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Switching up taco night with these baked Crispy Jalapeño Cream Cheese Buffalo Cauliflower Taquitos. Roasted cauliflower tossed with spicy and tangy pickled jalapeños, cream cheese, and buffalo sauce. Roll up this delicious blend in corn tortillas, then oven-bake until warm and crispy. These taquitos are crunchy on the outside and spicy and cheesy inside. Serve with a honey mustard ranch and additional buffalo sauce. These come together simply and are so delicious. A fun vegetarian twist on a classic Mexican dish.
If there’s one thing my family universally loves, it’s taco night. We make my crispy chipotle beef tacos at least once a week. We’ve done so since I was a kid and my dad was cooking up dinner. Really, we love any Mexican-inspired recipe, they’re just so delicious.
Sometime last year I shared a fun taquito recipe made with buffalo chicken. I adore that recipe. Those buffalo chicken taquitos are just so delicious!
I’ve been cooking a lot of chicken and beef recently, so when my family headed out of town, I decided a vegetarian night would be perfect for me. I wanted Mexican, so I created these delicious, crispy, cheesy taquitos with roasted cauliflower.
I swear these are even better than the original chicken taquitos. If you’re looking for a meatless dinner or appetizer for upcoming game nights, this is your recipe!
Step 1: season and cook the cauliflower
Season the cauliflower first with seasoned salt, then place on a baking sheet and roast until the cauliflower is lightly charred. When the cauliflower is roasted, you can start mixing and rolling the taquitos.
Already the kitchen should be smelling delish.
Step 2: mix the filling
The filling is simple but different. Because the base is cream cheese and jalapeños I didn’t want to do just buffalo sauce, as I sometimes do. I wanted to add a creamy tangy factor as well.
So I mixed the roasted cauliflower with cream cheese, jalapeños, and pickled jalapeños for the very best flavor. Then a touch of buffalo sauce for some heat. It’s creamy, tangy, and has just the right amount of spice!
Step 3: roll the taquitos
Instead of frying, which is traditional, I much prefer to oven-bake. It’s healthier, easier, and I like the flavor so much better. You actually taste the food, not the fried oil.
Here’s the key, you need to rub each tortilla with olive oil before rolling up the cauliflower. This is the trick to getting the taquitos crispy all around. Once the tortillas are oiled, roll up the cauliflower and cheese inside, then oven-bake. Ten or so minutes later you’ll have crispy delicious taquitos.
Step 4: make the honey mustard ranch
I didn’t want to use another basic ranch. I really wanted both honey mustard and ranch combined. So I took two of my favorite dressings and mixed them into one.
I wasn’t sure how the dressing would turn out, but it’s now a new favorite. It’s everything we love about ranch with a subtle sweetness that honey mustard gives off. It’s hard to describe but trust me, this dressing/sauce situation is SO GOOD. My family was very into it.
Tip: I like to make my dressing on the thinner side so I can easily drizzle it over the taquitos.
Everything paired together…the crispy taquitos with the creamy roasted cauliflower and cheese inside. Then topped with both a tangy/sweet sauce and a spicy buttery buffalo sauce…
Wow, so many yummy flavors and we love the crunchiness of the taquitos too!
Pretty hard not to love. And they make any random night of the week feel fun and exciting too!
Looking for other weeknight-night recipes? Try these!
Skillet Corn and Chipotle Chicken Tortilla Bake
One Skillet Saucy Chicken Tortilla Enchilada Rice Bake
Crockpot Crispy Chicken Tinga Tacos with Avocado Jalapeño Crema
Jalapeño Pineapple Shrimp Tacos with Cilantro Garlic Sauce
Crispy Jalapeño Cream Cheese Buffalo Chicken Taquitos
Lastly, if you make these Crispy Jalapeño Cream Cheese Buffalo Cauliflower Taquitos, be sure to leave a comment and/or give this recipe a rating! Above all, I love to hear from you guys and always do my best to respond to each and every comment. And of course, if you do make this recipe, don’t forget to tag me on Instagram! Looking through the photos of recipes you all have made is my favorite!
Nutritional information is only an estimate. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed.
I had the same problem with tortllas splitting. Would recommend using flour if that’s a concern for you. We were still able to pick them up and eat them but they were kind of flat, and definitely not pretty. Tasted good! I just think this would be better reconfigured as a dip. I liked the flavors but didn’t LOVE them like I love so many other HBH recipes. A fun one to try though, glad I did!
Hey Madeline,
Thanks so much for trying this recipe and sharing your feedback! So sorry to hear you had some issues with the taco shells, corn tortillas can be finicky! xx
I am wondering what other sauce you could use instead of buffalo sauce? My family is really sensitive to heat. Thanks
Hey JaNae,
You could use another sauce that you enjoy like BBQ sauce. It’s going to change the flavor obviously, but I would use something that your family enjoys! I hope this helps! xT
My friend made these for me & they were so good. I heated the leftovers on the stove & made the tortillas that much more crispy. So healthy & amazing. I’m going to try to make them myself for the big game!
Hey there,
Awesome!! So glad to hear these were a hit! Thanks for sharing your feedback:) xT
Super good/easy. I used Siete’s almond flour tortillas and they held together perfectly. Had a little heat, which I love, but some/younger kids may not.
Thank you SO much! I always love reading comments and seeing that the recipe was a success! Have a great day! 🙂 xT
You mention paprika in the instructions but not in the ingredient list…how much do you use?
I made these and my tortillas also totally split and fell apart 🙁 I had microwaved them too and rubbed with oil as the recipe suggested. I ended up having to repurpose the filling as a dip, which ended up being delicious
Hi Nicole,
Thanks so much for trying this recipe! So sorry about the tortillas, corn tortillas can be so finicky! The warming and oil are my 2 best tips, otherwise I might try a different brand of tortillas next time and see if that helps at all! xx