Roasted Garlic Cauliflower

This recipe for roasted garlic cauliflower is one of the easiest and most delicious ways to prepare cauliflower! It's a dish that's naturally vegan and gluten-free and it's perfect to serve as a dinner / BBQ side dish, with pasta, in Buddha bowls, or in salads. OR, you can have it on its own...it's that good!

Growing up, vegetables like broccoli, Brussels sprouts, and cauliflower were not things I enjoyed eating. I'm sure you can relate to this statement.

These vegetables were always boiled before serving. Bleh.

I never knew the potential they had until I grew up and learned about the magic of roasting them. Roasting opened up a whole new world and these vegetables were removed from my NO list and put on the YES list, permanently.

If you think you don't like these veggies and have never had them roasted, you need to try them. This baked garlic cauliflower recipe is an excellent one to start with. The garlic and cauliflower pair well together and roasting gives it a slightly crisp, brown exterior that you'll love.

Ingredients You'll Need

All you need is four simple ingredients to make garlic cauliflower. A head of cauliflower, oil, finely minced garlic, and salt. That's it.

How to Prepare the Cauliflower for Roasting

You want to first wash the cauliflower and then remove the outer leaves.

Next, slice the cauliflower lengthwise and then cut off the florets (see below). Cutting this way will make each side of the cauliflower pieces flat so they will lay flat on your baking sheet and end up with those nicely browned sides.

All of your cauliflower pieces won't have flat sides, but that's okay. Just try to cut as many pieces as you can this way.

And the stalk? Don't throw that out! You can roast it along with the florets, save it for soups, or for making your own homemade vegetable stock.

Next, add the cut cauliflower to a bowl, add the remaining ingredients, and toss so the cauliflower pieces are coated well.

How to Roast Cauliflower in the Oven

Place your cauliflower on a good quality non-stick baking sheet (this is the one I own and LOVE) and make sure they're in a single layer and not overlapping each other. Arranging them this way will give all the pieces room to roast and brown properly.

Note: If you don't have a good non-stick metal baking sheet, you'll need to line what you have with parchment paper or foil. The cauliflower will still brown, but not as much as when they bake directly on a baking sheet.

Bake, flip, bake for a few more minutes and you'll have yourself an easy vegan side dish that you'll love (and it beats boiled cauliflower, any day!)

How to Top It

This dish is great just as it is, right out of the oven, the garlic gives it great flavour. If you want a little something extra, you can top it with chopped parsley like I do.

You can also top with:

• a sprinkle of vegan Parmesan
• a squeeze of lemon juice
• your favourite freshly chopped herb

How to Serve It

There are so many ways to enjoy garlic cauliflower, but my favourite way to serve it is as a side dish to a main course.

You can also serve it with the following:

• pasta (it goes perfectly with my vegan garlic pasta!)
• soups (this vegan cauliflower soup is perfect!)
• salads
• Buddha /veggie/grain bowls

If you like this vegan cauliflower recipe, you may also like these other easy vegan cauliflower and side dish recipes:

• Curried Cauliflower Sweet Potato Soup
• Vegan Garlic Bread
• Simple Black-Eyed Pea Salad
• Instant Pot Sweet Potatoes
• Vegan Spelt Rolls
• Butternut Squash Sweet Potato Carrot Soup