So, if I’m honest here, I never thought I would be sharing a recipe for cauliflower because quite frankly, the stuff stinks. It’s terrible eating it raw (even still to me). I have however, found a great way to cook it that makes it quite yummy and my husband always grabs the bowl and eats it up, too. (To be fair, he’s a good eater and has a wonderful food palette.)
The original recipe for this is from Nutrisystem (who stole borrowed it from Skinnytaste). So if you feel like following it down here, here’s an easy one, too. However, I’ve modified this a couple of different ways and am showing you my favorite way.
Buffalo Cauliflower from Nutrisystem
Updated Recipe:
The biggest change to this is removing the flour. I substituted it with a couple of tablespoons of almond meal in the past, but I find this recipe I updated simply doesn’t need all that. It also helps to reduce the calories in the overall recipe. If you take it as is from Nutrisystem, it’s 160 calories for a 1/2 cup serving. (Holy crow!)
If you take it as I did it, your calories are ~40 for a 1/2 cup serving. Much better!
But, if you want to use a breaded option, you can certainly try the recipe as is above from Nutrisystem.
I start with garlic powder, crushed red pepper, unsalted butter, and two hot sauces, versus just one. The Tapatio is hotter than I can stand if I use too much while the Valentina isn’t hot. It just adds flavor. Therefore, I use more of this.
I combine the cut cauliflower (I use fresh cauliflower and I choose organic cauliflower.)
Buying Tip:
A word on buying organic. Some people buy everything organic. I don’t. If you’re going to eat the skin (or if the skin is really thin, like apples), I recommend buying organic. However, for things like bananas, oranges, kiwis, lemons, limes, etc., I just buy regular ones here. The exception to that rule is anything grown underground. Skin or not (like potatoes) because those bad boys soak up everything underground.
I toss that cauliflower into a bag with the olive oil, garlic powder, and red pepper and coat it evenly in ziploc bag. The important thing is just to get enough oil on them to make the spices stick. We’re not trying to fry them here.
Next, I spread them out evenly on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Parchment paper is my new cooking friend, y’all. Thanks to my mom, I love this far more than foil. Even non-stick foods seem to stick to non-stick foil. Not parchment paper. It just slides off.
After that, I bake them at 450 degrees for about 25 minutes. I’m incredibly impatient when it comes to pre-heating so I often get them in there when it says about 375 or something and then just add about 8 minutes or so the cooking time.
Once they come out, they are so pretty.
Now, if you don’t like buffalo sauce, you can eat them like this. They are fork tender and taste amazing. And if you don’t like red pepper, you can omit that, too. I find that red pepper isn’t too spicy, though.
But, if you like this buffalo sauce thing, read on!
Grab your melted butter and hot sauce combo and mix it all up in a bowl. It’s important to mix before hand because it doesn’t do a great job of mixing in the bag if you don’t combine those 3 ingredients before hand. (Plus, I know you all want one more dish to wash.)
Scoop those bad boys up into the same ziploc bag as before (hello, leftover spices and oil goodness). Then, put them back on the parchment paper, spread them out evenly to give them some room to themselves. I mean, no one likes to be crowded, right? Then, bake for another 10 minutes or so.
When you take them out, y’all, they are hot. Be careful and wait for it to cool a little before go sticking it in your mouth and complain about how hot it is. The combination of hot sauce and heat from your oven might send you straight to hell if you aren’t careful. Give that sauce some time to soak in. I usually wait about 5 minutes before digging in.
Anyway, look at these yumalicious things!
Super good (and low in calories if you omit all the other flour recommended). Usually, I dash a few more drops of Tapatio sauce on there before I eat it, too. And it’s soooo good the next day, too! Make a big batch!
Enjoy the food!
