Vegan Cauliflower Buffalo Bites With Vegan Blue Cheese Dip

Vegan Cauliflower Buffalo Bites With Vegan Blue Cheese Dip

It’s so easy to fall into ruts with our food choices, no matter what type of diet we live or what type of food we eat. But especially in vegan and plant-based diets, we can tend to get stuck on our favorites or our most simple go-to’s.

And this cauliflower buffalo bites with vegan blue cheese dip recipe is quickly becoming one of my go-to’s.

I tend to fall back on lots of smoothies, veggie burgers/sandwiches/wraps, salads, and rice/bean combos. But a well-balanced diet is important for meat-eaters and vegans alike. So, when I found a recipe for Spicy Buffalo Cauliflower ‘Wings’, I knew I had to give it a try.

I haven’t made anything quite like this since going vegan. But the hubs loves anything coated in buffalo sauce, and I was looking to switch things up, so why not give it a go? And vegan blue cheese dressing – well that had me intrigued.

And I’m happy to report that this was a very successful recipe when put to the test! No, the cauliflower did not magically taste like chicken. But it was still quite tasty – and so was the blue cheese dressing. It’s amazing how the textures in this recipe are so similar to the real thing. I would definitely make this again.

Plus the buffalo cauliflower recipe outcome was was hubs approved ;) It’s quickly becoming one of our favorite vegan recipes.

Health Benefits of Vegan Buffalo Bites

Cauliflower and roasted cauliflower is your friend. So buffalo cauliflower buffalo bites vegan are a great choice for your appetizer cuisine. They are packed full 0f vitamin c which boosts immunity and helps prevent illness.

Which let’s be honest, we could all use right now. It’s also high in fiber, a great source of antioxidants, and can even help aid in digestion and weight loss.

Cauliflower buffalo wings and buffalo cauliflower dip are also low in saturated fat unlike buffalo chicken dip or buffalo chicken wings.

Plus using non-dairy cheese for the dip is far healthier than using mozzarella cheese which is loaded with saturated fats.

Pro Tip: Start with the Buffalo Bites first, then make the dressing while the bites are baking.

Vegan Cauliflower Buffalo Bites With Vegan Blue Cheese Dip

INGREDIENTS FOR VEGAN BUFFALO BITES:

  • 1 cup water or soy milk (I used 1/2 cup of each) You can also use oat milk or almond milk.
  • 1 cup flour (any kind of flour will work – even gluten-free!)
  • 2 tsp. garlic powder
  • 1 head of cauliflower, chopped into bite-size pieces or cauliflower florets(frozen cauliflower florets can work too but personally I love fresh.)
  • 1 cup buffalo or hot sauces*
  • 1 Tbsp. olive oil or melted vegan margarine

Notes

*Be sure to check the ingredients in the buffalo/ hot sauce and bbq sauce because not all are fully vegan, also if you have food allergies make sure to double-check the labels. I used Frank’s Red Hot Wings Sauce in Buffalo flavor, there’s also plain Franks Hot Sauce.

Vegan Cauliflower Buffalo Bites With Vegan Blue Cheese Dip

I personally love buffalo sauce, so that’s what I went with. But if you don’t like spicy food, try a mild flavor like Frank’s Sweet Chili Sauce. Or make your own sauce and combine a few to make your own unique rich flavor. You can also add maple syrup for additional sweetness and cohesive tendencies.

Vegan Cauliflower Buffalo Bites Recipe:

STEP 1

Preheat oven to 450°.

Combine the water and/or soy milk, flour, and garlic powder in a large bowl and mix well.

STEP 2

Grease a shallow baking dish/pan (I used two small ones) or baking sheet(although a baking sheet might not work as well) with cooking spray or vegetable oil.

Dip each piece of cauliflower into the flour mixture, let the excess drip off, and place it in the greased baking dish. As you can see in my photo, I didn’t let the excess drip off well enough. I had to cut off the rubbery batter spills from some of the pieces after they cooked.

STEP 3

Bake for 18 minutes.*

While this is baking, make the blue cheese dressing (see recipe further below).

STEP 4

Mix the buffalo wing sauce or barbecue sauce and olive oil or vegan margarine in a small bowl (I used a Pyrex 2-cup measuring cup). You can also add bread crumbs or panko crumbs if you want to give the vegan buffalo wings some additional texture.

STEP 5

Pour the hot sauce mixture over the baked cauliflower and continue baking for another 5 to 8 minutes.

Serve with Vegan Blue Cheese Dressing (recipe below) and celery sticks.

To store you can wrap in parchment paper before putting it in a container and refrigerator.

SERVES 4

Notes

*I baked mine for 20 minutes since my oven is a little slow. However, I think they could go even longer – like maybe 25 to 30 minutes? I didn’t care for them right out of the oven. Instead, I waited until they cooled, and then I crisped them up a bit in the toaster oven at about 300º for a few minutes. 

INGREDIENTS FOR VEGAN BLUE CHEESE DRESSING:

  • 1/4 block of firm or extra firm tofu*
  • Dash of garlic or onion powder
  • 1 cup of vegan mayo (I used original Vegenaise)
  • 1/4 tsp. tahini (sesame seed paste)*
  • Fresh lemon juice*
Vegan Cauliflower Buffalo Bites With Vegan Blue Cheese Dip

Recipe Notes

*Regarding the tofu, it didn’t say whether to press it or not, so I did not press it (just drained it).

*Regarding the tahini… get ready to laugh. I thought it said 1/4 CUP (see my ingredients photo above?!). Believe it or not, it still turned out fine. The original recipe can be made without this ingredient, but it’s better with it.

*Regarding the lemon juice and apple cider vinegar, you’ll have to taste as you go, adding just a teaspoon at a time until you are happy with the taste. Even with using 1/4 CUP of tahini, I only used 1 and a half teaspoons of lemon juice and 1 teaspoon of apple cider vinegar. Channel your inner chef and just go by taste.

*To make the dish creamier and more tasteful you can also add vegan cheese, vegan sour cream, vegan cream cheese, vegan butter, or anything else you feel would add taste and texture

Vegan Blue Cheese Dip Instructions:

STEP 1

In a medium-size bowl, mix all ingredients except the tofu. Mix until it has a nice, smooth consistency.

STEP 2

Vegan Cauliflower Buffalo Bites With Vegan Blue Cheese Dip

Crumble tofu (see photo above). This will be the ‘lumps’ in your dressing. Add crumbled tofu to the dressing mixture and stir until combined. Feel free to top with dried dill for presentation and an extra boost of flavor.

Mine probably looks thicker and darker in color because of the extra tahini. You can also serve this with vegan ‘chicken nuggets’, salads, raw veggies, etc. It’s a great dip option and far healthier than classic ranch dressing and of course is dairy-free and gluten-free!

Vegan Cauliflower Buffalo Bites With Vegan Blue Cheese Dip

Uses:

Buffalo dip is always a crowd-pleaser whether as an appetizer for your dinner party or as a dish for game day. Any place you find chicken wings, sub in these awesome cauliflower bites, and watch people become believers! They are also a great lunch treat or snack option.

Vegan Cauliflower Buffalo Bites With Vegan Blue Cheese Dip

Your partner, boyfriend, husband’s or friends will thank you so much for this amazing recipe that will kick chicken wings to the curb because buffalo cauliflower wings and bites are absolutely delicious and are here to stay!

Vegan Cauliflower Buffalo Bites With Vegan Blue Cheese Dip

Thank you to Ashley Palmer for the Spicy Buffalo Cauliflower ‘Wings’ recipe and to “Munchy” on Group Recipes for the Vegan Blue Cheese Dressing recipe! You can also use the same “buffalo wings” recipe to make some scrumptious buffalo cauliflower dip. Buffalo cauliflower recipes are pretty similar as far as ingredients go so it’s easy to mix and match.

Now… what else can I coat in ‘batter’ and buffalo sauce? Hmm…

P.S. Looking for a game day dessert to go with your fan-favorite cauliflower bites? Check out this Vegan Apple Tart. It’s the perfect sweet treat to add to your vegan game day spread!d

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38 thoughts on “Vegan Cauliflower Buffalo Bites With Vegan Blue Cheese Dip”

  1. Hi Livvy:

    Looks good! I will have to try this sometime! You asked what else can you coat and batter?? Well, you can do that with firm tofu! My hubby loves BBQ Tofu bites! The trick (in case you haven’t heard it yet…) Take your firm, water packed tofu, press and drain it, then wrap it in plastic wrap and put it in the freezer for a few days or longer. It turns an odd shade of yellow – although it is still good! Take it out, thaw it, then repress and drain it. It now has a “meatier” texture and flavor! Cut it up in slices, marinate it in your sauce for a couple of hours and bake until done! Yummy! Leftovers make great sandwiches for lunch. I now only use water packed toful after I have frozen it – way better taste and texture!

    Reply
  2. Found you via Finding Vegan–what an intriguing recipe! And it LOOKS fantastic. If I can make the sauce work with my dietary restrictions, I’m on i! ;-) I also have to agree with Dawn up there–freezing tofu is a great way to make it “meatier.” I freeze, then crumble, then put into spaghetti sauce. My hubby asked if it was ground chicken! Hee hee. :D

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  3. Oh my goodness, you have my tummy growling and possible drool droplets on my keyboard. This looks tremendous!

    Reply
  4. I have to agree with Jackie, this looks PHENOMENAL. I have a humongous head of cauliflower in the fridge that was destined to be aloo gobi, but… anything involving Frank’s, and I’m in.

    I am wicked skeptical about the dressing though. I’ll have to wait until our housemate comes home–he used to LOVE bleu cheese dressing, so he’ll be a good judge when we try it out!

    Reply
    • Jacqui, don’t be afraid to use extra tahini in the dressing. Like I said, I thought it said 1/2 cup (instead of 1/2 tsp), and my husband and I both really liked it. I didn’t realize how off I was until I was typing up the recipe for the blog post! I don’t think a 1/2 tsp would even be noticeable. Lmk how you like it!

      Reply
  5. Seriously the best recipe ever!! I love it all, the cauliflower is a brilliant idea and that dressing tastes exactally like blue cheese! Thank you for the great recipe!

    Reply
      • Maybe a little bit? I asked the hubs and he said a little bit too, funny! I liked you on FB so you can see a bigger pic of me. Can’t wait to have my leftovers today!

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          • I have never been able to like tofu either, and after leinnarg more about nutrition I feel no need to force myself to like it. Soy has a sugar that we can’t digest, which is why it gives us gas, and manufactured tofu has been processed to take out all of the fiber as well as a lot of the vitamins and minerals.Tempeh is a fermented product, so that the sugar has been broken down, and it uses the whole bean fiber all and tastes SO much better! ask around or maybe order online?

  6. I just made these and they are great. I am new to vegan eating and I love anything buffalo :) I like how the batter works with the sauce and the texture of the cauliflower is wonderful. Thanks for a great and easy to follow recipe.

    Reply
  7. I just made these bites (no blue cheese) and they are delicious and so easy to make!! I had to keep reminding myself that they were vegan. I used the Franks original buffalo sauce and it was SPICY. i had to grab a glass of almond milk. Next time, i will most likely get an even milder flavor, but there will be a next time. Loved it

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  8. I really like the idea of Buffalo style cauliflower. Had some troubles with the batter not being very batter-like, but we enjoyed these no matter!

    Appreciate the frozen tofu tip from Dawn!

    Reply
  9. Hi Livvy!
    I just wanted to say that I made these for myself last night for the Superbowl. My family are all omnivores and were having chicken wings, this was my alternative. They definitely filled my craving to have some Buffalo Hot “wings”. In fact, they were so tasty that my carnivore husband ate probably as many as I did. Thanks for finding this great recipe! (I did not make the dressing since I did not have tofu, just ate them plain with a side of celery).

    Reply
  10. I made these today because I had a head of hybrid green cauliflower. Today is St. Patrick’s Day and I thought it would be fun to have these for a snack. They are delicious. I did eat mine out of the oven because I don’t have a toaster oven to crisp them up, but maybe if I left them in the warming drawer for a few minutes that might work. They are so good, between my husband and myself, we ate the entire head of cauliflower! Thank you for posting this. P.S. I added a few shakes of McKay’s vegan chikn seasoning to the batter for a little more taste.

    Reply
  11. I. LOVE. THESE. I have made this recipe 4 times now and love it everytime! I don’t put the tofu in the dressing because the first time I made them I was out of tofu and loved it without so subsequently I continue to leave it out because it is one less step.

    Love your blog!

    Reply
  12. I pinned this recipe ages ago and finally had a chance to make it today–my hubby called it “a ten” :) one of his biggest compliments! Also–I made the sauce with BBQ sauce and a bit of teriyaki. It was a great variation! Thank you for sharing!

    Reply
  13. Hey! Thanks for the recipe! I made these last night for me and my boyfriend, and they were pretty good. Definitely making them again. I used all purpose flour and they didn’t really come out as crispy as I was hoping. Should I use a different kind of flour? What kind did you use to make yours brown up in the pictures.

    Thanks!

    Reply
    • Hi Kielecia! Mine didn’t really come out very crispy either. See my note in Step 3 – I think that will help. I don’t think the flour matters.

      Reply
  14. I made this today…AMAZING. Thanks for sharing!! I just found your blog and love it!
    My husband is not a fan of spicy foods like I am, but I love the baked and battered cauliflower and think he would too. Do you have any recommends for a milder coating?

    Reply
  15. Delicious! I only made half a recipe and mistakenly added Franks hot pepper sauce to the batter and then dipped the cauliflower…I think it was actually a better thing to do. I baked the cauliflower for 20 to 25 mins at 425deg in my smaller top oven til they were tender and removed from oven. I then mixed a tsp vegan marg with 2 tbsp Franks and microwaved til melted, trickled over cauliflower, then broiled for about 5mins additionally. Instead of making the vegan blue cheese, I used a bluecheese yogurt dressing. This will be my go to appetizer recipe from now on. I didn’t miss the chicken at all!

    Reply

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