These Buttermilk Buffalo Cauliflower Wings will be your new favourite party food! A healthier appetizer to bust out the next time you have friends over for the big game or for just a relaxing night in. Easy to make and so yummy😋
Ingredients:
- 1 head of cauliflower
- Gluten-free 1:1 baking flour (I like Bob's Red Mill brand)
- Paprika
- Garlic powder
- Salt
- Buttermilk (or "sour milk". I make my own: mix 1 tablespoon of vinegar into the ½ cup of milk. Let sit for about 10 minutes before using. Whenever a recipe calls for buttermilk, I just make sour milk instead.)
- Frank's Red Hot Sauce Buffalo flavour
- Unsalted butter
- Garlic
- To serve with the wings, we like blue cheese dressing but you could use ranch and optional step is to add some Greek yogurt to the dressing (see recipe notes)
Why are my cauliflower wings soggy?
Usually soggy cauliflower wings are from 1 of 3 (or I guess all) of these problems: the batter is too thick; the cauliflower wings did not get broiled in the oven after baking them and/or the cauliflower pieces are too large. To keep your cauliflower wings from getting soggy, be sure to make a batter that isn't too thick.
After mixing everything together, if it's pretty thick (like a thick pancake batter), use water to thin it out: add 1-2 tablespoon of water to the batter and whisk in until it's thinned out a little.
Another thing keeping your wings soggy? You have to bake the cauliflower wings and THEN broiling them helps to crisp them up a bit. Now they're not gonna be crispy, crispy like a chip or something but broiling them after making helps to keep them firm.
And last: the smaller the cauliflower pieces, the better. Like 'em crispy? Cut your cauliflower to actual bite-sized pieces.
Is cauliflower wings better for you than chicken wings?
These cauliflower wings are! Because they're well, cauliflower and not deep fried, they're a pretty healthy snack. Like anything, you can have too much of a good thing or drenching them in high-fat blue cheese dressing will up the indulgence factor for sure but all things being equal, these buffalo cauliflower wings are healthier than a regular chicken wing.
What's a substitute for buttermilk?
If you ever need a substitute for buttermilk in a recipe, use this: add about 1 tablespoon of regular vinegar to ½ cup of milk and stir. Let it sit for about 10 minutes. Then you have "sour milk"!
This will give a similar taste to regular buttermilk. If you notice something that looks almost like "curdling" of the milk, that's totally normal and ok! It's still safe to add to the recipe.
Use this trick whenever you need buttermilk in a recipe but don't have any on hand (and don't feel like buying a whole carton of it!)
What to serve with buffalo cauliflower wings
These wings make a great addition to a sports day or night snack spread of food.
Here are some ideas for what to serve with the wings:
You will love these, hand on heart, and so will your guests. Promise🙋♀️
Even my husband says they taste like actual buffalo chicken wings!
Hope you love them like we do😄
~April
If you're looking for more gluten-free recipes, check these out:
- Cast Iron Skillet Chicken Breast
- Healthy Taco Salad with Ground Beef and Kidney Beans
- Puffed Quinoa Bars with Almond Butter
- Healthy Banana Bread with White Beans
- Starbucks Chicken and Vegetables Protein Box Copycat
- Healthy Instant Pot Chicken Tortilla Soup (no beans)
📖 Recipe
Buttermilk Buffalo Cauliflower Wings
Ingredients
- 1 medium head cauliflower broken into 1 ½ inch florets
Cauliflower coating
- 1 cup all-purpose 1:1 gluten-free flour
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup butter milk
Hot Sauce
- 2 tablespoon unsalted butter
- ¾ cup Frank Red Hot Sauce Buffalo
- 1 clove garlic, crushed
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 450 degrees F. Line 1 large bakers sheet with parchment paper (or 2 regular cookie baking sheets.)
- To make the cauliflower coating, combine the flour, paprika, garlic powder and 1 teaspoon of salt in a large bowl.
- In a measuring cup, stir together the buttermilk and ½ cup of water. Whisk the buttermilk mixture into the flour to make a smooth, thick batter.
- Working in batches, add the cauliflower to the batter and toss well to coat. If there is excess batter, shake it off back into the bowl. Place the coated cauliflower on the prepared baking sheet.Don't let the cauliflower pieces touch on the baking sheet.
- Bake in the pre-heated oven at 450F for 15 minutes.
- While the cauliflower is baking, melt the butter with the hot sauce and garlic in a small saucepan over low heat.
- When the cauliflower has baked for 15 minutes and the batter is set, remove the pan from the oven. drizzle the cauliflower with the ½ of the hot sauce mixture. Using tongs, turn the cauliflower over and drizzle with the rest of the hot sauce. Try to coat all of the cauliflower pieces completely with the hot sauce.
- Set the oven to broil and move the oven rack up to the highest rung. Broil the cauliflower until just tender and the coating is crispy, about 3-4 minutes. Let cool briefly before serving. Serve with blue cheese or ranch dip.
Susan Webster says
Thanks for adding the nutrition information.
April Saunders says
You're welcome Susan!
Michelle says
This was my first time making cauliflower wings and they turned out great! I added plain Greek yogurt to the blue cheese dressing - yum! Will definitely make them again.
Hey Michelle - glad you had a good experience with these! Great idea to add the Greek yogurt to the dressing. I'll add that to the recipe notes for others 🙂
Tim says
I’ve always wanted to make buffalo cauliflower but was scared it would be too much work or they wouldn’t turn out! But I made these for my super bowl party this year and they were a big hit - plus not that tough to make at all. I added a bit more water than was called for because I wanted a slightly thinner breading on mine. Thanks for the great recipe!
Thanks for the helpful comments, Tim! I was also hesitant to make these, before I got the hang of it. Glad to hear they were a hit at the party!🏈😄