This cheesy roasted cauliflower is full of delicious savory flavor. It’s the perfect vegan and gluten free side dish recipe that your family will love.
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. Cauliflower rice, grilled cauliflower steaks, you name it. Even cauliflower biscuits!
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.
MY LATEST VIDEOSRoasting cauliflower is an awesome way to enjoy this healthy vegetable. We like it this way, with nutritional yeast, but we also love this garlic cauliflower recipe.
What does roasted cauliflower taste like?
It has a slightly sweet, nutty flavor that’s really delicious. Roasting cauliflower really brings out the best of this vegetable. It’s certainly not bland or boring.
The edges become browned and crispy, and once you start eating it, it’s hard to stop!
Is roasted cauliflower healthy?
Cauliflower is a good source of vitamins C, B6, and K, as well as folate. The addition of nutritional yeast for the “cheesy” flavor in this recipe adds protein, fiber, and vitamin B12.
How do you roast cauliflower?
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, and bake at 425 degrees until the cauliflower is roasted with some crispy browned edges.
This roasted cauliflower couldn’t be any easier, but it does require some oven time to get it nice and golden brown. This cauliflower gets its savory, cheesy flavor from a healthy dose of nutritional yeast. That plus garlic powder and olive oil makes this side dish extra tasty – it disappears in minutes over here! I hope you love this side dish as much as we do.
If you make this recipe, be sure to share it on Instagram and tag me @prettybeeblog. I love to see what you’ve been cooking and baking!
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Cheesy Roasted Cauliflower (Vegan and Gluten Free).
An easy recipe for cheesy roasted cauliflower that's gluten free and vegan. This savory side dish is full of health benefits, and a delicious way to enjoy this vegetable!
Ingredients
- 1 head cauliflower
- 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
- 1/4 cup nutritional yeast
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/3 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon pepper
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. 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 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.
Recipe Notes
If you don't have nutritional yeast, you can leave it out.
If you aren't dairy free, go ahead and add some Parmesan cheese.
Leftovers could be stored in the refrigerator, but are best when eaten immediately.
You cannot freeze leftover frozen cauliflower, the quality would not be very good.
This recipe was originally published in May 2016. It was updated in June 2018.
More vegan cauliflower recipes:
Vegan Cauliflower Shells and Cheese
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.
This is a total winner of a recipe! I will make this again (and again). Five stars!
Yay! I’m so glad! Thanks for letting me know.
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.
I haven’t tried that, if you do, please let me know how it goes!
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.
Love it. I added Sumac and a tiny bit of mustard to the bowl. Just yummy. Thanks.
Sounds delicious! Glad you liked this recipe!
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.
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?
I haven’t tried that, but I think it would work although you may not get that crispy quality on the edges.
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 :)
I can’t get enough of nutritional yeast at the moment so I think I need to make this ASAP!
We love it!
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!
Oh this is such a great idea, Kelly! I’ve never tried a roasted cheese cauliflower before. This looks SO good!