I partnered up with Wholly Veggie for today's post to create this simple and delicious buffalo cauliflower salad. I used their buffalo cauliflower wings and my homemade ranch dressing to create a vegan lunch recipe that is out of this world delicious. These cauliflower wings are delicious on their own, but adding them to a salad takes them to a whole other level. What can I say, I love a good salad!
I loved using the Wholly Veggie wings because they were so simple to make. Typically if I were making this Buffalo Cauliflower Salad recipe I would make the cauliflower bites from scratch (check out my Oil-free Buffalo Cauliflower recipe here). Sometimes connivence is key! I love these bites, because you simply place them in the oven or air fryer, and then coat them in the sauce and you're good to go! It doesn't get any better than that!
Best Buffalo Cauliflower:
Buffalo cauliflower has to be without a doubt one of my favorite vegan foods. I was never a wings girl before going vegan (I have never enjoyed meat my whole life), so my first enjoyable experience of wings was cauliflower wings. Oh boy was I hooked! They flavor was out of this world delicious.
As much as I love order buffalo cauliflower at restaurants, they're unfortunately not the healthiest plant based food. With that said, I was on a mission to find a gluten-free vegan buffalo cauliflower recipe that was made with quality ingredients. Enter Wholly Veggie. Their buffalo cauliflower wings are: vegan, gluten-free, soy-free, non GMO, and plant based. When the opportunity to work with them presented itself, I knew that this Buffalo Cauliflower Salad would be the perfect recipe!
Can I make this buffalo cauliflower salad recipe with homemade buffalo cauliflower?
This buffalo cauliflower salad uses Wholly Veggie's delicious buffalo cauliflower bites. However Wholly Veggie is not available in all stores unfortunately. Therefore can you still make this salad recipe without them? For sure! I actually live in an area where Wholly Veggie is not readily available at stores. However I make this salad quite often with my homemade Air-fryer Buffalo Cauliflower! I love this recipe, because it is so simple and made with whole foods plant based ingredients!
Perfecting oil-free vegan ranch:
In my mind, no buffalo cauliflower recipe is complete without a good ranch. In all my vegan days I have worked to create the most perfect ranch dressing to complement cauliflower wings. Not only did I want this ranch recipe to be vegan, but I also wanted it to be oil-free. Well friends, that ranch dressing has been perfected, and it is featured in this buffalo cauliflower salad recipe! I use this vegan ranch in some of my other buffalo recipes as well:
Why make this Buffalo Cauliflower Salad
There are many reasons to make this salad. First of all, it is straight up delicious! If I had to tell you one recipe on my blog that I keep coming back to it would probably be this one. This recipe is incredibly simple to make and is a crowd pleaser. I frequently make this buffalo cauliflower salad for my non vegan family, and they love it. Last, but not least, this salad is super healthy. This recipe features a variety of plant based ingredients to create a healthy filling salad!
How to make this vegan salad:
This buffalo cauliflower salad is definitely one of my go-to salad recipes. In order for a recipe to be one of my go-to's it is essential that the recipe is simple. This vegan buffalo salad is exactly that! This recipe requires minimal equipment and minimal ingredients. The only special equipment you will need is a blender. I always recommend a high speed blender like a Vitamix. It's a big investment, but 100% worth it. I use mine like 5 times a day. However if you just own a regular blender you can totally still make this. The vegan ranch may come out a little chunkier, but you can avoid this by using raw cashew butter instead of whole cashews. You honestly can even make the vegan ranch dressing without a blender if you use raw cashew butter!
Ingredients for this Buffalo Cauliflower Salad:
- Wholly Veggie Buffalo Cauliflower wings or my Air-Fryer Buffalo Cauliflower
- Chickpeas
- Cucumber
- Cherry tomatoes
- Romaine
- Avocado
- Purple cabbage
- Sprouts
- Cashews, or cashew butter
- Almond milk
- Miso paste
- Garlic powder
- Onion powder
- Dill
- Parsley
- Apple cider vinegar
- Nutritional yeast
Buffalo Cauliflower Salad
Equipment
- 1 Air fryer optional
Ingredients
- 1 box Wholly Veggie Buffalo Cauliflower wings
- 1 15.5oz chickpeas
- 1 cucumber
- 1 cup cherry tomatoes
- 2 heads romaine
- 1 avocado
- 1 purple cabbage
- 1 cup sprouts
For the dressing:
- Ā½ cup raw cashews can sub Ā¼ cup raw cashew butter
- Ā½ cup almond milk
- 1 teaspoon miso paste
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon onion
- ā cup chives
- Ā¼ cup dill
- Ā¼ cup parsley
- 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
- 2 teaspoon nutritional yeast
Instructions
- Place the cauliflower wings and the chickpeas on a baking sheet and bake according to package instructions. You may cook them in an air-fryer instead
- In a blender combine cashews, almond milk, apple cider vinegar, nutritional yeast, miso paste, garlic powder, onion powder, chives, dill, and parsley. blend on high for 30 seconds to a minute until it is evenly combined.
- Chop the cucumber, cherry tomatoes, romaine, avocado, and cabbage. Add to a bowl along with the sprouts.
- Once the wings and chickpeas are done remove from the oven and toss in the buffalo sauce. Top the bowl of veggies with the wings and chickpeas; pour the ranch dressing over the salad, serve and enjoy!
Natalie
This beautiful cauliflower salad has all I love in a meal. Perfect for these hot days, just loved it!
Holly
Delicious and hearty enough to serve as a meal. We loved the dressing too!
Cindy
This is such a great salad! It has so much flavor and I love that it's oil free!
nancy
such a delish and wonderful salad. I love the chickpeas and all the textures.
Melanie
Love the addition of the miso to the dressing - this is such a fresh and tasty recipe!