Roasted Cauliflower topped with a fresh and vibrant Pesto sauce is simply a delicious recipe. A great healthy side dish to serve alongside steak, roasted chicken, or any main course.
Want to make it easy to eat your veggies? This Parmesan Roasted Cauliflower is so irresistible, you’ll find yourself inhaling bites off the baking sheet before you even sit down to serve it. Admittedly, adding cheese to veggies is an age old trick to make them more palatable. But this recipe features roasted cauliflower: baked at high heat the vegetable breaks down into a sweet, caramelized version of itself.
How To Make Parmesan Pesto Roasted Cauliflower
This side dish couldn’t be easier to make. Start by preheating your oven to 400° F. Rinse and dry the head of cauliflower and then cut out the core. Break it down into florets and put them on a rimmed sheet pan. If you don’t want to deal with any cleanup, line your sheet pan with foil or parchment paper. Lay the cauliflower florets onto the sheet pan. Dollop on 3 or 4 tablespoons of pesto depending on how large your head of cauliflower was. Sprinkle with salt and pepper as well. Use clean hands to toss the cauliflower until all the florets are coated with pesto. Spread them out into a single layer and make sure there is some space in between them. This will allow them to brown and caramelize rather than steam.
Roast the pesto cauliflower for 10 minutes and then remove it from the oven. Use a spatula to toss it around and then sprinkle on the parmesan cheese. Roast for another another 12-15 minutes or until it’s tender and caramelized.
Remove it from the oven and squeeze the juice of half of a lemon all over it. Put it on a serving platter or in a bowl. I like to scrape up any of the crispy parmesan cheese that’s stuck to the pan and add it in.
Dollop on additional pesto and sprinkle on extra parmesan cheese if you’d like.
Tips For Roasting Cauliflower
- Roast the cauliflower at a high heat. I like to roast mine at 400° F., but you can also roast at 425° F. Just keep an eye on it as it likely won’t take as long to roast.
- Slice the cauliflower so that there are plenty of flat edges. Make sure the flat edges are in contact with the bottom of the pan. This will ensure that they get golden brown and caramelized on that side.
- Don’t overcrowd the pan. If the cauliflower is too close together or on top of each other it will steam and won’t get any of the crisp edges or caramelization.
- Be sure the cauliflower is completely coated in oil or in this case pesto. Pesto contains olive oil which is why I didn’t add any additional oil to this recipe.
- Flip the florets over with a spatula halfway through the cooking time. This will help to caramelize more surface area of the florets.
Trust me you’re going to love this recipe!
Ali
Parmesan Pesto Roasted Cauliflower
4
servings5
minutes25
minutes97
kcalParmesan Pesto Roasted Cauliflower, perfectly caramelized and coated in pesto giving it a salty, cheesy, herb flavor you won’t be able to resist!
Ingredients
1 head of cauliflower cut into florets
3-4 tablespoons pesto
Salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste
1/4 cup shredded parmesan cheese
1/2 of a lemon, juiced
Directions
- Preheat oven to 400° F. Line a rimmed sheet pan with foil for less clean up if desired. Place the cauliflower florets onto the sheet pan and dollop on the pesto. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.
- Use clean hands to toss the cauliflower around until it’s coated in pesto. Spread the cauliflower into a single layer and place it on the middle rack of the oven. Roast the cauliflower for 12-15 minutes then remove from the oven. Flip the florets over with a spatula and sprinkle on the parmesan cheese. Place it back into the oven to roast for another 10-12 minutes.
- Remove the cauliflower from the oven and place it on a serving platter or in a bowl. Squeeze the lemon juice over the cauliflower. Dollop on extra pesto and sprinkle with more parmesan cheese if desired.
