Every year my wife and I watch the Super Bowl almost exclusively so we can have an appetizer party in our living room. We don’t care about the game at all, and the commercials are generally subpar—and leaked early online as part of some weird marketing strategy that I don’t understand since airtime during the game is so expensive and coveted. We just want to eat finger foods and that’s about it. This happens during the Golden Globes and Oscars as well, but we’re actually interested in those shows.
Almost every year I go about half and half with homemade items and store-bought ones. Something that straddles the line between the two worlds is hot wings. I’ll buy either Boca or Whole Foods brand nuggets and create my own hot sauce to douse them in. They’re probably my favorite of everything we make, even though I was never much of a fan of them before I became vegan. To me they seemed like a lot of work with little payoff thanks to the bones you had to gnaw from, and nothing had ever beaten the vegan version in my mind. Until now.
Cauliflower! This is a trend these days, and why not? You can have the heat with a totally bird-less delivery system, and it’s a vegetable. Perfect.
That’s what this recipe is: the wings everybody seems to be so fond of with a vegetable at their core and tossed in a homemade wing sauce that’s just spicy enough to make your mouth sit up and take notice, but not so hot that it’ll cry out in pain.
I’m telling you, these buffalo cauliflower bites will make your next viewing party a success, whether you actually watch anything or not. And if buffalo flavor isn’t your thing, try these Root Beer Barbecue Seitan “Wings” instead!
Tell Me What You Think
As always, I’d love to hear your thoughts on these Buffalo Cauliflower Bites if you make them. So drop me a comment below, and be sure to tag @nutfreevegan on social media if you’re posting photos. It’s always super fun to see these dishes out in the wild!
Buffalo Cauliflower Bites
Ingredients
- 1 medium cauliflower
- ½ cup flour
- ½ cup water
- ⅔ cup vegan butter
- ½ cup hot sauce
- ½ tsp. garlic powder
- 2 Tbsp. fresh lemon juice
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425°F; line baking tray with parchment paper.
- Cut cauliflower into small florets.
- Stir together flour and water in mixing bowl; dip cauliflower to coat and place on baking tray. Place in oven for 20 minutes, turning cauliflower over once.
- Meanwhile, cook butter in small saucepan over medium heat until melted; stir in remaining ingredients, reduce to low simmer.
- Once cauliflower is done, combine with sauce in mixing bowl and toss to coat; return to oven for another 25 minutes.
Nutrition
Whoa! These seriously look so good! What did you use for the ranch dip?
Thanks, Jamie! This is one of my favorite recipes that I’ve made for the site so far.
For the dip I kept it simple: Daiya Foods Bleu Cheese salad dressing straight from the bottle 🙂
Awesome! Thanks so much =)
*mouth watering* these look delicious! What a healthy alternative
These look delicious! Had some at a restaurant and have been wanting to try them at home.
Nothing like a good appetizer and this one is awesome. I love making recipes with low calorie, low carb cauliflower. Your Buffalo Bites looks delicious.
My husband and I tried this recipe and absolutely loved it. Recipe can feed 4 however my husband and I had a hard time not eating any more when we were full as they were that good. I am going shopping today & will be picking up some more cauliflower! Thanks for the recipes!
Ha! Dawn, I totally get the not wanting to share. This is one of my favorite recipes and I’ve been known to eat every last bite all by myself. Glad you’re enjoying them!