Roasted Cauliflower
Why Make It?
Roasted cauliflower is somehow delicious, healthy and comforting. A rare combination that will have you thinking about picking up cauliflower whenever you're at the store.
Adding spices make this cauliflower interesting and versatile enough to make over and over again.
Keys to Success
With simple recipes, it becomes important to add enough salt. About ¾ tsp of diamond crystal will be close. This will depend on the size of your cauliflower. If the cauliflower tastes bland out of the oven, add a little more salt.
One of the best parts of this recipe is the crispy brown cauliflower edges. To ensure this result, preheat your oven and eat soon after the cauliflower comes out of the oven.
Author Thoughts
Cauliflower can take char. There are recipes for roast cauliflower with a lower oven temperature. In my testing over the years, I found that lower temps just result in less than ideal browning. This might lead you to overcooking the cauliflower in the hope of more browning. Not to mention, the best part of roasting at a higher temperature are the smaller charred pieces. So good! It that wasn't enough to convince you, the higher temperature shaves off about 10 minutes of roasting time.
Equipment
baking sheet
Roasted Cauliflower
Makes: 4 Servings | Prep Time: 5 min | Cook Time: 25 min | Total Time: 30 min
Ingredients
- 1 head cauliflower
- 1 ½ tsp cumin
- ½ tsp of cardamom
- 10-15 grinds black pepper
- ¾ tsp kosher salt [diamond crystal]
- 4 tsp olive oil
Instructions
- Preheat: Turn the oven on to 500 F.
- Prep: Remove the cauliflower stem by placing your knife at a 30 degree angle and slowly cutting around the stem. With the stem removed you should be able to cut the cauliflower into florets; When cutting try to cut every piece with at least one flat side. This will ensure more browning. Make sure all pieces are about the same size.
- Roast: Consider preparing a baking sheet with aluminum foil for easy clean up. Add the olive oil, cauliflower, salt and spices in that order to the baking sheet. Toss until evenly coated. Bake in the oven for about 15 minutes. Remove from the oven and toss to get even browning. Bake for about another 10 minutes or until the cauliflower is just cooked through.
Substitutions
Spices: Feel free to swap the spices for whatever you have. Onion and garlic powders have a tendency to burn. I would avoid using them here unless you add them after roasting.
*The % Daily Value (DV) tells you how much a nutrient in a food serving contributes to a daily diet. 2,000 calories a day is used for general nutrition advice.
The nutrition information is calculated by a database and is an estimate.
Wikipedia - Cauliflower - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cauliflower
Milk Street - IS IT BETTER TO ROAST VEGETABLES ON PARCHMENT, FOIL OR ON UNLINED BAKING SHEETS? - https://www.177milkstreet.com/2020/09/is-it-better-to-roast-vegetables-on-parchment-foil-or-on-unlined-baking-sheets