Whole roasted cauliflower is a delicious, Whole30-friendly, keto, and vegan side dish! Plus, this recipe only uses 3 ingredients!
Haven’t yet spotted whole roasted cauliflower on a restaurant menu? Trust me: you will soon. Gorgeously crusted on the outside, tender on the inside, this visually striking preparation of cauliflower is popular among chefs for a host of reasons: it’s budget-friendly, ridiculously simple to make, and guaranteed to impress guests either as a centerpiece or side. Even your vegetarian friends will dig it!
Personally, I like to season a whole roasted cauliflower head with just salt and olive oil so that it’s a blank slate that can be paired with my favorite sauces and herbs. With five roasted heads sitting in my fridge right now, I’m definitely going to be using a bunch of different flavor boosters, from pesto to marinara sauce.
Why so much leftover cauliflower? ’Cause this past week, I’ve been in the thick of testing this recipe. I tried a myriad of different techniques that I’d found on the web and in my cookbook collection to see which method delivered the biggest bang for the least amount of work. I used different techniques to prepare each cauliflower head—boiling the cauliflower first (too much work), roasting it in a preheated skillet with a separate pan of water in the oven (great crust, but not quite tender enough inside), and roasting it in a covered Dutch oven for the first hour (overly mushy and inconsistent browning on the outside)—until I came up with a crazy-easy method that results in a perfectly bronzed crust and tender center.
See? Testing pays off!
Ready to check out my recipe?
Time to make Whole Roasted Cauliflower!
Makes 4 side servings
Ingredients:
- 1 whole cauliflower head (about 2 pounds)
- ½ cup (or more) extra virgin olive oil or melted ghee
- Diamond Crystal kosher salt
Equipment:
- Paring knife
- Cutting board
- 8-inch Cast iron skillet
- Aluminum foil
- Tongs
Method:
Preheat the oven to 375°F and place a rack in the middle position. Trim away the leaves at the bottom of the cauliflower head. Carefully cut off and remove the stem and tough core, but be careful to keep the head intact.
Rinse and pat dry the trimmed cauliflower head. Then drizzle olive oil or melted ghee all over it.
With your hands, rub the oil on the surface (both top and bottom) until the cauliflower is well coated.
Season both sides of the cauliflower liberally with salt. Make it rain!
Place the cauliflower florets-side up on a cast iron skillet, and cover tightly with aluminum foil.
Put the skillet on the middle rack in the oven. Cook for 30 minutes, covered.
Remove the foil from the skillet…
…and roast for an additional hour in the oven. Once the cauliflower is golden brown on the outside and tender on the inside, take it out of the oven. A knife should slide in and out without any resistance.
Transfer the cauliflower head to a platter.
Carve and serve as-is, or drizzle on your favorite sauce and fresh herbs.
Not too shabby for a three-ingredient recipe!
Looking for more recipe ideas? Head on over to my Recipe Index. You’ll also find exclusive recipes on my iPhone and iPad app, and in my cookbooks, Nom Nom Paleo: Food for Humans (Andrews McMeel Publishing 2013), Ready or Not! (Andrews McMeel Publishing 2017), and Nom Nom Paleo: Let’s Go! (Andrews McMeel Publishing 2021).
PRINTER-FRIENDLY RECIPE CARD
Whole Roasted Cauliflower
Ingredients
- 1 whole cauliflower head about 2 pounds
- ½ cup extra virgin olive oil or melted ghee
- Diamond Crystal kosher salt
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375°F and place a rack in the middle position. Trim away the leaves at the bottom of the cauliflower head. Carefully cut off and remove the stem and tough core, but be careful to keep the head intact.
- Rinse and pat dry the trimmed cauliflower head. Then drizzle olive oil or melted ghee all over it.
- With your hands, rub the oil on the surface (both top and bottom) until the cauliflower is well coated. Season both sides of the cauliflower liberally with salt. Make it rain!
- Place the cauliflower florets-side up on a cast iron skillet, and cover tightly with aluminum foil. Put the skillet on the middle rack in the oven. Cook for 30 minutes, covered.
- Remove the foil from the skillet, and roast for an additional hour in the oven. Once the cauliflower is golden brown on the outside and tender on the inside, take it out of the oven. A knife should slide in and out without any resistance.
- Transfer the cauliflower head to a platter. Carve and serve as-is, or drizzle on your favorite sauce and fresh herbs.
Video
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
This turned out so good. Love the crispy parts best. Did have some challenges cutting out the core but turned out great
Yummy. Turned out good and the crispy parts…so good. Struggled a bit cutting out the core but it all worked out. Thanks you for a great simple recipe. I don’t think it even needs any sauce
So good. Love the crispy parts!
Has anyone tried this in an air fryer or is the cast iron pan key to all that yumminess?!
I’ve never tried it in an air fryer but I have baked in a regular sheet pan (instead of cast iron) and it turned out great still!
This is the only way I make cauliflower since I found this recipe a few years ago. So much easier than cutting off the stalks and turns out better as well because there are’t smaller parts that get get burned, while other parts are too hard.