In this baked plant-based take on the happy hour favorite, battered cauliflower stands in for chicken pieces. The heat is all in the Buffalo sauce, so choose whichever kind suits your spice preferences. Sliced carrots and celery cool your palate with help from a blended dipping sauce of blue cheese and nonfat Greek yogurt, which you can prep up to a day ahead of serving.
Ingredients
½ cup all-purpose flour
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp kosher salt
1 large head uncooked cauliflower, cut into 28 (2-inch) florets
⅔ cup hot sauce, buffalo style
2 tbsp unsalted butter, melted
⅓ cup plain fat free Greek yogurt
3 tbsp reduced fat crumbled blue cheese
1 splash Worcestershire sauce
1 pinch kosher salt
1 pinch black pepper
Instructions
Arrange racks in the upper and lower thirds of the oven and preheat to 450°F—line 2 rimmed baking sheets with parchment.
In a large bowl, whisk the flour, garlic powder, onion powder, paprika, 1 tsp of the salt, and ½ cup water. Add the cauliflower and toss to coat. Spread the cauliflower into a single layer on the prepared baking sheets.
Bake for 25 minutes, flipping the cauliflower and rotating the baking sheets from top to bottom halfway through.
In a small bowl, mix the Buffalo sauce and butter. Using a basting brush, brush some of the hot sauce all over the cauliflower. (Reserve the remaining hot sauce for serving.) Continue to bake until the cauliflower is tender on the inside and lightly brown, about 10 minutes more.
Meanwhile, in another small bowl, stir the yogurt, blue cheese, Worcestershire, black pepper, and the remaining pinch of salt. Drizzle the cauliflower with the reserved hot sauce. Serve with the dipping sauce.
Serving Size: 7 cauliflower florets and 2 tbsp sauce
