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
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
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.
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.
Roasted cauliflower
Once the cauliflower is roasted, stir it into the sauce.
Making Sauced-Up Roasted Cauliflower
Serve topped with smoked almond and dates. (We've also added caramelized pearl onions to ours.)
Sauced-Up Roasted Cauliflower
Related Recipes
Here are some other recipes that use the Mother Mix:
Recipe Card
Sauced-Up Roasted Cauliflower (Vegan)
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.
I love your addition of smoked almonds! They are one of my favorites, but I rarely cook with them!
Thanks! I’ve been on a bit of a kick with them lately! Putting them in everything!
I am finally making this for dinner tomorrow. Cannot wait. I’ll let you know how it goes 🙂
I hope you like it! I eat a lot of it!
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.
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!
I hate to say this as cauliflower is not my favorite vegetable, Because I am about change. I will try this challenge.
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!
I made this before and forgot to leave a review! Oops! Delish!
Thank you!