Buffalo Cauliflower Quinoa Meatballs
This post may contain affiliate links. Please read our disclosure policy.
Add a spicy kick to meatless meatballs with these vegan Buffalo Cauliflower Quinoa Meatballs. With simple ingredients, like cauliflower, quinoa, garlic, and breadcrumbs, they’re sure to be a hit for the whole family!
I’m going to say it up front: these buffalo cauliflower quinoa meatballs DO take longer than 30 minutes to make, but they’re so, so worth it and you’ll have plenty of leftovers.
I got the inspiration from my Cauliflower Quinoa Meatballs and wanted to add a fun twist to it, aka buffalo sauce.
I do want to talk about this recipe in detail. I’ve received a couple comments on my original recipe about these not turning out, and I want to make sure we’re all on the same page here. I’ve made this recipe twice, and my original recipe at least four times and they’ve never not turned out, so let’s walk through it.
HOW TO MAKE QUINOA MEATBALLS
Step 1: Start by preheating the oven to 375° and cooking the quinoa and cauliflower over the stovetop in two separate saucepans. Note: you can absolutely use bagged cauliflower rice; however, you’ll have to use 2 bags and you’ll have to squeeze the moisture out of it by pouring the cooked rice into a cheesecloth and squeezing the water out completely. While the the quinoa and cauliflower are cooking, you can prepare the buffalo sauce by whisking vegan hot sauce, melted vegan butter, garlic powder, and chili powder together in a bowl and setting it aside.
Step 2: Once the quinoa and cauliflower are cooked, you’ll remove them from the stovetop and place HALF of the cauliflower in the food processor, along with the garlic cloves, and pulse for 5-10 seconds, allowing it to crush up. Next, remove it from the processor and place it into a large bowl. Repeat this process with the second half of the cauliflower. Once all of the crushed up cauliflower is in the large bowl, stir in the quinoa.
Step 3: Stir in the oregano and breadcrumbs. EDITOR’S NOTE: I’ve since made these three more times and I’ve found it best to add HALF of the buffalo sauce into the mix at this point. So, while stirring in the oregano and breadcrumbs, also stir in half of the buffalo sauce. Once everything is good and mixed, place the bowl in the refrigerator for about 25 minutes, allowing the mixture to cool down and be a bit more manageable. While you’re waiting for the mixture to cool, you can do the dishes, or if you’re like me, you can check social media for the 45th time that day and leave the dishes for later when dishes are the last possible thing you feel like doing. Tip: don’t be like me.
Ok great! Now the mixture isn’t as hot and we can start to work with it.
Step 4: Grab a large skillet to place the meatballs on. You can use a spoon to scoop the mixture up, but truthfully I just used my hands. I’m not going to lie and say this isn’t a bit messy, but it’s not too bad and I imagine kiddos would make excellent helpers. Essentially, you’ll want to grab a handful and start shaping it into a meatball, pressing back and forth on the mixture and then gently rolling it to finish, placing it on the skillet when you’re done. The size of the meatball shouldn’t matter, though mine were a bit bigger than golf ball size.
TIP: If the mixture seems too wet, add flour (whole wheat, all purpose or oat) 1 tbsp at a time. This should help hold everything together. If for some reason the mixture is too dry, add water 1 tbsp at a time to moisten it up a bit.
Step 5: Place the skillet over the stovetop and cook the meatballs so that they’re slightly golden brown; this will assure they stay together during the baking process (I tried skipping this step once and it didn’t work—the meatballs turned out mushy). This step is crucial.
TIP: Be careful when turning over the meatballs. They need to be browned on all sides, but gently turn them or some of the quinoa may slip out.
Step 6: Last, after the meatballs are browned, spoon a small amount of buffalo sauce overtop of each meatballs while the meatballs are still in the skillet, carefully turning the meatballs to make sure they are covered in the rest of the sauce.
Step 7: Once all of the meatballs look good, transfer them to a baking sheet and bake for 15 minutes or until the meatballs are firm.
This recipe takes a little longer, but it makes almost two dozen meatballs so you should have leftovers!
If you make them, be sure to tag @thealmondeater on Instagram—I love to see your creations!
MORE VEGAN DINNER IDEAS:
Finally, these cauliflower quinoa meatballs are great on their own, on salad, with a side of brussels sprouts. The possibilities are endless!
Buffalo Cauliflower Quinoa Meatballs
Ingredients
- 1 cup uncooked quinoa
- 2 cups water
- 1 cauliflower head
- 2 garlic cloves
- 3/4 cup breadcrumbs
- 1/2 tsp dried oregano
- Optional: 1-2 tbsp flour, whole wheat, all purpose or oat
- 1/2 cup hot sauce
- 1/4 cup dairy free butter
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1/4 tsp chili powder
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375°.
- Cook quinoa according to instructions on the package (with water over stovetop); at the same time, cook cauliflower in a separate pot over stovetop.
- While those are cooking, prepare the buffalo sauce: melt butter either in microwave or over stove and then stir in hot sauce, garlic powder and chili powder; set aside.
- Once the quinoa is done cooking, set aside; once the cauliflower is done cooking, drain and place HALF the cauliflower, along with the garlic, into the food processor and pulse for 5-10 seconds.
- Remove and pour cauliflower into a bowl before adding the second half of cauliflower to the food processor and repeating the process, removing and placing into the bowl.
- Stir quinoa, breadcrumbs, oregano, and HALF of the buffalo sauce together with the cauliflower and then place the bowl in the refrigerator for 10-15 minutes, allowing everything to cool off a bit.
- After 15 minutes, remove from refrigerator and, using your hands, form mixture into golf ball-sized meatballs, placing the meatballs directly onto a large skillet. If the mixture is too wet, add additional flour 1 tbsp at a time.
- Drizzle 1 tbsp of olive oil on the skillet and then cook meatballs on medium-high heat, making sure to be careful when flipping them over, until they're golden brown on all sides.
- Pour a small amount of the rest of the buffalo sauce overtop of each meatball, making sure they all get covered with the sauce but you don't want them to be soaked with sauce or else they will get soggy.
- Remove meatballs from skillet and place on a baking sheet; bake for approximately 15 minutes.
- Remove from oven and enjoy!
Notes
Nutrition
Do we have to use butter in the sauce? Going to try this week. Sounds delicious!
I’d recommend either using butter or omitting it all together and just keeping the sauce as hot sauce, garlic powder and chili powder, rather than trying to substitute something in its place. Let me know if you try these!
You guys. These are the kind of meatballs that your Hubskerdoodle asks you to make extra of so that he can freeze them and bring them in his lunch bag for all the evers left of his life.
I love vegetarian style meatballs and these were just the perfect Sunday treat
These were soooo yummy and easy to make!!! Can’t wait to see other meatball recipes in the future!!!! 🙂
I tried making these and they completely fell apart 🙁 How do you make these without a binding agent?
Hi Kate, The breadcrumbs and flour act as the binding agent(s) in this recipe.. both of those ingredients should help to hold the meatballs together. Did you have trouble keeping them together before or after adding the buffalo sauce? If they fell apart after adding the sauce to the skillet, try adding the sauce in with the quinoa+cauliflower mix BEFORE you shape them into meatballs. This might help. If you had trouble keeping them together before adding the sauce at all, try adding more flour into the mix. Let me know if you give these another try.
These are AMAZING! Thank you so much for sharing! I used vegetable quinoa, panko bread crumbs and hot sauce with lime. SO good!
Hi Andrea, thanks for the feedback and I’m glad you liked them–I LOVE the idea of adding a bit of lime, too!
Ah man, that looks too damn good!
Unfortunately I’m living in a place where cauliflower is really difficult to find at the moment 🙁
But I’ll definitely add this to my bucket list
OMG! These look and sound amazing! I just pinned them and can’t wait to try them!
These look insanely delicious! I must make them for the boyf – I know he will love them! If I don’t eat them all first, that is. 🙂
Yes please! These look amazing. My husband would love them too {ps: as long as the cauliflower is disguised in the Buffalo Sauce}.