There was a groan when I told the family I was making cauliflower for lunch. At the end of lunch, they were mad I did not make two heads of cauliflower instead of one. This Buffalo Cauliflower recipe is done in an air fryer and is very healthy and does not taste like you are eating cauliflower at all.
These buffalo caulifower nuggest were crisp, healthy and delicious. And so fast and easy to make.
Air-Fried Buffalo Cauliflower
Equipment
- Instapot
- Instapot Air Frier Lid
Ingredients
- 1 Head Cauliflower Medium
- 1/2 tsp Course Salt
- 2 tbsp Mayonnaise
- 1/2 tsp Paprika
- 1/2 tsp Garlic Powder
- 1/2 tsp Onion Powder
- 1 tbsp Sriracha Sauce
- 1 tsp Dijon Mustard
- 1/2 tsp Ground Black Pepper
- 1 tsp olive oil
- 1 tbsp Breadcrumbs
- Side of Ranch Dressing
Instructions
- Peel leaves and core Cauliflower. Wash well.
- Pull florets into about one inch pieces. If some are big, cut them in half.
- Put into large plastic container with tight lid. Place all other ingredients in container with Cauliflower and shake to evenly coat all pieces. Do not overshake as pieces may break and become too small.
- Add to Instapost Airfrier Basket and use air fryer setting for 20 minutes. At 10 minutes, use tongs to rotate and move them around. Be careful, it is hot.
- After 20 minutes, they should be lightly browned on the outside. Serve with ranch dressing on side.
Notes
Don’t have an instapot air fryer? You can bake them in the over at 400 degrees for 10 minutes, stir and bake for another 10 minutes as well. The down side is they may stick to the pan more and you will need to preheat the oven, so it will take longer.
If you have an instapot and do not have the air fryer lid yet, I got it yesterday and in less than 24 hours made homemade sweet potato frenchfries and then for lunch the next day just made up this recipe for cauliflower buffalo nuggest. It is so easy and convenient. We almost never deep fry things because of the health aspect, but now we can make many more dishes.
Of course, the ranch to dip them in is totally optional. We used an off the shelf ranch dressing, but you can get fancy and make your own as well.
Some ideas for substitutions are more olive oil to exclude mayonnaise. Cayenne Pepper in place of sriracha sauce and if you only have Galic Salt, use it but exclude the other salt recommendation.
Your bread crumbs can be plain or seasoned, but if they are seasoned be sure to cut back on salt additions as well. Since several of these ingredients have salt, like sriracha, mustard, and seasoned bread crumbs, you may want to leave the additional salt out until after cooking and you taste it.
One thing that pleasantly surprised me also about this dish is that the cleanup was so easy. The instapot air fryer has a basket inside the usual instapot pot, which got some crumbs in it. However, it was a very quick clean and did not produce the waste and mess that I expected. I think that is partially because the mayonnaise binds well to the cauliflower and holds the spices to it, keeping the bites intact and helping them turn out perfectly.
Your family is going to love this Buffalo Cauliflower nugget recipe and you are going to have to start buying more heads of cauliflower because suddenly a fairly bland vegetable is going to go from a fake rice substitute to a fried buffalo chicken wing substitute.