The most incredible cauliflower recipe ever – Roasted Parmesan Crusted Cauliflower is quick, easy and off-the-charts delicious!
Try it for dinner tonight – as a side, or as the main. Or as a healthy, low carb snack at a gathering!
Roasted Parmesan Crusted Cauliflower
This Roasted Parmesan Crusted Cauliflower is the low carb, healthier version of these Parmesan Crusted Potatoes I shared a few weeks ago. Because I felt so bad for everyone who left wailing messages along the lines of “I’m trying to be healthy! What are you doing to me!!!?”.
Then there was one sensible lady who calmly asked “This looks terrific. Do you have any suggestions for other vegetables this could be made with?” And here is my sensible response – Parmesan Crusted CAULIFLOWER!!!
The most amazing cauliflower recipe ever – full stop!
This is an unbelievably delicious way to roast cauliflower!
I must confess, I thought it would be as easy as swapping the potatoes for the cauliflower. But actually, it didn’t work that well, it came out quite soggy. Which, logically, makes sense because cauliflower has more water in it than potatoes.
So it took a few goes to get it right. I added a little panko breadcrumbs to add crunch, reduced the oil a touch (too much oil actually makes the crust soggy with cauliflower, unlike with potatoes), I bake it for a few minutes after turning the cauliflower to reveal the gorgeous crust to add a bit of extra crunch.
And the small yet big change I made was to eliminate salt altogether. Potatoes can take alot of salt.
Cauliflower cannot.
So the parmesan alone is enough salt for cauliflower. Though if you have a very salty palette, you may wish to sprinkle some on at the end. But try it first without adding extra salt, see what you think.
How to serve Parmesan Crusted Roasted Cauliflower
I know the obvious way to serve this Parmesan Crusted Cauliflower is as a side. But I think it also makes a very satisfying vegetarian meal. Cauliflower is quite meaty, don’t you think? You can even make cauliflower steaks using this recipe. Imagine that!
This was actually my lunch on the day I photographed this – see below. I made some couscous, stirred through butter, salt, pepper and sliced spinach. Added tomatoes on the side, piled on the cauliflower.
Not a bad lunch! ~ Nagi x
More cauliflower recipes
PS The crust is on one side only. So one side has nice browning from the roasting, and the other side is crusted with the parmesan. 🙂
WATCH HOW TO MAKE IT
Roasted Parmesan Crusted Cauliflower recipe video!
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Roasted Parmesan Crusted Cauliflower
Ingredients
- 1 large head of cauliflower , firm not old and floppy
- 2 1/2 tbsp olive oil
- Black pepper
- Oil spray (I use olive oil) (Note 1)
- Finely chopped parsley , for garnish, if desired
Crust:
- 1/2 cup / 50g grated parmesan , the sand-like type (Note 2)
- 1/4 cup panko breadcrumbs (Note 3)
- 1/2 tsp dried oregano or thyme
- 1/2 tsp paprika
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 200C/390F (standard) or 180C/350F (fan/convection).
- Mix Crust ingredients in a small bowl.
- Break cauliflower into large florets. Cut very large florets into 1.5cm / 3/5" thick slices, and the medium florets in half. You want a large flat surface area on each piece for the crust to adhere to.
- Line a baking tray (30 x 40 cm / 12 x 16") with paper.
- Drizzle tray with oil. Use a cauliflower to spread the oil all over the paper (see video).
- Sprinkle Crust mixture all over the tray, as evenly as possible. Don't touch it once scattered.
- Place cauliflower down on the Crust mixture, pressing down lightly. Don't jam them right up against each other (they will steam and go soggy), keep a tiny bit of space between each one.
- Spray generously with oil. Sprinkle with a bit of black pepper (optional).
- Bake for 20 minutes until crust is deep golden.
- Use tongs to turn the cauliflower so the crust side is up. Bake for a further 5 minutes.
- Serve immediately, sprinkled with finely chopped parsley or other herb, if desired.
Recipe Notes:
Nutrition Information:
In case you missed it…
Crispy Parmesan Roasted Potatoes!
LIFE OF DOZER
Size perspective – this is at the foot of my queen size bed…. He’s 40kg / 80 lb!!!!!
YUM!!! I want to say I have seen a lot of comments about the parm not sticking. That happened the first time I made this. I now just spray cooking oil over the parm mixture and everything sticks and is super crunchy! Remember to leave a little space between each floret. I also use a spatula to turn the cauliflower. Just faster for me. I really love finding new veggies to make rather than my usual steamed broccoli and green beans. So thank you so much for all these wonderful recipes!
Thank you for that tip Tami!! N x
Just wondering if I can substitute fresh oregano? Can’t believe I don’t have any dried in my spice cupboard !
That should be fine Bruce! N x
Aaaaamazing! This will be in the weekly rotation of veggies! The fam almost liked this better than the main dish!
I’m having a hard time getting the parmesan/panko mix to stick to the cauliflower. Both times I’ve made it, I’ve ended up with a lot of the mix on the bottom of the pan, and very little on the cauliflower.
Try grating it with a microplane or fine grater if you have one – pre grated parmesan won’t stick as well. N x
Excellent suggestion.
Way too dry and not much flavour.
Haven’t made this yet but your recipes have never let me down. Wondering about spicing them up a bit – we recently had baked buffalo cauli when out somewhere and were unsure how they did it – do you think drizzling with sriracha or something similar prior to adding the parmesan would make them too soggy?
It’s going to add moisture Liz, but something I’m keen to try! Would love to know if you give it a go!! N x
D-E-L-I-C-I-O-U-S !!!
Wahoo! Thanks so much Kris!! N x
I didn’t like it
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I made this tonight and I really didn’t like it. It was too dry.
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I always make Parmasean roasted potatoes and it’s a favorite of ours. I made the above recipe for the parmesan roasted Cauliflower tonight and it was not very tasty, too dry.
Made this tonight and it was quite tasty, despite forgetting to add the garlic powder ☹️ (It’s in the video but not in the ingredients list). I don’t normally like cauliflower that much unless it’s drowned in white sauce/cheese, so I’m glad I found a healthier way to enjoy it! I’m looking forward to trying the potato version of this recipe!
Another awesome recipe Nagi! I’m not a huge fan of cauliflower, but after making this recipe I couldn’t get enough of it. Super easy to make and delicious!
Do you think this would work without the Panko breadcrumbs? It looks delicious.
Hi Sarah, the panko adds extra crunch and helps bind it – I haven’t tried it without sorry! N x
Parmesan Cauliflower was great! Even my pre-teen son Liked it😊 but Parmesan cheese and Pablo didn’t really stick to cauliflowers and just kinda crumbled on the bottom of the pan so l had to scrape them and mixed up with cauliflowers. Do u know why it did that? Thanks!
Hi Hideko – it could be the type of parmesan – which type did you use? N x
We made this for tea last night. We’re not huge fans of cauli and don’t really buy it – but I ended up with one in a vege box.
Then questioned why we made a whole head of it…
Well, I’m glad we did! I could have eaten the whole thing!! It was amazing as usual Nagi!!
I subbed garlic powder for the thyme👌
Wahoo, that’s awesome to hear Ange! N x
Hi Nagi, I made the crunchy Parmesan cauliflower last night and it was delicious, I did not have any breadcrumbs so I added polenta and sesame seeds, it worked really well, as all your recipes do!
What a great idea Alison – sounds great! N x
This recipe sounds awesome! I’ve done the potatoes but actually prefer cauliflower. My question, very basic… what kind of “paper” are you using?
Hi Lisa, just baking paper 🙂
Hi Nagi, We’re back home after our trek around Oz now to get remember where things are in my “larger” home kitchen from our caravan. Now my question – could I replace the “breadcrumbs” with almond meal to create a Low-carb dish as we’re back on our Keto menu after adding a couple of kilos while away. This recipe sounds a good change from cauli mash and cauli rice.
I haven’t tried to be honest Josephine, I imagine you could but the texture would be different – N x
I guessed it would be a little different, but I’ll see how it goes as I’m trying again to keep to my Keto as much as possible. Have to lose some of this gained holiday weight.
Made this for supper yesterday & really enjoyed it! The recipe still doesn’t actually list any garlic powder but since the video lists it I added just under 1/2 tsp. Ended up using parmesan from the aisle, but in future will try the real refrigerated stuff – the crunchy coating still stuck on though. Leftovers will be chopped up to add to a crustless quiche today. Leftover cauliflower is one of my fave quiche ingredients so really looking forward to it.