If you love cauliflower like me then you'll fall in love with this roasted purple cauliflower!
I took advantage of seeing purple cauliflower at the grocery store. I notice it's not always available year-round—same with the orange variety. Copied straight from Google, the orange and purple cauliflower have more antioxidants than regular white cauliflower. Purple cauliflower's true origin is not known, but the purple color is natural. It is the antioxidant anthocyanin that gives it the purple pigment.
Cauliflower always tastes so epic when it's roasted. I tossed this one with fresh fragrant herbs and spices like Thai basil, ginger, cardamom, and coriander. It's a little sweet, a little tangy, and looks so pretty! I served it with some jasmine rice I already had cooked and leftover in the fridge and it made a wonderful little meal. You could also add my tempeh croutons to this and it would be perfectly filling!
what you need
- purple cauliflower
- avocado oil or another high-heat neutral vegetable oil
- Thai basil
- lime juice and zest
- unseasoned rice vinegar
- agave nectar
- garlic
- ground coriander, ginger, and cardamom
- sea salt
how to make the recipe
This is a super simple way to prepare purple cauliflower. Roasting it brings out so much more flavor. This is the case with all cruciferous vegetables—think brussels sprouts, cabbage, and broccoli. There's almost nothing worse than raw cauliflower. Am I right?
You'll start by cutting the head of cauliflower into florets of relatively equal size. Cut the excess leaves off of the base. Cut into the whole head, trimming off medium-sized florets. Lay the purple cauliflower florets on a large baking sheet or in a large cast iron pan in one even layer.
Before throwing the cauliflower in the oven you're going to coat it in the tangy marinade. Mix the avocado oil, chopped Thai basil, lime zest and juice, rice vinegar, agave nectar, minced garlic, ground coriander, ginger, cardamom, and sea salt until well combined. Pour the marinade over the cauliflower and toss with your hands to coat it well. I roast at a high heat of 450°F, which will take about 20 minutes until it's nicely colored. Toss the cauliflower and push it to one side of the pan. Add the cooked rice gently mixed with half the green onion to the other side of the pan or baking sheet. Warm this up in the oven with the cauliflower for another 5 minutes.
equipment you need
- sharp knife
- cutting board
- cast iron pan or large baking sheet
- mixing bowl
- whisk
substitutions
- purple cauliflower - obviously the purple cauliflower is the prettiest, but you can use white cauliflower or orange cauliflower too. Or how about mixing purple and orange cauliflower? That would be nice. Feel free to try this same method and sauce with broccoli or brussels too!
- Thai basil - I find it difficult to source this herb—which is my absolute fave—in Los Angeles. I don't know why? The Thai basil is the base of this marinade, but you could swap it for fresh cilantro or Italian basil instead. It will be different but just as delicious and fresh.
- agave nectar - you can substitute agave for regular sugar, coconut sugar, or maple syrup. If using granulated sugar just mix it in the sauce long enough until it's mostly dissolved.
- roasted salted peanuts - these are easily swapped for roasted salted cashews or almonds. It's there for texture and adding a little crunchy salty bite.
Looking for more ways to eat cauliflower?
The mushroom sage cauliflower risotto is super creamy and only made of veggies!
If you haven't had the famous hot for food cauliflower wings, what are you waiting for?!
And if you think the perfect summer recipe doesn't exist, think again! These grilled cauliflower tacos are it.
roasted purple cauliflower
Ingredients
roasted cauliflower
- 1 head purple cauliflower
- 2 tablespoon avocado oil
- 2 teaspoon Thai basil finely chopped
- 1 teaspoon lime zest
- ½ a lime juiced
- 1 teaspoon unseasoned rice vinegar
- 1 teaspoon agave nectar
- 1 teaspoon minced garlic
- 1 teaspoon ground coriander
- 1 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1 teaspoon sea salt
- ½ teaspoon ground cardamom
for serving
- 2 C cooked jasmine rice
- 1 green onion finely chopped
- 1 tablespoon cilantro finely chopped
- 1 tablespoon mint finely chopped
- 1 tablespoon Thai basil finely chopped
- 2 tablespoon roasted salted peanuts rough chopped
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 450°F.
- Trim the excess leaves off the head of cauliflower and cut it into medium-sized florets. Lay pieces in a cast iron pan in one even layer. You can also use a large sheet pan.
- In a small bowl mix together avocado oil, chopped Thai basil, lime zest and juice, rice vinegar, agave nectar, minced garlic, ground coriander, ginger, cardamom, and sea salt until well combined.
- Pour this marinade over the cauliflower and toss with your hands to coat well. Roast this for 20 minutes or until nicely colored. Toss the cauliflower and push it to one side of the pan. Add the cooked rice gently mixed with half the green onion to the other side. Heat this up in the oven for another 5 minutes.
- Plate the rice and cauliflower and top with remaining chopped green onion, fresh cilantro, mint, Thai basil, and peanuts.
Nicole
I love all the flavors of the "marinade" but the method was flawed for me as all the delicious juice just got burned to the bottom of my sheet pan rather than coating the cauliflower, even after tossing and trying to massage it in. a bit disappointing.