Personal confession: I add buffalo sauce to everything. Carrots, salads, pretzels, competing dips — if it’s edible, I’m turning it orange.
That said, nothing beats the distinctive balance of crunch, flavor, and heat associated with a perfectly cooked buffalo wing. It’s an American classic and a beautiful sight to behold at both 3 a.m. and 3 p.m. on any given Sunday.
That said, what if you’ve resolved to cut meat in 2018? Perhaps you’ve been invited to a vegan potluck, and want to make sure you don’t step on any Reva-encased toes? Maybe you love the way the chicken wings taste while you’re eating them and don’t love the way you feel after you’ve finished eating them — I feel you on that one.
Regardless of what brought you here, I’m asking you to fear not, fellow buffalo wing enthusiast. Once again, cauliflower has arrived to save us all!
Behold: Cauliflower Bufflorets. A vegan, delicious, plant-based alternative to whatever poultry you were planning on providing for your next Sunday couch marathon or dinner party appetizer. Find out how to make them with just ten ingedients, below!
Ingredients
- Three cups of cauliflower florets. I saved myself some time and purchased two bags of the cauliflower florets available in the produce aisle. They’re typically stored around the salad mix and baby carrots.
- 1/4 cup soy or coconut milk. I used SO Delicious plain coconut milk
.
- 1/2 cup of water.
- 3/4 cup of all-purpose flour
. Can be subbed for grain-free rice flour
if that’s what you’re into!
- 1 1/2 tsp of garlic powder.
- Two pinches of cumin
.
- Two pinches of paprika
.
- One pinch of salt and one pinch of ground black pepper.
- 3/4 cup of Frank’s Red Hot Buffalo Wings Sauce
.
- 1 tbsp of butter or butter substitute. I used Earth Balance Olive Oil Buttery Spread
.
- Parchment paper and PAM cooking spray.
.
. Can be subbed for 
if that’s what you’re into!
.
.
.
.
Directions
- Preheat oven to 435 degrees and break up cauliflower into florets if needed.
- Mix spices, flour, milk, and water together to create the batter. It should be a liquid consistency when finished, yet thick enough so that it doesn’t drip once the florets are dipped in.
- Dip florets individually into batter and place on a cookie tray that’s lined with parchment paper and sprayed thoroughly with cooking oil, and place in oven for twenty minutes.
- While the florets are cooking, microwave a tablespoon of your butter or butter substitute and add it to 3/4 cup of hot sauce in a mixing bowl.
- After twenty minutes, remove the florets and dip each into the sauce mixing bowl, ensuring each is completely covered.
- After placing them back onto the cooking tray, bake again for another twenty minutes (or until they’ve reached your desired level of crispiness.)
- Drizzle with more hot sauce and serve immediately with ranch, Bleu cheese, or a vegan substitute like this!
Chef Notes
Don’t stress too much about the proportions of the batter, and you can choose how “breaded” you’d like your florets.
Use a big cooking tray. The florets actually take up a lot more room than I was expecting!
The florets cool down pretty quickly, so make sure to keep them in the oven to stay warm until right before you plan to serve them.
That’s all! Hope you enjoy, and be sure to tag @hungrylobbyist in your pictures of the finished product — we’d love to see how yours turned out!
Photography provided by Abby Colby.