Name: Vegan Nashville Hot Cauliflower Bites
Prep time: 5 min
Cook time: 35 min
Total time: 40 min
Yield: 4
Cuisine: American, Vegan
Ingredients: 1 medium head of cauliflower (chopped into florets); 1/3 cup non dairy milk (such as almond or soy milk); 1 tsp hot sauce; 1/2 tsp garlic powder; 1/2 tsp onion powder; 1/2 tsp salt; 1/4 cup flour ((all purpose, or use rice flour for gluten-free)); 3 tbsp starch ((I use cornstarch, arrowroot or potato starch works too)); 1/2 tsp baking powder; 1 tsp oil; 1 tbsp oil or melted vegan butter; 1/2 tsp cayenne (, use 1/4 tsp for less heat); 1 tsp black pepper (, use 1//2 tsp for less heat); 1 tsp sugar (or maple syrup); 1 tsp sweet paprika (, use more if omitting cayenne); 2 tbsp hot sauce; 1/2 tsp garlic powder; 1/2 tsp poultry seasoning ((or use sage + onion powder)); 1 tbsp vinegar; 1 tbsp water

Vegan Nashville Hot Cauliflower Bites. These Nashville Style Hot Cauliflower wings are flavorful, hot and Delicious! Serve with vegan ranch or other dips. Add to wraps or bowls. #Vegan #Nutfree #Soyfree #Recipe #Glutenfreeoption #veganricha #nashvillecauliflower #veganhotcauliflower

Weekend fare some days for events, potlucks these days is some gardein strips with various hot sauces. One of those times, I made this nashville style peppery hot sauce that hubbs loved. I mean gone in 10 seconds kind of loved. So I decided to use it with some crispy Cauliflower!

Cauliflower florets get tossed in a simple batter. No dipping each floret one by one! Just dump into the bowl and toss to coat, then spread the florets in baking dish and bake. Then toss in the sauce and bake again. The Nashville sauce is HOT! It doesn’t feel that hot when you start eating the cauliflower, but just wait for 5 mins. Boom! You can adjust the overall sauce to be less hot, add more tang(vinegar), some more oil, garlic and sweet paprika instead. Serve with cooling dips such as vegan ranch. You can also add these bites to tacos, wraps or bowls!

Step by Step Photos

Ingredients for our Vegan Nashville Hot Cauliflower Wings

Chop the Cauliflower, make the batter. Toss well for a minute to coat.

Cauliflower tossed in batter for our Vegan Nashville Hot Cauliflower Wings

Spread the florets on parchment lined baking sheet. Bake for 25-30 mins.

Vegan Nashville Hot Cauliflower Wings in a white baking dish

Make the Nashville hot chickin sauce. Add in the baked cauliflower and toss gently to coat.

Our Baked Nashville Hot Cauliflower Wings mixed with Nashville hot sauce in a white bowl

Spread on baking dish and bake again. Serve with pickles and cooling dips

Our Vegan Nashville Hot Cauliflower Wings with hot sauce on white baking dish

Adjust the heat, omit the oil

You can reduce the heat of the sauce by reducing the cayenne, black pepper and hot sauce. Add more sweet paprika instead, add more tang(vinegar), some more oil or aquafaba for volume.
You can reduce or omit the oil in the sauce by using aquafaba instead. Omit the oil from the batter. If possible, use a light spray for extra crispyness.

How to make Crispy Hot Cauliflower Wings

Cauliflower loses a lot of moisture as it sits after cooking, so bake these close to serving time.
Bake the bites till the batter coating is nicely crisp.
When you add a sauce on the coating, you lose some crispyness. So for super crisp wings, sprinkle some breadcrumbs on the battered cauliflower then bake, and then serve the baked florets with the hot nashville style sauce as dip on the side.
You can use the above method to serve with various hot sauces such as buffalo sauce, firecracker (see everyday kitchen book), or some sriracha bbq.
I like making baked cauliflower in a thick ceramic or stoneware baking dish for even cooking. Baking trays work too, but tend to cook the bottoms and edges of the bites faster.