Meet your new favorite salad … Vegan Buffalo Cauliflower Salad with Dill Ranch Dressing. Crispy buffalo cauliflower, crunchy carrots & celery, sweet red onions, and creamy avocado piled on a bed of fresh romaine lettuce and topped with zesty dill ranch dressing. Now THIS is what I call a proper salad!
buffalo cauliflower … salad!
Turning a beloved classic appetizer into your new favorite meal, this buffalo cauliflower salad with dill ranch dressing has it all. It’s honestly the best way to eat you buffalo ‘wings’, doused in homemade dilly ranch, with all your favorite sides. Bonus, no messy hands or saucy fingers!
Grab a drink and let’s get to cookin’ the best Buffalo Cauliflower Salad with Dill Ranch!
how to make a buffalo cauliflower salad
This Vegan Buffalo Cauliflower Salad with Dill Ranch Dressing might look fancy and composed, but in reality, all you have to do is assemble a few simple ingredients, throw ’em onto a plate, and serve it up! Here’s how to make the best Buffalo Cauliflower Salad:
- Make the dressing first. I like to make the dressing first so all the flavors have some time to marry. In a bowl or mason jar, combine all the dressing ingredients and mix well to combine. Chill in the refrigerator while you get the rest of the ingredients for the salad ready.
- Prepare the buffalo cauliflower. This is the most work my buffalo cauliflower salad requires of you. Try not to eat all the buffalo cauliflower before adding it to the salad!
- Peel, chop, dice, and slice. While the cauliflower is in the oven, get your avocado, onions, celery, carrots, and lettuce prepped and ready to plate!
- Serve. Look, you’re just gonna scarf this salad down anyway, so you don’t need to make it pretty if you don’t wanna. Throw all the ingredients in a big ass bowl, drizzle with as much or as little dressing as you want, and enjoy!
best f*ckin salad ever, am i right?
If you make my Vegan Buffalo Cauliflower Salad with Dill Ranch Dressing for lunch or dinner (or breakfast, or a snack), I’d love to see! Snap a photo or a video, share it on Instagram, and tag me at @eat_figs_not_pigs and #EatFigsNotPigs. The best part of recipe development is seeing all of your amazing recreations of my recipes! Til next time, friends!
XOXO!
- ½ cup vegan mayonnaise
- ½ cup non-dairy milk
- 2 tsp apple cider vinegar
- 1 tsp dried dill weed
- ½ tsp garlic powder
- ½ tsp Kosher Salt
- ¼ Fresh cracked black pepper
- 1 small head of cauliflower, about 2 LBS, cut into florets
- 2 cups panko bread crumbs
- 1 tsp kosher salt
- 1 tsp fresh ground black pepper
- ¾ cup all purpose flour
- ¾ cup non-dairy milk
- Oil cooking spray
- 1 cup buffalo sauce
- 4-6 cups cups chopped romaine lettuce
- 1 small carrot, peeled and thinly sliced (you can also shave into ribbons using a mandolin or vegetable peeler)
- 2 stalk celery, thinly sliced
- ½ red onion, thinly sliced
- 1 avocado, thinly sliced
- Fresh dill, for serving
- Preheat oven to 425 degrees
- Combine all the ingredients in a bowl and whisk well to combine. Taste and adjust seasonings. Set aside in the refrigerator.
- Set up your dredging station. In one bowl, add panko bread crumbs, salt and pepper. Mix to combine. In a second bowl, add flour. In a third bowl, add non-dairy milk.
- Dip each cauliflower floret into the non-dairy milk, making sure most of it is coated and wet. Then, dip it into the flour, tapping off any excess flour. Next, dip it back into the milk. Last, into the panko bread crumbs, making sure it is fully coated. Place the coated floret onto a parchment paper lined baking tray and repeat until all the florets are coated.
- Spray the cauliflower with a bit of cooking spray and bake at 425 degrees for about 20 minutes, flipping them halfway through.
- Toss the cauliflower with buffalo sauce and bake until crispy and slightly charred on the edges, about 5-10 more minutes.
- Divide the salad ingredients and the buffalo cauliflower among two shallow bowls. Drizzle with dill ranch dressing and garnish with a bit of fresh dill.
- ENJOY!
I absolutely loved this salad and its medley of flavors!!! It’s like a full buffalo wings dinner with side of ranch and celery/carrots for dipping … but all combined into a healthy salad experience! The dill ranch is a recipe I’ll make over and over again for other purposes, too.
This salad was such a breeze to make, and was even more delicious than I imagined!! Breading the cauliflower was a fun first for me, and the finished buffalo-sauce-coated pieces are delicious as a snack on their own too! Will definitely be adding this as a staple in my recipe rotation! Thanks Ashley!
Hey Jessy!
Glad to hear that you enjoyed breading the cauliflower. I thought I was the only one who thought this process was fun!
This was amazing! My hubby LOVES buffalo-chicken-ranch pizza (non-vegan) so I thought I would give this a try. I was scared my hubby would not like the dressing, BUT he loved it so much he kept sticking his fingers in the dish prior to serving (and he snuck in to the kitchen at midnight for leftovers!) He told me to make more! This is our new, favorite buffalo cauliflower recipe! Thank you!
Hi Andi!
LOVE that your husband enjoyed the recipe so much, he made a secret midnight trip to kitchen! Thanks so much for sharing! and so happy you both enjoyed the salad and dressing as much as I do!
made this for some meat eating friends and they LOVED it! its hard to resist just poppin them in your mouth 🙂 only mod i made is subbing all purpose for almond flour, still comes out delicious! thanks for another perfect recipe!
This was DELICIOUS! I have been looking for “ranch” dressing since I stopped eating dairy and this is exactly it! The buffalo cauliflower also did not disappoint. I have tried so many recipes that all come out soggy. These stayed crisp. The only problem was I kept eating them while I was prepping the salad! Love love love. Thank you!
To be honest, i’m not huge on salads unless they are fully loaded and let me just tell you…..this is a fully loaded salad packed with flavor while also being light and refreshing. I whipped this together a few times on hotter days but honestly it’s just as great in cooler weather since the buffalo wings gives it some heat!
I made this last night with a few modifications and it was delicious. I used GF flour and corn tortilla chip crumbs blended up instead of breadcrumbs to make it GF for my partner. Added in some of brown rice in place of some of the lettuce to make it a bit more substantial and did it ever. Planned for three servings and I’m currently struggling to finish the third. Easily could have stretched to 4 servings with the rice. Will definitely make this again!