49 Cauliflower Recipes To Make The Most Of Your Favorite Versatile Veggie
Cauliflower is SO much more than just a low-carb substitute.
Star of the veggie aisle for several years thanks to its magical powers as a low-carb substitute, cauliflower is more than capable of shining all on its own too. While we’ll forever sing its praises for replacing everything from pizza crust to bread (like in our cauliflower grilled cheese), it makes for a delicious plant-based alternative, and can easily be turned into everything from appetizers to impressive main dishes (like our brown sugar BBQ roasted whole cauliflower). Whether you’re trying to cut down on gluten, eat less meat, or just get more veggies into your diet, we’ve got a recipe for you. Check out our 49 cauliflower recipes for ideas!
If you’re not a cauliflower convert yet, you’ve got to start with the basics. Roasting cauliflower until it’s soft and lightly caramelized, with deliciously crispy edges, brings out its sweet and nutty notes—we dare you to not eat it all straight off the sheet pan. Think of it like a blank canvas, ready to take on whatever flavors you like.
Craving Italian? Try it with Parmesan or mozzarella, like in our cauliflower Parmesan, our cauliflower baked ziti, or our garlicky roasted cauliflower pasta. Need an easy weeknight dinner? Try our cauliflower tacos, our loaded cauliflower bake, or our cauliflower "mac" and cheese. Looking for a quick snack? Try our Parmesan cauliflower bites, our air fryer Buffalo cauliflower (truly, Buffalo and cauliflower are a match made in heaven), our cauliflower hummus, or our honey-garlic cauliflower. Looking to impress? Try our bacon-wrapped stuffed cauliflower, our chicken fried cauliflower, or our grilled teriyaki cauliflower steaks. Trust us, cauliflower can stand up against even the fanciest of steak or chicken dinners. 😍
Want more even vegetable inspiration? Check out our favorite zucchini recipes (another low-carb dynamo), our top Brussels sprouts recipes, and our best butternut squash recipes too.
Halal Cart-Style Cauliflower Bowls
Step off the bustling New York City subway any day of the week, and you will be immediately transported to a world of tantalizing aromas found only at the renowned halal carts. These bowls put an easy vegan spin on those flavors that we love!
Cauliflower Fried Rice
Fried rice will always be one of the best takeout items, by far. It’s a classic recipe that everyone loves…except maybe those who are trying to eat less rice. If that’s you, we created this spin on the fave that subs cauliflower for rice, while still crushing the flavor game.
Get the Cauliflower Fried Rice recipe.
Brown Sugar BBQ Whole Roasted Cauliflower
If you love whole roasted cauliflower, then you have to try our brown sugar BBQ version, which is perfect for when you're craving summer BBQ flavors without the meat.
Grilled Teriyaki Cauliflower Steaks
Looking for a vegetarian centerpiece for your summer grill-out? Make these teriyaki cauliflower steaks. Slathered in a brown sugar and soy glaze and showered with scallions and toasted sesame seeds, these saucy cauliflower steaks might just upstage the ribs.
Roasted Cauliflower
Cauliflower is one of our favorites to roast because, flavor-wise, it's very much a blank canvas. You can keep it simple with just salt and pepper, or go nuts with a custom spice blend. Our recipe adds just a touch of color and zesty flavor with Old Bay seasoning, but feel free to get creative!
Get the Roasted Cauliflower recipe.
Cauliflower Tacos
Looking to spice up taco night? Call in the roasted cauliflower. Loaded with crisp cabbage slaw and drizzled with a tangy lime crema, these richly spiced meatless tacos promise to shake up your weeknight dinner routine for good.
Get the Cauliflower Tacos recipe.
Cauliflower Wings
Wings are a game day staple, but if you’re vegetarian (or simply looking to eat less meat), then these cauliflower wings are the answer. While we love the classic buffalo wings, when we're craving something a bit lighter—or need to please plant-based guests—these wings are the app we turn to!
Get the Cauliflower Wings recipe.
Aloo Gobi
Aloo gobi is a classic vegetarian Indian dish translating to potatoes (aloo) and cauliflower (gobi). It's a one-pot, super-simple, comforting dish that's ready quickly—serve it as a side or over rice as a main.
Get the Aloo Gobi recipe.
Nashville Hot Cauliflower
Nashville hot chicken may be king in the land of regional American food, but Nashville hot cauliflower is coming to steal the crown. Coated in hot sauce-spiked buttermilk batter, fried to golden brown perfection, and drizzled with the iconic spicy oil, this vegetarian dinner is crispy, flavorful, and so delicious that its status as a “vegetarian entrée” is almost beside the point.
Get the Nashville Hot Cauliflower recipe.
Broccoli Cauliflower Casserole
There’s your average casserole and then there’s this cheesy loaded broccoli cauliflower casserole. Filled with plenty of veggies and feel-good flavors, there’s something in this dish for everyone. We packed it with enough veggies to make an easy weeknight casserole for leftovers throughout the week or as the perfect potluck side.
Cauliflower Tots
These cheesy nuggets of joy might be better than the real thing. We've included an oven-baked version as well as an air-fryer version below—both are great, but we're in love with how golden the air fryer version gets!
Get the Cauliflower Tots recipe.
Cauliflower Parm
Chicken Parmesan is absolutely incredible, but it can be a bit heavy. When you're trying to be healthy, but are really craving good Italian food, make this vegetarian cauliflower dish. You won't be disappointed.
Get the Cauliflower Parm recipe.
Cauliflower Rice
Cauliflower rice is all the rage, as a replacement for rice without the carbs. Luckily, it's super easy to make at home. A food processor is the quickest way, but if you don't have one, a box grater works just as well. We love it as fried rice, cheesy Mexican rice, and especially cheesy cauliflower bread, but you can use it almost anywhere you would use regular rice.
Get the Cauliflower Rice recipe.
Cauliflower Pizza Crust
Possibly our favorite use of cauliflower as a culinary master of disguise is in pizza crust. It might sound crazy, but it can be a delicious and healthy alternative to the classic. In this easy, gluten-free pizza recipe, you're basically making cauliflower rice as the base for your crust.
Get the Cauliflower Pizza Crust recipe.
Garlicky Roasted Cauliflower Pasta
In this recipe, cauliflower gets mashed into a paste to create a light sauce for the pasta that adds a ton of flavor. It's simple, light, and perfect for summer when you want comfort without being weighed down by something overly rich.
Roasted Cauliflower Salad
This warm cauliflower salad is simple but hearty and full of color and vegetables. It's good enough to be a main dish (even if you don’t think you’re a salad person) but is also easy enough to make a great, simple side. The roasted cauliflower is perfectly spiced with just a little bit of heat, and the creamy avocado dressing helps balance everything out.
Get the Roasted Cauliflower Salad recipe.
Buffalo Cauliflower Kebabs
These Buffalo cauliflower kebabs put all your favorite flavor from classic Buffalo wings onto skewers–and they're vegetarian to boot! Glaze the kebabs with more Buffalo sauce, grill until the cauliflower is tender, then drizzle with blue cheese dressing.
Get the Buffalo Cauliflower Kebabs recipe.
Giardiniera
This pickled Italian relish is endlessly versatile. Try it on sandwiches, tossed into a hearty salad, or in place of olives in your martini. Serrano chiles can be very spicy, so opt for a pinch of red pepper flakes instead if you’re heat-averse.
Get the Giardiniera recipe.
Chili Garlic Fried Cauliflower
This recipe was very loosely inspired by our Korean fried chicken wings, but nothing about this recipe is really traditional at all. The cauliflower florets are battered in a tempura-like batter, which does aid in a wing-like crispy coating, but you're still going to want to eat these right away—the crunch factor diminishes quickly!
Chicken Fried Cauliflower
We know, we know, frying cauliflower kinda defeats the purpose of it being a vegetable and all, but it's SO DAMN DELICIOUS. We took note of how chicken fried steak is prepared and modeled this recipe after that. (Vegetarians, we see you, and you're welcome.)
Get the Chicken Fried Cauliflower recipe.
