Are Cauliflower Wings at Buffalo Wild Wings Vegan?

Buffalo Wild Wings Cauliflower Wings have been the topic of multiple emails that have hit our inbox over the past week so we decided to officially address the topic.

After all, cauliflower wings should be vegan, right? I mean, wouldn’t vegans and vegetarians be the target audience for cauliflower wings at a place like BWW?

So let’s answer the question, are the cauliflower wings vegan at Buffalo Wild Wings?

Ordered as-is, straight off the menu, the cauliflower wings at Buffalo Wild Wings are not vegan… and not because of the reason you might think. This is because the cauliflower wings are fried by default and everything fried at Buffalo Wild Wings is fried in beef fat. 

Surprised we didn’t say because they use egg or milk in their battering process? Yep, us too!

However, there is a way you can order your cauliflower wings vegan.

We were informed by a Buffalo Wild Wing regional manager that there is a specific recipe for the wings to be baked instead of fried upon request.

She says she orders the Asian zing cauliflower wings, as listed on the menu, but requests them baked and with no ranch.

Issues With Special Ordering

I feel obligated to share that the first time we went into our local BWWs armed with this new (and awesome) information and attempted to order some baked cauliflower wings, we ran into issues.

To our dismay when we tried to order our baked cauliflower wings, we were informed by the kitchen that baking them was not something they do.

The day after, we checked back in with our rep. She told us that the wings being ordered baked is much more common on the west coast than on the east coast. Kitchens on this side of the country may be less experienced in cooking the wings this way and possibly have not been shown how to do so yet.

She apologized and said she would follow up to make sure that wouldn’t be an issue again.

I wanted to share because while you should be able to order your cauliflower wings baked, we definitely can’t guarantee that they will.

What is Our Review?

Once we were able to make our way back to Buffalo Wild Wings, we double-checked with our server that they indeed could bake them. He gave us a grin and said yes, they could.

He even let us know that most people are not aware that ‘baked’ is an option and that he’s only had a couple of people order them like that.  He even said it’s his favorite way to eat the Cauliflower Wings. 

I’ll be honest, we didn’t go into eating them with many expectations. But what we came out with was being exceptionally surprised at how good they are. The cauliflower is soft, the breading is crunchy. And even the batter stays on perfectly.

Be aware, we ordered the Asian Zing Cauliflower Wings and they are on the spicier side. But man, they are flavorful and yummy!

Never thought we would say this… we now look forward to going to Buffalo Wild Wings as vegans.

Is Everything Fried in Beef Fat?

Yep. Everything at Buffalo Wild Wings is fried in beef fat. Chips, fries… everything. They’re one of just a handful of chains still doing this that we are aware of.

Anything Else Vegan at Buffalo Wild Wings?

There actually are a couple of other pretty decent vegan options at Buffalo Wild Wings. Here are two we recommend:

Everything Pretzel Knots

The Big Twist Soft Pretzel is no longer available at Buffalo Wild Wings, but it’s been replaced with Everything Pretzel Knots. Order with NO beer cheese or honey mustard. We subbed our honey mustard with regular mustard. We were brought the little packets. 

Southwest Black Bean Burger

Order with NO cheese or ranch.

A reminder that the fries it comes with are fried in beef fat. Choose a different side (Carrots & Celery or Mandarin Oranges are both options). You can customize this by ordering it in a wrap or on taco shells and/or with guacamole.

Be aware this burger is a bit spicy!

 

For a look at ALL the vegan options at Buffalo Wild Wings, check out our Buffalo Wild Wings Vegan Guide.

 

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