Breaded & Unbreaded Buffalo Cauliflower

It seems we’re all trying to eat a little lighter – myself included.

Does cauliflower taste like chicken? Nope … and it probably never will. But in my humble opinion, our Garlic Parmesan Wing Sauce make this cauliflower even BETTER than regular buffalo chicken wings.

That’s why this post from back in August is one of my all-time favorites. Not only did I enjoy every second of experimenting to perfect the recipe, but it’s still a recipe I absolutely love. And, exciting news … you can now find this recipe featured in our brand new Spring-Summer catalog! Ask your consultant for a copy!

We thought since the recipe is now famously featured in the catalog, you might want to check it out again, too.

So here it is: “Buffalo Cauliflower: 2 ways”:

First, preheat the oven to 450°. Then cut a head of cauliflower into medium-sized florets. Give them a wash and pat them dry. They don’t need to be Sahara-desert dry, but it’s nice to get rid of the extra moisture so the batter sticks a bit better in the next step.

Next, put 1 cup water, 1 cup flour and 1 tsp. Garlic Pepper Seasoning into a medium-large bowl.

Whisk together to form a batter.

Don’t want to make battered buffalo cauliflower? I also have a recipe for naked buffalo cauliflower: Buffalo Cauliflower (no breading). Scroll down for a few how-to photos and instructions.

Add the cauliflower to the bowl and toss to coat. At first, the batter might not coat so well, but trust me. Just continue to toss, picking up batter from the bottom of the bowl, and the cauliflower will begin to be almost completely covered. Don’t worry if the batter isn’t getting into every crevice of the cauliflower. It doesn’t have to be perfect.

Next, spread the cauliflower out onto a greased baking sheet. I like to spread foil over my baking sheets and then add my non-stick spray. Clean up is just THAT much easier.

Bake these for about 10 minutes, then use a spoon to gently turn the florets so they bake evenly. Bake for another 10 minutes. They’ll look something like this.

Drizzle about 1 cup Garlic Parmesan Wing Sauce over the cauliflower.

You’re not going to get them coated in sauce just by drizzling. You’ll need to use a spoon to toss them in the sauce. You’ll have plenty of sauce left on the pan, but that’s ok!

Bake them for about 10 minutes. Take them out and toss in the sauce that’s pooling on the pan again. Bake for another 10-15 minutes, or until they start to crisp up. They’ll look like this when they start to get done.

OK … want to know how to make buffalo cauliflower without breading? Triple bonus: It’s even EASIER, quicker to prepare and a bit healthier than the breaded version! The full recipe included in this blog post (below) is for the breaded version I just got done explaining, but here’s the recipe for the naked version: Buffalo Cauliflower (no breading).

Preheat your oven to 400°. And then start just the same – cauliflower cut into florets, rinsed and patted dry. I had about 6 cups here.

Add ½ cup Garlic Parmesan Wing Sauce; toss to coat. You’ll find this doesn’t want to coat very well at first. But as you continue to toss, it should begin to coat much better.

Spread the coated cauliflower out evenly on a greased baking sheet. Bake for 25-30 minutes, turning the cauliflower at least once to pick up any sauce that’s beginning to pool on the pan and to ensure even cooking. We don’t want the florets to burn on the bottom. Turning 2-3 times would be ideal.

Apparently, I forgot to take pictures of it on the pan … I’m so SORRY! However, the baking and turning are VERY simple. I’m confident you can do it without photos.

This next step is completely optional. While the cauliflower is finishing baking, I like to make up a blue cheese dipping sauce. Just mix up 2 parts ranch to 1 part blue cheese crumbles, depending on how much you want.

I used 1 cup ranch and ½ cup blue cheese crumbles here, and that was PLENTY. I’ll probably cut it down to half next time. That’s ½ cup ranch and ¼ cup crumbles for those of you that HATE math as much as me!

Serve the cauliflower still warm from the oven with your blue cheese sauce and celery.

Here’s the breaded version – delightful!

And the “naked” version – as delicious as it is pretty!

Enjoy!
– Anna