Cauliflower Wings

Work In Progress: Recipe is pretty good in its current form, but baking method could use some tweaking for better texture.

Ingredients

• 1 Head Cauliflower, cut into florets
• 1 cup panko bread crumbs

Batter

• ¾ cup white wheat flour
• ¾ cup unsweetened plain almond milk
• ¼ cup water
• 2 tsp garlic powder
• 2 tsp smoked or plain paprika
• ¼ tsp fine ground sea salt
• ¼ tsp freshly ground black pepper

Sauce

• 1 cup Valentina extra hot sauce ("black label")
• 1 tbsp olive oil

Directions

1. Cut cauliflower into small florets
2. Put panko bread crumbs on plate
3. Line baking sheet with parchment and pre-heat oven to 350°F
4. Proof garlic powder: combine garlic powder with 2tsp water and allow it to stand for 5 minutes. This will ensure the enzymes activate and are able to develop a better garlic flavor.
5. Make batter: combine flour, almond milk, water, garlic powder, paprika, salt, and pepper. Stir until thoroughly mixed (whisk to remove chunks of flour if needed).
6. Dip cauliflower florets in batter, ensuring each is fully coated
7. Roll the coated cauliflower florets in panko
8. Place cauliflower on parchment lined baking sheet (not touching, single layer only) and bake for 25 minutes at 350°F. Keep oven on after removing, these will be baked a second time.
9. Make sauce: mix 1 Cup Valentina hot sauce and 1 Tbsp olive oil.
10. Toss cauliflower and sauce in large bowl until all florets are evenly coated.
11. Place cauliflower back onto parchment lined baking sheet, and bake for an additional 20 minutes at 350°F
12. Eat!

Notes

Inspirations

• https://veganheaven.org/recipe/cauliflower-buffalo-wings/

Made

2020-01-25

Spiked sauce with 1Tbsp el yucateco xxx. Wings were pretty spicy; fine with ranch, but could probably do without being spiked with xxx for people with lower spice tolerance (like ... Kristen).

1/2 to 3/4 cup hot sauce would have been plenty, there was a lot left over and the wings were soaked a bit too much IMO.

"Skin" was less crunchy than promised. Can probably ramp up second cook time to 400°F or 425°F... or turn the convenction fan on for the second bake.

Panko is not optional, at least with parchment paper. Without it, the batter on the bottom detaches from the cauliflower. Also panko on a plate didn't work out very well, use something with sides next time (maybe the red ceramic cooking dish).

Might want to use a dash of msg instead of salt in the batter: could make things a bit more savory, and at least the valentina hot sauce adds PLENTY of salt (one batch of wings with 1 cup of hot sauce is 150% the daily limit for salt...). Start with 1/8 tsp.

Cumin might work well for the batter... but it could just be that I really like cumin.

So for next experiments:

• use less valentina (1/2 cup or 3/4 cup)
• try wire rack instead of parchment (put parchment under rack to catch drips)
• use convection for second roasting to see if that makes the crust crispier.
• look into roasting the cauliflower during the first part, since that should make it taste richer. looks like it'd be done around 450°F for under 20 minutes, but does batter burn at those temps / would batter inhibit roasting?
• maybe some experimentation with increasing the amount of oil; a lot of other recipes are showing 1/3 cup butter/oil to 2/3 cup sauce.

2020-04-03

Been a bit... decided to just change the sauce since I don't remember much about the last batch.

Changes

batter

• replace 1/4 tsp salt with 1/8 tsp msg and 1/8 tsp fine ground sea salt
• forgot to add pepper

sauce

• 1/2 cup valentina
• 1 Tbsp el yucateco chipotle sauce
• 1 tsp el yucateco xxx

Can try wire rack next time.

Tasting Notes

1/2 cup of valentina and then a couple tablespoons of additions worked great. not being over soaked in sauce let the wings crisp a bit better. also, 1 tbsp olive oil is a lot more in a half cup than a whole cup...

I don't think it is important to try cooking these on a wire rack next, and that test can be bumped back a bit. Instead of focusing on crust crispiness (adequate, not that these aren't super soaked in sauce and they actually can crisp), focus on making the cauliflower richer: increase the temp of the first roast.

2020-04-14

Changes from base recipe

batter

• replace 1/4 tsp salt with 1/8 tsp msg and 1/8 tsp fine ground sea salt

sauce

• 1/2 cup valentina
• 1 Tbsp el yucateco chipotle sauce
• 1 tsp el yucateco xxx

Messing with temperature instead of wire rack.

Found at least once recipe for battered regular wings (https://cafedelites.com/crispy-buffalo-chicken-wings-baked/) that was at 450°F, so I think it will survive the increased temp fine.

http://www.kitchenriffs.com/2012/01/roast-cauliflower.html :

You can roast cauliflower (or any vegetable, for that matter) at oven temperatures ranging from 300 to 500 degrees Fahrenheit. I prefer 400 – 425 for cauliflower. It takes longer to cook at lower temperatures, and at higher temperatures it has a tendency to char somewhat (which I regard as a good thing, although not always something I want).

But oven temperature affects how quickly cauliflower roasts. At 500 degrees, it could take as little as 35 minutes. At 300 degrees, it may need a good hour and a quarter (maybe even longer). Start testing the cauliflower at the 30-minute mark, and keep testing every 10 – 15 minutes until you determine that it’s done.

new baking schedule

Idea here is: roast at a lower temp before we add oil, then give it a stronger roasting once the oily sauce is on it.

• 25 minutes @ 350°F
• 20 minutes @ 425°F

Tasting Notes

For next time, maybe try 2Tbsp oil

I'm just thinking aloud; isn't thinking allowed?

Last Modified: October 29, 2023