Roasted buffalo cauliflower is a flavorful appetizer for game day or side dish for your next meal. Cauliflower florets are tossed in buffalo sauce and oven roasted until tender.
Roasted buffalo cauliflower is an easy recipe that only takes about 20 minutes in the oven and four ingredients to make. The cauliflower bites turn out perfectly tender-crisp and loaded with buffalo flavor!
Simply chop your cauliflower into bite size pieces, toss in buffalo sauce and seasoning, then roast until tender. By using high heat and turning on the broiler in the last few minutes of roasting, your cauliflower is sure to turn out tender with crisp edges, not soggy or limp.
Serve roasted cauliflower as an appetizer for game day or as a side dish for your next meal. Blue cheese or ranch make great dipping sauces!
Ingredients
- Cauliflower - The base of this recipe. You'll need one large head that's been sliced into florets. I don't recommend frozen cauliflower for this recipe, but instead recommend trying my recipe for roasted frozen cauliflower, which involves preheating the sheet pan beforehand to prevent sogginess.
- Buffalo sauce - Use your favorite buffalo sauce for this recipe - I used Frank's RedHot.
- Seasoning - A bit of pepper and garlic powder add flavor to your cauliflower. Since hot sauce contains a significant amount of salt, we're not adding any extra today.
Tips and tricks
Chop florets into even pieces -When chopping your florets, think about creating bite-size, 2 to 3 inch pieces. When your cauliflower is all chopped to a similar size, the pieces will bake at the same rate in the oven.
Add more hot sauce as needed - You may need to add more hot sauce depending on the size of your cauliflower. An extra large head of cauliflower may need a few more dashes of buffalo sauce.
Don't overcrowd the pan - If you'd like to make additional servings or have an extra large head of cauliflower, you may want to spread your florets between two sheet pans and rotate them halfway through baking. Overcrowding the pan can lead to soggy, steamed cauliflower.
Storage
Leftover cauliflower will keep in the refrigerator for 4 to 5 days.
Frequently asked questions
Roasted cauliflower is not going to be "crispy" or crunchy. While it may look like crispy fried chicken in the photos, cauliflower is made of 92% water, which means it would take a lot of roasting (and burning) to become crunchy. Roasting at a high temperature ensures that it doesn't get soggy, and broiling at the end browns the cauliflower and adds a little crispy texture to the edges. However, your buffalo cauliflower will have the texture of a cooked vegetable.
Over-baking will cause your cauliflower to get mushy, so check occasionally by piercing your cauliflower with a fork. A perfectly cooked piece of cauliflower can be pierced through with little resistance, but will not fall apart.
A creamy dipping sauce is the perfect addition to this recipe. I recommend blue cheese or ranch dressing. Roasted cauliflower can also add some heft and flavor as a salad topping.
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📖 Recipe
Roasted Buffalo Cauliflower
Ingredients
- 1 head cauliflower
- ⅓ cup buffalo sauce, more as needed
- ½ teaspoon pepper
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Cut cauliflower head into bite-sized florets and place in a large bowl. Add buffalo sauce and toss to coat, adding more sauce as needed. Cauliflower should be lightly coated in sauce. Season with salt and pepper.
- Pour cauliflower onto a parchment lined baking sheet and spread into a single layer. Bake for 18 minutes, then test cauliflower by piercing with a fork. If needed, continue cooking until cauliflower is tender-crisp.
- Turn on broiler and cook for an additional 2-3 minutes, or until cauliflower is lightly browned and crisp around the edges. Monitor the broiler while in use - food can quickly burn under the broiler.
- Optionally, serve with blue cheese or ranch dressing.
Equipment Recommendations
Notes
- Baking time will vary based on size of cauliflower florets. The larger the cauliflower pieces, the longer they will take to cook through.
- Baking too long will cause your cauliflower to be mushy and overcooked, so check occasionally by trying to pierce your cauliflower with a fork. A perfectly cooked piece of cauliflower can be pierced through with little resistance, but will not fall apart.
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