How to Make Buffalo Cauliflower Bites
I love buffalo chicken bites and I love cauliflower - especially roasted cauliflower. When I ran across a recipe on Pinterest for buffalo cauliflower bites, I knew I had to try and make them. They turned out even better than I anticipated!
The original recipe called for rice flour, which I generally do not have in my house. I decided to make quinoa flour instead for the breading because I always have quinoa around. Quinoa is an extremely healthy food, gluten-free and is high in protein, fiber, iron, and calcium - it is considered a super-food. Making quinoa flour is quite easy to do with raw, uncooked quinoa by using a blender or food processor. I have even used my coffee grinder on occasion if I only want a small amount of flour. It only takes a few minutes of grinding (or pulsing) to make it into a fine enough texture to use as flour. You can see the difference between the raw quinoa and quinoa flour in my photograph.
This appetizer is extremely healthy and delicious! It is not buffalo chicken, but it is a great treat none the less and gives you so much flavor. It can be enjoyed equally by vegetarians and non-vegetarians. Enjoy!
Cook Time
Ingredients
- 1 head of cauliflower, washed, dried and chopped into florets
- 1/2 C quinoa, ground into flour
- 1/2 C water
- 1 tsp hot sauce
- 1/2 tsp sea salt, freshly ground
- For sauce: drizzel over cauliflower
- 1/4 C olive oil
- 1 Tbsp hot sauce
- 1/2 tsp sea salt, freshly ground
Instructions
- Measure out 1/2 C of dry quinoa. Using a food processor, grinder or blender, grind the quinoa down into a fine powder. This is your flour. You will get slightly more than half cup of quinoa flour once it is ground down. Place flour into a small to medium sized mixing bowl.
- Wash and pat dry the head of cauliflower. Chop the head of the cauliflower into bite sized florets. Preheat oven to 450° F. Lightly spray a cookie sheet with non-stick cooking spray.
- Add water, hot sauce and 1/2 tsp salt to the quinoa flour and mix together to make the breading. You may need to add a little more water to make the breading a little thinner if it is too thick or your liking. You do want it to stick to the cauliflower. Dip the florets into the breading (batter) so they are coated nicely and place on the cookie sheet in a single layer.
- Cook the cauliflower florets in the oven for 15 minutes, start checking at 10 minutes to see if the breading has hardened up a bit and to make sure they do not burn.
- While the florets are cooking, mix up the hot sauce. This is just a mixture of olive oil, hot sauce and salt. After the florets have cooked for 15 minutes, pull them out of the oven.
- Brush the florets with the hot sauce or drizzle it over them to evenly coat each one and turn. Place them back in the oven for another 5 minutes.
- Once they are finished cooking, serve the buffalo cauliflower bites with Ranch dressing or bleu cheese dressing on the side as a dipping sauce. I ate almost all of mine in the first half hour out of the oven. I hope you enjoy the bites as much as I did!
