Looking for a delicious and easy side dish to serve up with your dinner tonight? Try this Spicy Roasted Lemon Cauliflower Recipe! It’s full of flavor, zesty, healthy and delicious!
Spicy Roasted Lemon Cauliflower
Looking for a delicious and zesty side dish to serve up tonight? This Spicy Roasted Lemon Cauliflower is packed with flavour, fast to make, and healthy. It’s a win, win, win.
In the last couple of years, cauliflower has really made a comeback. Once upon a time, it was just the sad sister of broccoli, but now – there are so many incredible dishes that really make cauliflower the star.
When we dine out, we pretty much always order the roasted cauliflower. It’s one of our go-to’s because it’s light and healthy, which makes it a great side-dish option.
In Vancouver, my favourite roasted Cauliflower has been at Nightingale and Tacofino. If you’re ever in town, I highly recommend you go to Nightingale for a nice dinner out or Tacofino for more casual eats and order the Roasted Cauliflower as a side.
I’m not going to lie to you… Growing up I hated cauliflower.
I wasn’t a picky kid, really, but if there was one vegetable I would happily pass on, it was cauliflower. It wasn’t until I was well into my teens, even 20s, that I really began to enjoy them. Looking back I think it must’ve just been because I had no idea how to cook and flavor cauliflower because now, it’s one of my very favorite veggies to cook up. It’s weird, too, because I pretty much have always loved every other vegetable – just cauliflower got the short end of the stick.
Health Benefits of Cauliflower
Cauliflower has tons of health benefits. It’s packed with antioxidants, fiber, choline, and a ton of vitamins. Antioxidants help protect your body’s cells from damaging free radicals. Fiber is so important for your digestive health and ensuring your digestive tract is working as it should. Choline helps with brain development and supports health in the nervous system.
Also, if you’re like me and sometimes find that rice can sometimes feel heavy in the stomach then substitute your rice dishes with cauliflower, instead. Cauliflower makes a great substitute for so many things – rice, pizza crust, mashed potatoes and so much more!
What in this Spicy Roasted Lemon Cauliflower Recipe?
- Cauliflower heads
- Olive Oil (or canola oil – any high smoke point oils)
- Paprika
- Jalapenos (or, 1-2 Thai Red Chilies)
- Tumeric
- Cumin
- Lemon Squeeze
- Fresh cilantro
- Salt and pepper
How to Make this Spicy Roasted Lemon Cauliflower Recipe:
This Spicy Roasted Lemon Cauliflower Recipe has become one of my favourite side dishes not just because it’s delicious – but because it’s super simple to make, too.
Truly, all you do is mix all the ingredients together in a bowl. I first pour in the oil, followed by the spices, chilies peppers, and garlic. Then add a splash of lemon juice (about ½ of the squeezed lemon juice), lastly, I sprinkle on a bit of salt and pepper.
Once the cauliflower is coated in the dressing, I then just place it in the oven to let it cook.
Spicy Roasted Lemon Cauliflower Recipe
Ingredients
- -1 head of cauliflower heads
- - Olive Oil
- - ½ – 1 jalapeno (or, 1-2 Thai Red Chilies)
- - 1 Clove of Garlic
- - 1/2 tsp ground turmeric
- - ¼ tsp ground cumin
- - 1 tsp paprika
- - 1 Fresh Lemon Juice – Squeezed
- - Salt and pepper
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
- Begin by chopping your cauliflower head into pieces. I personally don’t do this in any which way – I like the pieces to look hearty and chunky.
- Then, dice your jalapenos or Thai red chilies and garlic. You’ll want to make chop these quite finely. Getting a big piece of chili or garlic in your mouth is not ideal!
- Now, add your cauliflower into a large bowl. Lightly coat the cauliflower with olive oil, or whichever high-smoke oil you’re using.
- Next, add in your spices. Once you’ve added in your paprika, turmeric, and cumin, mix it well. You want to fully coat your cauliflower in the spices.
- Next, slowly pour lemon juice over the cauliflower mixture. You don’t want to pour the full amount in (save some for later) so just try to lightly coat them. If you’ve noticed a large pool of lemon juice at the bottom of your bowl then you’ve likely poured a bit too much.
- Finally, add in your chilies and mix well. You want to mix the lemon juice and chilies for a while so that each piece of cauliflower is nicely coated. **Don’t worry if some of the pieces aren’t sticking to the cauliflower, you can pour them overtop when we place the cauliflower on the baking sheet
- Now that all your ingredients are mixed together, it’s time to get cooking!
- First, you’ll want to line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Place your cauliflower mixture onto the parchment paper. You’ll want to separate the pieces slightly (don’t layer them) so that heat will hit the edges of the cauliflower and brown them.
- If you have leftover chilies, etc, in the bowl, pour them over top of the individual pieces of cauliflower.
- Let the cauliflower cook for 20 – 25 minutes. (Or. Until softened and browned)
- Once the cooking time is done, remove them from the oven and let sit for a few minutes to cool down.
- If you’d like to add a bit more of a citrus punch to the cauliflower, now is the time! Take your leftover lemon juice and mix it with a very small amount of olive oil. Drizzle the olive oil and lemon juice mixture over the cauliflower.
- And then just search up, and enjoy!
Notes
I highly recommend you top this dish with some cilantro. It just adds a bit more freshness to the dish. If you’re not a fan of cilantro though, then just use any of your favourite greens – even salad greens like kale or arugula. In today’s dish, I had both cilantro and kale.
More Recipes to Try:
This looks so good
Candice || natalyaammour.com