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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!
Here are the steps
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!
Crispy Jalapeño Cream Cheese Cauliflower Taquitos
Servings: 6
Calories Per Serving: 373 kcal
Nutritional information is only an estimate. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed.
Ingredients
- 3 cups chopped cauliflower
- 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 1 tablespoon seasoned salt
- 4 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
- 1 jalapeño, seeded if desired, and chopped
- 2 tablespoons pickled jalapeños, chopped
- 1/4 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
- 2 tablespoons fresh dill, chopped
- 2 green onions, chopped
- 1/3 cup buffalo sauce
- 1 cup shredded pepper jack or cheddar cheese
- 16-20 corn tortillas, warmed
Honey Mustard Ranch
- 1/2 cup plain greek yogurt or sour cream
- 3 tablespoons buttermilk
- 1 tablespoon honey
- 1 tablespoon dijon mustard
- 2 tablespoons pickled jalapeños
- 1/2 cup fresh basil
- 1/2 cup fresh cilantro
- 1/4 cup fresh chopped chives
- kosher salt and black pepper
Instructions
- 1. Preheat the oven to 425° F. On a baking sheet, combine the cauliflower, olive oil, paprika, seasoned salt, and a pinch each of salt and pepper. Toss well to evenly coat. Transfer to the oven and roast for 20 minutes, or until tender and lightly charred.2. In a bowl, combine the roasted cauliflower, cream cheese, jalapeño, pickled jalapeños, cilantro, dill, and green onions. Stir in the cheese and buffalo sauce.3. Warm the tortillas for 30 seconds to 1 minute in the microwave, until pliable. On a baking sheet, rub the tortillas with olive oil. Spoon 2 tablespoons of the cauliflower down the middle of the tortilla. Roll up and place seam-side down on the baking sheet. Bake for 5-8 minutes, then flip and cook another 5 minutes, or until the cheese has melted and the tortillas are crisp.4. Meanwhile, make the honey mustard ranch. Combine all ingredients in a blender and mix until creamy, season with salt.5. Serve the taquitos topped with buffalo sauce, ranch, and any other desired toppings.
Easy to make and a HUGE hit!
So glad you enjoyed this recipe! Hope you’re having a lovely weekend! 🙂 xT
there is paprika in the instructions but not in the ingredients list
Thank you for letting me know!
How can I cook these on a grill when tailgating at a college football game – 5 hours away.
Need to be able to prepare day or so ahead to be ready to put on grill for day of game.
And, need to be able to make quite a few for my sons friends.
Delicious! I made these tonight and I have to say, I think I might like them better than the chicken ones. The tang and the heat are perfect, didn’t miss the meat at all. Perfect for meatless Monday.
Those having issues with your corn tortillas splitting, I warmed them in the in microwave (2 batches) for 1 min and didn’t have issues. First time I tried these (the chickens ones) I had splitting issues.
Awesome!! Love to hear that! Thanks so much! xT
I made these as directed with the exception of cooking the cauliflower & taquitos in the air fryer. It is too hot in Houston to be turning on the oven. Flavor was really good; spicy & rich. While I liked the dressing & have used it on salad, I think I’d prefer plain ranch.
Thank you sooo much for giving the recipe a try! I am so glad you enjoyed it! xT
Delicious! Even my picky eater ate them!
Thank you Sandra! xT
So yummy! The store was out of jalapeños so I used on Serrano in the filling and one in the sauce and it was great! Sauce is SO GOOD!
And I fried them instead of baking to address the splitting – it worked great! Just start with them seam side down. I used medium flour tortillas.
Thank you sooo much for giving the recipe a try! I am so glad you enjoyed it! xT
The crunch of the baked tortillas infused with the chili spice and melted cheese is super addictive!
My corn tortillas also peel and split, I think to avoid that one can either use flour tortillas, or instead of rolling just fold the tortillas over to make crispy tacos. What worked for me was to heat a stack of tortillas in the microwave for 30 secs, the top two peeled but the rest remained intact cuz they remained warm longer. And I stacked the rolls tightly next to each other on the baking tray so they wouldn’t spill much during baking. I also noticed reducing the cream cheese and the grated cheese in favour of the veggie/meat filling reduces spilling. Hope these tips help, love all your taco/taquito recipes!
Thank you so much for this feedback Tally! I really appreciate it! xT
These were amazing! Mine didn’t get quite as golden brown and many of them split, but delicious none the less. Such great flavours! Love the sauce and excited to see what else it pairs with
Thank you so so much! I appreciate you giving the recipe a try! xT
Yum! While I roll my eyes when people relay that they “made the recipe” and then give all their subs, here goes my confession. I cheated the possible “split tortillas” (and saved time) by using the filling in taco shells and may just run with a riff on nachos next time since tailgate season is hitting here in KC…I think the Chiefs will approve! I also had to fudge since my fresh dill is dying and just used 1/3 of it in dried form without sacrificing flavor in the dressing. An amazing burst of DELICIOUS in each bite!
Thanks Rebecca! Glad your subs worked out well and you enjoyed the recipe! xT
Please leave this site if your going to be nasty. Find something else to do with your boring life.
Making it right now. The stuffing is excellent! So yum and I added more jalapeños to it.
Only sad thing is they split up when I tried to air fry them 😞
Didnt want to deep fry… disappointed with the final look
Oh no I’m so sorry about that! Is there anything I can do to help? xT
My corn tortillas split in the oven as well. What brand of tortillas were used in the original recipe creation?
This has a lot of strong flavors. Not sure they go well together.
Hey Jo! Thank you for the feedback! xT
Thank you for yet another amazing recipe and content! I was wondering if freezing these would be successful. My concern would be refreshing the cream cheese.
Thank you so so much Janet! xT
These taquitos sound like the perfect football food. Do you think I could assemble them a couple hours in advance?
Carol
Yes thanks Carol for asking and what size shells? Reg taco size? Will make this Labor Day weekend.
Hi Carol! I would recommend assemble and making them right before serving as the tortillas might get soggy if you assemble beforehand! xT