Air Fryer Buffalo Cauliflower

Air Fryer Buffalo Cauliflower is the spicy vegetarian finger food that you’ve been waiting for. Tender Cauliflower florets, lightly breaded and tossed with buffalo sauce are an amazing appetizer that everyone will enjoy.

Recipe Overview

Buffalo style has come to mean anything you can enjoy with hot sauce and some ranch or blue cheese for dipping, and this air fryer buffalo cauliflower fits the bill perfectly.

Enjoy these air fry cauliflower florets after tossing them with wing sauce, butter, seasonings, and some flour to get them nice and crunchy. These bite sized veggie snacks are so flavorful and completely addicting.

We love these cauliflower bites all year long, but they are especially perfect for a New Years Eve appetizer! So grab a cute New Years Eve Outfit, this recipe and get ready to celebrate NYE!

Ingredients

• Cauliflower – Cut into small to medium florets (about the size of a chicken wing). You’ll need 4-5 cups.
• Unsalted Butter – Mixed with hot Buffalo sauce, this gives our cauliflower amazing flavor.
• Buffalo Sauce -You can use whatever kind of hot sauce you prefer, but for an authentic buffalo flavor, try this one.
• Flour – I’ve done this recipe with all-purpose flour, gluten free AP flour, and Almond four. All work well.
• Paprika – Gives color and flavor to the cauliflower.
• Garlic Powder – You can’t go wrong adding garlic to vegetables. Garlic powder complements the heat of the hot sauce.
• Salt – I like kosher salt in this recipe.
• Black Pepper – Just a bit, adds more depth to the heat.
• Carrot and Celery – Cut into sticks, for serving.
• Ranch or Blue Cheese – You’ll want to dip these cauliflower wings in something cool and creamy.

Steps to Make

1. Place cauliflower florets in a large mixing bowl and set aside.
2. In a microwave safe bowl, melt the butter, then whisk in the hot sauce until thoroughly combined.
3. Pour the mixture over the cauliflower and toss until well coated.
4. In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, paprika, garlic powder, salt, and pepper.
5. Sprinkle half of the flour mixture over the cauliflower and mix gently until everything is coated. Repeat with remaining flour mixture.
6. Cook half of the cauliflower in the air fryer as directed in the recipe below. Cook until golden brown. Repeat with the remaining cauliflower.

Pairings

Any “buffalo” appetizer needs a cool, creamy dipping sauce. Some like blue cheese, others like ranch. I’m not here to judge, have what you like!

Some fresh veggies to dip in that sauce will also be delicious. Celery and carrots are traditional choices.

To make Air Fryer Buffalo Cauliflower into a meal, serve it with a protein, like Air Fryer Tofu or Air Fryer Chicken Thighs.

Tips

Don’t overcrowd your air fryer basket or tray. If there is too much in the air fryer, you won’t get crispy, crunch, delicious food. Instead you’ll get mushy cauliflower because there will be too much steam around your food. Do at least two batches. You may need to do more if your air fryer is smaller.

Adjust the spice to your liking. This recipe makes what I think is a perfectly spicy buffalo cauliflower. If you like the flavor of buffalo sauce, but not the heat, you can always adjust the butter to hot sauce ratio. Reduce the hot sauce and add extra butter for a milder flavor. For hotter buffalo cauliflower, drizzle some extra hot sauce on the cauliflower when it’s done cooking.

Alternative flour choices available. Any type of all-purpose flour or almond flour will work in this recipe. Using almond flour makes this a gluten-free, grain-free, and low carb buffalo cauliflower recipe.

More Appetizer Ideas

Air Fryer Stuffed Mushrooms are another veggie appetizer that everyone raves about.

Try making these Air Fryer Meatballs to serve as an appetizer at your next get together.

Air Fryer Potato Skins are cheesy, crispy, salty, and everything you want out of a hearty appetizer.