There’s a vegetarian restaurant here in Charlotte called Fern that makes ah-maze-ing buffalo cauliflower. Every time I go there, I have to order it, they are just mouthwateringly good. I love re-creating my favorite restaurant foods at home so I asked my team if they were up to the challenge and that’s how these homemade Buffalo Cauliflower Bites were born… We tested and tested, and finally came up with something very close! These make a great alternative to buffalo chicken wings, and I think you’ll be surprised at how hearty and delicious cauliflower can taste. Unlike buffalo wings that are almost always from factory farm chicken and packed with artificial ingredients, these are actually HEALTHY and packed with fiber and nutrients… yeah! Eat a few of these and you’ll instantly zap away cravings for processed junk food filled with MSG and added sugar. This recipe (of course!) has no MSG and is free of junky ingredients.
Let me show you how easy these Buffalo Cauliflower Bites are to make!
Start by preheating your oven to 425 degrees and chopping up one head of cauliflower into florets. You don’t want the florets to be too small, just good bite-sized pieces. Wash the florets well in filtered water.
In a large bowl, stir together half a cup of almond flour, 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder, and a pinch of sea salt and pepper. Whisk in half a cup (plus two tablespoons) of either almond milk or water, and a dash of hot sauce. Mix well…
Add the cauliflower florets to the bowl and dredge them in the almond flour mix until they are really well coated…
Grease a baking sheet lightly with coconut or avocado oil and spread the cauliflower out onto the pan. Bake in preheated oven for 15 minutes.
Now is a good time to mix up the buffalo sauce. Whisk together 1/4 cup of hot sauce, a couple tablespoons of white vinegar and a pinch of paprika.
To make the yogurt dill topping, just mix half a cup of plain yogurt with one tablespoon of fresh dill and lemon juice. You can also use yogurt made from coconut or almond milk to keep it vegan! Stir in a pinch of salt and pepper.
Dice up some crunchy toppings too – I like carrots, celery, and some fresh parsley…
After they’ve cooked for 15 minutes, pull the pan out of the oven and pour that buffalo sauce all over the cauliflower. Give it a good toss, so it is evenly covered in the sauce. Put it back in the oven to bake for 5 minutes…
Your house should be smelling really good right about now! Pull the buffalo cauliflower out of the oven and carefully place them on a large plate or platter. Drizzle the yogurt dill sauce over the cauliflower and sprinkle with your toppings. Dig in… Yum!
- 1 head cauliflower, chopped into florets
- ½ cup almond flour
- ½ cup + 2 tablespoons almond milk or water
- ½ teaspoon hot sauce
- ¼ teaspoon garlic powder
- Pinch sea salt and pepper
- ¼ cup hot sauce
- 2 tablespoons white vinegar
- 1 teaspoon horseradish or more (optional - this will give it a kick!)
- Pinch paprika
- 1 carrot, diced
- 1 celery stalk, diced
- 2 tablespoons chopped parsley
- ½ cup plain yogurt
- 1 tablespoon fresh dill
- 1 teaspoon lemon juice
- Pinch salt and pepper
- Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.
- Place the almond flour, milk or water, hot sauce, garlic and salt and pepper in a bowl. Whisk to combine.
- Dredge the cauliflower in the flour mix until well coated. Place on a greased baking sheet and bake for 15 minutes.
- While the cauliflower is baking, make the hot sauce. Place all of the ingredients in a bowl and whisk to combine.
- When done, pour the hot sauce evenly over the cauliflower while still on the baking sheet. Toss to combine and place back in the oven for 5 minutes.
- If making the yogurt dill sauce, place all of the ingredients in a bowl and mix to combine.
- To serve, place the cauliflower bites on a plate and top with the yogurt dill sauce and chopped carrot, celery and parsley. Enjoy!
These are the perfect healthy party food!
Serve these Buffalo Cauliflower Bites next time you are having a party or watching a big game, they’d be great for all the big games coming up! For more healthy, organic, and non-GMO party food recipes, check out my favorite party recipes here.
If you know anyone who loves buffalo wings, please share this recipe with them and let them know about this much healthier alternative!
Xo,
Vani
I’m quite sure the white vinegar called for in this recipe is almost always GMO. I would use apple cider vinegar instead to make the recipe non-GMO.
Yes, it is suggested to purchase all organic ingredients to avoid GMOs: https://foodbabe.com/2015/02/26/difference-between-organic-non-gmo-labels/
What kind of hot sauce was used for this recipe? I’m looking for a good clean brand. Thanks!
Would it still be tasty if I omitted the hot sauce? I just can’t tolerate anything spicy.
Yes use smoked paprika
Sounds yummy! I, too, would like to know what brand of hot sauce was used.
Where can we get organic or non-gmo hot sauce? I’m having a hard time finding it 🙁
Sara, Benitos Hot Sauce Is – NON GMO PROJECT VERIFIED. http://www.benitoshotsauce.com/non-gmo/ I’m glad you asked – it encouraged me to look it up. I have never purchased it so I can’t verify flavor.
The best hotsauce is Arizona pepper’s Organic Harvest food Habanero Pepper Sauce. I buy it at Swansons online for less than $4 a bottle. 5 ingredients, all organic.
Hi Vani , an un-related Q: Does Starbucks filter the “fluoride” out of the water at their outlets ? I recently watched a documentary on it , absolutely horrible .
Hi there, a few years back you typically made recommendations about which brand of products you like to use for most of the ingredients in your recipes or you’d discuss it in the prelude article. For example, if it was a noodle recipe you’d mention which brand of noodles you used and why you use them (jovial, tru roots, tolerant, etc); in quinoa recipes you’d do the same. It was always super helpful in guiding us in keeping the entire recipe clean and as a result I almost always hunted down (and religiously continue to use) specific brands because they were foodbabe approved. When you discuss specific brands it eliminates the need for me to research companies every time I need recipe ingredients. I don’t want to be misunderstood- I don’t follow your advice blindly, I periodically read your cited research/articles and I also read science/nutrition/medical journals in order to assess acurate recommendations in general. Your recommendations typucally tend to be acurate and is a huge reason I love and regularly use alot of your recipes. Now to the point, I haven’t noticed brand recommendations in your recipes in quite some time. Will you consider including brand recommendations for recipes on a consistent basis?
Use all organic ingredients and it will all good!
Although I understand the want to not have to research tons and tons of products, it’s very important. Products change by region and some stores may even carry an option that is suitable. The best thing you can do is research and pay attention to ingredients that appear on those labels. Happy eating!
I’m a professional cook and that sounds really good.
Very creative.
I love the research you’ve been doing and the heart behind it all.
However I’ve switched to keto from Paleo so this doesn’t really work for me.
Good luck with your endeavours though, I think they are worthy.
This sounds like an amazing recipe but for your health you either lose the aluminum pans for stainless steel or use parchment paper. Foil is out as well unless you line it. The vinegar in this recipe reacts with the aluminum leaching it into the food. Aluminum is a toxic heavy metal strongly associated with Alzheimer’s.
would frozen cauliflower work? Should it be thawed? thanks!
Frozen would end up with. Mushy textures and funny off taste fresh is best for this recipe
Sounds amazing! What brand of hot sauce do you recommend?
Vani,
Please make me a Samich… and some of these bufaloo bites 🙂
XOXO,
David
Although I choose to buy organic when possible, i’d be more concerned for the choice of buying dairy products knowing how badly the dairy cows and their calves are treated. Their byproduct is not suitable for human consumption, there is plenty of peer-revied or scientific research stating this.
I look forward to future recipes-
Allergic to almonds used garbanzo bean or oatmeal flour instead.
This sounds good, although I’m also one who’s not real interested in food with too much heat.
Also, I’ve never purchased or used almond flour, as I use several other types. Besides the expense, too many almonds contain a LOT of oxalates, along with a lot of calories. Now, I’m not one to criticize good fats and calories, but so many recipes call for a lot of almond flour, so people tend to just think it’s healthy and don’t research it. Almonds have one of the highest amounts of oxalates, so should be used in moderation.
I happen to have a huge organic cauliflower in the fridge, so may try this with some of it, hoping another flour will work and cutting the heat somewhat.
Love your recipes! I wish you had an option to pin it on Pinterest, it’s the easiest way for me to keep track of recipes I want to come back to 🙂
Nevermind! I found it
It takes 16 gallons of water to make one almond. Can you make this with. Non- almond products instead? Thanks
how do you get from the second to last photo, to the last photo. supposedly this is what they look like after being in the oven? but they are still white. but then in the last photo, they look crispy, coated and deep fried. I’m confused.