Air Fryer Buffalo Cauliflower is a delicious, savory dish. This vegan snack is perfect as an appetizer or side dish and pairs deliciously with your favorite creamy dip!
I absolutely love making air fryer recipes, and this one is no different. Let it be known: air fryer buffalo cauliflower is one of my favorite dishes to make! It’s perfect when I’m looking for something savory and totally satisfying. Since this cauliflower has no breading and is cooked in an air fryer, it’s a great healthy alternative to fried buffalo wings.
If you’ve tried my regular Air Fryer Cauliflower recipe, you’ll totally love this one too. Pair it with a yummy, creamy dip, and you’ll satisfy every craving. I love to make this recipe for guests, as it’s a great finger food that’s perfect to eat when watching movies or just hanging out!
These cauliflower wings are incredibly easy to make and require just 20 minutes from start to finish. The ingredients are low carb and vegan-friendly too!
Ingredients for Air Fryer Buffalo Cauliflower
This recipe uses simple, to-the-point ingredients that together make the best buffalo cauliflower ever. Using just seven ingredients (including serving additions), this cauliflower is a quick and simple recipe!
- Cauliflower: We’ll be using ½ a head of cauliflower, broken into bite sized pieces.
- Buffalo Sauce: Buffalo sauce will give this cauliflower its flavor! I’m using Frank’s Red Hot Buffalo Wing Sauce.
- Olive Oil: Helps the seasonings stick to the cauliflower while also allowing the florets to get extra crispy.
- Garlic Powder: Garlic powder is used to give this dish that extra kick (without having to use fresh garlic, which could burn in the air fryer).
- Salt: Use as much or as little salt as you’d like (I’ll be using ½ tsp).
- Creamy Dip: This is the fun part! Select your favorite creamy dip for serving. I’m firmly in the Ranch dressing camp, but you could also go with Bleu cheese dressing or even a garlicky yogurt sauce.
- Celery: Celery sticks are great for cooling your mouth and pairing with the dip!
How to Make Easy, Low Carb, Buffalo Cauliflower Bites
Air fryers make cooking so quick and easy. For this recipe, you’ll just need to do a bit of cutting and mixing, and then your cauliflower will be ready for the fryer.
- Cut cauliflower: Cauliflower will need to be cut into bite-sized florets.
- Mix: In a large bowl, gently stir together cauliflower and all remaining ingredients.
- Prep air fryer: Lightly grease your air fryer basket or rack.
- Place cauliflower in air fryer: Arrange cauliflower in a single layer (working in batches if they don’t all fit in a single layer).
- Cook: Cook at 375°F (190°C) for 12 to 15 minutes, or until the pieces are fork tender and slightly browned.
- Serve: Serve warm with your favorite dipping sauce and celery sticks.
Creamy Dips to Pair with Air Fryer Buffalo Cauliflower
If you’re like me, dips are one of your favorite snacks! For this recipe, creamy dips work wonderfully for pairing. Here are some ideas!
- Ranch: Ranch is an American staple that can’t be forgotten, especially when it works so well with this recipe.
- Blue Cheese: Buffalo wings and blue cheese dressing are a classic pairing. The dip works great with buffalo cauliflower too!
- French Onion Dip: A favorite among many, french onion dip pairs quite well with buffalo cauliflower.
Here are some more tasty cauliflower recipes that you may enjoy!
- Air Fryer Cauliflower
- Cauliflower Mac and Cheese
- Baked General Tso’s Cauliflower
- Ultimate Whole Roasted Cauliflower
Ingredients
- ½ head cauliflower
- ½ cup buffalo sauce we used Frank's Red Hot Buffalo Wing Sauce, 120 mL
- 2 Tbsp olive oil 30 mL
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- ½ tsp salt
- To serve: creamy dip (like ranch or bleu cheese) and celery stalks
Instructions
- Prep: Cut cauliflower into bite-sized florets. In a large bowl, gently stir together cauliflower and all remaining ingredients.
- Cook: Lightly grease your air fryer basket or rack. Arrange cauliflower in a single layer (working in batches if they don't all fit in a single layer). Cook at 375°F (190°C) for 12 to 15 minutes, or until fork tender and slightly browned.
- Serve: Serve warm with your favorite dipping sauce and celery sticks.
Tips & Tricks
Nutrition Information
Which air fryer is best?
Not sure which air fryer is best? Here are a few of our favorites (complete list of best air fryers here).
More Air Fryer Recipes
Here are a few more air fryer recipes you'll love (find all of our vegetarian air fryer recipes here).
Buttermilk Fried Mushrooms
With air fried oyster mushrooms and a crunchy coating, this tastes just like fried chicken!
Air Fryer Pizza
Perfectly crispy, easy to make, personal pan pizzas that are about to revolutionize pizza night.
How to Cook Air Fryer Potatoes
How to make baked potatoes, homemade French fries, and potato chips in your air fryer, using both white potatoes and sweet potatoes.
How to Air Fry Any Vegetable
How to air fry virtually any vegetable into perfectly cooked, healthy deliciousness.
Kyrsten says
These were delicious
Marie says
This was good and really easy. I eyeballed the BBQ and did garlic and salt to taste. I turned the pieces with about 5 minutes to go because they were getting crispy ends. Glad to find a recipe without a bunch of breading.
Savannah says
It was delicious! I made mine in the oven instead, and was still great. I didn’t put the full amount of hot sauce because I was worried it would be too spicy. Some of the hot sauce comes of when you bake it, so I would recommend putting a little more that your desired spice level, so that when you eat it it’s perfect. I really enjoyed and would recommend this to anyone who wants a yummy, healthy snack!
Connie wilber says
Excellent recipe. Easy and fast. I like to use as few ingredients as possible. This one is perfect
Jerrie says
The recipes are well written and clear. I can’t say that about all of the recipes I’ve slogged through the past few days. Thank you.
Pepe says
Fantastic !!!
leshawn says
too much salt!@
Chloe says
This has become a go-to recipe!! Great for a night that I want minimal work and minimal clean up. Delicious, filling, and easy.
Sarah says
So happy to hear it, Chloe! 😀 Enjoy!
Anne says
soo easy and soo delicious. They come out perfect, not soggy like when you steam them. We have an Instant Pot and made this recipe in the bottom basket and did a different recipe on the top pan. So fun and great for a large family that has different tastes.Thanks for sharing. I will use this process for all veges from here out.
Nicole says
Really good! But too spicy for me, I’d cut the Frank’s in half for sure, and I don’t think I’d add any salt.
Ashley says
Just made them for the first time and for me personally, they were way too salty. Good texture though, nice and crispy.
Maggie says
Great!
Kath says
I couldn’t even eat these because there was WAY too much salt. If I hadn’t added the salt, I am sure they would be fine – at least the recipe is simple.
Sharon says
I made this in the air fryer. I cooked it almost double the time and it was still very crunchy. I even increased the temperature to 400 degrees. Flavor was good, I omitted the salt.
Betsy C says
These are really simple and delish!
Bonnie says
I used HALF the salt and still couldn’t eat it. 🙁
My do-over would be no added salt, 1/8 tsp garlic powder, 1 Tbsp of olive oil and a little less than 1/2 c of Frank’s, per 1/2 cauliflower head.
Sarah Bond says
Thanks for the suggestion, Bonnie!
Renee says
I didn’t wanna go to the store so I used some different ingredients but based it on your recipe. I didn’t have Frank’s so we use Crystal hot sauce I ran out of olive oil so I made it like buffalo wings with melted butter lots of garlic and a little bit of Cajun seasoning and a pinch of sugar. Delicious wonderful new snack to make from here on out
Mary c says
Hey this was a pretty great and simple recipe! The only thing I added was some onion powder. I will definitely make this again!
Sarah Bond says
That sounds like a tasty addition! Enjoy! 😀
Marieli says
The recipe came out delicious. I did add a little bit less salt but overall used the same ingredients. Came out soooo good. Next time, I’ll remember to turn the preheat off so that they’re not over cooked but that’s my mistake!
Marge says
Most other recipes I’ve seen have you toss the cauliflower in cornstarch after the sauce for it to crisp up. I tried this recipe to see the difference and ended up basically with average cooked cauliflower in buffalo sauce. Not at all the crispy bites I hoped for. I suppose now there’s a reason other recipes usually call for cornstarch as well. I like the addition of garlic powder though!
Kim says
I made the Mediterranean Roasted Vegetables with the dill sauce yesterday. I spread the dill sauce on a large whole wheat tortilla wrap, piled the vegetables on top, and then rolled the tortilla up. Delicious! It was very satisfying and good for you! I’m going to keep this one in my recipe book!
Lynette says
Excellent! We added some lemon pepper and served with lite ranch dressing. What a nice, quick, healthy meal! I’ll be adding this to my Pinterest and making it often! Thank you!
Kari ward says
Absolutely AMAZING! I’m not a huge cauliflower person, but I love Buffalo anything. My carnivores weren’t convinced they would like it, but I said I would make some Buffalo chicken IF they tried the cauliflower. I paired with the Mediterranean Roasted veggies and left over tzatziki sauce that I used from the pitas. Anyway a huge hit ! Thanks Sarah!
Sarah Bond says
YAY! So happy to hear it, Kari! Enjoy! 😀
Rachel says
They were good. I think I was expecting something a bit more special than roasted cauliflower with Buffalo sauce. Pretty basic.
Becky bingham says
I made this for my husband’s meat-with-every-meal family, and they all raved about this recipe. Several asked for the recipe.
Allie freund says
This recipe was a great way to use my airfryer! I am planning to make it again for our super bowl get together soon!
Shanyelle Young says
Sprinkled some panko crumbs half way through cooking.
It was good.
Connie Ciarallo says
Thank you so much for showing me the easiness of this recipe!
Love it and your blog!
Roger nance says
Easy recipe- works great