These Vegan Buffalo Cauliflower Tacos are fun and healthy hand-held comfort food that will satisfy your spicy food cravings in a flash! Use the buffalo cauliflower recipe any time you want a little spicy treat without the meat!
Buffalo Cauliflower Wings
Our Buffalo Cauliflower Bite tacos have all the flavor, spice, and subtlety of an elephant in a Murano glass shop 😃! Fresh tortillas heated on the stove provide a warm, soft bed for fiery hot sauce, buffalo cauliflower bites, and toppings like edamame (for a plant-based protein boost), shredded purple cabbage, corn, and fresh avocado. Don't these vegan tacos look gorgeous?
What is Buffalo Sauce?
Buffalo sauce is basically hot sauce with added melted butter, garlic, and vinegar. The butter makes the sauce thicker and extra creamy and because of the added fat, this richer sauce sticks beautifully to the cauliflower. To make a vegan version of Buffalo sauce, just use vegan butter instead. Buffalo wings, which inspired this recipe, were first created in a small restaurant in Buffalo, NY. The original recipe calls for Franks Red Hot as the hot sauce of choice.
What is Buffalo Cauliflower?
Basically, buffalo cauliflower is the vegan version of chicken wings. Turns out, cauliflower is an amazing meat substitute when done well, like with these cauliflower wings. Buffalo Cauliflower is seasoned with buffalo sauce. Our Cauliflower Tacos are so versatile! You can use hard or soft tortillas or other gluten-free corn tortillas for these vegetarian tacos. It's also easy to adjust your spice level according to your taste.
We use a perfectly spiced coating made from flour ( you can use gluten-free flour), garlic and onion powder, and lots of buffalo sauce. Our Spicy Buffalo Cauliflower has enough heat and crunch to compete head-to-head with chicken. If you serve this recipe on its own, you'll have vegan cauliflower wings. Using the buffalo cauliflower bites as a base for tacos takes it to a whole new level.
How to Make the Buffalo Cauliflower Recipe
Making buffalo cauliflower is pretty easy. First, rinse the cauliflower and cut it up. Then coat it in flour and seasoning mixture. Leaving the cauliflower a little bit wet after rinsing helps the seasoning mixture stick. This forms a kind of breading similar to what you would find on wings. Cut your cauliflower pieces into small bites so they cook faster and are easy to eat in a soft taco shell.
The real key though is to make sure the cauliflower is coated really well on all sides with your favorite vegan buffalo sauce. Once the cauliflower is seasoned, it will need to be baked for roughly 25 minutes to get that delicious crunchy roasted texture.
Our recipe is half the fat because you are baking the coated cauliflower on a parchment-lined cookie sheet instead of frying. If you have an air fryer con can cook the buffalo cauliflower in an air fryer instead!
Like it extra spicy? Once cooked give the cauliflower a good bath of buffalo sauce before assembling your tacos!
Topping Ideas for Our Buffalo Cauliflower Tacos
Prepare a variety of toppings so everyone can choose their own blend of spicy, sour, and sweet flavors. Edamame, cabbage, corn, and avocado are our favorites on the list! You don't need all of these different topping suggestions. Pick and choose based on your family's taste. Here are some topping suggestions:
- Edamame
- cabbage
- corn
- avocado slices
- pickled onions
- shredded romaine lettuce
- diced tomatoes
- pickled jalapeno slices
- guacamole
- diced mango
- chopped parsley or cilantro
- arugula
- microgreens or sprouts
- coleslaw
- ranch dressing
- thinly sliced green onions
- avocado crema
- roasted corn
- marinated tofu for protein
- Mango Salsa
- Tomatillo Salsa Verde
- Hot sauce
- Green chili sauce
- Fresh corn salsa
- Sliced limes
- Vegan sour cream
- Blue cheese sauce
What to Serve with Vegetarian Tacos
Our tacos make a great meal when served with our
- Blueberry Lime Frozen Margaritas,
- Tostones,
- Fresh corn salsa
- Rice and beans
- Seasoned black beans or refried beans would work well and add protein to your meal.
- Pico de Gallo would be excellent. Also, homemade pico is amazing when tomatoes are in season.
- Corn cakes or tamales would be a nice touch - Let us know in the comments below if you would like us to create this recipe on this blog
- Lime and Cilantro Rice or Quinoa is traditional - Let us know in the comments below if you would like us to create this recipe on this blog
What to do with Leftovers
Leftovers make a great Mexican Salad. If you want a little crunch or texture, add a few pieces of fried or roasted thinly sliced tortilla.
Serve leftover buffalo cauliflower over rice for a satisfying rice bowl lunch.
Add your leftover buffalo cauliflower to a Mexican tortilla soup in place of chicken in the recipe. The cauliflower just needs to be heated through in the soup. Wait till the soup is nearly ready to add the cauliflower. This will prevent it from getting mushy.
Freeze leftover buffalo cauliflower in small portions. Then you can pull it out later for a quick taco, bowl, or soup at lunchtime.
Other Vegan Tacos for You to Try
- Roasted Yellow and Purple Cauliflower Tacos.
- Avocado, Mango, Chili Lime Tofu Vegan Tacos - Gluten-Free.
- Chipotle Hummus & Roasted Vegetable Healthy Tacos.
- Butternut Squash Vegan Tacos.
- Chickpea Vegan Tacos - Gluten-free.
- Beet and Sweet Potato Tacos.
- Tacos al Pastor.
- Shawarma Veggie Tacos with Tahini Guacamole.
- Buffalo Cauliflower Tacos.
Check also our other delicious Cauliflower Recipes
Vegan Buffalo Cauliflower Tacos
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 25 minutes
- Total Time: 40 minutes
- Yield: 6 tacos 1x
- Diet: Vegan
Description
These Vegan Buffalo Cauliflower Tacos are a fun and healthy hand-held dish that will satisfy your spicy food cravings in a flash!
Ingredients
- 1 small head cauliflower, cut into small florets
- ½ cup all purpose flour (you can also use gluten free flour)
- ½ tsp garlic powder
- ½ tsp onion powder
- ⅓ cup store-bought vegan buffalo sauce ( use more if you like it extra spicy)
- 6 tortillas (use your favorite)
- 2 cups shredded purple cabbage
- 1 cup of frozen shelled edamame, thawed
- 1 cup frozen corn, thawed
- 2 tsp chili-lime seasoning
- 2 tsp freshly squeezed lime juice
- 1 avocado, diced
- Cashew cream (optional, recipe HERE)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400F. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper
- Rinse the cauliflower and drain well, leaving it wet. Set aside
- Combine the flour, garlic and onion powder in a large bowl and mix well. Add the wet cauliflower florets, and toss well so they're well coated. Transfer them to a colander to get rid of any extra flour, and return them to the bowl. Add the buffalo sauce and toss well, so the cauliflower florets are well coated on all sides
- Transfer to the lined baking sheet, coat with cooking spray, and bake for 25-30 minutes, until tender
- While the cauliflower is cooking, season the cabbage, edamame, and corn with chili-lime seasoning and lime juice. Toss well and let it sit in the refrigerator
- Fill each tortilla with shredded cabbage, edamame, and corn mix. Top with cauliflower and diced avocado and drizzle cashew cream on top
- Category: Tacos
- Method: oven
- Cuisine: Mexican
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 taco
- Calories: 250
- Sugar: 3.8
- Sodium: 331.7
- Fat: 9
- Saturated Fat: 1
- Unsaturated Fat: 4.3
- Trans Fat: 0
- Carbohydrates: 37
- Fiber: 5.4
- Protein: 9
- Cholesterol: 0
Keywords: gluten-free, kosher, tacos, buffalo cauliflower, vegetarian tacos, vegan tacos
If you enjoyed this recipe. It would help us tremendously if you left us a star rating in the comments below or on the recipe card. Do you have any questions about the recipe or do you need a swap for any of the ingredients? We are here to help, just leave us a question in the comments below.
This post was originally published on February 13, 2018. We have updated not the recipe, but the recipe information and added more images.
Raquel says
These look incredible! Such a good idea! Can't wait to try them 🙂
★★★★★
Vicky & Ruth says
Thank you Raquel! Let us know what you think when you try them1
Ashley says
These look absolutely delicious! Love all the colourful veggies.
Vicky & Ruth says
Thank you so much Ashley!
Margaret says
What a fun and easy dish that is super delicious. I didn’t have any cabbage so I substituted shredded kale.
Vicky & Ruth says
Thank you so much Margaret!
Christina Purvis says
I made these last Friday for dinner. They were "Amazing" according to my husband, myself, and my neighbors! Definately an easy enough dish that it will be on our menu regularly!
Such a nice change for a healthy dinner. Thank you!
★★★★★
Vicky & Ruth says
Thank you! We are so happy you, your family and friends enjoyed this recipe.
Keren says
Delicious and easy to make.
Whole family loved it.
I would make the buffalo cauliflower by itself too!
★★★★★