Turmeric-Spiced Whole Roasted Cauliflower
This whole roasted cauliflower is slathered with the most delicious turmeric-spiced yogurt! You're going to love this easy whole roasted cauliflower recipe.
Updated by Kathryne Taylor on September 5, 2024
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Today is a big day for my friends Jack and Jeanine—it’s book launch day! I hope you’re familiar with their blog, Love and Lemons. It’s one of my very favorites, and I’ve been looking forward to their second cookbook for a long time.
Their new book is called Love and Lemons Everyday (affiliate link), and it’s absolutely stunning. The new book offers “more than 100 bright, plant-forward recipes for every meal.” Jeanine’s cooking style is super fresh and often inspired by the farmers’ market, and it shows.
I love how she weaves tips between the recipes, like how to freeze quinoa, and colorfully displays seasonal variations for recipes like fruit crumbles (four ways)! She even offers a giant visual grid of salad dressings, which I’ll be referencing often.
To celebrate their new book, I’m sharing Jeanine’s recipe for whole-roasted cauliflower slathered in seriously delicious turmeric-spiced yogurt sauce. Somehow, I’ve never prepared cauliflower in this fashion, and it was both fun to make and fun to eat. Want to see how it’s done?
How to Make Whole Roasted Cauliflower
This recipe takes a while to make, but each step is simple. Here’s a rundown of Jeanine’s cooking method, which ensures that the cauliflower cooks through and really takes on the flavor of the seasonings.
- Line a rimmed baking sheet with foil to catch the olive oil and lemon juice run-off. Slice off the cauliflower stem so the cauliflower sits flat on the baking sheet.
- Lightly drizzle some olive oil over the cauliflower and rub it in with your hands until the cauli is coated in a light, even layer. Bake at 400 degrees Fahrenheit for 45 minutes.
- Remove the cauliflower from the oven and drizzle more olive oil into the crevices, then do the same with some lemon juice. Bake it for another 15 minutes.
- Meanwhile, whisk together the yogurt sauce, then brush a portion of it over the cauliflower. Bake for another 15 minutes, and you’re done.
- Top with more sauce, plus fresh herbs and toasted nuts.
How to Serve Whole Roasted Cauliflower
Jeanine suggests serving the cauliflower with a basic, lemony green salad, which is great. You’ll find those ingredients and instructions in the recipe below.
If you wanted to make this an even more hearty main dish, you could serve it all on a bed of warm whole grains, such as cooked farro, brown rice or wild rice, with chickpeas.
Don’t forget to pick up a copy of Love and Lemons Everyday! And please let us know how the recipe turns out in the comments.
Turmeric-Spiced Whole Roasted Cauliflower
This whole roasted cauliflower is slathered with the most delicious turmeric-spiced yogurt! You’re going to love it. Recipe yields 4 servings.
Ingredients
- 1 medium cauliflower (2 pounds)
- 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, divided, plus more for drizzling
- 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice, plus more to taste
- 4 cups mixed spring greens
- ½ cup chopped mixed fresh herbs (any combination of cilantro, mint and/or parsley)
- ¼ cup toasted pine nuts or slivered almonds
- Fine sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
- ½ cup whole milk Greek yogurt
- 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
- 1 garlic clove, minced
- ¼ teaspoon ground cumin
- ¼ teaspoon ground coriander
- ¼ teaspoon turmeric
- ¼ teaspoon maple syrup or honey
- ½ teaspoon fine sea salt
- Pinch of cayenne pepper
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit and loosely line a baking sheet with aluminum foil.
- Slice the bottom of the core off the cauliflower so that it sits evenly on the baking sheet. Drizzle 1½ tablespoons of the olive oil over the cauliflower and use your hands to coat it evenly. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and roast for 45 minutes.
- To make the sauce: In a small bowl, combine the yogurt, olive oil, lemon juice, garlic, cumin, coriander, turmeric, maple syrup, salt, and cayenne.
- Remove the cauliflower from the oven and use a fork to gently start to pull apart the crevices of the cauliflower. Pour another 1½ tablespoons of olive oil and the lemon juice over the cauliflower, especially into the crevices. Return the cauliflower to the oven and roast for another 15 minutes.
- Remove the cauliflower from the oven and spread ¼ of the yogurt sauce all over. Roast for another 15 minutes.
- In a large bowl, toss the spring greens with a drizzle of olive oil, a squeeze of lemon, and a pinch of salt. Set aside for now.
- Remove the cauliflower from the oven. It should be tender outside and fork-tender inside. Top the cauliflower with more sauce and sprinkle with the herbs and toasted pine nuts. Slice into quarters and serve with the salad and the remaining sauce on the side.
Notes
Nutrition
The information shown is an estimate provided by an online nutrition calculator. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice. See our full nutrition disclosure here.
This looks weigh too hard because mine need to hit the oven very soon. It looks wonderful. I will have to try this on a slower day. Thank you for the post. I am going to keep this in mind for the next time some baby back ribs hit the grill. Unlike Dark Helmet, I love yogurt.
I made this tonight – stunning! Roasted potatoes in same roasting pan and had carrots and peas from the garden xx
I have made your recipe with coconut yoghurt.
It was amazing! My husband couldn’t stop complimenting it while we were eating it. We think it’s even better than the regular diary greek yoghurt. Thank you :)
I made this and subbed coconut cream for the yogurt. It was soooo yummy!
I wish there was a “6-Star” rating. This is the 5th recipe that I have tried on your site and this one took the cake….wow! The spiced tumeric sauce made me a little nervous initially because I have a low spice tolerance but it turned out perfect. The contrasting flavors are really hard to describe in this dish, but the only thing I know is that it is amazing. I am always telling my clients that whole foods don’t cause food addiction but after trying this I might have to rethink…;) Thank you for this one Kate!
Thank you, Griff! I’m glad you love it.
Legend recipe. Double the sauce if your cauli is large. We even triple it as everyone devours it and people use the sauce as a side. Also excellent with good quality coconut yoghurt instead of regular Greek yoghurt. Try subbing half the olive oil in the sauce for mct oil or flax seed oil. For large cauli my cooking time can be up to 90 mins or more using a lower heat so it cooks through without getting too burnt on the top. Sprinkle liberally with toasted flaked almonds at the end if you can be bothered or if you’re being fancy. It’s just as good without. For week night dinner with left overs for lunch the next day or if you’re in a rush break the cauli into chunky florets and roast it that way then put the sauce over the cauli when you’re plating up. Keep the sauce separate if you’re taking for lunch the next day and want to heat it up. It’s also good at room temperature for lunch with a side of quinoa tabouli.
This recipe was delicious! I substituted the yoghurt for coconut yoghurt since I’m dairy free, and it was wonderful.
I’m happy you liked it with the coconut yogurt. I appreciate your review, Rebecca!
Hey, gotta say, I’m totally addicted to this recipe, I have made it over ten times, I love the flavours soooo much!!! Thanks ❤
You’re welcome! I’m glad you liked it.
Put this on top of spinach and farro and added some sun-dried tomatoes and it was DELICIOUS!
I made this for our small vegan Thanksgiving dinner (just my husband and me). I used a plain coconut yogurt (Cocojune brand) for the sauce and it was delicious.
That’s great, Judy! Thank you for your review.
wonderful. thank you. used roasted almonds (family fav) and rocked this recipe. winner
Made this dish for my family today and while a fun thing to try, it’s not going to be repeated. The sauce wasn’t for us and we definitely prefer cauliflower florets roasted all plain like with maximum caramelized bits. Well written recipe that I followed precisely, just didn’t appeal to my mundane taste buds.
Vegan yogurt used and it tastes delicious. This is another awesome recipe.
Thank you!
Mike
You’re welcome, Mike!
This is a great recipe. I put the sauce ingredients in my bullet, and it came out great. I will try it with cashew cream another time. Question– is there an easy way to put the oil on the cauliflower before you put it in the oven, and when you take it out to put more oil and lemon juice? Do you use a brush? I removed the cauliflower from the pan and put it back in a few times. kinda tricky, but maybe I could have left it in the pan. I did use a brush to put the sauce on, and it worked great.
Use your hands or you can try to brush it on with a pastry brush.
Cooked this and it was YUM!
Great to hear, Carmen! Thank you for your review.
Looks delicious! What else could you pair this with besides greens to make it a more full meal?
Hi Mallory, you could pair it with an appetizer and/or a soup. I hope you love it!
Wow what an amazing recipe! Such a perfect combination of ingredients. Winter here in Oz so we served with steamed green beans. Such a winner and now on our Christmas menu! Who needs meat!! Thank you Kate!
You’re welcome Susan! Thank you for your review.
What a great recipe! The sauce is wonderful and the pine nuts and parsley gave the dish lots of texture and colour. I just made this tonight and am already thinking ahead to when I’ll make it next. All of your recipes are fantastic and they’ve revolutionized the way I prepare vegetarian meals. Thank you!
Oh wow! This roasted cauliflower was excellent! 5 stars. It was a real hit, served with some roasted baby carrots, pistachio nuts on top and it looked and tasted amazing. Thank you for sharing such fantastic vego recipes.
Thank you for sharing, Amy! I’m glad you enjoyed it.
Whenever I need to know how to roast a vegetable I go to your website. I have made this recipe twice now and it’s a household favorite! I can’t wait to make it for a potluck. It reminds me of dishes I have had in amazing Indian restaurants.
Great to hear, Gina!
AhhhhhMAZing!
This is an excellent veg recipe to please non-vegetarians! A beautiful, impressive and delicious dish.
I was sceptic because I didn’t have all of the ingredients (I am in a rented vacation home), but I’m glad I sticked to the idea anyways! Thanks Kate and Love and lemons!
Hi, I make this recipe with coconut vegan yoghurt and it is delicious. One of my all time favourites. Thanks
You’re welcome, Lisa!