I love buffalo anything. When I started seeing people making buffalo cauliflower, I thought it seemed interesting, but it didn’t quite grab me. Then I tried some made by Jay Astafa and was hooked. I am not usually a huge cauliflower fan, but when it is coated in buffalo sauce, I am there! This is my take on buffalo cauliflower wings, but rather than individual florets, I slice the cauliflower into steaks, put them on a roll and make Buffalo Cauliflower Sandwiches. You can easily make this gluten-free by using rice flour in place of the all purpose flour. As you can only get a few steaks out of one head of cauliflower, you will end up with some leftover florets. Don’t waste them: batter and cook them alongside the steaks to make buffalo bites or use them in another recipe like our Roasted Cauliflower. When you are slicing the steaks, it is important to leave the stem in tact, without the stem you will have florets, not a large steak. You can also slice the steaks in half or fourths to make smaller, slider sized sandwiches.
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cooking Time: 50 minutes
Yield: 2 sandwiches (or 4-8 sliders)
Ingredients
1 head of cauliflower, green leaves removed
1/2 cup unsweetened non-dairy milk
1/2 cup water
3/4 cup all-purpose flour (or gluten free rice flour)
2 tsp garlic powder
2 tsp onion powder
1 tsp paprika
1/4 tsp sea salt
1/4 tsp ground pepper
2 Tablespoons vegan butter
1/2 cup buffalo wing sauce (we like Frank’s)
2 sandwich rolls
lettuce
1 large tomato, sliced
Ranch Sauce Ingredients:
1/2 cup vegan mayo
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon garlic powder
salt & pepper to taste
Directions:
1. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and preheat your oven to 450 F.
2. Cut your head of cauliflower in half and then cut 2 x 1/2 inch steaks from each of the sides, making sure to keep the stem in tact.
3. In a medium bowl, add the flour, non-dairy milk, water, garlic, onion, paprika, salt and pepper. Whisk it all together until well combined. Transfer this mixture to a shallow baking dish that will fit your cauliflower steaks. We like using a cake pan.
4. Put the cauliflower into the dish with the batter. Use your hands to completely coat each piece. Place the battered cauliflower onto the parchment lined baking sheet and bake for 25 mins. While the cauliflower is cooking, prepare the ranch sauce and buffalo sauce.
5. In a bowl whisk together all the ranch sauce ingredients. Refrigerate until you’re ready to assemble the sandwiches.
6. Just before the cauliflower is finished baking, melt the vegan butter and whisk it into the hot sauce. Pour the sauce into the same shallow dish you used for battering the cauliflower.
7. Remove the cauliflower from the oven, but leave the oven on.
8. Carefully remove the cauliflower from the pan, use a spatula so you don’t lose any of the coating. Put the cauliflower steaks through the buffalo sauce making sure to coat them thoroughly. Line the baking pan with a new sheet of parchment and place the sauced cauliflower on the pan. Bake for another 25 minutes.
9. Just before the cauliflower is done, slice the sandwich rolls in half and toast them lightly. Spread some ranch on the cut sides of each roll, place two buffalo cauliflower steaks on each roll bottom, add lettuce tomato slices. Top with the top of the roll.