Top-down shot of Sauced-Up Roasted Cauliflower
October 18, 2023

Sauced-Up Roasted Cauliflower (Vegan)

October 18, 2023

Sauced-Up Roasted Cauliflower (Vegan)

Top-down shot of Sauced-Up Roasted Cauliflower

Sauced-Up Roasted Cauliflower is a delicious and filling main or a side, featuring oven-roasted cauliflower smothered in creamy dairy-free sauce and topped with smoked almonds and dates. Roasting cauliflower is an easy way to enhance its flavour — roasting it brings out the natural sugars and creates slightly crunchy, nutty nuggets of cauliflower goodness. If you’ve never tried roasting before, you’ll be surprised at how such a simple treatment results in such a radical transformation.

Ingredients

Top-down view of ingredients for Sauced-Up Roasted Cauliflower: Cauliflower, smoked almonds, mother mix, olive oil for roasting, dates

Sauced-Up Roasted Cauliflower is made with just a few ingredients: cauliflower (of course!), a bit of olive oil for roasting it, smoked almonds, dates, and a creamy dairy-free sauce made with the Mother Mix or its components: almond flour, tapioca starch, nutritional yeast, and salt.

Roasting cauliflower is an easy way to enhance its flavour – roasting it brings out the natural sugars and creates slightly crunchy, nutty nuggets of cauliflower goodness.

About the Mother Mix

The Mother Mix is an all-natural, gluten-free dry mix that you can make in minutes and store in your pantry. 


Use it to jumpstart over 16 different creamy and cheesy plant-based recipes - from Spinach Dip to Scalloped Potatoes and Veggie Pot Pie.


You can also use it on its own -- just add water, blend, and heat -- to make a simple vegan cream sauce, delish over roasted veggies! 

About the Mother Mix

Measuring cup heaped full with the Mother Mix, made from almond flour, nutritional yeast, tapioca starch, and salt

The Mother Mix is an all-natural, gluten-free dry mix that you can make in minutes and store in your pantry. 


Use it to jumpstart over 16 different creamy and cheesy plant-based recipes - from Spinach Dip to Scalloped Potatoes and Veggie Pot Pie.


You can also use it on its own -- just add water, blend, and heat -- to make a simple vegan cream sauce, delish over roasted veggies! 

Making Sauced-Up Roasted Cauliflower

Start by chopping your cauliflower into roughly even pieces. We usually cut them into about 1-inch sized bites. The cauliflower will shrink when it’s roasted.

Put the cauliflower on a baking sheet and drizzle with olive oil.

Topdown view of chopped cauliflower on a roasting pan, drizzled with olive oil

Pop the cauliflower in the oven and while its roasting chop the almonds and dates, and set aside. Check on your cauliflower after about 15 minutes and give it a stir.

The sauce only takes a few minutes, so you can start making it when the cauliflower is almost done. For this recipe, we’re using the Mother Mix on its own to make a simple cream sauce that’s a perfect backdrop to the roasted cauliflower, smoked almonds, and dates. To make it, either toss the Mother Mix in the blender with the water, or measure out the individual ingredients. Blend it for one minute on high, transfer to a saucepan and heat for a few minutes until it’s thick and stretchy. When it’s done, just set it aside until your cauliflower is ready.

You’ll know your cauliflower is ready when the edges are starting to get brown and crispy and the cauliflower is golden brown.

Topdown view of roasted cauliflower. Cauliflower is golden brown and the edges are dark brown and crispy.

Roasted cauliflower

Once the cauliflower is roasted, stir it into the sauce.

Topdown view of roasted cauliflower being stirred into Mother Mix cream sauce.

Making Sauced-Up Roasted Cauliflower

Serve topped with smoked almond and dates. (We've also added caramelized pearl onions to ours.)

Top-down shot of Sauced-Up Roasted Cauliflower

Sauced-Up Roasted Cauliflower

Recipe Card

Sauced-Up Roasted Cauliflower (Vegan)

5 from 1 vote
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 25 minutes
Total Time 35 minutes
Sauced-Up Roasted Cauliflower is a delicious and filling main or a side, featuring oven-roasted cauliflower smothered in creamy dairy-free sauce and topped with smoked almonds and dates. Roasting cauliflower is an easy way to enhance its flavour -- roasting it brings out the natural sugars and creates slightly crunchy, nutty nuggets of cauliflower goodness. If you've never tried this before, you'll be surprised at how such a simple treatment results in such a radical transformation.
Servings 4 sides
Calories 208 kcal
Author Sylvia

Ingredients

  • 4 cups cauliflower, chopped into 1 inch pieces
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 1 tablespoon dates, roughly chopped
  • 2 tablespoons smoked almonds, roughly chopped
  • 2/3 rds cup Mother Mix + 1 cup water {See instructions for link to mix recipe.}

Optionally, if you haven't made the Mother Mix

  • 1/2 cup almond flour
  • 1 cup water
  • 2 tablespoons tapioca flour
  • 1 tablespoon, plus 1 teaspoon nutritional yeast
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt

Instructions

  • Make the cauliflower: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Chop cauliflower into approx 1 inch cubes. Place on baking sheet and drizzle with oilive oil. Roast for about 25-30 minutes, until the edges are brown, and smaller pieces are looking crispy.
  • Prepare the sauce using the pre-made Mother Mix and water (or the individual ingredients). Blend for one minute, and then transfer to a small saucepan. Heat to medium and stir until sauce is thickened and stretchy, 5 to 6 minutes. Turn heat off and set aside until cauliflower is ready.
  • Combine the roasted cauliflower, sauce, dates, and almonds.

Notes

Storage and Reheating

We think this is best when the cauliflower is hot out of the oven, but if you have leftovers, you can reheat in the microwave or oven. If you have leftover sauce, you can reheat in a small saucepan. 

Time Saving Tips

This recipe doesn't require a lot of prep time, but to make preparation even quicker, you could use packaged chopped cauliflower. We don't recommend using frozen cauliflower. 

About the Mother Mix 

The Mother Mix gives you a jumpstart on a number of recipes on this site. It's vegan and gluten-free and made from all natural ingredients.  You can find the recipe for this awesome pantry staple here
 

Nutrition

Calories: 208kcal | Carbohydrates: 21g | Protein: 8g | Fat: 12g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Sodium: 325mg | Potassium: 416mg | Fiber: 5g | Sugar: 9g | Vitamin C: 48mg | Calcium: 59mg | Iron: 1mg

Courses, Cuisines, and Keywords

Course
dinner
|
dinner, lunch, side
|
lunch
Cuisine
North American
Keywords
easy caulifower recipe
|
eat a whole head of cauliflower
|
mother mix
|
quick cauliflower recipe
|
roasted cauliflower

Comments

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Recipe Rating




      1. It was delish! Our cauliflower was huge, though. I could have used a double batch of the magical cheez. And pearl onions down here also seem to be huge, which was odd. We didn’t manage to eat the whole head, but I’ll polish it off in my lunch tomorrow.

        1. Yay! I’m glad you liked it! My cauliflower was about 4 cups so that’s a bit of a guideline. And I didn’t know pearl onions could be huge! Good to know! Thanks for letting me know how it want! I have a tomato recipe coming soon! I know you love your tomatoes!

    1. Hi 2020! Have you tried roasting cauliflower before? It really does make a big difference to the flavour. And of course the addition of the cheeze sauce, with the almonds and dates and onions adds to the experience too! I hope it makes you a convert! Let me know!

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Hello!


We're creating a course: Baby Steps to Plant-Based Eating

Yes, seriously. Trying a plant-based diet can be overwhelming and we'd like to help. 

This course is for you if: 

  • you're curious about plant-based eating, but don't know where to start 
  • you have family or friends who eat plant-based and you'd like to be able to cook for them
  • you've dabbled with plant-based cooking, but would like to expand your repertoire 

Baby Steps to Plant-Based Eating will: 

  • answer your pressing questions
  • cultivate your confidence 
  • arm you with recipes

Want to learn more?  

Join our email list for updates about the course launch. You'll also get priority access to new recipes, and other subscriber privileges.