Description
This buffalo cauliflower kale salad is everything you could ask for in a salad. It has different textures and flavours that pair perfectly together. Cooling, spicy, creamy and crunchy, there’s a lot going on and each bite is even more delicious than the last!
Ingredients
For the Buffalo Cauliflower
- 1 average-sized head of cauliflower, chopped into bite-sized pieces
- 1/3 cup brown rice flour
- 1/2 cup water
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1/2 tsp sea salt
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1/3 cup Frank’s Buffalo Hot Sauce or other buffalo sauce of choice
For the Roasted Red Onions
For the Kale Salad
- 6 cups of de-stemmed and finely chopped kale (about 1.5 cups per salad)
- 8 tbsp tahini, lemon tahini sauce or ranch tahini sauce (about 2 tbsp per salad)
- squeeze of fresh lemon juice
- 2 avocados, peeled and diced (1/2 an avocado per salad)
- 6 scallions, finely chopped (a few tbsp per salad)
- 8 tbsp vegan parmesan, optional (make your own with cashews or almonds and nutrition yeast)
Instructions
To Make the Buffalo Cauliflower
- Pre-heat oven to 450 degrees.
- Place the chopped cauliflower in a large bowl.
- Mix the flour, water, garlic and salt and pepper in a bowl then add to the cauliflower and mix to coat.
- Place the cauliflower in a single layer on a parchment or silicone baking mat-lined baking sheet.
- Bake for 20-25 minutes. While that’s baking, mix the buffalo sauce and olive oil in a small dish.
- After 20 minutes or so, coat the cauliflower with the buffalo sauce mixture then bake for another 10 minutes until starting to brown. You can broil for the last few minutes for a little extra crisp. Be careful not to burn it though.
To Make the Roasted Red Onion
- Slice the red onion, drizzle it with a tiny bit of olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper.
- Place on a parchment or silicone baking mat-lined baking sheet and add to the oven with the cauliflower.
- Bake for about 20 minutes until starting to brown.
To Make the Kale Salad
- While the cauliflower and onions are baking, tear the amount of kale you want into bite-sized pieces and place in a bowl. Drizzle with tahini, add a spritz of fresh lemon juice and a sprinkle of sea salt and then rub it all in with your hands until all the kale is coated. If you’re making more than a single serving, add all the kale to a large bowl and massage with the tahini, lemon and salt before dividing it into serving bowls. Set aside.
- Once the cauliflower and onions are ready, you can assemble the salads.
- For each salad, start with a base of kale, then top with cauliflower, red onion, avocado, green onions and a generous sprinkling of vegan parmesan.
Notes
The buffalo cauliflower makes enough for 3-4 salads depending on how much you use for each salad. Adjust the rest of the ingredients accordingly. If you want more onion, kale or avocado, go ahead and use more.
Store leftover cauliflower in the fridge for up 4 days. It will get a bit soggy but is still tasty, especially if you reheat in the oven on broil for a few minutes. Assembled salads will keep for 2 days in the fridge (a bit longer if needed but its best within a day or two).
The recipe can be made oil-free but omitting the oil used for the cauliflower and onion. Balsamic vinegar makes a nice replacement for oil for roasting the onion.
If you prefer, massage the kale with 1/2 tsp olive oil instead of tahini and lemon, then drizzle the salad with tahini sauce. I like make it this way rather than massaging the kale with tahini so the salad has more dressing, but either way works just great!