Five years ago I never would have expected to find myself in this place,
craving cauliflower season.
This is the benefit that eating seasonally gives you: vegetables become special again. In my household, cauliflower is eaten fresh, and always in season (until I grasp the joys of picked cauliflower that is) and usually always roasted.
Strange but true, these toasted nibbles taste like the outer coating of chicken nuggets. I mean that as a good thing.
This recipe for golden roasted cauliflower will be the best you’ve ever eaten, as long as you stick to these crucial points:
- use fresh cauliflower, frozen doesn’t work
- and don’t skimp on the oil and salt.
This will ensure that your florets are crunchy, salty, almost deep fried tasting.
Golden Roasted Cauliflower
adapted from the 16 page long eGullet thread on roasted cauliflower
one medium head serves two polite individuals as a side
preheat the oven to 400F.
Break up a head of cauliflower into small florets, smaller than thumb size. The smaller the pieces, the higher your ratio of golden roasted bits to white will be.
In a bowl, toss the florets with 2 tsp of oil and salt with 2 large pinches of salt.
Spread out on a half sheet pan.
Cook in the preheated oven, tossing and stirring up the florets every 10 minutes till golden brown.
Flavor Variations- toss raw with
- Parmesan cheese,
- or chili flakes,
- or lemon zest,
- or garlic,
- or rosemary,
- or sliced onions,
- or curry powder…
20 Comments
This was what I cooked on Day One of the first year of cooking a vegetable in a new way every day for A Veggie Venture. It’s sooo good!
Oh, yes. Roasted cauliflower is the first vegetable that made me go: whoa, I totally understand vegetables now. I liked them before, but it was honestly a bit of a revelation for me. I like to roast the whole head, and coat it in a garlicky vinaigrette. yum.
This is one of my FAVORITE things to make, especially for guests. They often don’t know what it is when they first taste it. It’s revolutionary, as far as I can tell. Oh man, I care way to much about food. I can’t believe I just typed that!
I love mine with red pepper flake and lots of salt. I have some truffle salt that I ought to use with my next batch. Mmm…
“one medium head serves two polite individuals as a side” LOL. I always have to buy the biggest head I can find for my husband and me!
I love roasted cauliflower. Yesterday I made it with a garlic vinaigrette. everyone eats it!
I haven’t tried roasting cauliflower yet, but I definitely will now. I can’t get my husband to eat cauliflower otherwise. “It’s a texture thing” Whatever!! But I do roast a lot of broccoli. We especially love it with lemon zest and freshly squeezed lemon juice and sea salt on top. Absolutely delicious! I also roast butternut squash w/EVOO, sea salt & pepper and when it comes out it tastes like candy. Love it, love it, love it.
oh yum. love your dish though. THAT looks good enough to eat. a bit hard & crunchy, for certain.
Thank you for sharing your golden roasted cauliflower recipe.. I love learning new vegatarian recipes…thanks
I found your blog the other day and have had so much fun reading! Thanks for all the great ideas and recipes.
This technique is also fabulous with brussel sprouts, actually the only way I like my sprouts. Can’t wait to try it with the cauliflower! Thanks
My wife told me to have you try the brocoflower, it’s delicious. I have yet to try the orange cauliflower I just cut the head thru in slices to your desired thickness. spread on a well oiled cookie sheet with slices of garlic, sprinkle with salt and roast at 400.
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I have always loved cauliflower – I used to be the one to eat all the cauliflower and radishes off the crudite tray!
Roasted, steamed and mashed, raw … it’s all good to me!
Roasted cauliflower is simply the best…I bought a huge head yesterday and my dog and I have almost finished off the whole thing. He loves it as much as I do! My husband, not so much, which just leaves more for us.
This is a new one for me. I routinely do not care for anything but raw cauliflower. I will give it a try for sure!
Very nice. I have also a site for recipes for cooking, but you have to translate the Google translate. I am from Slovakia.
http://www.irecepty.com
Interesting, very nice. I am from the Slovak Republic. I am also a site for recipes for cooking. Only it be translated through Google translate.
http://www.irecepty.com
[...] sounding recipe for a vegetable that is a byword for blandness (except when properly cooked): Golden roasted cauliflower. If you’re headed to the parents’ house tomorrow, or if you are one of the parents, [...]
I tried this recipe yesterday and couldn’t believe how good it was. I actually forgot to check on the cauliflower and thought I had burnt it. The florets were a golden brown as if they had been fried. I wasn’t expecting the crispiness but that’s what made the dish so tasty. This is a keeper and one I will make regularly. Thx!
[...] taste delicious when roasted. Try the garlic-roasted green beans from Kalyn’s Kitchen, the golden roasted cauliflower from Brownie Points, or the roasted broccoli with chili garlic oil from Pinch My Salt. Photo by Fat [...]
Made this tonight and it was DELISH. I thought I didn’t like cauliflower but it must’ve been because I never had it roasted. The family enjoyed it too. Thanks for sharing!
I always liked califlower, raw, steamed .. But I roasted it for the first time today. Just with olive oil and sea salt and fresh cracked pepper-OMG ! It was so Delicous. I told my husband “this can be my whole meal “. He won’t even try it. I live on Long Island – used to be a Califlower capital- and its fresh in all the stores now. I will be roasting every week now !
After finding this recipe, we have started to regularly roast cauliflower with curry powder and curry paste in addition to the oil and salt. The flavor is simply out of this world good! Thanks so much for the recipe and the curry suggestion.
