The first time I ever attempted cauliflower wings was about a year ago. My hubby and I were freshly back from our honeymoon where we made many “less-than-optimal” food choices. We were trying to get back on track with our eating patterns, but that can be hard to do. Especially at the end of football season. I remember I was trying to play with some recipes for Sunday Night Football as well as for the upcoming Superbowl.
Let’s be honest, game day food doesn’t exactly scream healthy. I usually think taco dip, nachos, and chicken wings. Do the veggies on taco dip make it healthy?! I’ll let you decide on the answer to that one.
Anyhow, the hubby was begging me to get wings in for the game. I must admit, it sounded pretty tempting to just order out wings from Buffalo Wild Wings. No clean-up required. I believe I had to work that weekend so anything convenient sure sounded good.
My hubby and I have actually shared a longtime love of wings together. When we started dated, we were both pretty poor high school kids, so wings were a pretty reasonable date-night option. Back then, I participated in quite a few sports, so it was pretty easy for me to put away a dozen wings without feeling guilty. I could probably still put away over a dozen, though I wouldn’t quite feel the same afterwards.
Somehow, I managed to resist the urge for takeout. Instead, I decided to look throughout pinterest for some recipe inspiration. Finally, I stumbled upon some delicious cauliflower wings. If I remember correctly, these weren’t exactly “vegan” wings. They were some sort of panko-breaded, sweet sesame wings. Let me tell you, they were pretty good substitute for the real deal. My only qualm at the time was the panko breading seemed a little off for me. Not quite the texture of a traditional boneless wing.
The cauliflower wings actually fell off my radar for a while. For a year actually. I actually started thinking about them again over the last few weeks. Nearly every Tuesday, the hubs requests to go to Buffalo Wild Wings. Not really my thing these days. So it got me thinking about why I don’t just make our own. I actually brought up making the cauliflower wings again and the hubby was totally on board. I was hoping to play around with the texture a bit and found these Vegan Cauliflower Hot Wings were a winner.
Totally embarrassed to say I ate almost a whole sheet pan myself! No shame in my vegetable game I guess.
The main change I wanted to make to this recipe was the breading. I wanted more of a batter texture. In this case, I used gluten-free flour, almond milk, baking soda, and spices. Super simple. The key with the batter is getting the right consistency. The batter should be thick enough to adhere to the wings. If the batter becomes to thing, it will drip off. For starters, I used an equal ratio of flour to milk and added additional milk as I felt needed. If it most of it runs right off the spoon, it is probably too thin. Think more like a thicker cake batter.
Then I just rolled my cauliflower florets around the batter to evenly coat and transferred to a greased sheet pan. Next, throw them in the oven to form a nice breading. After about 20-25 minutes they should start getting golden brown. I then removed them from the oven and added some Primal Kitchen Classic BBQ Sauce.
Throw them back in the oven for about 10 minutes so your sauce gets gooey and bubbly. Finally, serve them up with some celery, carrots and your favorite dipping sauce.
Furthermore, for those of you non-vegan eaters who enjoy a bit of ranch, you can check out my recipe for homemade ranch and if you’re full vegan, snag a bottle of Vegan Primal Kitchen Ranch made with Avo-oil. Believe me, both are winners. If you like bleu cheese, you’re out of luck, I hate it!
Well, are you ready to give these Vegan Cauliflower Hot Wings a try? Get at it! Throwing this together for your family this week? Be sure to let me know by tagging a photo #stephanieleenutrition on Instagram. I’d love to see what you all cook up. Happy eating, xo!
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- 1 head cauliflower cut into florets
- 1 cup flour of choice
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 - 1 1/4 cup milk of choice more to thin batter
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon pepper
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
- 3/4 cup sauce of choice (barbeque, hot sauce, chili sauce, etc)
Ingredients
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- Preheat oven to 425 degrees and grease a large baking dish. Wash the head of cauliflower and cut into florets.
- In a medium mixing bowl, combine flour, baking soda, milk, and spices. Mix together with a whisk until smooth. Add additional milk to thin if necessary. Batter should be thick enough to coat cauliflower without dripping.
- Dip the cauliflower in the batter and rotate to coat. Shake off excess batter as needed and transfer to baking sheet. Cauliflower should be about 1 inch apart.
- Bake cauliflower wings for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown. While the cauliflower is baking, add sauce of choice to a clean, large mixing bowl. When the cauliflower is done, transfer to mixing bowl with sauce. Toss to evenly coat cauliflower with sauce.
- Return coated cauliflower to the baking sheet and place back in the oven for 10-15 minutes. Serve with celery, carrots, ranch, bleu cheese, or mustard.
I’m excited to try this recipe. I love Cauliflower and eat it often. Never thought to cook it up in this way. Very clear directions and Great Photos Too!
Thank you! Cauliflower is so versatile, I love it. My meat loving hubby likes them too!
I am so thankful you posted this! I have been wanting to try this but all the recipes have looked to complicated.. or I’m just lazy, who knows? I’m always looking for new vegan recipes to try… I’ll let you know how it goes!!
Thanks! Can’t wait to here. The batter is kind of a nice, single step process. I’ve tried the kind where you dip in flour, then egg, and then Panko but it gets so messy!
This recipe looks delicious! I’m not vegan or vegetarian, but I’d like to start incorporating at least one “no meat” day each week. We love buffalo sauce and cauliflower in our home, so this looks like a win-win! Definitely going to try this!
I’m not vegan/vegetarian either but I make a point to do a few meatless meals throughout the week. It’s a nice way to be all inclusive but still up your plant game!
I am just getting started with my healthy food journey, and chicken wings are one of my favs! I am glad that I can try something that can substitute it! I recently tried cauliflower rice, so I am pretty sure I will enjoy this! Your pictures are awesome and I cannot wait to try it out!
Thank you! I love using cauliflower rice as well. Super good with Asian inspired recipes! Wish you well on your health/fitness journey.
Oh Em GEEE!!! I need to try this! I love cauliflower but never thought of making it this way. Thanks for sharing!
You’ll have to give it a try. These are tied with cauliflower mash and cauliflower rice in my opinion!
These look stunning. I adore cauliflower anything.
You and me both!