Herb Roasted Cauliflower with Parmesan Cheese

This roasted cauliflower recipe is one of my all time favorite vegetable recipes.

I use variations of roasted cauliflower a few times a week as a side dish.

This version with a few dried herbs, some garlic, lemon and Parmesan cheese is a real favorite.

It is so simple to make and once put together, gets popped into the oven and roasts nicely as you walk away to do something else. I love recipes like that – delicious dishes that don’t need a lot of tending to.

I am a vegetable lover, but I have to admit that I used to find cauliflower a bit boring. Unless it was slathered with delicious cheese sauce, it just seemed a bit bland, white and boring. I steamed it, but found that I wasn’t serving it often, because it just didn’t taste that great. Then I was introduced to roasted cauliflower.

That day marked the end of my boredom with cauliflower. If you are like me and find boiled or steamed cauliflower a little bland and boring, you just have to try this roasted cauliflower recipe. It will open up a whole new world of deliciousness.

You can roast cauliflower with just a bit of oil (I use olive oil), salt and pepper and it’s really good. This recipe ups your game quite a bit with just a few extra simple ingredients.

How To Roast Cauliflower

Roasted cauliflower is just SO easy to make. I am pretty sure that once you learn how easy it is, and how absolutely delicious it is, you will be making it over and over.

That’s what happened to me. So let’s get at it. Here is how to roast cauliflower:

First we have to cut the cauliflower. The first thing I do is cut off the leaves around the bottom of the cauliflower.

Then I cut around the core and remove the core from the cauliflower.

Once the core is removed, you can start to break apart the cauliflower florets, those smaller pieces that really look like a flower. Cut off the thick stem end. You want pretty florets for baking. (If you like cauliflower, save the stem pieces and use them to make cauliflower soup. SO good.)

Cut your cauliflower into florets. If the florets are too large, cut them in half or into quarters.

This is what the florets will look like when you are ready to bake them.

How To Make Roasted Cauliflower

Prepare a large baking pan. Either grease it very lightly with a bit of olive oil or lay some parchment paper on the pan first if you want. (It helps with cleanup.)

In a large bowl add oil, tarragon, thyme, salt, pepper and garlic. Add in the pieces of cauliflower and stir it all together, making sure to coat each piece of cauliflower with the mixture.

Place the oiled and seasoned cauliflower pieces on to the baking pan and spread them so they are in a single layer on the pan. They will cook more evenly that way.

Now the cauliflower is ready to roast.

Roasting vegetables requires a hot oven. I set my oven to around 400°F (or up to 425°F). If you set the oven lower, the veggies not only take quite a bit longer to cook, but they also seem to absorb more of the oil in the pan, something that you probably don’t want.

Preheat the oven to your desired temperature. Don’t be tempted to pop the vegetables into a cold oven. Again, it will take them longer to cook from a cold oven and I find it may make the vegetables absorb more of the oil.

So always start with a nice, preheated hot oven.

Once the oven is fully heated, put the baking pan into the oven and wait just a bit for your gorgeous herb and garlic roasted cauliflower to be ready for the next step.

Once the cauliflower has browned and is tender, about 20 minutes into the cooking time, mix together the toppings.

Mix together the Parmesan cheese, lemon juice and fresh parsley. Pour it over the roasted cauliflower recipe in the baking pan and stir it around to make sure all of the cauliflower is coated. Then pop it back into the oven. You don’t need to cook the cauliflower for very long at this point, just long enough for the lemon juice and Parmesan cheese to warm up and flavor the cauliflower – 4 or 5 minutes at most.

Now it’s ready to serve. At this point you can add more salt and pepper to taste if you think you need it. That’s it! It’s ready to serve.

Note: Vegan? Just leave out the Parmesan cheese and this recipe becomes a perfect vegan side dish.

This is one of my favorite easy roasted cauliflower recipes. I hope you enjoy it. Let me know in the comments below.

If you like this roasted cauliflower, you might also want to try this recipe for cauliflower rice. Find it here.

All of our gluten-free recipes are listed here. Have a browse.

You will find our vegetable recipes here.

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