A Little Buffalo Cauliflower Recipe
You probably think that with this post that I am overly obsessed with cauliflower. However, it just so happens I have worn out my interest in roasted brussels sprouts and broccoli for a while and needed a change. I was craving something salty and yummy that wouldn't put my diet into a downward spiral (myfitnesspal says its 258 calories for the entire batch!) , and good for movie watching on Sunday evening. Plus a friend requested I post my recipe.
Buffalo cauliflower really hits the spot and is crazy easy to make. I keep all these ingredients in my pantry. I adapted a few different recipes into this one over time, mostly because I don't want extra buffalo sauce and I didn't want extra prep for the cauliflower. Keeping it simple for a snack like this one.
Note: I with hot sauce as your main ingredient, use a good one. Make sure you can pronounce all the ingredients (good idea for most things), and keep it tangy. I use Rhode Island Red Hot Sauce. In comparison to something like Red Hot, it isn't as finely pureed, giving it a texture that is a little more like well, what the ingredients really are. For me this is a bonus: real ingredients.
BUFFALO CAULIFLOWER BITES
INGREDIENTS
- 1 Head of Cauliflower
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1/4 cup of hot sauce
- 1 tbsp sriracha
- 1 tbsp butter
- pinch of salt
INSTRUCTIONS
Heat your oven to 375 F and start to prep the cauliflower. Break up the cauliflower into big chunks and remove the stalks. Spray or mix a bit of olive oil and a pinch of salt over the surface and place in oven. Roast the cauliflower for 35ish minutes or until 90% of the way cooked to your liking. I prefer my bites of cauliflower for this meal a little al dente as some might say. At the end of the 35 minutes, place the butter in a pan and melt on low-medium heat. As soon as it melts add your hot sauce and sriracha and combine together. Let the sauce combine and get all nice and tasty without burning for about 3-5 minutes. Remove from heat.
With the sauce off to the side, remove the cauliflower from the oven and break into smaller pieces for the sauce. You want good bite size chunks, but not too small. The reason to do this now is that cauliflower shrinks in the oven, this way you don't end up with 1 million tiny pieces.
Place the cauliflower in the pan with your sauce and put back on the hot stove at the same low-medium heat. Depending on the sauce to cauliflower ratio, you might want to add a tablespoon of water here. Let cauliflower soak in the sauce for a good five minutes on the stove and serve! For a little treat mix some blue cheese crumbles into plain yogurt for a less caloric and healthy blue cheese side.
For those who can't handle the heat: find a mild buffalo sauce, and add less sriracha. The butter will also cut the burn, so try a second tablespoon of butter, your thighs might hate you, but you will be able to watch your tv without the need to chug milk. Enjoy!