This cheesy roasted cauliflower is full of delicious savory flavor. It’s the perfect vegan and gluten free side dish – your family will love it!

Cauliflower seems to be one of those vegetables that you either love or hate. The people who love it will eat it in many different ways. The people who hate cauliflower seem to recall the soggy, white, boiled cauliflower from their childhood. That’s how I used to think of it. Until I tried roasted cauliflower.
Roasting cauliflower is an awesome way to enjoy this vegetable. We like it this way, with nutritional yeast, but we also love this garlic curried cauliflower, and this seasoned roasted cauliflower.
Roasting cauliflower really brings out the best of this vegetable. It has a slightly sweet, nutty flavor that’s really delicious.
The edges become browned and crispy, and once you start eating it, it’s hard to stop! This is one of our favorite side dishes.
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Ingredient Notes
- Cauliflower – This recipe works best with fresh cauliflower. It is possible to roast frozen cauliflower, but it won’t get as crispy.
- Olive Oil – Olive oil is a good choice for roasting vegetables. Another option would be avocado oil.
- Nutritional Yeast – This is what gives this dish its cheesy flavor. If you can’t have nutritional yeast, you can add more garlic power or other seasonings to boost up the flavor.
Step by Step Instructions
- You’ll use a sharp knife to remove the florets from the cauliflower. Spread them on a baking sheet, and pat the florets dry with a paper towel.
- Coat the cauliflower florets with olive oil, nutritional yeast, and spices.
- Bake at 425 degrees F until the cauliflower is roasted with some crispy browned edges.
Serving Suggestions
Serve this roasted cauliflower with:
Storage
I think that this is best eaten right away, but you can store it in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.
More Cauliflower Recipes
Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links.
Recipe
Cheesy Roasted Cauliflower (Vegan and Gluten Free).
Ingredients
- 1 head cauliflower
- ¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
- ¼ cup nutritional yeast
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- ⅓ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon pepper
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.
- Trim the florets off of the head of cauliflower and place them in a large bowl.
- Drizzle with the olive oil, then add the nutritional yeast, garlic powder, salt, and pepper. Toss to coat.
- Bake at 425 degrees F for about 30 minutes or until golden brown with some crisp edges. You'll need to stir it regularly so that it browns evenly.
- Season with more salt and pepper if desired.
Notes
Nutrition
This recipe was originally published in May 2016. It was updated in June 2018.
Toni Jones
Just making this cheesy roasted cauliflower. Its so easy to make. Love it
Jim Petrell
I love cauliflower boiled in water. Hoping to get a different appraach to cauliflower cooking/baking with this recipe. Started this with anticipation. and still waiting for the oven timer to go off after stirring once. I bought the Yeast nutrient and have no idea what that adds stirring agai n after 10 minutes. Waiting with anticipation of a mouth watering experience. 15 minutes more and counting. 9 minutes. Five more minutes. Actually pretty good, but would be better with melted cheese.
Chessie
This is a total winner of a recipe! I will make this again (and again). Five stars!
Kelly Roenicke
Yay! I’m so glad! Thanks for letting me know.
Rosalie
I am wondering if I could do this in an air fryer. Our kitchen is being completely redone and I’ve no oven for a few weeks.
Kelly Roenicke
I haven’t tried that, if you do, please let me know how it goes!
Rosie
Tried the air fryer today. I thoufht it very good. TIMED IT FOR about 15 minutes and gave it a shake 3 times. Turned out tender crisp which I like but hubby would have liked it a little more done. The flavor was so good. Will do this again when my awesome kitchen is done and I have an oven once again.
Jes
Love it. I added Sumac and a tiny bit of mustard to the bowl. Just yummy. Thanks.
Kelly Roenicke
Sounds delicious! Glad you liked this recipe!
Chessie
Good idea about the sumac! I just popped the cauliflower into the oven with the recipe as written, except that I added maybe a couple of teaspoons of apple cider vinegar — like you, thinking a bit of tang would be nice. I’ve got some za’atar, which has sumac in it, and if this is as good as I expect it will be, I might try a bit of za’atar next time I make it.
Kim
We had this with dinner tonight. It was so easy to make and absolutely delicious!
One question – Could I use frozen cauliflower rather than fresh?
Kelly
I haven’t tried that, but I think it would work although you may not get that crispy quality on the edges.
Kristen Fields
This looks really delicious! I always have a hard time making a really good cauliflower dish, I never get it quite right. It’s either overcooked or under! But I’m definitely going to try this recipe and see if I can get it right because this looks too yummy not to try. Thanks for sharing :)
Kristy @ Southern IN Law
I can’t get enough of nutritional yeast at the moment so I think I need to make this ASAP!
Kelly
We love it!
Julia Mueller
Ah man, glad to hear you survived the busy day! I’m in LUUURVE with this cheezy roasted cauli. I’ve been meaning to add nutritional yeast to broccoli for the roasting, but am seriously digging the cauliflower idea. This needs to be on the menu STAT!
Gayle @ Pumpkin 'N Spice
Oh this is such a great idea, Kelly! I’ve never tried a roasted cheese cauliflower before. This looks SO good!