Crunchy Buffalo Cauliflower Wings
These vegan Buffalo cauliflower wings use protein powder for a perfect crunchy batter. This Buffalo cauliflower recipe is sure to be a hit!
Table of contents
Everyone is familiar with buffalo cauliflower bites as an alternative to traditional chicken wings. Undeniably, they’re even becoming a commonplace appetizer at mainstream restaurants for health conscious patrons. Nobody is going to be disappointed by getting these buffalo cauliflower wings as an appetizer instead of something more meaty, they’re that great!
There’s a lot of great reasons to trade your chicken wings for cauliflower wings as a kinder option. Cauliflower has some vitamins, minerals, and fiber which is a great improvement from the animal fat and cholesterol in wings. Generally, the ones in the restaurant aren’t vegan as they often use egg to coat the cauliflower for batter. With the right substitute ingredients you can make them just as well as home.
When I first decided to go back to a plant based diet, I didn’t have any idea what the best replacements to use for animal products. The internet is full of content, and recipes are hit or miss as to if they come out as well as advertised. Following some horrible trial and error early on with batter that didn’t really stick to my buffalo cauliflower, I looked for information online. I remember finding a post, Best Egg Substitutes For Frying [I Test 9 Methods], that compared a lot of different ingredients and results that helped me out.
Perfect Crispy Batter For Vegan Buffalo Cauliflower Bites
Flour and water slurry was a fairly solid egg replacement for coating anything to deep fry or air fry. I had been using it for a while when I learned about pea protein working as a great baking substitute for eggs. By itself, a flour and water slurry slightly underperforms an egg wash in terms of adhesiveness and crispness.
Later as I dived into improving and developing recipes with specialty ingredients, I considered experimenting with commercial products. There are a few different formulations of wheat dextrin products like EverCrisp or Crisp Coat for enhancing fried batters. Before taking that step I had a thought to try some pea protein powder first and it worked great.
Related links that you might be interested in:
Ingredients For The Buffalo Cauliflower Recipe
- cauliflower
- plain breadcrumbs
- flour
- water
- Frank’s Red Hot Wings Sauce, or other wing sauce
- pea protein powder
- garlic powder
- onion powder
- paprika
- poultry seasoning
- plant based butter
Cut the whole head up into buffalo cauliflower bite sized pieces, extra points if you piece it into “drums” along the stalks. Mix the slurry ingredients together and whisk in water until thin enough to coat the cauliflower.
Instructions For The Buffalo Cauliflower Recipe
- Cut and trim the head of cauliflower into bite size portions
- Empty the plain bread crumbs into a small mixing bowl
- Whisk the water into a mixing bowl with the flour, hot wing sauce, pea protein powder, garlic powder, onion powder, paprika, and poultry seasoning
- Dip cauliflower pieces into the wet batter and let the excess drip off
- Cover the dipped cauliflower piece in breadcrumbs and lightly press
- Arrange breaded cauliflower pieces on a parchment paper lined baking sheet
Cooking The Buffalo Cauliflower Wings
Undeniably, these buffalo cauliflower bites cook the best deep fried in oil at 350F. This gives the batter the best chance to stick and cook up crispy. You can bake or air fry these in a pinch if you must, but you know it’s not going to be the same. Undoubtedly, the best investment that I made recently was purchasing a small deep-fryer.
Substitutions and Variations
Try making some Lemon Pepper Cauliflower Wings to mix things up. Add some garlic powder and lemon pepper seasoning to the flour slurry. Make a sauce with plant based butter, Follow Your Heart Parmesan, and a squeeze of lemon juice to toss the fried cauliflower wings in.
More Appetizer Recipes To Try
Here’s a few more easy appetizer recipes for more vegan and plant-based options you’ll enjoy making.
FAQs
Spray the vegan buffalo cauliflower wings with a bit of oil and cook at 350F, turning halfway through, until a toothpick or fork check for doneness. A fresh spray of oil and a couple minutes at 400F before done will get the outsides more brown and crispy.
Get the Recipe Crunchy Buffalo Cauliflower Wings
Ingredients
Ingredients For Crunchy Buffalo Cauliflower Wings
- 1 head cauliflower, cut into "wings"
- 1 15oz plain bread crumbs
- 1 cup flour
- 1 cup water
- 4 tbsp Frank's Red Hot Wings Sauce
- 1 tbsp pea protein powder
- 1 tbsp garlic powder
- 1 tbsp onion powder
- 1 tsp paprika
- 1 tsp poultry seasoning
Ingredients For Vegan Buffalo Sauce
- ½ cup Frank's Red Hot Wings Sauce
- ½ cup plant based butter
Equipment
Instructions
Prepping The Veggies
- Cut and trim the head of cauliflower into bite size portions
- Empty the plain bread crumbs into a small mixing bowl
- Whisk the water into a mixing bowl with the flour, hot wing sauce, pea protein powder, garlic powder, onion powder, paprika, and poultry seasoning
- Dip cauliflower pieces into the wet batter and let the excess drip off
- Cover the dipped cauliflower piece in breadcrumbs and lightly press
- Arrange breaded cauliflower pieces on a parchment paper lined baking sheet
Instructions For Frying Crunchy Buffalo Cauliflower Wings
- Preheat oil to 350F
- Gently drop 6-8 cauliflower pieces into the hot oil angled away from yourself without crowding the oil
- Fry for 3 minutes before turning over for an additional 2-3 minutes until desired doneness
- Remove from the oil, drain, then rest on paper towels
Making The Buffalo Wing Sauce
- Melt the butter in a small saucepan and add the wing sauce to combine
- Fried cauliflower wings can be tossed in sauce or drizzled from a condiment bottle
