Roasted Cauliflower Steak
Follow this foolproof recipe for beautifully caramelized cauliflower steaks! Serve your cauliflower steak as a side dish or meal component.
Updated by Kathryne Taylor on September 2, 2024
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Tired of regular roasted cauliflower? Try cauliflower “steaks” instead! Cauliflower steak makes a strong presentation at the dinner table. Think of it more as a side dish or meal component than a protein-rich steak—after all, we’re talking about roasted slabs of cauliflower.
You can serve these cauliflower steaks as a simple side dish topped with gremolata or a sprinkle of parsley. Or, create a restaurant-worthy vegetarian meal out of them. Start with a simple base of whole grains and chickpeas or lentils, then top it with cauliflower steak and a vibrant homemade sauce. Beautiful!
Cauliflower steaks require careful cauliflower selection and slicing. Know that the outer slabs will likely fall apart into large florets, which are still very nice. Cauliflower steaks are a bit more work than simple roasted cauliflower, but they’re worth the effort.
If you follow my recipe while maintaining reasonable expectations, you’ll be plenty satisfied by your results. Keep reading for all of my cauliflower steak tips and tricks!
How to Make Cauliflower Steaks
You’ll find the full recipe below. Here are some tips to know before you get started:
1) Choose your cauliflower wisely.
To successfully make cauliflower steaks, you need a dense head of cauliflower. Select a large head of cauliflower that looks fresh and feels heavy for its size. If you are only finding cauliflower that looks fluffy and airy around the edges, wait to make cauliflower steaks another day.
2) Preheat the oven to 425 with a rack in the upper third.
Four hundred twenty-five degrees is the perfect temperature for roasting vegetables, and roasted cauliflower steak is no exception. For this particular recipe, we’ll roast the cauliflower in the upper third of the oven to achieve maximal caramelization without needing to turn the cauliflower halfway through baking (it’s too delicate for that).
3) Slice your cauliflower carefully.
Using your sharpest chef’s knife, slice the cauliflower into 1-inch thick slabs using a gentle seesawing motion. The florets that compose the outside slabs will likely fall apart, which is ok. We’ll just roast those florets with the steaks.
4) Brush the cauliflower lightly with oil.
Cauliflower slabs are delicate, so we’ll gently brush them with olive oil rather than tossing them around in oil. I like to use a silicone brush, like this one (affiliate link). Then arrange the oiled cauliflower on a large, rimmed baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
5) Roast until golden (do not turn!).
We’ll roast the cauliflower on a rack in the upper third of the oven to maximize browning. Cauliflower steaks are liable to break if we flip them while baking, so unlike regular roasted cauliflower, we will not turn them during roasting. Roast until the tops of the steaks are lightly golden and the undersides are deeply golden.
Watch How to Make Cauliflower Steak
How to Serve Cauliflower Steak
Cauliflower steak makes a lovely side dish on its own, or you can make a meal out of it. Here’s how to build a well-rounded meal around cauliflower steak:
- Serve cauliflower steak over a bed of fresh greens, cooked farro, brown rice, wild rice or cooked pasta.
- For extra heartiness, add chickpeas or lentils to the base, or spread some hummus on the plate.
- Top with a fresh sauce or condiment, like gremolata (as shown), tahini sauce, chimichurri, pesto, zhoug or romesco sauce.
- For even more flavor, try adding crumbled feta or sliced Kalamata olives.
Want to try a cheesy option? Halfway through baking, top your cauliflower steaks generously with grated cheese, like Parmesan, part-skim mozzarella or cheddar. The Parmesan or mozzarella options are great over marinara sauce and pasta, as shown here.
More Cauliflower Recipes to Enjoy
Here are a few more fun cauliflower recipes:
- How to Make Cauliflower Rice or Mediterranean Cauliflower Rice
- Lemony Roasted Cauliflower Risotto
- Roasted Cauliflower and Farro Salad with Feta and Avocado
- Roasted Cauliflower and Lentil Tacos with Creamy Chipotle Sauce
- Turmeric-Spiced Whole Roasted Cauliflower
Roasted Cauliflower Steak
Follow this foolproof recipe for beautifully caramelized cauliflower steaks! Serve your cauliflower steak as a side dish or meal component. Recipe yields about 3 “steaks” plus several smaller pieces of roasted cauliflower (yield will vary depending on the size of your cauliflower).
Ingredients
- 1 large, dense head of cauliflower
- 1 to 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, for brushing
- ¼ teaspoon fine salt
- Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit with a rack in the upper third of the oven. Line a large, rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper to prevent the cauliflower from sticking.
- Carefully remove any green leaves surrounding the cauliflower. Using your sharpest chef’s knife, gently slice off the protruding base of the cauliflower to create a more flat surface. Place the cauliflower on a cutting board, flat side down.
- Now we’ll use the chef’s knife to create 1-inch parallel slabs of cauliflower. To create your first slab, gently saw back and forth about 1-inch away from an outer edge (these florets will likely fall apart, and that’s ok). Continue slicing 1-inch slabs until you have worked your way through the cauliflower.
- Gently brush both sides of the slabs (and all over the florets) with the olive oil and place them on the prepared baking sheet. Sprinkle the salt on top, followed by several twists of black pepper.
- Roast until the top sides of the cauliflower are turning golden on the edges and the undersides are deeply golden, about 30 to 35 minutes. Let the cauliflower cool for a few minutes, then use a spatula to serve the cauliflower as desired.
Notes
Recipe adapted from my Parmesan-Crusted Cauliflower Steaks with Marinara.
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.
You show 4g of sugar for this recipe, is that from the roasting of the cauliflower?
Hi Catherine, yes, that must just be the natural sugar within the cauliflower. That is the number that my nutrition calculator provided.
Thanks for another wonderful meal Kate! I didn’t have a brush but rubbed oil in lightly. It was still delicious. Served it with hummus and tzatziki.
Zena, that sounds like the perfect combo! I’m glad you made do without a brush.
As soon as the cauliflower is cool enough to eat, I do! I agree with you Kate; it is my new version of fries‼️ Yummy
Sounds like a plan! Thank you, Anna.
These sound fantastic! I love the idea of these steaks over a bed of warm rice and lentils!
Thank you, Hayley! Hope you love it.
I made this recipe tonight with cauliflower from farmers market and it was good!
Awesome! Thanks Holly!
Thanks for such yummy veggie recipes and ideas!
I have to bring a side to a BBQ next weekend and these Cauliflower steaks with Gremolata look like they would be perfect. How would you reheat this before serving so they don’t get mushy. Perhaps I should choose something else?
That’s a good question, and I’m not sure these will ever reheat quite as nicely as they originally were.
Great idea! I did some on the BBQ today! Super yummy!
Thanks Cecilia! Glad your BBQ version turned out well.
Hi Kate. I mean no disrespect but I much prefer it when you post full recipes as opposed to basic components like this, simple sauces etc. It used to be the case that I’d often find exciting new dishes to try but over the last couple of years I feel like things are a little less interesting around here than they used to be and I find myself visiting the blog less.
Hey there, I hear you on that. The last year in particular has been quite intense and challenging for personal reasons. I’m doing my best over here.
Thank you for taking my comment in the spirit in which it was intended! I feel you on the personal struggles (as does probably most of your readership over the last year or so, in different ways) and I look forward to reading more recipes when things start to look up for you :)
So easy and so tasty! I didn’t manage to get the same beautiful color as the pics show but it was a great side dish regardless.
Just made this tonight and it was delicious! I put it over a bed of greens and put curried lentils on top. Thank you!
That was really delicious and so easy! I’ll definitely make it again, probably later this week. Thank you!
I’m happy to hear you enjoyed it, April! I appreciate your review.
Love this! First recipe for cauliflower steaks I’ve seen that doesn’t recommend flipping them halfway through, and it makes a huge difference, both in helping keep them intact and in giving them better caramelization. A lot of thoughtful detail in this recipe—thanks so much for sharing!
You’re welcome, Jenny! Thank you for letting me know your thoughts on this recipe.
There’s no mention of cleaning the cauliflower prior to roasting?
Hi Sharoan, I recommend washing your produce before using.
Big mistake to give cauliflower a starring role.
Its a GREAT side, dont get me wrong…. but it is NOT center-of-a-meal material. Recipe is fine, tastes great…. but its in no way a substitute for a steak or any other meal centerpiece. Make this, put it to the side, and let something that has flavor and texture lead your meal.
I love cauliflower. I eat lots of cauliflower. This is the tastiest cauliflower I’ve ever had! (Ive already shared the recipe with many!) And the possibilities are endless here! I just added a little parsley and crumbled feta , as the recipe suggests. The next time I make this, I’m going to add a little minced garlic with the olive oil before spreading on the steak. And perhaps sprinkle a little garam masala in the steaks, too. Thanks Kate for this GREAT recipe. You nailed it!
Thank you, Mary!