Home > Recipes > Meal > Appetizers & Entertaining > Roasted Cauliflower: Two Ways (plus a basic pesto recipe)

Roasted Cauliflower: Two Ways (plus a basic pesto recipe)

Gluten-free | Vegan

Was anyone else forced to eat plain, mushy, microwaved cauliflower from one of those frozen packets as a child? I think a support group may need to be started for those of us who were. Because it tasted like mush, weird mush. If you liked or still like it that way, I commend you but I am not a fan… I used to douse it in whatever salad dressing I could get my hands on just to force it down and be allowed to leave the dinner table. I might be painting an exaggerated picture here, so for the record, my parents did love me… they just had no clue how to make cauliflower taste good and wanted me to get my veggies in!

Fast forward to me 20-something years later, unable to stop popping them in my mouth like they’re out of a bag of chips or something. Roasted cauliflower is what my parents were missing out on in life… and I will not let them hear the end of that, believe you me! Whether you’re into mush or not, guys – you owe it to yourself to try it roasted, slathered in pesto or a balsamic-ginger glaze… or anything else of your choosing, you creative cook, you! Welcome to cauliflower season and, heck, welcome to adult-hood where you chose how to eat your cauliflower! FREEDOM!


Roasted Cauliflower with Pesto


Roasted Cauliflower with Pesto

Ingredients:

For the pesto, combine all ingredients below in a food processor or blender to make a jar of pesto:

  • 2 cups or bunches fresh basil leaves
  • 1/4 cup pine nuts
  • 4 cloves garlic
  • pinch dried oregano
  • 1/2 cup grated parmesan (vegans sub in salt to taste or nutritional yeast powder is great too!)
  • approx. 1/2 cup olive oil (eyeball this to make sure it’s the consistency you want)
  • Bonus: I add dried mint because it adds an extra freshness to the pesto! 2-3 pinches if you can get your hands on it (omit or sub in your favorite herb here to make it your own!)

For the Cauliflower:

  • 1 head of cauliflower
  • Pesto sauce
  • 2 tbsp olive oil

Directions:

  1. Preheat the oven to 400f degrees and prep a baking sheet with parchment paper.
  2. Chop the cauliflower into florets and place in a large mixing bowl.
  3. Add pesto and olive oil to the cauliflower and mix well with a spoon or hands.
  4. Spread the cauliflower out on the baking sheet in a single layer and roast for approx. 35 minutes until browned, turn the pieces over mid-way through so it cooks evenly.
  5. Serve!

Roasted Cauliflower with Balsamic & Ginger


Roasted Cauliflower with Balsamic & Ginger

Ingredients:

  •  1 head of cauliflower
  • 2 tbsp olive oil
  • 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
  • 1 tsp minced ginger
  • 1 tbsp honey
  • salt
  • pepper

Directions:

  1. Preheat the oven to 400f degrees and prep a baking sheet with parchment paper.
  2. Chop the cauliflower into florets and place in a large mixing bowl.
  3. Separately, mix balsamic vinegar, ginger and honey in a small bowl and let sit for 5 minutes.
  4. Add sauce and olive oil to the cauliflower and mix well with a spoon or hands.
  5. Spread the cauliflower out on the baking sheet in a single layer (don’t pour them out of the bowl or the vinegar will drip on the baking sheet and may burn) and roast for approx. 35 minutes until browned, turn the pieces over mid-way through so it cooks evenly.
  6. Serve!

———————————————–

Hope you enjoy!
Would love to have your feedback below and remember to follow me on
Instagram, Bloglovin’, Twitter, Pinterest and Facebook for the latest and greatest.

**Alison
———————————————–

-Alison Marras
This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure policy.

browse more recipes:

Appetizers & Entertaining Sides
Start nourishing your body easily + consistently

I believe your healing journey with real food can be a stress-free lifestyle, filled with joy and flavor, giving you the time and energy to live more.

Subscribe to my newsletter, and you’ll receive the latest recipes and my best wellness tips to make this a lifestyle!

Join Now

join the conversation

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

5 comments

  1. Hi there,

    We have launched a new website http://www.recipesgawker.com/, a community for food bloggers and food lovers. This website is based on Pinterest concept but specific to food. You can pin, organize and share your wonderful recipes here. Appreciate if you can join our community and start pinning recipes.

    Happy pinning!

    Regards
    Recipes Gawker team

  2. ahh those pictures! <3

    i love roasted cauliflower. and roasted broccoli too (and i bet that balsamic ginger deal would be killer on broccoli!). luckily i didn’t experience much mushy cauliflower in my young life; the way we ate cauliflower was raw, dipped in kraft italian dressing. ha! it wasn’t until last year or so that i started roasting it and now it takes a lot for me to handle a head of it WITHOUT wanting to stick it in the oven till its brown and crisp.

    these look so gooood!

  3. Oh wow, both of these combos just took roasted cauliflower to a whole new level! Loving your blog and it’s celestial take!

you might also like