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Roasted Parmesan Crusted Cauliflower

By:Nagi
116 Comments
Recipe v Video v Dozer v

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!

Try this Roasted Parmesan Crusted Cauliflower for dinner tonight! Serve it as a side or as a main meal, or how about as a healthy, low carb snack at a gathering? It's quick, easy and off-the-charts delicious! recipetineats.com

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!

Try this Roasted Parmesan Crusted Cauliflower for dinner tonight! Serve it as a side or as a main meal, or how about as a healthy, low carb snack at a gathering? It's quick, easy and off-the-charts delicious! recipetineats.com

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.

Try this Roasted Parmesan Crusted Cauliflower for dinner tonight! Serve it as a side or as a main meal, or how about as a healthy, low carb snack at a gathering? It's quick, easy and off-the-charts delicious! recipetineats.com

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

Try this Roasted Parmesan Crusted Cauliflower for dinner tonight! Serve it as a side or as a main meal, or how about as a healthy, low carb snack at a gathering? It's quick, easy and off-the-charts delicious! recipetineats.com

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. 🙂

Try this Roasted Parmesan Crusted Cauliflower for dinner tonight! Serve it as a side or as a main meal, or how about as a healthy, low carb snack at a gathering? It's quick, easy and off-the-charts delicious! recipetineats.com

WATCH HOW TO MAKE IT

Roasted Parmesan Crusted Cauliflower recipe video!

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Try this Roasted Parmesan Crusted Cauliflower for dinner tonight! Serve it as a side or as a main meal, or how about as a healthy, low carb snack at a gathering? It's quick, easy and off-the-charts delicious! recipetineats.com

Roasted Parmesan Crusted Cauliflower

Author: Nagi
Prep: 10 minutes
Cook: 25 minutes
Total: 35 minutes
Side
Western
4.67 from 36 votes
Servings4 - 5 as a side
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Recipe VIDEO above. The healthier version of the popular Parmesan Crusted Potatoes! Try it for dinner tonight - as a side, or as the main meal. Or how about passing it around at a gathering? 

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:

1. I prefer using oil spray rather than drizzling with oil because too much oil causes the crust to be a bit soggy. If you don't have oil spray, I would recommend tossing the cauliflower with 1 tbsp oil and reducing the oil drizzled on the tray to 1 1/2 tbsp.
2. Please use the grated parmesan that has a sand-like consistency sold in the refrigerated section. I take no responsibility if you try this with the grated parmesan sold in the aisles!! However, a number of readers said they used the grated parmesan from the aisles for the Parmesan Crusted Potatoes (on which this recipe is based) and said it was delicious 🙂
For freshly grated, use 50g/1.75 oz parmesan and a fine grater (microplane). Don't measure by cups because the volume of fresh grated parmesan is far greater than store bought for the same weight.
3. Panko Breadcrumbs are slightly bigger and fluffier than normal breadcrumbs, so they create a better crunch. It can be substituted with normal breadcrumbs but reduce to 2.5 tbsp.
4. CRISPINESS: This cauliflower version is not quite as crispy as the potato version, simply because cauliflower has a higher water content. To make it 100% crispy, you'd need to dredge in flour then egg then a crust with more panko in it. Which then makes this a completely different recipe - more labour intensive! 🙂
But there's definite crispiness, you'll come across patches of it in each piece, and some pieces are more crispy than others.
5. REHEATING: I find this doesn't reheat as well as the potatoes, simply because the water content in cauliflower is higher. What I've been doing with leftovers to reheat them is to preheat a tray in an oven at 220C/430F then drizzle with oil and spread using hand/paper/brush then put the cauliflower crust side down on the tray. Bake 5 - 10 minutes - don't cook too long, the soggier the cauliflower gets, the less crispy the crust is.
6. Nutrition per serving, assuming 5 servings.

Nutrition Information:

Serving: 135gCalories: 153cal (8%)
Keywords: cauliflower recipe, parmesan crusted cauliflower, roasted cauliflower
Did you make this recipe?I love hearing how you went with my recipes! Tag me on Instagram at @recipe_tin.

In case you missed it…

Crispy Parmesan Roasted Potatoes!

Make these Crispy Roasted Parmesan Potatoes for your Sunday roast or pass them around at a party! recipetineats.com

LIFE OF DOZER

Size perspective – this is at the foot of my queen size bed…. He’s 40kg / 80 lb!!!!!

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Hi, I'm Nagi!

I believe you can make great food with everyday ingredients even if you’re short on time and cost conscious. You just need to cook clever and get creative!

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116 Comments

  1. Sharon says

    5 stars
    We were looking for something to have instead of cheese and bikkies before a meal we made for a friend’s birthday. I made this recipe and served it with the blue cheese sauce recipe from “Dinner”. It was so delicious!

    Reply

  3. Gabriella Gal Asztalos says

    5 stars
    Another super delicious recipe, thank you Nagi. I love your precise instructions and your fotos of Dozer. I enjoy cooking your recipes since all of them turns out to be fantastic and everyone loves them.

    Reply

  5. Tami S says

    5 stars
    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!

    Reply

  8. Jonothan Cullinane says

    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.

    Reply

  10. Liz says

    5 stars
    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?

    Reply

  14. Debbie a Flores says

    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.

    Reply

  15. Aussie expat says

    4 stars
    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!

    Reply

  16. Jess says

    5 stars
    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!

    Reply

  18. Hideko says

    5 stars
    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!

    Reply

  19. Ange says

    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👌

    Reply

  20. Alison says

    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!

    Reply