These Vegan Buffalo Cauliflower Tacos are packed full of spicy homemade buffalo sauce, creamy cilantro lime sauce, and crunchy cabbage.
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Made with perfectly battered and baked buffalo cauliflower, a flavorful and creamy cilantro lime sauce, and all of your favorite toppings.
This easy recipe is filling, delicious, and makes a great quick and easy weeknight dinner!
Ingredients
Fresh cauliflower is battered, baked, and coated in a spicy buffalo sauce then served in a flour tortilla with cilantro lime sauce, fresh avocado, radish, and cabbage slaw.
You're going to love how easy and delicious this crispy baked cauliflower taco is!
Cauliflower: The star of our taco. Buffalo cauliflower wings are such a delicious appetizer but make an incredible taco filling as well! Chop them into bite-sized pieces before battering and baking.
Batter: Our batter is made from all-purpose flour, seasonings, and unsweetened plant milk.
Buffalo Sauce: Buffalo sauce isn't always vegan so check out the ingredients or make my super simple homemade buffalo sauce. Use your favorite buffalo sauce!
Cilantro Lime Sauce: Cilantro, lime, and soaked cashews are blended together to create a tasty and creamy sauce that pairs perfectly with our buffalo cauliflower tacos.
Tortillas: I recommend using mini flour tortillas or fajita-style flour tortillas for these delicious buffalo cauliflower tacos. If you'd prefer, you can pair this over salad or on corn tortillas.
Helpful Equipment
You don't need any fancy equipment to whip up this buffalo cauliflower recipe!
Parchment Paper: Highly recommend lining your baking tray with parchment paper. You could also coat the tray with oil but I prefer using parchment paper so the cauliflower doesn't stick and clean up is easy.
Large Baking Tray: You'll want a large baking tray or multiple baking trays in order to spread the cauliflower out evenly. You don't want them to touch or be too close because they won't get as crisp.
Blender: The cilantro lime sauce is made with cashews which requires a blender in order to get a smooth and creamy texture. See substitutions if avoiding cashews. I use my NutriBullet for this and it works wonderfully!
How to Make This Recipe
This vegan cauliflower taco recipe comes together in a few easy steps with simple ingredients.
Cilantro Lime Sauce: Bring a small pot of water to a boil, add the cashews, and turn off the heat. Soak for at least 20 minutes to soften.
Make the cilantro lime crema by adding the soaked cashews to a blender along with the lime juice, fresh cilantro, garlic or garlic powder, salt, black pepper, and unsweetened plant milk.
Blend until smooth.
This sauce is wonderful on these vegan buffalo tacos but is also great on burritos, burrito bowls, or with these Vegan Black Bean & Potato Tacos.
Buffalo Sauce: My homemade buffalo sauce takes less than 5 minutes to whip up.
I used about ⅓ cup of vegan buffalo sauce for these wings and then served the leftovers on the side for some extra heat.
Make the Buffalo Cauliflower: Chop the head of cauliflower into bite-sized pieces. You will need roughly 5 cups.
Whisk together the all-purpose flour, salt, garlic, onion, paprika, and black pepper together. Pour in the unsweetened plant milk and whisk until smooth. It should resemble pancake batter.
Coat the cauliflower florets in the batter and drip off the excess.
Place on a parchment-lined baking tray. Continue until all the cauliflower is battered. Bake for 20 minutes.
Coat the cauliflower in buffalo sauce and bake for an additional 15 minutes.
Place on a parchment-lined baking tray. Continue until all the cauliflower is battered.
Bake for 20 minutes.
Prep the toppings by charring the tortillas and prepare all desired toppings. These tacos are wonderful with thinly sliced cabbage, carrots, radishes, avocado, cilantro, and red onion.
Add your buffalo cauliflower bites to a tortilla and top with desired toppings and a drizzle of the cilantro lime sauce. Serve and enjoy!
Topping Ideas
Get creative or use up what you have in your fridge! Whatever toppings you choose, you are in for a treat with these easy vegan buffalo cauliflower tacos.
- A mix of purple cabbage, green cabbage, and carrots
- Thinly sliced radishes
- Avocado or guacamole
- Finely chopped red onion or pickled red onion
- Tomatoes or fresh pico
- Romaine lettuce
- Pickled jalapeños or fresh jalapeños
Tips & Tricks
To chop the cauliflower, simply cut off the stem and start to break the cauliflower down into smaller pieces.
Try to make them all roughly the same size so they’ll cook all at the same time but sometimes this is impossible with cauliflower- you're always going to have a few smaller pieces but that's fine!
Avoid over-measuring the flour for the batter. Spoon the flour into the measuring cup to avoid over-packing the cup. Your batter will be too thick.
Be sure to allow the excess batter to drip off so the batter doesn't pool around the cauliflower.
Substitutions & Additions
All-Purpose Flour: You can use gluten-free all-purpose flour instead of regular flour. Chickpea flour should work as well.
Buffalo Sauce: I love my homemade buffalo sauce so that's what I recommend but you can use a store-bought buffalo sauce as well as a simple mixture of vegan butter and Frank's Red Hot.
Flour Tortillas: Corn tortillas can be used in replace of flour tortillas. You could also enjoy this as a salad. I typically use soft tortillas but crunchy taco shells will be delicious too!
Cashews: Soaked cashews create a smooth and creamy cilantro lime sauce but you can use silken tofu, vegan sour cream, or vegan yogurt as a nut-free version.
Don't like cilantro lime? Try this buffalo cauliflower taco with vegan ranch dressing instead!
Storage & Reheating
Storage: Store leftover buffalo cauliflower in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days.
Reheating: Keep in mind that this vegan taco recipe tastes best when served fresh but can be reheated in a 350F preheated oven or on the stovetop until warmed through. I would avoid reheating in the microwave or the wings will get soggy.
Freezing: I do not recommend freezing this recipe.
Frequently Asked Questions
Not traditionally, no. Buffalo sauce typically contains butter. Luckily, buffalo sauce is super easy to make vegan with a few small changes.
Tossing the battered cauliflower in panko breadcrumbs and baking will result in a crispy buffalo cauliflower wing.
Yes, let the cauliflower thaw completely first and then batter and bake as normal. Keep in mind that the cauliflower may be on the mushier side than fresh cauliflower.
Yes, you can swap out the all-purpose flour with a gluten-free flour blend and use corn tortillas instead of flour.
More Taco Recipes
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Recipe
Vegan Buffalo Cauliflower Tacos
Ingredients
Buffalo Cauliflower:
- 5 cups Cauliflower bite sized
- 1 cup All Purpose Flour
- ½ teaspoon Salt
- ½ teaspoon Garlic Powder
- ½ teaspoon Onion Powder
- ¼ teaspoon Smoked Paprika
- ¼ teaspoon Black Pepper
- 1 cup Unsweetened Plant Milk
- 1 Batch Vegan Buffalo Sauce or store-bought
Cilantro Lime Cashew Cream:
- ¾ cup Cashews soaked
- Juice of 1 and a half Limes
- ½ cup Packed Cilantro
- 2 Garlic Cloves
- 1 teaspoon Salt more or less to taste
- ¼ teaspoon Black Pepper
- ¾ cup Unsweetened Plant Milk
For Serving:
- 8-10 Mini Flour Tortillas
- 2 cups Mixed Cabbage
- ¼ cup Cilantro finely chopped
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 450F.
- Prep the Cilantro Lime Sauce: Bring a small pot of water to a boil, add the cashews, and turn off the heat. Soak for at least 20 minutes to soften.
- Prep the Buffalo Sauce: This homemade buffalo sauce takes less than 5 minutes to whip up. Alternatively, you can melt some vegan butter into Frank's Red Hot Sauce for a quicker version.
- Make the Buffalo Cauliflower: Chop the cauliflower into bite sized pieces. You will need roughly 5 cups.
- Whisk together the all purpose flour, salt, garlic, onion, paprika, and black pepper together. Pour in the unsweet plant milk and whisk until smooth. It should resemble pancake batter.
- Coat each piece of cauliflower in the batter and drip off the excess. Place on a parchment lined baking tray. Continue until all the cauliflower is battered. Bake for 20 minutes.
- Coat the cauliflower in about ⅓ cup of buffalo sauce. Toss until coated and add more if desired. Bake for an additional 15 minutes.
- Make the cilantro lime cashew cream by adding in the soaked cashews to a blender along with the lime juice, cilantro, garlic, salt, black pepper, and unsweet plant milk. Blend until smooth. Taste and adjust salt and pepper if needed.
- Prep the toppings: Char the tortillas and prepare all desired toppings. These tacos are wonderful with thinly sliced cabbage, carrots, radishes, avocado, cilantro, and red onion.
- Add your buffalo cauliflower to a tortilla and top with desired toppings and a drizzle of the cilantro lime sauce. Serve and enjoy!
Notes
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Alee says
Love this recipe! Buffalo cauliflower is something I make weekly and this is the perfect recipe to add in the rotation.
Liv says
Buffalo cauliflower is the best! I make it weekly as well. Enjoy! 🙂