Most of us love cauliflower. If you’re Paleo then you probably have come to appreciate the many things you can do with a head of cauliflower. Chop it up into florets and steam it. Puree it and make mashed “potatoes”. Use it for making a Paleo pizza crust. Throw florets in a food processor and you have “rice”.
But have you ever thought about throwing the whole damn head of cauliflower in the oven and roasting it? It’s the lazy way to cook it and it comes out so INCREDIBLY delicious.
This recipe is adapted from PureWow. I came across it when I was looking for a new cauliflower recipe. The PureWow recipe is not Paleo, so I changed a few ingredients, made it dairy free, and used bacon fat to roast it in!
Whole Roasted Spiced Cauliflower
Adapted from PureWow – Serves 6
INGREDIENTS:
- 1 Tablespoon of coconut oil or bacon fat
- 1 head of cauliflower, trimmed at the base, with green leaves removed
- 1 can of FULL fat Coconut milk (I buy this brand)
- 1 lemon or lime, zested and juiced
- 2 Tablespoons of Chile Powder
- 1 Tablespoon of Cumin
- 1 Tablespoon of Garlic Powder
- 1 Teaspoon of Curry Powder
- 2 Teaspoons of Sea Salt
- 1 Teaspoon of Black Pepper
DIRECTIONS:
- Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.
- Take the coconut oil or the bacon fat and scoop it onto a baking dish. Throw it in the oven to allow it to melt.
- Take your can of coconut milk. Ideally, you want the coconut milk to solidify and separate. If using full-fat coconut milk you should be able to just scoop out the thick coconut part and leave the watery part behind. This gives you about a cup of thick coconut.
- In a medium bowl, combine the coconut, with the lime/lemon zest and juice, chile powder, cumin, garlic powder, curry powder, salt and pepper.
- Now take your cauliflower by the head and dunk it in the bowl. Get it all slathered up in the marinade. Use your hands to to make sure it’s covered thick all over.
- Place the cauliflower on the baking dish that you used to melt coconut oil/bacon fat on. Roast it until it is dry and lightly browned for about 30-40 minutes. A crust will form on the surface of the cauliflower from the marinade.
- Let the cauliflower cool for a few minutes before cutting in wedges and serving on a big green salad!
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I never thought about roasting a whole cauliflower! Wow! It looks delish and stunning too. Will have to try
Quick Question: Roast head down??????
Trying this tonight, although my marinade was nowhere near so thick. I (out of habit) shook my can of coconut milk (Goya brand – I think full-fat, as far as I could tell) and it wasn’t separated at all – would that have made the difference?
It still seems to be working well – I’ve “basted” the cauliflower with the excess marinade a few times to make sure it stayed coated.
It was delicious with coconut oil but I’m looking forward to trying it with bacon fat next time. I think I will reduce the spices a little since some members of my family are very sensitive to hot stuff but I thought it was delicious. I did a little frozen broccoli with the left over seasoning. Yummy! I only cooked it about 10 minutes.
Same question is it roasted head down?
Heads up!
how did the marinade stay on in the hot oven?! mine melted off immediately.
They melt but then I just dunk it back in when it comes out of the oven.
I made this today–YUM!! My husband is vegan and I am Paleo so this fit right into both of our lifestyles. We both loved it!
I made this tonight for dinner, so yummy! I also made a cilantro pesto to go with it.
This looks SO good. Trying this with homemade mayo plus Sriracha too!!!
Wow – totally awesome idea; tried it tonight and the entire family loved it! From the name and ingredients, I thought it might be too spicy for me, but it wasn’t. This is a keeper!!!
I cooked this this afternoon. Looked great & tasted wonderful –
Next time though I’ll cut it up then slather this spicy mix over all of the cauliflower.
(But I didn’t use the curry – don’t have it – & I guess this didn’t need it.)
I just love spicy foods……… AND now Cauliflower joins these foods…
Thank you for this great recipe.
Yes, that is what I did – 1st time I recovered (with my hands) after about 15 minutes.
Then again (but not as much this time) after 30 minutes when I felt I should cook it 10 more minutes.
Tasted Wonderful.
Instead of coconut milk, do you think vegan sour cream (soy based) would work?
You can try it, but it would not be something I would probably recommend because it doesn’t fit with the Paleo eating plan, and it uses soy, which I would not choose to use.