I usually plan my posts well in advance, but every once in a while I stumble upon a recipe that just has to be tried. These Healthy Buffalo Cauliflower Bites are one of those recipes. Let me explain. I love, love, love these Buffalo Cauliflower Tacos with Avocado Crema, but my husband not so much. He once mentioned he would prefer the buffalo cauliflower without all the taco fixings (I know, he’s nuts!). Well, when I happened to find one, I pounced on it and changed up my whole schedule to fit it in. I knew we would both like this recipe, and I had to find out if my intuition was correct.
These bites are addicting, spicy (to some), and surprisingly fantastic! Grab your favorite dip and let’s dip in! Delicious as a main dish or as an appetizer.
The Ingredients
I had the butte and spices on hand (hello, basics), so all I needed was the cauliflower and Frank’s hot sauce. The original flavor is a must for that authentic buffalo sauce taste.
I have to tell you that I underestimated how much cauliflower was in one head. My best estimate is 3 cups of cauliflower florets once I had them cup up. That meant I had more than enough sauce, but I would have preferred more of these cauliflower bites!
The Process
Talk about easy to make! The hardest part of this recipe was cutting up the cauliflower, and that wasn’t bad at all. Of course, you could always buy your cauliflower already cut up to save some time. Here’s how my time was spent:
- 7 minutes to prep
- 20 minutes to cook
- 27 minutes total (a touch more than the 20 minutes listed, but not too bad)
Moving on! I melted the butter in the microwave, mixed in the hot sauce and spices, and gave it all a good stir. Then I put the cauliflower into a gallon-size ziplock bag, poured in the sauce, sealed the bag, and shook it until the florets were coated.
Since there was a lot of sauce left in the bag, I used a pair of tongs to remove the cauliflower bites and place them on a greased sheet pan. I wasn’t about to get hot sauce on my hands because I would inevitably rub it in my eye. Trust me on that LOL!
Then it was into the preheated oven for 20 minutes, and my Healthy Buffalo Cauliflower Bites were done. But wait, I wasn’t really done!
Emergency! I forgot the ranch dressing…
The last step of the recipe says to serve with ranch or blue cheese dressing. Well, I completely forgot about that part. What to do? Make my own ranch dressing since I didn’t have blue cheese lying around.
A quick google and I jumped on the first result. I was desperate, my cauliflower bites were at risk of getting cold! But no worries, the recipe I found—The Best Homemade Ranch Salad Dressing—came through.
I had all the spices and happened to have sour cream in the fridge. I also keep powdered buttermilk on hand, so I was set. This recipe makes a lot of dressing, so I halved it and had more than enough ranch to dip my cauliflower bites and celery sticks (they were a last-minute addition too). Disaster averted, and I got to sit down to a plate of healthy deliciousness!
