This time of year my husband craves pizza & wings and any other kind of food you eat while watching football. So, I’m on a mission to find healthier versions of those foods.
Yesterday, I tried a new recipe to replace buffalo wings called Buffalo Cauliflower Bites. I found this recipe on nutritionstripped.com
This recipe, even though I messed it up, turned out so yummy my husband had seconds! You get the same flavor as buffalo wings with a similar texture as buffalo chicken bites, but without all those calories. It’s a sneaky way to eat more veggies but doesn’t taste like veggies! The original recipe comes with a homemade ranch dip recipe which I did not try yet, but plan to. If you make the ranch dip let me know how it turns out! My husband and I love chunky blue cheese dressing so I’m now searching for a healthy and easy homemade recipe for that.
Here is the original recipe with my notes along the side:
INGREDIENTS
1 large head of cauliflower (about 5-6 cups raw)
½ cup almond milk (or of choice)
½-1 cup water (more to create a thinner coating) I used 1/2 cup water
¾-1 cup red hot sauce (I used Frank’s)
¾ cup gluten-free all purpose flour I used Almond Flour instead
1 tablespoon butter (grass-fed or vegan)
2 teaspoon garlic powder
2 teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon cumin powder
dash of cayenne pepper
ground black pepper and sea salt
INSTRUCTIONS
1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees F
2. Line a baking sheet with foil or parchment paper and well grease with coconut oil or other. If you don’t have coconut oil or a liner for the baking sheet try this- take a cookie “drying rack” and put on top of a standard baking sheet. You’ll eventually put all of the cauliflower bites on top of the “drying rack” to allow them to cook through with less sticking.
3. Cut cauliflower head into small bite sized pieces.
COATING//
4. Mix flour, milk, water, and spices into a small bowl.
5. Dip each cauliflower floret into this flour mixture (This is the step where you can either make the batter thick or thin by using less/more water respectively. I enjoy it on the thinner side so I choose to add more water). I did not add any more water
6. Lay on baking sheet in an even layer to ensure baking all around.
7. Bake for 25 minutes or until golden brown.
BUFFALO SAUCE//
8. In a small saucepan melt the butter and hot sauce, bring to a simmer and remove from heat. I actually skipped this step because I acidentally added in the Franks Hot Sauce into the mixture of almond flour, milk, water and spices, then dipped the cauliflower bites into that sauce. Instead I melted the butter in a bowl with a tiny bit more Hot Sauce and drizzled that over top then put back in oven for 15 minutes.
9. After the cauliflower bites have baked, pour the buffalo sauce mixture onto the bites.
10. Stir until each cauliflower bite has been coated in the sauce.
11. Bake for another 10-15 minutes.
Enjoy!
These turned out so yummy even though I messed the original recipe up. My husband said he actually really liked that I baked them in the hot sauce the whole time. Warning: They were pretty spicy! lol We love spicy foods. I’m not sure if baking them in the hot sauce the whole time made them more spicy or not.
It’s fun playing around with new recipes and making them work for you. I love when I mess a recipe up and it still turns out yummy!
Let me know if you make these and what you think! I will definitely be making more of these for our Football Sunday’s!
XO,
Carrie A Groff
– Healthy, Fit & Barefoot!
“Happiness is Barefoot on the Beach!”
CG Fitness: Personal Training, Nutrition & Yoga 
THIS IS GENIUS! I love cauliflower and want to eat wings but they’re so fatty and greasy!
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I’m right there with you! These definitely satisfy a hot wing craving 🙂 Let me know how you like them after you make them!
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