Simple, practical, and full of everyday flavour, Spicy Baked Cauliflower Bites with Celery Ranch is a vegan, vegetarian American snack made with hot sauce, evoo, and black pepper in about 50 minutes. The recipe lays out the ingredients and each cooking step clearly, so you can adjust seasoning, texture, and serving size for your own kitchen.

Recipe Snapshot

  • Prep time: 20 minutes
  • Cook time: 30 minutes
  • Total time: 50 minutes
  • Yield: 6
  • Category: Snack
  • Cuisine: American

Ingredients

For the batter:

  • 2 to 3 Tbsp hot sauce
  • 1 Tbsp evoo
  • 1/2 to 3/4 tsp black pepper
  • 1/2 to 1 tsp cayenne/ red chili powder
  • 1.5 tsp garlic powder
  • 1.5 tsp onion powder
  • 1.5 to 2 tsp paprika
  • 1 tsp cumin powder
  • 3/4 tsp salt
  • 3 Tbsp cornstarch or arrowroot starch
  • 1/3 cup flour
  • 1/2 cup coconut milk (canned, preferably full fat)
  • 1/4 cup water
  • 3.5 to 4 cups cauliflower florets

Breadcrumb coating:

  • 3/4 cup bread crumbs
  • 2 tbsp flour
  • 1/2 tsp cayenne
  • 1/2 tsp onion powder
  • 1/2 tsp garlic
  • 1/2 tsp paprika
  • 1/4 tsp salt

Celery Ranch Sauce:

  • 1/2 cup ground cashew
  • 1/2 to 3/4 cup almond milk
  • 2 tbsp flour or 1 Tbsp arrowroot starch
  • 2/3 tsp salt
  • 1 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
  • 1 tablespoon nutritional yeast (can be omitted)
  • a very generous dash of black pepper
  • 1/2 tsp garlic powder (or 2 roasted garlic cloves)
  • 1 to 2 tsp ranch seasoning (Or use equal amounts of dried parsley, dill, thyme, garlic powder and onion powder.)
  • 1 to 2 tsp apple cider vinegar
  • 1/2 to 1 tsp celery seeds ((omit to make plain ranch, add some fresh dill for plain ranch))

Method

Make the Cauliflower bites:

  1. In a bowl, mix everything except cauliflower for the batter. if the batter is too thin, add more flour or starch.
  2. In another shallow bowl, mix everything under breadcrumb coating.
  3. Dip cauliflower in the batter, then coat in breadcrumbs and place on parchment lined sheet.(use gloves or a fork. the batter is spicy)
  4. Drizzle any remaining batter on the cauliflower. Spray oil.
  5. Bake at pre-heated 425 degrees F / 220ºc for 25 minutes or until a toothpick goes through the cauliflower easily. Serve warm with dip.

Make the Celery Ranch dip:

  1. Blend everything except celery seeds. Taste and adjust salt and flavor. Add celery seeds and blend for a few seconds. Chill and serve.

Kiyaan Singh’s Kitchen Note

Keep this recipe as a working base: cook once as written, then adjust spice, texture, and serving style for your own table.