Gone were the days of this classic game-day meal, buffalo wings, or so we thought. After several attempts to make good cauliflower wings, we’ve finally cracked the code. We tried several times in the oven, but it would never properly cook the cauliflower and have a crispy outside. Though thanks to our air fryer we’ve finally done it! Vegan Crispy Buffalo Cauliflower!
We tried several methods when trying out our vegan buffalo cauliflower. Frozen vs fresh cauliflower, marinated versus not, and even if we should par-cook the cauliflower. Here’s what we found out.
The cauliflower:
You can use frozen cauliflower and it will taste fine and have a good texture, but we did prefer fresh cauliflower. We could get bigger cauliflower florets and the texture was preferred for us. We’re thankful to have access to fresh affordable vegetables, but we know not everyone has this opportunity and you can use frozen cauliflower. It’s recommended that you cut the cooking time of the par-cooking to 5-8 minutes versus the full 10 minutes.
Marinating:
We discovered that completely raw cauliflower wasn’t really soaking up any marinade, just coating the outside a little. However, we did find out that if we cooked it a little so the cauliflower got a bit soft it would soak up a bit more of the oil and hot sauce mixture.
Par-cooking:
Lastly, we par-cook the cauliflower before the coating because if we didn’t cook before air frying with the dry coating then the cauliflower would still be raw by the time the coating was cooked. By cooking the cauliflower before tossing in the dry coating, it allows for the cauliflower to soften up and get a nice meaty texture.
Why the masa?
If you don’t have or want to buy masa for this you can just replace it with more all-purpose flour. We were low on flour one evening and threw some masa in the mixture instead. Turned out we loved it! The corn flavor goes great with it and makes for a thicker coating which then gets more crispy when we air fry the cauliflower.
We hope you enjoy our Vegan Buffalo Cauliflower recipe. If you’re anything like me and like ranch with your buffalo cauliflower then check out our vegan ranch dressing recipe. Save your bank account some $$.
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Vegan Buffalo Cauliflower (Air Fried)
Equipment
- Air Fryer
- Bowl for mixing
Ingredients
- 1 head cauliflower (cut into florets)
- 1/2 cup Frank's RedHot hot sauce
- 3 tbsp neutral oil
- 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/4 cup masa flour
- 2 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp paparika
- 1 tsp salt
- 2 tbsp vegan butter (melted)
Instructions
- Air-fry the cauliflower at 350°F for 10 minutes, tossing occasionally.
- While the cauliflower is par-cooking mix the oil and ¼ cup of hot sauce in a bowl or ziplock bag.
- Once cauliflower finishes its first round of cooking, toss it in the oil and hot sauce mixture. Let it sit and marinate for 5 minutes. Allowing the flavor to seep into the cauliflower.
- While the cauliflower sits, mix together the dry ingredients: flour, masa, garlic powder, paprika, and salt.
- Toss the cauliflower into the dry mixture and then air-fry for 15 minutes at 400° F. Tossing occasionally.
- While cauliflower is air frying mix together the remaining hot sauce with the melted vegan butter.
- Once the cauliflower is done air frying toss with the butter and hot sauce mixture. Serve with my vegan ranch and the optional vegetables.