This is the easiest vegan roasted cauliflower steaks recipe. These flavorful and tender "steaks" are seasoned to perfection, making a healthy and delicious plant-based meal, or side-dish, that's easy to prepare and perfect for any occasion.
While I am not vegan, I do love incorporating vegetable packed vegan entrees, and side dishes, into our meals throughout the week. As long as the ingredients are real and made with whole foods, I'm all about a vegan meal. Along with this recipe for vegan roasted cauliflower steaks, my family also loves these vegan stuffed peppers.
Vegan, or not, I think you will absolutely love these cauliflower steaks. They are easy to make and taste amazing... plus, there are lots of ways to really boost up the flavors, too.
Not only are these cauliflower steaks easy and flavorful, they are extremely healthy. Cauliflower is loaded with nutrients! It is s a cruciferous vegetable, which is in the same family as broccoli, kale, and cabbage… it's pretty much a powerhouse of a food! Cauliflower is rich in vitamin C, high in fiber, and rich in antioxidants, just to name a few!
And if you're looking for more ways to eat up this extremely nutritious vegetable, try my chicken cauliflower soup.
Ingredients Needed
- 2 large cauliflower heads
- Extra-virgin olive oil
- Garlic powder
- Onion powder
- Paprika
- Fine sea salt
- Fresh parsley
How to Make This Recipe
1. Take your cauliflower heads and remove the leaves by cutting off the stems as close to the head as you can without actually cutting the florets (if there are some leaves left, no worries, you can trim them off when you slice the cauliflower - or just leave them and eat them; they are edible!).
2. Place cauliflower head stem side down on a cutting board and slice the cauliflower into ¾" to 1" slices. Your first few slices may just crumble and won's stay as steaks. That's okay...you will still use these pieces. You should get about 3 solid "steaks" per head of cauliflower.
3. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and place your cauliflower "steaks" and leftover florets on the baking sheet.
4. In a separate bowl, combine olive oil and seasoning and brush each cauliflower piece with the oil mix. Flip all pieces over and brush other side.
5. Perfection! Now you're ready for roasting. Place baking sheet in an oven that's been preheated to 420-degrees F. Bake for 30 minutes, flipping each steak halfway through.
Buying the Right Cauliflower
- Look for cauliflower that looks like the florets are tightly packed and ones with bright green leaves.
- Ideally choose ones that don't have any spots on the florets (if there are some small spots they can easily be cut off).
- Pay attention to how the cauliflower feels. The cauliflower head should feel relatively heavy in your hand and the head should feel compact.
- Cauliflower is on the clean-fifteen list, so go ahead and buy conventional if you'd like (organic is still a great option too).
Recipe Tips
Be sure to cut the cauliflower "steaks" into ¾ inch to one inch thick pieces. If they are too thin, they will fall apart.
For extra brown and crispy cauliflower steaks, increase baking time until done to your liking. If you still like a little crunch in your cauliflower, decrease the baking time.
If you like your cauliflower steaks spicy, add some red pepper flakes to the olive oil mix.
For an extra splash of flavor, top these with my vegan pesto. Or try drizzling with an easy maple tahini dressing. I use a similar tahini sauce on my roasted asparagus recipe.
Serving Suggestions
While these cauliflower steaks can easily be the star of the meal and your "main" dish, they aren't super filling, so if you're eating as a main dish, I would add some carbs, or vegan protein, on the side like air fryer sweet potatoes, air fryer smashed potatoes, vegan wild rice salad, or oven roasted garbanzo beans.
If you're enjoying these delicious steaks as a side, try them with my juicy air fryer turkey burgers, cashew chicken salad, oven baked fajitas, or Paleo pulled pork.
More Vegan Recipes to Try
If you make this recipe, please let me know what you think! I would so appreciate you leaving a star rating and/or comment below. And don't forget to share a photo on Instagram or Facebook and mention @CleanPlateMama!
Eat Clean.Be Well!
-Sara
Roasted Cauliflower Steaks
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Equipment
- 1 Baking sheet
Ingredients
- 2 cauliflower heads
- ¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil or avocado oil
- ¼ tsp. garlic powder
- ¼ tsp. onion powder
- ¼ tsp. paprika
- ½ tsp. fine sea-salt more to taste
- 2 tbsp. chopped fresh parsley optional
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 420-degrees F.
- Prep the cauliflower by first removing the leaves. Remove leaves by cutting off the stem as close to the head as you can without actually cutting the florets (if there are some leaves left, no worries, you can trim them off when you slice the cauliflower - or just leave them and eat them, they are edible!).
- Place cauliflower heads stem side down on a cutting board and slice the cauliflower into ¾" to 1" thick slices. Your first few slices may not stay as "steaks"; you will just get some small crumbles and that's okay as you will still use these pieces. You should get about 3 solid "steaks" per head of cauliflower.
- Repeat above step for both cauliflower heads.
- Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and place your cauliflower "steaks" and leftover florets on the baking sheet.
- In a small bowl, mix the extra-virgin olive oil, garlic powder, onion powder, and paprika.
- Brush each cauliflower steak, and all florets, with oil mixture. Flip each piece of cauliflower over and brush other side with remaining oil.
- Bake for 30 minutes, flipping steaks and smaller pieces half-way through.
- Sprinkle with sea-salt after they have baked/before serving. And you can sprinkle with chopped parsley if desired.
- Enjoy!
Notes
- Larger cauliflower heads work best for this recipe. Look for ones that are firm to the touch and have no, to limited, brown spots.
- You can store leftovers in the fridge in an airtight container. They will stay fresh for 3- 4 days. Reheat in oven or microwave.
Nutrition
resources: https://www.organicfacts.net/health-benefits/vegetable/health-benefits-of-cauliflower.html
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Susan says
Delicious and so easy! Beautiful presentation too. I will definitely make this again
Sara says
Thanks for sharing! We make this all the time and happy to hear you will be too 🙂