Oven-Baked Buffalo Cauliflower Bites are a fun and easy appetizer or snack made with just a few simple ingredients. Fully loaded with all the awesome flavor of chicken wings, these low carb and vegetarian Buffalo Cauliflower Bites have a soft and tender inside and crispy outside.
The Best Buffalo Cauliflower
All the delicious, tangy flavor of buffalo wings without the mess and calories. I’ve never been a huge fan of buffalo chicken wings, so this substitution was an easy one. But even all you wing fans out there will love these spicy little buffalo-sauce-covered cauliflower nuggets.
Tossed in your favorite homemade or store-bought buffalo sauce and dipped in creamy Blue Cheese or Ranch Dressing, this healthy buffalo cauliflower recipe is a crowd favorite and is always gone in minutes!
Ingredients in Buffalo Cauliflower “Wings”
- Cauliflower
- Hot sauce
- Butter
- Olive oil
- Salt
- Garlic powder
- Lemon juice
You’ll notice that I decided against coating these buffalo cauliflower bites in breadcrumbs or all-purpose flour. By skipping the breadcrumbs you can enjoy even more of these healthy buffalo cauliflower bites, guilt-free! They’re also much easier to make this way (and I’m all about easy recipes!)
Can I use frozen cauliflower florets? I do not recommend making this recipe with frozen cauliflower pieces, as they are more likely to end up with soggy or mushy once thawed and cooked.
Can I use store-bought wing sauce? Absolutely! Use your favorite store-bought wing sauce or make your own, it’s entirely up to you. If I’m short on time my favorite store-bought sauce is Wing-Time Buffalo Wing Sauce.
Can this recipe be made vegan? Yes, to make this buffalo cauliflower recipe vegan, simply swap the butter for a plant-based butter alternative.
Buffalo Sauce
Making your own buffalo sauce is easy, requiring just a few ingredients. Of course, you can always buy store-bought buffalo sauce, but I find that it’s easier to make my own.
The main ingredients in buffalo sauce are,
- Hot sauce
- Butter
First, you’ll need hot sauce. The most well known hot sauce for buffalo wings also happens to be my favorite- Frank’s RedHot Sauce. Hands down, Frank’s has the best tang to spice ratio and is probably the hot sauce that has been used to make your favorite restaurant buffalo sauce.
Now, with hot sauce, there must be butter. After all, that’s what makes buffalo sauce so finger-licking good! Typically, the hot sauce to butter ratio is 2 to 1.
In this buffalo cauliflower recipe, I added slightly less butter, one tablespoon of olive oil, some lemon juice, and garlic powder. Feel free to play around with the ratio until you find a hot sauce mixture that tastes best to you.
How to Make Buffalo Cauliflower
Like my epic buffalo chicken dip, this buffalo baked cauliflower couldn’t be easier to prepare and bake! Making it one of my very favorite last-minute snacks to enjoy when I want to feast on something filled with flavor.
- Preheat the oven and line a large baking sheet.
- Make your buffalo sauce.
- Toss the cauliflower florets in the buffalo sauce and transfer to the prepared baking sheet.
- Bake for approximately 25 minutes, or until the inside is tender and outside is crispy.
- Serve immediately.
Note- some readers have mentioned that they have had good results when waiting to toss their cauliflower bites in the hot sauce until after they’ve been baked. Try each method for yourself and see which one works best for you.
How to Serve Buffalo Cauliflower
Delicious served as a snack, game day or super bowl appetizer, or spicy side dish, these buffalo cauliflower bites love being dunked in creamy blue cheese dressing, ranch dressing, or any other creamy sauce or dip.
Entirely gluten-free and vegetarian, serve your perfectly prepared cauliflower bites in fun-size cups or on a large platter with veggies like crunchy celery sticks, carrot sticks, and sliced bell peppers drizzled with all your creamy favorites.
Or, make it a meal and enjoy with juicy baked chicken, cooked rice, or added to your favorite tacos!
Check Out These Delicious Buffalo Chicken Recipes,
Cheesy Buffalo Chicken Spaghetti Squash Recipe
Instant Pot Buffalo Chicken Sandwiches
The Best Buffalo Chicken Dip Recipe
If you try making this Baked Buffalo Cauliflower Recipe, please leave me a comment and let me know! I always love to read your thoughts and feedback!
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Baked Buffalo Cauliflower Bites
Ingredients
- 1 large head of cauliflower - cut into small florets
- ½ cup Frank's RedHot Sauce - plus more for serving
- 2 tablespoon butter - melted
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425 degrees F and line a large baking sheet with parchment paper. Set aside. Transfer cauliflower florets to a large bowl.
- In a small bowl whisk together the hot sauce, melted butter, olive oil, lemon juice, garlic powder, and salt. Whisk well to combine. Pour the hot sauce mixture over the cauliflower florets and toss well to coat.
- Spread the cauliflower in a single layer over a lined baking sheet and bake for 25-30 minutes, gently tossing the cauliflower approximately halfway through cooking. Cook until the cauliflower is fork-tender and browned around the edges. Season with black pepper, if desired.
Jessica's Notes
Nutritional Information
(Nutrition information provided is an estimate and will vary based on cooking methods and specific brands of ingredients used.)
This recipe was originally published on April 25, 2016, updated on December 22, 2018, with new images and more detailed post information, and updated again on August 26th, 2020 with additional tips.
I just made this, loved it!! I roasted the cauliflower first with olive oil, salt and pepper at 425 for 20 minutes and then tossed in the sauce. No sogginess!
Great recipe ! Extra good because there’s no breading ! I have made it with frozen – not thawed – cauliflower and it is almost as good as made with fresh especially if broiled for a couple of minutes at the end. I also omit the salt but that’s just personal taste.
Thank you for the great feedback and rating, Lorraine 😀
This is my favorite buffalo recipe! I make this weekly!! It’s super simple and the flavor is always perfect. The cauliflower does get a bit soggy sometimes but that doesn’t bother me because I’m too busy enjoying the amazing flavor! Thank you for sharing this, I’m actually prepping it for dinner right now!
Thank you for the perfect feedback Callie 🙂
Loved it!
I forgot to mention that I omitted the salt!
Delicious!!! Omg,really really great with a real good squeeze of fresh lemon on top when serving.!!!!
Thanks for the delicious feedback and rating, Linda 🙂
Tried this last night. Roasted fresh cauliflower at 424 (in just olive oil ) for the first 15 min, then tossed in sauce and roasted for 13 minutes and broiled on high for 4-5 min. Still had soggy florets. Flavor was good but I’m going to try again to see if I can bet the texture right. May be hard without breading but I prefer a little crisp.
So yummy!!!!
Thanks for the yummy feedback and rating Lori 😀
Found this recipe among the myriad buffalo cauliflower recipes out there. This was easy and delicious! My husband brought home a massive home grown cauliflower and I used this recipe twice. Honestly, I don’t think I’ll be using another recipe for buffalo cauliflower.
The only thing I changed was to omit the salt. The buffalo sauce has enough salt/flavor so there’s really no need to add more. And since I didn’t measure anything, I possibly used more of everything than the recipe called for. 🙂
Served with ranch dip and absolutely no complaints!!
Thanks for the delicious feedback Amber 😀
I rarely leave reviews… but guuurrrl… this recipe… loooord have mercy sooooo good!! I wasn’t paying attention and accidentally put a whole tsp of garlic powder in, totally did not effect the awesomeness that this is (maybe a tad better, cuz let’s face it – garlic is not a bad thing). I’m going to live by these. Thank you for such an easy recipe to satisfy the cravings…. it will be used often.
Your comment made my day Leah, thank you so much for the review 😀