by: House of Kerrs
Our family’s diet doesn’t have a name – we love a variety of foods and don’t have restrictions or allergies to work around. Just like many families we speak to, though, getting more veggies in our meals (and kids’ bellies) is a focus for us, and we love the variety using nutrient-dense cauliflower brings. Blend it for soups, mince it for pizza crust, chop it for veggie platters, roast it for delicious bite-size snacks, bake it for casseroles or “steaks” – the options are endless. It’s also a budget-friendly way to feed our big brood, and we love incorporating some cauli-power into our recipes. Here, we’ve rounded up 5 Cauliflower Recipes You Need to Try – some created by us, others by fellow recipe creators we think our vegan, gluten-free, low-carb, mixed-variety recipe-seeking families will love too!
Cauliflower Parmigiana
One of DadChef’s favourite meals is any variation of the Italo-Americana Parmigiana. Rather than using the usual suspects of chicken, veal or eggplant, we tried it with Cauli & our Easy Peasy No-Meat Saucethis past weekend. Admittedly, he was a bit apprehensive, but guys…it was YUMMO! It’s filling enough on it’s own, or you can pair it with your favourite pasta or salad. Head’s up: slicing the cauliflower into usable “steaks” is a bit tricky and why you’ll need 2 heads. But the great thing is you can use all the scrappy bits and crumbly parts for another recipe – salads, veg tray or cauli-bites. Also, while parmigiana dishes typically use egg wash and/or bread crumb coatings, we left these ingredients out for our friends who asked for more low-carb recipes (but adding them would be super-delish too).
Print Recipe
5 from 4 votes
Cauliflower Parmigiana
A delicious veggie spin on a classic Italian meal, swap the typical meat ingredients for cauliflower. So filling & delicious this may become one of your family's faves!
Cook Time30 minutes mins
Course: Main Course
Cuisine: American, Italian
Keyword: cauliflower, meatless meals, parmesan, parmigiana, vegetarian
Servings: 6 people
Author: House of Kerrs
Equipment
Large baking sheet
Ingredients
- 2 large Cauliflower heads wash & removed leaves
- extra virgin olive oil enough to brush on each cauli steak
- parmesan cheese freshly grated, enough to sprinkle on each cauli steak
- 1 batch of La Cucina di Kerr's "Easy Peasy No-Meat Sauce" or skip the sauce-making step & use 1 bottle of your favourite store-bought Marinara sauce to keep it simple
- 2 cups 4-Cheese Italiano pre-shredded cheese or Mozzarella
- coarse salt & fresh ground pepper to taste
- fresh basil
Instructions
Start with making a batch of our La Cucina di Kerr's easy-peasy no meat sauce (https://houseofkerrs.com/easy-peasy-no-meat-pasta-sauce-la-cucina-di-kerrs/) *or skip the sauce-making step & use 1 bottle of your favourite store-bought Marinara sauce to keep it simple*
Pre-heat oven to 400° F. Slice the cauliflower into approx. ¾ inch "steaks" - you'll get about 4 "usable" steaks from each head. Set aside the crumbled, messy bits to use later for salads, veg tray or cauli-bites.
Cover a large baking pan with parchment paper. Brush each side of the cauli steaks with olive oil and place spaced out on the pan. Sprinkle salt, pepper & parmesan cheese on top of each (*to taste*)
Bake on middle rack of oven for approx. 25 mins (turning half way to cook each side, so about 12 mins each side). You'll know they're done when the cauliflower browns around the edges.
Remove from oven. Top each steak with sauce and a nice portion of shredded cheese. Set oven to BROIL and put cauli steaks back in oven to bake about 5 mins (until the cheese is bubbling & golden).
Let cauli parm cool, top with fresh basil & serve on its own or paired with your favourite pasta or salad. Buon appetito!
Use up the leftover bits from the cauli parm recipe or start with a fresh head and give one of these next 4 recipes a spin.
2. Buffalo Cauliflower Bites
We made these for last year’s Super Bowl fam jam (I don’t actually watch the game…I just love prepping all the foods ;). These Buffalo Cauli Bites are a healthier twist on the usual chicken wing glutton-fest, but we definitely serve those up too – my kids told me not to be a Super Bowl life-ruiner 🙂 They’re also so simple to make! You can see the video we posted on IGTV last year too.
Print Recipe
5 from 4 votes
Buffalo Cauliflower Bites
A healthier spin on chicken wings, serve these up at your Super Bowl bash or next party for your vegan friends. Simple & delish! Double or triple-batch ingredients for a larger crowd!
Prep Time5 minutes mins
Cook Time20 minutes mins
Course: Appetizer
Cuisine: American
Keyword: appetizer, buffalo sauce, cauliflower
Servings: 6 people
Equipment
Baking sheet
Ingredients
- 1 head cauliflower remove leaves, chop into bite-size portions
- extra virgin olive oil enough to lightly coat your cauli portion
- Buffalo sauce enough to lightly coat your cauli portion (*we use Franks Red Hot Buffalo Wings Original*)
- coarse salt & garlic powder to taste
Instructions
Preheat oven to 450°F. Cover baking sheet with parchment paper.
In a mixing bowl, toss chopped cauliflower with olive oil, salt & garlic powder (*enough to coat veg lightly all over*) then space out evenly on baking sheet.
Bake on middle rack for about 12 minutes (*until underneath starts to brown nicely*)
Remove cauliflower from the oven and add back to your original (*unwashed*) mixing bowl. Drizzle enough Buffalo sauce to lightly coat each piece and toss.
Place the cauliflower back on the baking sheet pan and bake another 5 mins. That's it!
Serve with your favourite dipping sauce (ranch, dill or garlic) & chopped celery + carrots. For a bigger crowd, do 2 or more heads of cauliflower! Enjoy!
3. Cauliflower Crust Pizza
For those that have been following the blog for a while you already know “zah” and pizza nights are kind of a big deal around here. Trying out this Cauli Crust Pizza with one of our other fave Dad Chef’s – Chef Tyler & our friends at WW Canada was not only one of my favourite culinary experiences ever, but truly SO delish! Grab the recipe HERE
Source: HealthyRecipesBlogs.com – All Rights Reserved
4. Cauliflower Casserole
Casseroles are a busy family’s best dinner friend. We love this delish dinner idea – Cauliflower Casserole – by fellow recipe creator Vered of HealthyRecipesBlogs.com. Your cheese-loving foodies will probably devour this one like ours do!
Source: HealthyRecipesBlogs.com – All Rights Reserved
5. Kung Pao Cauliflower
Whenever we order Chinese take-out, Kung Pao Chicken or Shrimp is always the kids’ top pick. While we’re the in the middle of Lunar New Year celebrations, as well as the time of year many families start getting back to healthier meal choices, we LOVED this recipe inspo – Kung Pao Cauliflower– by Michaela of ElaVegan.com. A sweet & savoury meal idea that we think our vegan, gluten-free, low-cal recipe-seeking families will appreciate too 🙂
Source: ElaVegan.com – All Rights Reserved
We hope you enjoy these recipes packed with cauli-power as much as we do. Tag us & fellow recipe creators if you try! Check out La Cucina di Kerrs for more simple family meal ideas. Buon appetito!
