With the temperature steadily rising here in Southern California, there’s nothing more refreshing than a crisp+cool salad. This one requires you to crank up your oven, but it’s totally worth it. Really. These crispy and spicy cauliflower-based buffalo bites offer the perfect contrast to the cold and fresh components here, creating a salad that’s perfect for spring or summer.
Crisp romaine and herby cilantro are tossed together, then topped with crunchy celery and carrots before being topped with these baked buffalo cauliflower bites. The batter was created by whisking together some Fabanaise with soymilk, then adding in enough panko to create a consistency that was super easy to slather over the florets. They were then baked to create a crispy golden shell around the cauliflower before being drizzled with one of my favorite salad dressings—Follow Your Heart’s Bleu Cheese.
Crispy Buffalo Cauliflower Salad
- Total Time: 1 hour
- Yield: 4 servings
- Diet: Vegan
Ingredients
for the buffalo cauliflower
- 4 cups of bite-sized cauliflower florets
- 3/4 cup vegan mayo (I used Fabanaise brand)
- 2 cups unsweetened soy milk
- 3 cups panko
- cooking spray
- 1 cup vegan buffalo sauce (I used Frank’s Red Hot – use more or less based on your preference)
for the salad
- 1 head of romaine, chopped
- 1 bunch cilantro, chopped
- 2 celery stalks, finely sliced
- 2 carrots, finely sliced
- 1 avocado, sliced or cubed
- Follow Your Heart brand Vegan Bleu Cheese Salad Dressing
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425. Line a baking sheet with a silpat, set aside.
- Whisk the vegan mayo and soymilk together in a large bowl. Add in the panko crumbs to create a batter, then allow it to sit for about 10 minutes to slightly thicken. Using your hands, cover each floret in the batter, patting it down with your fingers to help adhere it.
- Place the battered florets onto the silpat and mist the tops with cooking oil. Place into the oven and bake for 20 minutes, or until the tops are slightly golden. Remove from the oven, flip and mist again with cooking spray, then bake for about 15 minutes more, or until they are golden all over. Remove from the oven and allow the slightly cool.
- Toss the romaine and cilantro together, then distribute into 4 bowls. Top with the celery, carrots and avocado.
- Toss the slightly cooled buffalo cauliflower with the desired amount of vegan buffalo sauce, then add to the tops of the salad. Drizzle with the vegan bleu cheese dressing and serve immediately.
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 40 minutes
- Category: Lunch, Dinner
- Method: Battered, Baked
- Cuisine: American
Keywords: buffalo cauliflower, vegan salad
If you don’t want to make the salad, this buffalo cauliflower is also really good on its own, served with some Follow Your Heart Bleu Cheese dressing and crisp celery on the side, of course. Just make the florets a bit larger!
Alma I Reed-Herrera says
The batter for this recipe has become my to go for any cauliflower recipe ! Just perfect
★★★★★
erinwyso says
So happy you like the batter recipe, and can use it in other recipes … thanks for your kind feedback, Alma!
Vicky says
This cauliflower was addictive. I’m not vegan so I made a slightly lightened up version of blue cheese dressing with yogurt that worked well with this! The coating really sticks on well to the floret part of the cauliflower as an FYI to others making it– stems will likely be a bit naked (still delicious).
erinwyso says
Vicky, so happy you liked! Thanks for trying it out and your feedback. 🙂
Stephanie Dreyer says
I can’t wait to make this for my husband who is a huge buffalo wings fan!
Maria says
With how amazing this dish looks, I thought the buffalo cauliflower was going to be extremely complicated, but it actually looks fairly easy! Thanks for your stellar vegan recipes! And agreed, your photography is always so gorgeous!
Mia Kenworthy says
Erin I am in love with you I think! Buffalo sauce and cauliflower are two of my favorite things and I can’t wait to try this! Sometimes I come to your blog just to look at the photography, it’s beautiful! Keep up the good work, I love your recipes!
erinwyso says
Thank you, Mia … so happy you like! 🙂
Matt says
I’m normally not the biggest cauliflower fan, but this looks like a winner for my household. Thanks for sharing!