- Prep Time: 30 minutes
- Cooking Time: 1 hour
- Total Time: 1.5 hours
- Category: Appetizer
- Method: Oven
- Serving Size: 4 servings (4 cauliflower wings/person)
- Equipment: Mixing bowl, baking sheet
Ingredients
Cauliflower Buffalo Wings
- (1) large head of cauliflower
- (1) cup of all-purpose flour (chickpea flour is excellent for gluten-free)
- (1) cup of Panko bread crumbs
- (1) cup of unsweetened almond milk or soy milk
- (1/4) cup of water
- (1) tablespoon of garlic powder
- (1) tablespoon of paprika powder
- (2) cups of Buffalo Mild Wing Sauce (spicier or milder versions available)
- (1) tablespoon of salt
- (1) teaspoon of cayenne pepper
- (2) tablespoons of olive oil
- Dash of black peppers and salt
Vegan Ranch Dip
- (1/2) cup of vegan mayonnaise
- (1) tablespoon of dried dill
- (1) tablespoon of dried parsley
Cooking Instructions
- Grab a baking sheet and line it with parchment paper, this will be necessary and useful to have this step ready by the time you arrive to this. Add a thin layer of olive oil to the parchment paper in order to have it prepared for the cauliflower wings to sit and absorb oil.
- After washing your cauliflower, carefully cut your large cauliflower into small fist-size florets. One large cauliflower should generate about half a dozen to dozen small bushels.
- Grab a large mixing bowl and combine your flour, plant based milk, water, half of your buffalo wing sauce (1 cup), garlic powder, paprika powder, cayenne powder, salt, and black peppers. Stir and combine well in bowl to create a wet and smooth batter.
- In a separate bowl pour your panko bread crumbs, and set aside for now.
- Dip each small cauliflower floret into the batter and make sure the entire surface area of the floret is covered in batter.
- Once the floret is dipped into the batter immediately roll the cauliflower floret into the panko bread crumbs, once again make sure the entire surface area is covered in panko breads. (This step can be omitted for gluten-free version but wings will be much crispier and flavorful with panko coating).
- Place coated florets onto large baking sheet.
- Bake in oven for 30 minutes at 350 degrees. Place in center of oven in middle rack, not too close to broiler element.
- While cauliflower wings are baking, combine 1 cup of buffalo wing sauce with 1 tablespoon of olive oil.
- After 30 minutes, take your cauliflower wings out of the oven. Carefully pour small portions of buffalo wing sauce and olive oil mixture over each baked cauliflower wing, evenly coating them from all sides. Make sure to turn your cauliflower wings onto their other face so they get baked and coated evenly.
- Once all florets have been turned and coated, place coated cauliflower wings back in oven. Bake for 30 more minutes at 350 degrees.
- After 30 minutes of baking, change your oven settings to “broil” on high, broil cauliflower wings for a mere 2 minutes. Make sure to not exceed this time as cauliflower wings will get crispy and burn if not taken out in enough time.
- Immediately turn off oven after 2 minutes of broiling.
- Take cauliflower wings out of oven, let cool for about 15 minutes before consumption.
- Enjoy your spicy buffalo cauliflower wings with some vegan ranch dip!
Tips
- The most dangerous part in messing up this recipe is keeping the cauliflower wings broiling too long. The mere 2 minutes is for allowing the coated wings to crispen and give them a dash of sear.
Summary
These cauliflower wings really surprised me on how much cauliflower can be elevated in flavor and transformed to mean so much than just cauliflower the vegetable (sorry cauliflower no offense)! This recipe is fairly simple with mostly chopping cauliflowers and making the buffalo sauce mixture to dip and coat the cauliflower in before ultimately baking and broiling. These buffalo wings are guaranteed to be a hit with all and a big ice breaker on how surprised everyone will be that they’re all plant based!
Cauliflowers
The main piece of cutting consists of the cauliflower being cut into smaller bushels, to about half the size of a fist (more or less). This can be estimated and usually what helps me is cutting along the ridges already imprinted in the large cauliflower. The cauliflower bushels can be cut to a more or less round shape, mostly for aesthetics but this isn’t the most important aspect, flavor is! One large cauliflower should generate you about a dozen bushels to create into wings (more or less and depending if organic/seasonal).
Buffalo Sauce
The buffalo sauce is fairly simple but this is the most important part of the recipe involving the flavor the cauliflower will adopt and have for its ultimate result. This buffalo sauce is a mixture of almond milk, cayenne pepper, paprika, olive oil, and mild buffalo sauce (see under “shop” tab for exact product details and stores to purchase from). Pour ingredients into large bowl and begin to mix for at least 2 minutes until all ingredients are properly blended and with no chunks, whisking can be done for this as well but don’t whisk too hard to create foam (not needed). Once the ingredients have mixed properly, set aside and focus onto the bread crumbs and preparing for baking.
Bread Crumbs
The panko bread crumbs will give the cauliflower that extra layer of crisp and flavor (more crunch is always yummy right?!), but this can be omitted if a gluten free version is best for you. You can either use store bought panko bread crumbs or create your own by
Olive oil on top! Trust me you’ll thank me for it!
The olive oil drizzled on top and all over the cauliflower wings will really help ensure the crunch factor, and who doesn’t love some crunch right?!
Gentle Market 