Buffalo Cauliflower Recipe (Paleo and Keto Friendly!)
Eating Buffalo chicken wings while watching a sports event or as an appetizer has become something of an American tradition. Legend has it that Buffalo wings were invented at a bar in Buffalo, New York in 1964. Chicken wings were normally thrown away or reserved for making stock, until the owner of the bar decided to deep fry them and toss them in cayenne hot sauce.
Since then, Buffalo wings have been a staple in bars across the United States and Canada, but what if there was a more health conscious option? Good news — you can get the same flavors using cauliflower instead of fried chicken wings, and a slew of health benefits, too.
Buffalo Wings Are Better with Cauliflower
Typically, Buffalo wings are deep-fried in vegetable or canola oil until they are well browned, then they are drained and mixed with sauce. I don’t like to eat anything that has been fried in canola oil because it’s a refined oil that’s often partially hydrogenated to increase its stability, but this increases its level of trans fats and negative health effects. Also, over 90 percent of canola oil is genetically modified. Consuming genetically modified canola oil can lead to kidney and liver problems and life-threatening heart trouble, like high blood pressure and increased LDL cholesterol levels.
For my Buffalo wings, I think cauliflower is better. Cauliflower is a cruciferous vegetable that’s rich in health-promoting phytonutrients and anti-inflammatory compounds. It also supplies essential vitamins and minerals, including 73 percent of your daily value of vitamin C.
If there’s any doubt how good these Buffalo cauliflower wings are for you, look at the nutritional info below. Only 100 calories per serving, with 8 grams of healthy fats along with only 6 grams of carbs, making it friendly for keto and Paleo dieters.
How to Make Buffalo Cauliflower
Not only are Buffalo cauliflower bites incredibly healthy, but it’s also pretty easy to make. Start by preheating your oven to 450 degrees F and preparing a 9 x 13 baking sheet with parchment paper.
While the oven preheats, make a Buffalo sauce with these delicious ingredients: butter, hot sauce (choose a low-sodium hot sauce like Tabasco; Frank’s is too high in sodium), apple cider vinegar, coconut aminos and garlic powder. Place these ingredients into a small saucepan over medium heat. Once the butter is melted, then whisk up the mixture to fully combine.
Take a medium head of cauliflower and remove the stem. It should then naturally break apart into large florets. Then use your knife to chop these florets into smaller, bite-size pieces and put into a large mixing bowl.
Pour two-thirds of the sauce over the cauliflower and mix with a wooden spoon, careful not to break up the cauliflower any more than it is. (Or use your hands!) The rest of the sauce will be used for dipping later.
Pour the cauliflower out on your parchment paper-lined pan and spread the pieces evenly.
Pop the baking sheet into the oven for 30–40 minutes, depending on how crispy you like it.
It’s as simple as that! Your Buffalo cauliflower bites are ready to go. Serve with the remainder of the Buffalo dipping sauce, along with an optional vegan blue cheese dip.
Enjoy this healthy alternative to Buffalo wings!
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Buffalo Cauliflower Recipe
- Total Time: 50 minutes
- Yield: 6 1x
- Diet: Gluten Free
Description
Buffalo wings have been a staple in bars across the U.S. and Canada, but what if there was a more health conscious option? Good news! You can get the same flavors using cauliflower instead of fried chicken wings, and a slew of health benefits, too.
Ingredients
- 4 tablespoons butter
- ½ cup hot sauce (choose a low-sodium hot sauce like Tabasco; Frank’s is too high in sodium)
- 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
- 1 tablespoon coconut aminos
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 cauliflower head, medium-size
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 450 degrees F and prepare a 9 x 13 baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Place butter, hot sauce, apple cider vinegar, coconut aminos and garlic powder into a small saucepan over medium heat.
- Once the butter is melted, then whisk up the mixture to fully combine.
- Take a medium head of cauliflower and remove the stem. Chop these florets into smaller, bite-size pieces and put into a large mixing bowl.
- Pour two-thirds of the sauce over the cauliflower and mix with a wooden spoon or hands. (The rest of the sauce will be used for dipping later.)
- Pour the cauliflower out on your parchment paper-lined pan and spread the pieces evenly.
- Bake for 40 minutes and remove from oven.
Notes
Serve with the remainder of the Buffalo dipping sauce, along with an optional vegan blue cheese dip
- Prep Time: 10 min
- Cook Time: 40 min
- Category: Snacks
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 134 grams
- Calories: 99
- Sugar: 1.9g
- Fat: 8.1g
- Saturated Fat: 5g
- Unsaturated Fat: 2.4g
- Trans Fat: 0.3g
- Carbohydrates: 5.6g
- Fiber: 2.1g
- Protein: 2.5g
- Cholesterol: 20mg
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14 Comments
Always love your simple and nutritious recipes. I’m going to make your buffalo cauliflower tomorrow.
This helps me choose foods for my husband, his numbers have gone up, he watches what he eats, but to no avail. So this site I am going to try these recipes.
Dear Dr Axe,
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I love buffalo flavor and have missed it so much since making healthy changes to my food. This recipe is amazing, and gives me the alternative I was looking for. My entire family loved this, including the picky 8 year old. Wonderful recipe addition to our collection. Thank you so much. Your recipes and emails are great inspiration and offer so many healthy alternatives. Blessings to you and your staff!!
just tried this recipe. i didn’t even put this in for 30 minutes and it started burning. definitely don’t put it in for 40 mins. might consider turning the temp down a bit.
Good to know. Maybe its the oven though? I have to cook everything 10 degrees higher and for longer temps in my oven. Do other things cook normally in your oven? I will keep an eye on my recipe as it bakes to make sure I rescue it before a burn. ;)
I enjoy many of your recipes and look forward to trying this one. I just wish you had a printable version without all the photos so I don’t have to copy them down. It would be nice to just be able to hit print on the recipe, and not have to try to adjust the page to eliminate photos. I don’t use pinterest, so I have to write each of them down. Thanks for good info and recipes, along with your health research.
:) I agree! I have messy papers stashed here and there where I copied them down. My handwriting starts out neat, then gets messy quickly. I sometimes put his cleanse plan on a chalkboard, but printable would be great.
There is a PRINT button at the beginning of the actual recipe. :) Also a button to Pin it.
Thanks you are helping a lot. Your buffalo cauliflower is delicious.
Good to know! I was considering trying them. I’m not too much on spicy things but love the reasoning behind why we eat each ingredient. I could just put a little less chili, I guess. :)
I am so grateful to have found your site. As a busy mom of teens, I am off track with our nutrition and health. Recipes for healthy snacks and desserts will go a long way to help us get on track and stay there. I also enjoy spreading news to family and friends of the health benefits of natural treatments as often as I can. Thank you for providing a well-organized, research-based, and easy to navigate site.
Karen, Thank you for the kind words. I am so glad to hear the recipes have helped you. I am wishing you and your family the best on your health journey. Blessings to you and yours!
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