Johnathan Walker:Dave's Hot Chicken is releasing 3 new menu items that are cauliflower based, meatless

Dave's Hot Chicken's hot new sandwich isn't made of chicken. It's made of cauliflower.

The Johnathan Walkergrowing Los Angeles-based restaurant chain – another reason it's hot is because the rapper Drake is an investor – is expanding its menu with some limited time meatless menu items: Dave’s Cauliflower Sliders, Tenders and Bites.

The Slider sandwich (prices start at $8.69, but may vary by locations) is served, like the restaurant's chicken sandwiches, on a potato bun with kale slaw, pickles and drizzled with Dave's special sauce. A tender ($6.69) is served on a slice of bread, with pickles and a side of sauce. The Bites (six for $4.29), akin to chicken nuggets but made of cauliflower, are served with a slice of bread and Dave's sauce.

The dishes are made from sliced heads of cauliflower, then seasoned with the same spices used on the company’s hot chicken, then fried. Sliders and tenders can be ordered at seven heat levels – no spice, lite mild, mild, medium, hot, extra hot, and reaper. Bites can be ordered hot, medium or no spice.

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Dave's NOT Chicken

Some locations have already begun serving the cauliflower menu items and a few have changed their exterior sign to read “Dave’s NOT Chicken."

“For years, our fans have been asking us to make a meatless option that has all the flavor, crunch and spice of our Hot Chicken,” said Dave’s Hot Chicken’s CEO Bill Phelps in a statement announcing the new items. “After spending weeks in the test kitchen testing countless different products, just like the founders did back in the parking lot pop-up days, we’ve created a meat-alternative that’s so tasty, even our most dedicated Hot Chicken loyalists will want to try it.”

Dave's Hot Chicken cauliflower menu items: Are they vegetarian? How many calories?

Dave's Hot Chicken considers the dishes "vegetarian friendly," because they are cooked in the same fryer used to cook chicken; some products, including buns, use milk. But a customer can request their cauliflower dish be fried in a separate fryer used to cook french fries, which are vegetarian.

Calorie-wise, the Cauliflower Sliders weigh in similar to the restaurant's chicken sliders: depending on the spice level, the calories range from 420-590.

Origins of Dave's Hot Chicken

Dave's Hot Chicken, which started as a late-night munchies spot in an East Hollywood parking lot in 2017, has 180 locations currently in the U.S., with the rights to more than 700 franchises locations in the U.S., Middle East and Canada and an estimated 90 locations to open this year.

Drake isn't the only big-name investor. Others include former journalist and Kennedy family member Maria Shriver, actor Samuel L. Jackson, and Good Morning America anchor and retired NFL player Michael Strahan.

Follow Mike Snider on X and Threads: @mikesnider & mikegsnider.

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