Spicy Cauliflower Bites (Vegan)

Look no further, we have the best Spicy Cauliflower Bites recipe for you. We make this recipe quite often for dinner parties and family get-togethers but always testing out different hot sauces. Most of our previous batches were tasty and really enjoyable, but now we can now proudly say we have the ultimate recipe, and we love that we can share it with you! To make our Spicy Cauliflower Bites you will need fresh, good looking cauliflower, flour, sweet paprika, garlic powder, salt and pepper, plant-based milk, olive oil and the most important ingredient, the best hot sauce, Crazy Bastard Sauce!

We tried making this exact same recipe with other hot sauces, and they were good, but sometimes too spicy or not spicy enough or too bland and not enough flavour. With the Crazy Bastard sauces, we made three different batches of cauliflower bites and while they were all spicy, they suited different levels of spice tolerance. We brought this dish to a pool party and our friends really enjoyed them, even non-vegans that were laughing when we said we were going to cook cauliflower "wings". Not one piece of cauliflower was left on the plate, so it was a complete success.

If you are looking for more finger-food dishes, check out our Roasted Pepper Hummus or Baba Ganoush.

What is Crazy Bastard Sauce?

Yes, we love the name too! The first time we discovered this company was at a local market in Galway, Ireland where Astra is from. They had a stall with some of their sauces and we thought the branding was really cool and they had a good vibe. My husband, an obsessed hot sauce lover bought one of their spiciest sauces and we all loved it. They are a young company based in Berlin but founded by an Irish guy. It was quite funny to find their sauce in Ireland just after we moved from living in Berlin for more than 3 years.

We thought of making our Cauliflower Bites recipe with their three best-seller sauces. We were really excited when we got our delivery right in time for the party, so our friends could be the testers. They were incredibly flavorful and spicy. if you are a hot sauce lover, you would be crazy not to try this hot sauce!

Why is this the Perfect Cauliflower Bites Recipe?

• They are extra crunchy. We coat the cauliflower with batter and fine breadcrumbs. The cauliflower florets are baked in the oven at 200C for 20 minutes, and then we coat them with the Crazy Bastard sauces mixed with olive oil and bake them a second time for another 20 minutes at the same temperature. This makes them extra crunchy.

• You can adapt the level of spice to your taste. Choose the crazy b sauce that best suits your taste. The three best-seller pack was perfect for us as we made three different batches so everyone could enjoy them. If you like to make some extra spicy ones, you can mix the sauce with a spicy chilli oil instead of normal vegetable oil.

• They are really tasty. The batter we use for the cauliflower and the sauces, in particular, delivers an extraordinarily complex flavour to the bites. If you already have your favourite hot sauce and prefer to use it instead of trying a new one, go ahead! We strongly recommend mixing some of it with chipotle sauce, to give your cauliflower bites great smoky flavour.

• They are a great finger-food option. Summer is coming and finger-food is calling! This is the perfect dish to bring to a party or to make for guests. If you are going to a bbq or making one at home, this will be a star dish! People can start eating them while the veggies are grilling.

• They are healthy-ish. I wouldn't say they are the healthiest food you can eat, but they are baked, not deep-fried, it's cauliflower after all, and the only "unhealthy" bit would be the breadcrumbs. Crazy Bastard Sauces are made with all-natural ingredients and we use fine breadcrumbs made by a local brand that uses basically water, oil, whole wheat flour and salt.

How to serve the Cauliflower Bites

As the bites will be spicy enough, the best way to serve them is with a mild dip. People will want to cool their mouth eventually, at least people with a lower tolerance to spice. We served these cauliflower bites with a garlic vegan mayo, inspired by the vegan mayo from Loving it Vegan with the addition of garlic. Other great options are yoghurt dips, classic mayo, mustard sauce or pickle sauces. If you like extra hot food, why not, serve them with some chipotle sauce or more Crazy Bastard sauce.

We cooked our Rosemary and Lemon Potato Wedges as well and they also went down like a treat. They are crunchy and who doesn't like potato wedges after all!