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This dump-and-bake Buffalo Cauliflower & Chickpea Casserole is cozy and hearty, plus you only need 10 ingredients to make it! Naturally Vegan & Gluten-Free.
Cauliflower wings, step aside! Our favorite cruciferous veggie combines with protein and fiber-packed chickpeas, hearty brown rice, hot sauce and a few simple spices to make this tastes-so-good-but-its-actually-good-for-you showstopper of a dish.
The best part? It tastes so. dang. good. Oh yeah, and you only need 10 simple ingredients to make it…
Making a Dump-and-Bake Casserole couldn’t be any easier…
- Preheat the oven to 400F
- Whisk the vegetable broth, hot sauce, and spices in a pot and bring to a boil
- Arrange the remaining ingredients in a casserole dish, pour the liquid on top, cover, & bake!
The secret to this one-pan wonder of a dish is to add just the right amount of liquid to the casserole so the rice will absorb it and get nice and fluffy. Pre-boiling the liquid also helps speed things along in the oven, too.
After the casserole comes out of the oven, I’d highly recommend topping it with some sliced green onions and a hearty drizzle of Nut Free Vegan Ranch. But you do you, boo 😉
This Buffalo Cauliflower & Chickpea Casserole is great for meal-prep, a hands-off weeknight dinner, or to share with friends! It’s bursting with spicy “buffalo” flavor and serves as a heartier, wholesome alternative to a few deep fried wings. It’d be perfect for a game day potluck, too – would serving it alongside my Healthy Buffalo “Chicken” Dip be too much? Asking for a friend…
A Few Final Thoughts:
- Substitutions: you can swap out the chickpeas for another bean, or add in up to 1 cup of additional veggies – broccoli or green beans would be great here.
- Unfortunately I have not tested this recipe with any other rice or grain, so you need to stick with brown rice here. Subbing it out would require altering the liquid amount and cooking time.
- If you’re looking for more casserole recipes, you’ll also love this “Cheesy” Broccoli Rice Casserole and this Fall Roasted Vegetable Casserole!
Finally, if you make this recipe and decide to share it on Facebook or Instagram, don’t forget to tag me @FromMyBowl + #FromMyBowl! I love seeing your delicious recreations 🙂
Buffalo Cauliflower & Chickpea Casserole
This dump-and-bake Buffalo Cauliflower & Chickpea Casserole is cozy and hearty, plus you only need 10 ingredients to make it!
- Prep Time: 10 Minutes
- Cook Time: 60 Minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour 10 minutes
- Yield: Serves 4 to 6 1x
- Category: Main
- Method: Oven
- Cuisine: American
Ingredients
- 2 cups (470 ml) low-sodium vegetable broth
- 1/2 cup (118 ml) buffalo hot sauce
- 1/4 cup (22 g) nutritional yeast
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- 1 rib of celery, finely sliced
- 2 cups (374 g) chickpeas, cooked*
- 1/2 medium head of cauliflower, chopped into bite-sized florets (about 2 cups; 200 g)
- 1 cup (182 g) uncooked brown rice
- 2–3 cloves garlic, minced
- Nut Free Vegan Ranch and chopped green onions, for garnish (Optional)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400F. Mix the vegetable broth, hot sauce, nutritional yeast, and onion powder together medium pot and bring to a boil over high heat.
- While the liquid is heating up, pour the chickpeas a 9×13″ pan or casserole dish. Sprinkle the cauliflower and celery evenly over the chickpeas, then add the uncooked brown rice over the top of the dish.
- Remove the vegetable broth from the heat once it comes to a boil and stir in the minced garlic. Pour the liquid evenly over the casserole dish; if any spices stick together you can gently separate them with a spatula. Cover the casserole with aluminum foil (or parchment paper, followed by aluminum foil) and bake in the middle rack of the oven for 60 minutes.
- Remove from the oven and top with green onions and/or vegan ranch, or serve as desired. Refrigerate leftovers in a sealed container for up to one week, or in the freezer for up to one month.
Notes
- If you are using canned chickpeas, be sure to drain and rinse them well. You can also replace them with any other bean of your choosing!
Keywords: dump and bake casserole, buffalo cauliflower casserole, buffalo caulof
Made this tonight with 1/2 chickpeas and 1/2 Cannellini beans, 2 veggie bouillon cubes and 2 cups water, also used Frank’s Original Hot Sauce rather than the Buffalo/Wing sauce (to reduce oil content). It was delicious, very flavorful, and perfectly done (actually, mine sat in the warm oven for an addtl 30 minutes because, well, life, and it was perfect). Next time I will try to use salt-free broth as I am generally low-salt and Frank’s Hot Sauce is already quite salty. Nonetheless, this recipe is a keeper and I will be making it again and again. Cheers!
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Glad you were able to make it work with what you had! Glad you enjoyed it!
FYI I have made this multiple times with fresh and frozen cauliflower and everyone, and I mean everyone, ( including non veg heads) devours it. It is a go to recipe for potlucks and easy to keep everything on hand for those “too tired to cook nights” Thank you for such a delicious and easy recipe.
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That’s so awesome! Thanks for making it and glad it has been such a hit!
I only recently found your videos and website, though I’ve been a vegan for over ten years. Lovely recipe and my family, too, enjoyed it even though they are all meat eaters. Ironically, I made the ranch dressing ahead of time first, but then forgot it in the fridge! Oh well, plenty of leftovers to use it with. I, too, used two cans of chickpeas and added a bit more cauliflower, but the liquid portion wasn’t covering everything, so I added a cup more of veggie stock and about 1/4 cup of hot sauce and a touch more nooch. It baked a bit longer but was absolutely delish! Love your recipes and I’ll continue to follow you!
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So happy to hear that your whole family enjoyed it!
Have you or anyone else made this without the rice? If so, would you recommend baking for a longer or shorter period of time?
I subbed millet in this. I used 3/4 cup millet and kept everything else the same. Checked at 30 minutes, and it wasn’t ready. After an hour, it was good to go.
I made this for the first time in January and I just made it for about the 10th time last night. This recipe is a staple in my house. My boyfriend and I both love it so much!!!
Tonight I was too far Into prepping this dish to turn back when I realized I had no chickpeas on hand – so I ended up using canned lentils and it turned out amazing!
I made the suggested accompanying ranch dressing tonight (for the first time) and it’s amaaaazing!
Thanks again for sharing your awesome creations!
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Good quick thinking on your part! That actually sounds like a pretty great substitute. So glad you’ve been getting so much use from the recipe and have been enjoying it!
Holy hot sauce, Caitlin! We don’t have air conditioning and it’s been close to 90 and humid here in DE, so I adjusted the water for the instant pot, and 22 min (give or take) later dinner was on the table. It was as good as everyone said. Thank you for such an easy, tasty, pantry item recipe! I could see using this as a base for a Mexican or Indian, or even Asian meal with some simple substitutions. I bow to your plant-powered awesomeness!
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Okay, so before you reply, I follow you on YouTube, but just discovered your website and just noticed that you already have a bunch of dump and bake (or dump and ipot) recipes, so, bravo!!
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Yes! And hopefully a lot more to come, they’ve been a real hit!
Wow, that’s warm! Hope you have something cool to drink too! So happy that you enjoyed the recipe – all those other styles sound delicious!
I just have to say I’m not typically a recipe – follower, but I followed this one to a T, and OMG! SO GOOD! Will definitely be making a million times over again.
You rock! Thanks for creating!
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Thanks for the kind words! High five!
I saw this recipe on pinterest and have meal prepped it for myself probably 5 or 6 times since – so easy, delicious and cheap. I also follow Caitlin on youtube and had no idea she was behind one of my favorite recipes!!! I am obsessed with all the dump and bakes. THANK YOU
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I love that! So glad you enjoy this recipe and that you’re getting so much use out of it!
I loved this recipe and will definitely try again. My only thin with it was that the rice wasn’t cooked fully. I tested it after an hour and it was pretty hard still so I added more water and put it in for another 20 minutes. It still had a bite to it but I was too hungry to put it back in the oven. The flavor was absolutely amazing though!
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So glad you liked it! Did you remember to use foil on top of the casserole dish (see step 3)?
Sooo good! I didn’t have celery so I added carrots and cheese. Also I forgot to cover it so I took I took it out about 7 minutes early. Was worried about the rice not cooking, but it was cooked through.
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Glad you could make it work with what you have!
Can you use Cauliflower rice instead?
I suppose you could! Since the cauliflower rice would be smaller than the cauliflower pieces the recipe calls for they might come out a little softer.
If I make this again I will put the rice on the bottom as it currently is hard and crunchy on the top after one hour of cooking.
That’s weird! Did you have the dish covered with aluminum foil like step 3 lays out?
Really good! My husband and I loved it. The ranch dressing was also excellent even thought I used dried dill. I’m going to use the leftovers to make a pizza tonight. Thank you for the recipe!
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That sounds like a bomb pizza idea! Let us know how that turns out!
Wow, this is soooooo good!!!! 10/10 would make again and also share with others!
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Thanks so much!
This recipe is SO AWESOME. I used 1/4 cup of frank’s red hot sauce and 1/4 cup of my homemade hot sauce to reduce the sodium, one can of chick peas and a little extra cauliflower and it was SO DELICIOUS. This is definitely going into my rotation of dinners! Thank you so much for the recipe!
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It’s always a personal victory when someone adds a recipe to their rotation! Thanks so much!
I just discovered your blog and your recipes look delicious. I am not a fan of nutritional yeast at all. Can I just leave it out or is there a substitute you recommend?
Welcome! If you’re not a fan of nutritional yeast, for this recipe I would just leave it out!
This was amazing and different. Definitely will be a new favorite of ours. Thank you so much!
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Yay! Thanks for trying it out!
This and the ranch was BOMB!!!! I have also been making your mushroom stroganoff recipe a ton too… thank youuuu!! XOX
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Ahh, thank you so much! So glad you’ve been enjoying them!
New transitioning Vegan here! Can you use frozen cauliflower in place of fresh?
Hello and welcome! Totally can!
I’ve been vegetarian my whole life so I’d never actually had buffalo sauce before (I feel like it normally comes with wings, etc). So I was super excited to taste it! I can’t believe how easy – and delicious – this dish is! I used more vegetables than the recipe called for (did a whole cauliflower and around 3 celery stalks), but everything still cooked in the same amount of time and with the same amount of liquid. Next time, though, I will add more buffalo sauce to the liquid – I think since I had more veggie quantity, the flavor got a tiny bit diluted. But still amazing – I topped it with some extra buffalo sauce, the hemp seed ranch, and green onions. It’s definitely going to be in my meal prep rotation in the future.
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Love hearing that one of our recipes makes it into a rotation! Thanks so much!
This sounds so delicious and easy! Could you substitute the chickpeas with other beans or maybe even lentils? I can’t have chickpeas.
If I were to substitute them I would maybe use cooked white beans.