalo sauces will have sugar or butter added to them and may not be vegan. It's best to use straight up Buffalo sauce without added ingredients since this recipe calls for vegan butter and sugar.
🔪 Instructions
Preheat oven 425°F. Line a baking sheet with foil or parchment paper.
Place the cauliflower florets in a large bowl and toss with garlic powder, onion powder, and ½ cup of the Buffalo sauce.
Spread out on the baking sheet. Bake for 30 minutes, until tender, flipping halfway through.
Meanwhile, place the remaining half of the Buffalo sauce in a small saucepan and add the vegan butter, brown sugar or agave nectar, and salt and pepper. Keep warm.
When the cauliflower is done baking, immediately transfer the cauliflower to the saucepan and stir to coat. If there is not enough sauce, add more hot sauce.
Serve with vegan ranch and a side of carrot and celery sticks.
💭 Top Tip
If you like the flavor of Buffalo sauce, but don't like it too hot, you can replace some of the hot sauce with ketchup or tomato sauce.
In the recipe, I noted that you can replace up to half of the Buffalo sauce with ketchup. I would use as much Buffalo sauce as your taste buds can tolerate because it starts to taste a little ketchup-y at the halfway point. Another way to take the heat down a notch is to dip the Buffalo cauliflower in Vegan Ranch Dressing or a vegan bleu cheese dressing.
❓ FAQs
Buffalo cauliflower is best eaten right after making, and also make sure you're baking the cauliflower for long enough. Cauliflower contains a lot of water that so make sure the sides are nice and crispy before you take it out of the oven.
I like to eat them like you would eat Buffalo wings—with a side of ranch dipping sauce, more Buffalo sauce, and some carrot sticks and celery to snack on. Besides eating them as an appetizer, they're great on top of salads or rice, or even as a pizza topping (check out my Buffalo cauliflower pizza recipe!).
📖 Recipe
Easy Oven Baked Vegan Buffalo Cauliflower (No Breading)
These oven baked buffalo cauliflower bites are delicious, spicy, and perfect for dinner or as a party appetizer. They have no breading, so they are super easy to make and naturally vegan and gluten free.
Ingredients
- 1 medium head cauliflower, cut into florets
- 1 ½ teaspoons garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- 1 cup Buffalo sauce, divided; replace up to half with ketchup if too spicy
- 1 tablespoon vegan butter
- 1 tablespoon brown sugar or agave nectar
- Salt and pepper to taste
- Vegan ranch
- Carrot and celery sticks
Instructions
- Preheat oven 425°F. Line a baking sheet with foil or parchment paper.
- Place the cauliflower florets in a large bowl and toss with garlic powder, onion powder, and ½ cup of the Buffalo sauce.
- Spread out on the baking sheet. Bake for 30 minutes, until tender, flipping halfway through.
- Meanwhile, place the remaining half of the Buffalo sauce in a small saucepan and add the vegan butter, brown sugar or agave nectar, and salt and pepper. Keep warm.
- When the cauliflower is done baking, immediately transfer the cauliflower to the saucepan and stir to coat. If there is not enough sauce, add more hot sauce.
- Serve with vegan ranch and a side of carrot and celery sticks.
Notes
- If Buffalo sauce (cayenne pepper sauce) is too spicy, you can replace up to half of it with ketchup. You'll still get the Buffalo flavor without too much heat.
Nutrition Information:
Yield: 4 Serving Size: ¼ recipeAmount Per Serving: Calories: 127Total Fat: 7gSaturated Fat: 2gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 4gCholesterol: 10mgSodium: 500mgCarbohydrates: 15gFiber: 4gSugar: 9gProtein: 4g
All nutritional information presented within this site are intended for informational purposes only. I am not a certified nutritionist and any nutritional information on seitanbeatsyourmeat.com should only be used as a general guideline. This information is provided as a courtesy and there is no guarantee that the information will be completely accurate. Even though I try to provide accurate nutritional information to the best of my ability, these figures should still be considered estimates.
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