These easy and healthy vegan buffalo cauliflower wings are the perfect meatless appetizer! A true hit at any picnic or party, they are kid-friendly & crowd-pleasing finger food. Try these crispy and tender bites with dips of your choice!
Who thought flavorful could be so flavorful and fun? Our delicious vegan chicken wings are a true hit with kids and the perfect meatless appetizer.
Even if you’ve never been keen on cauliflower, we are positive that our vegan chicken wings can completely change your relationship with this cruciferous vegetable!
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Slathered in homemade buffalo sauce and coated with crispy crumbled cornflakes, these cauliflower bites are perfect for picky eaters and to serve during Game Day.
The secret is to double coat them with lots of delicious spices and textures! Nobody will miss the real chicken wings.
Be sure to try our scrumptious kidney bean burgers, Mexican 7-layer dip and roasted black beans for more hearty plant-based treats.
Why you’ll love them
- Crowd-pleasing meatless appetizer
- Low in fat & protein-packed
- Soft and tender inside, crispy on the outside
- Amazing party food & kid-friendly
- Easy to make
- Perfect for game day, garden parties, potlucks and barbecues
Everyone can eat up on these healthy vegan chicken wings without checking for serving sizes! They are just so delicious and good for you.
Ingredients needed
- Cauliflower – this humble veggie can turn beautifully tender when baked
- Chickpea Flour – the gluten-free & high-protein base for our flavorful batter
- Plant-Based Milk – to make the batter nice and creamy; use your favorite.
- Spices – garlic, cumin, paprika and salt are needed for the batter
- Cornflakes – for the optional, yet highly recommended, crispy coating!
- Buffalo Sauce – we’ll provide you with a healthy and easy homemade recipe, but you can use any store-bought variety you like.
In terms of kitchen equipment, you’ll need a baking sheet, parchment paper, two bowls, measuring equipment, blender, knife and cutting board.
How to make vegan chicken wings
Prepare your ingredients
Cut the cauliflower into bite-sized florets. Follow our recipe for homemade buffalo sauce (it’s a 5-minute blender recipe) or get any vegan store-bought hot sauce or buffalo sauce.
Preheat your oven to 450°F / 230°C and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
Make the batter
Add all dry ingredients for the batter to a medium-sized bowl. Mix to combine, then add soy milk. Whisk until there are no lumps left.
Coat the cauliflower
Dip the cauliflower pieces into the batter one by one. Make sure they are coated evenly and shake off any excess batter!
Next station is a shallow bowl with crumbled cornflakes: coat the battered cauliflower bites evenly, then line them next to each other on a prepared baking sheet without touching each other.
Bake & double coat
Once the battered cauliflower wings have been baked for 20 minutes, drown them in buffalo sauce and mix with a spoon.
Place them back into the oven for 10 more minutes and let them cool slightly before enjoying!
Storage & serving suggestions
These vegan chicken wings taste best fresh out of the oven and a few hours later. But you can store any leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for 3-4 days!
Reheat them in the oven or a toaster oven to re-crisp them at your convenience.
These buffalo bites are best served with ranch dressing, celery and carrots. We also like them in vegan tacos, in wraps or as a pizza topping!
Serve them alongside vegan coleslaw, potato salad or pasta salad during a picnic.
Tasty dips for vegan wings
- Vegan honey mustard
- Garlic yogurt sauce
- Cashew sour cream
- Blue cheese
- Aioli
Tips & adjustments
Don’t cut the cauliflower into very small florets or they will burn! Try to make them about the same size as traditional chicken wings.
You can also make the wings spicier by adding more chili powder!
Be sure to use parchment paper because the batter will stick to anything you place the wings on.
Suggested swaps
Here are some easy swaps you can make to create the perfect vegan chicken wings that suit your needs.
- Chickpea flour: use all-purpose flour or swap for almond flour to reduce carbs
- Soy milk: any unflavored plant-based milk or even water works
- Cornflakes: use breadcrumbs or omit for a quicker, lower calorie version
More delicious vegan sides
If you liked this recipe, try the following plant-based goodness next!
- Vegetable Croquettes
- Oil-Free Sweet Potato Fries
- Vegan Grilled Cheese
- Baked Tortilla Chips
- Roasted Chickpeas
Did you make our vegan wings and like them? Let us know in the comments, leave a rating and be sure to Pin the recipe here.
Ingredients
- 1 head cauliflower
- 1 recipe Buffalo Sauce
- 3 cups unsweetened cornflakes 90 g
Batter
- 1 cup chickpea flour 90 g
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp cumin
- 1 tsp sweet paprika
- 1 cup soy milk 240 ml, unflavored
To serve
- Carrot celery and zucchini sticks
- Vegan ranch dip
Instructions
- Add all dry ingredients for the batter into a medium-sized bowl and mix to combine.
- Add the soy milk and whisk until smooth. The batter should be thick and not drip – adjust soy milk and flour if needed.
- Preheat the oven to 450°F / 230°C. Cut or break the cauliflower into bite-size florets and crumble the corn flakes finely into a bowl so they resemble bread crumbs.
- Dip the cauliflower pieces in the batter so that they’re evenly covered (shake off any excess batter), then coat them with the corn flakes crumbs and lay them on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper (this is important so they don’t stick). Make sure to leave a little bit of space between the cauliflower pieces.
- Put the baking sheet into the oven and bake for 20 minutes.
- When this time has elapsed, take the cauliflower florets out of the oven and scrape them off into a large bowl.
- Pour buffalo sauce over the baked cauliflower, coat the florets with the sauce and mix them with a spoon. Put them back on the parchment paper and arrange in a single layer.
- Bake for another 10 minutes until the cauliflower wings are crisp and browned.
- Once the buffalo cauliflower wings have been baked, let them cool slightly and serve warm with some vegan ranch dip as well as some celery, zucchini and carrot sticks.
Notes
- Make sure to shake off any excess batter or they won’t crisp up!
- Adding the cornflake coating isn’t 100% necessary but is highly recommended.
- This recipe also works with BBQ sauce or hot sauce instead of buffalo sauce.
I just made this. It was absolutely delicious!! Thank you!
Thanks for your lovely feedback! We’re very happy that they were a win :)
Hope you could share it with some non-vegans and blow their minds x
I would love some recipes without flour or sweeteners. Is it necessary to eat more then just the three meals a day to get enough nutrients?
We often just use fruit to sweeten our food – just check out these muffins for example: http://nutriciously.com/vegan-blueberry-muffins/
Regarding flour, we love using whole grains though understand that some people can have a problem with flour and their blood sugar or digestion. Will keep it in mind!
Overall, you just need to eat until you’re full and get enough whole starches (potatoes, whole grains, beans, lentils, pumpkin etc.) as well as fruits and vegetables with some nuts and seeds in order to get all your nutrients. No need for snacking if you’re not hungry :) The foods I just listed are very high in nutrient density and therefore you’re not likely to run into any problems. If you’re having a specific question, please feel free to email us!
Which flour did you use?
Hi Sena,
we used whole wheat flour with a little bit of chickpea flour here! Hope this helps. Most of the time, we just use what we have on hand, doesn’t matter too much :)
Happy baking!
Alena
Frank’s red hot buffalo wing sauce is not vegan. :( Their regular hot sauce is. :)
Hi Becky, thanks for pointing it out!
Here are the ingredients listed on their official website: DISTILLED VINEGAR, AGED CAYENNE RED PEPPERS, SALT, WATER, CANOLA OIL, PAPRIKA, XANTHAN GUM, NATURAL BUTTER TYPE FLAVOR AND GARLIC POWDER.
The “butter type flavor” doesn’t have any animal products, either as one fellow vegan found out:
“I recently inquired about Frank’s RedHot Buffalo Wings Sauce because it contains “natural butter type flavor” and other “natural flavors” and was told the following: “In response to your inquiry, the natural butter type flavor is made with natural ingredients derived from sources other than milk and butter. Please be assured that the current formulations of Frank’s® RedHot® Sauces do not contain any animal derivatives or synthesized milk proteins”.”
Hope this helps! What do you think about it?
the whole family loved it, even our picky eater! Awesome recipe.
This recipe should not be labeled oil free. Frank’s Red Hot Buffalo Wing Sauce has canola oil in it.
thanks so much for letting us know! Back when we created the recipe we might have overlooked that this brand isn’t oil-free or we just recommended a store-bought one for those who don’t mind a bit of oil very much and don’t want to follow our homemade version (which is what we meant by the label “oil-free”). Just changed it :)
Made this last night & loved it so much i’m making the rest of my cauliflower like this today! BEST cauliflower “wing” recipe i’ve found!!
wow this is the kindest feedback I received this week! thank you so much for sharing, makes me super happy to know how much you liked them :)
Hi Alena,
Any suggestions for replacing the corn flakes in this recipe? I’m trying to avoid corn in my meals and really wanting to try making this.
you can omit the cornflakes or use bread crumbs :)
I didn’t have any cornflakes, so I used panko breadcrumbs. Unbelievably delicious!
awesome idea! so happy you like the recipe :)
I made these the other night and have to say that not only were the wings delicious with the batter/cornflakes combo but if you haven’t made the buffalo sauce recipe as well you are missing out, it is fantastic.
I honestly thought the sauce would be odd (looking at the ingredients), but it was delicious! I added a tsp of a ghost pepper hot sauce, and it was perfect!
This recipe is a keeper.
aww thanks so much for this stellar feedback, Babs! it’s so appreciated :)
Note in the recipe that the spices need to be mixed into the flour first before adding the soy milk! That would help….also it doesn’t get too thick–what do you suggest to thicken it without losing the flavors?
Hi Patty,
not sure if I understood your comment correctly; in the recipe card, the instructions say: “For the batter, mix all dry ingredients (except for the corn flakes) together in a bowl, then add the soy milk and whisk everything until smooth.” I’d suggest slowly adding the soy milk to ensure the batter doesn’t get thinned out too much! Otherwise, add more of both flour and spices.
Hope this helps! Enjoy the vegan wings :)
So is these measurements correct?
Like 4 tablespoons of flour ain’t anyway making cup of liquid thick.
So did I miss something? or…
thanks for letting us know about this issue! The recipe has been corrected.
Great recipe. Even my non vegan husband liked them.
Great recipe! Can I use almond milk instead of soy?
yes you can! Let us know how you like the recipe :)
these are so easy & delicious! i’ve only made bbq ones, but i’ve done them several times. this has become my go to recipe for vegan wings. they are good with crackers crushed up if you don’t have cornflakes on hand. highly recommend! thanks for the delicious recipe!