Air fryer buffalo cauliflower wings are a zesty, low carb vegetarian way to satisfy your wing cravings. Cauliflower florets get coated in spicy, bold buffalo sauce for a snack or appetizer you’ll adore. Making this tasty treat in your air fryer allows you to enjoy slightly crisp tender take on the classic without the added calories of deep frying.

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Jump to:

What are Buffalo Cauliflower wings
Why you’ll love these cauliflower wings
Ingredients
How to make in Air Fryer
How to bake Buffalo Cauliflower
Pro tips and tricks
How to serve
How do I make it less spicy?
Is this a vegan recipe?
How do I make it keto friendly?
More delicious Air fryer recipes you will love
Let us know what you think
Air fryer buffalo cauliflower wings

What are Buffalo Cauliflower wings

Buffalo cauliflower wings are a vegetarian alternative to traditional Buffalo wings and a fantastic way to get even picky eaters to eat more veggies.

Instead of pieces of battered chicken, this appetizer uses wholesome cauliflower florets. Like with our orange cauliflower, a light batter coats the cauliflower pieces before they are air fried to perfection and tossed with buffalo sauce.

The result is a tasty, spicy appetizer or snack you’ll love and one of our very favorite air fryer recipes to make.

Why you’ll love these cauliflower wings

If you love the big, bold flavor of buffalo sauce, you’ll love these vegetarian wings.

These are a delicious and wholesome way to satisfy any of your spicy cravings.

And you’ll feel great serving this to your family because they are getting a healthy dose of good for you cauliflower in each and every bite!

Ingredients

When you are read to make these buffalo cauliflower wings in the air fryer, you’ll need to get:

Small head of cauliflower - broken into bite sized pieces.
All-purpose flour - you can substitute with almond flour for a keto friendly version
Paprika powder - If you want even hotter wings, you can use chili powder instead
Garlic powder -Garlic powder is used to give this dish that extra kick without using fresh garlic.( fresh garlic will burn while air frying)
Onion powder - Adds extra punch!
Salt & pepper - Use as much or as little as you’d like
Cup Water - helps create the batter
Buffalo Hot Sauce - used for both the glaze and the batter for the wings
Butter - for the glaze (Use unsalted butter for this recipe).

How to make in Air Fryer

First, wash the cauliflower head and cut it into roughly even sized florets. As you prepare the florets, make sure to preheat your oven to 450 degrees.
Next, combine all the dry ingredients (flour, garlic powder, onion powder, paprika, salt, and black pepper) in a bowl. Once the dry ingredients are ready, whisk in water until the batter has no lumps. Finally, add 2 tablespoons of buffalo hot sauce and mix until well combined

Next, add the fresh cauliflower florets to the batter and mix well to evenly coat the florets with batter.
Coat an air fryer basket with non-stick cooking spray and then add battered florets to the air fryer basket in a single layer.
Air fry them at 375 degrees for 12 minutes. You may need to do multiple batches to prevent them from touching each other.

Meanwhile, prepare the buffalo wings glaze for the cauliflower by mixing the buffalo hot sauce and melted butter. When ready, set it aside until the florets are done.
Once the cauliflower is done cooking, carefully transfer them to a large bowl. When ready to serve, cover with sauce and then toss to coat.

Serve immediately with celery sticks, your favorite dipping sauce, side of bread, or nothing at all!

How to bake Buffalo Cauliflower

If you don’t have an air fryer or just want to make all the florets at once, you can easily use your oven instead. Here’s how.

First, wash the cauliflower head and cut it into roughly even sized florets. As you prepare the florets, make sure to preheat your oven to 450 degrees.
Next, combine all the dry ingredients (flour, garlic powder, onion powder, paprika, salt, and black pepper) in a bowl. Once the dry ingredients are ready, whisk in water until the batter has no lumps. Finally, add 2 tablespoons of buffalo hot sauce and mix until well combined
Next, add the fresh cauliflower florets to the batter and mix well to evenly coat the florets with batter.
Once coated, spray a cookie sheet with non-stick spray and place the cauliflower florets in a single layer on the sheet. If needed, you can use more than one sheet.
When ready, bake in your preheat oven 450°F for 20 minutes.
Meanwhile, prepare the buffalo wings glaze for the cauliflower by mixing the buffalo hot sauce and melted butter. When ready, set it aside until the florets are done.
Once the cauliflower is done cooking, carefully transfer them to a large bowl. When ready to serve, cover with sauce and then toss to coat.

Serve immediately with celery sticks, your favorite dipping sauce, side of bread, or nothing at all!

Pro tips and tricks

Buffalo cauliflower is pretty easy to make in the air fryer or oven. Here are some tips to help ensure you get crispy wings every time:

Make sure to leave some space between the florets. This helps make sure they get crispy and cook evenly.
If you use your oven, make sure you preheat it for 20 minutes to make sure it is evenly heated.
Serve the cauliflower wings immediately from the air fryer or oven. They taste best when they are fresh and hot.
For Gluten-Free Baking Flour: Use 1-to-1 baking flour for accurate portions.

How to serve

Air fryer buffalo cauliflower wings are great on their own. We often serve them with blue cheese or ranch dressings or if you like it more spicy try it with our Sriracha aioli to dip into. You can also slice up celery and carrots as a good way to reduce the heat.

Our crispy falafel recipe and Onion Bhaji - Onion Pakoda also both go great with these cauliflower wings. You could also serve them with other baked breads, like naan. If you use naan, you can make a sort of wrap out of them the way we do with our falafel wrap.

Another great way to cut down on heat is to serve them with our dinner rolls. The cabs in baked goods help to settle the stomach and cool down your mouth between bites.

How do I make it less spicy?

We love our cauliflower wings on the spicy side, so we use regular hot buffalo sauce or hot sauce. Often times, you can find milder versions of buffalo sauce in the same area you find hot sauce. When you use one of the milder flavors, it should cut down on the heat some. For a more mild version, replace the hot sauce with honey mustard, barbecue sauce, or ketchup.

You can also skip or avoid using any black pepper. When you add black pepper, it makes the wings hotter.

Is this a vegan recipe?

We do not use egg in this recipe, but for the glaze, we do use butter. Butter helps give the sauce a slightly creamier texture and taste.

If you want to make this vegan, you can easily substitute equal amounts of olive oil or vegan butter for the regular butter.

How do I make it keto friendly?

We use all purpose flour. To make it keto, you can substitute the all purpose flour with almond flour.

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Let us know what you think

If you make this delicious recipe, let us know how it went! When you make this, be sure to take a pic and tag us on Instagram @dbellyrulesdmind or Facebook @thebellyrulesthemind!