Vegan Cajun Roasted Cauliflower “Steaks” with Chimichurri Sauce. 30 Mins, super Flavorful. Slice into thick slices or just chop into florets to make this delicious Cajun Cauliflower. Serve with chimichurri or a cooling dressing. Glutenfree Soyfree Nutfree Recipe. Jump to Recipe
I’ve wanted to make just the Cajun cauliflower since I posted the now very popular Garlic pasta with roasted cajun cauliflower.Ā Creamy Pasta with smoky spicy cauliflower makes a fabulous weekday meal! I make my own cajun blend so I can control the flavor and heat and it works out wonderfully over cauliflower.
For crispier cauliflower, add some breadcrumbs to the spice mix and then toss. Adjust the heat of the cajun seasoning by reducing cayenne, pepper flakes, black pepper and using more of sweet paprika. Serve these Cajun Caulilfower “steaks” with some cooked grains or beans in a bowl with some hearty crunchy greens or lettuce to make a meal. Lets bake!
More Cauliflower Recipes
- Taco Spice roasted CauliflowerĀ GF
- Nashville style Cauliflower Bites. GF option
- Mango Sriracha Cauliflower bitesĀ GF option
- Aloo Gobi ā BakedĀ GF
- Cauliflower Fried Rice GFĀ 1 Pot
- Cauliflower Red pepper SoupĀ GF
- No Bake Cauliflower GratinĀ GF option
Step by step photos:
Prep your cajun spice blend if you haven’t already, Blend the chimichurri.Ā Ā 
Rub oil and lemon juice on the cauliflower. Then sprinkle liberally with the spice blend and salt. Lightly spray with oil.
Bake until done. Serve hot with chimichurri or other dressing.
How to slice Cauliflower into steak slices
- When cleaning the cauliflower leaves, leave some of the stalk on the cauliflower. The stalk will help hold the florets together.
- Slice from the stalk side. Slice so that the stalk side is thinner and increase the thickness as you move towards the florets. So the slice will not be even thickness. it will be thicker on the florets side and thinner near the stalk.
- Small to medium cauliflower make for better candidates for slices.
Cajun Roasted Cauliflower Steaks with Chimichurri
Ingredients
Cajun Cauliflower:
- 1 small head of cauliflower , sliced into 1/2 inch thick slices or chopped into medium size florets
- 2 tbsp cajun spice blend ( 2 tsp sweet paprika, 1/3 tsp cayenne, 1/2 tsp black pepper, 1 tsp oregano, 1.5 tsp garlic powder, 1/2 tsp thyme, 1/2 tsp onion powder, dash of pepper flakes
- 1/2 to 3/4 tsp salt , if using store bought cajun blend, it might already be salted, so you will need 1/4 tsp
- 2 tsp oil
- 1 tsp lemon juice
Chimichurri sauce:
- 1Ā cupĀ (60 g) packed parsleyĀ or one bunch parsley leaves and tender stems, chopped
- 1/4Ā cupĀ (0.25 g) basilĀ packed or use cilantro
- 6Ā clovesĀ (6 clovesĀ ) of raw garlicĀ more the merrier
- 2Ā tbspĀ (2 tbspĀ ) extra virgin olive oil
- juice of 1 lime
- 1Ā tspĀ (1 tspĀ ) vinegar apple cider or balsamic or red wine vinegar
- 1/4Ā tspĀ (0.25 tspĀ ) salt
- 1/4Ā tspĀ (0.25 tspĀ ) black pepper
- 2Ā tbspĀ (2 tbspĀ ) or more avocado for creamynessĀ optional
Instructions
- Slice the cauliflower or chop into florets. Blend the chimichurri sauce with a few tbsp of water and set aside. Line a baking dish with parchment. Preheat the oven to 425 deg F ( 220 C )
- Rub oil and lemon juice all over the slices or florets.
- Sprinkle the cajun spice + salt on both sides of the slices and rub lightly. Then sprinkle more on the open side. (If using florets, sprinkle spice + salt, then toss well to coat). For Crispyness, mix 2 tbsp breadcrumbs in the spice mix and salt and then sprinkle all over.
- Spray oil lightly on the spiced cauliflower to seal the spices in, Bake at 425 deg F for 20 to 25 mins. Broil for a minute to sear if needed.
- Cauliflower tends to soften depending on the moisture content after cooking. So serve immediately. Sprinkle some more spice if needed. Cajun can be hot, so add another cooling dressing of choice if needed.Serve with a side salad of beans, chickpeas, or cooked grain or add to tacos, wraps. I make a salad bowl with cherry tomatoes/tomatoes, onion, chickpeas/beans, salt, pepper and chimichurri/lemon with these.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Kym
This was AMAZING!!! We loved the flavors and the texture of the cauliflower. Paired it with your creamy garlic pasta (with a bit of the cajun seasoning added because we love spicy stuff in my household) and it was a perfect meal. Iāve followed your blog & IG page for some time but this was my first attempt at being brave enough to try making one of your recipes. So easy and SO delicious! I canāt wait to try more, thank you!
Vegan Richa Support
sounds like an amazing meal – so glad that you tried!
Monica
Any advantage to using a baking dish vs sheet pan? Just curious!
Richa
Baking sheet will blacken the cauliflower faster. I like baking dish as the tall edges help keep the cauliflower more moist, as thereās a bit less evaporation
Davina
Awesome awesome and delicious!
Vegan Richa Support
Awesomeness
Regina
New favorite dish, love it!
Vegan Richa Support
Awesome
Amber Maggio
Just made this and itās delicious!
Vegan Richa Support
Spectacular !!!! Thank you for the review
Amy
The cauliflower steaks were delicious. But the chimichuri recipe had potential. 6 cloves of garlic was WAY too much. Perhaps I didnāt understand how to make the sauce? (Blend all ingredients together) it was like just eating raw garlic with a hint of some other flavors. I think 3 cloves max would have been good.
Richa
Probably the size of the cloves. Use 2 or 3
Yeganeh
Another excellent recipe! My omni family loves this .
Vegan Richa Support
So glad!
Jamila
This chimichurri sauce is soo good!
I was lazy and just ate it with a side of white beans lol
But I am roasting another head of cauliflower tomorrow and hope the sauce lasts till tomorrow š
Terry
I receive your emails just about every day. I end up downloading and printing MULTIPLE recipes every day! I go to the email recipe and end up chasing down all the links to other great meals. I must say that I cook YOUR food more than any other that I follow, even some ‘famous’, heavily advertised sites. YOU create practical, easy to make meals with ordinary ingredients- no fancy-schmancy hard-to-find weird ingredients. Just good, honest food. Today’s recipe was the Crispy Potatoes with Chimichuri sauce. My husband is going to LOVE this! And then the Cajun Cauliflower… the Creamy Pasta….
Thanks so much for providing me with inspired ideas every day!
Richa
Thank you Terry for this sweet note! I am so glad you like what i put on the blog and also glad that it turns out so well! Thank you for trying the recipes!
Barb
Mine turned out delicious without spraying the extra oil in the end. Less oil = healthier. Will make again! And serve to family.
Richa
Awesome!
Vanessa
I thought I was eating meat!!! This is an AMAZING recipe. Felt like I was pigging out with all the taste and ZERO GUILT!
Thanks so much for this recipe itās on the weekly rotation!
Richa
yay!!
Isaac Paes
Sounds beautiful this recipe, surely I will try it.
Tacey
ABSOLUTELY DELICIOUS!!!!!! I am sitting here at work telling my coworker about how truly scrumptious this recipe is. Thank you!!!
Richa
yay!! the cauliflower and the sauce are individually so delicious and then together so amazing!
Ida moser
Fabulous!!! I love the flavors of the chimichurri and the cauliflower steaks turned out great. I think that the addition of avocado is a MUST. I added half an avocado and it really made the sauce rich and creamy. The chimichurri makes a nice addition to freshly cooked pasta as well. A definite hit for me!
Richa
awesome!!
dominique arper
This looks amazing! I will definately give it a try!
I hope I will manage as I am not a great cook!
Eve-Marie
Loved it!
Richa
yay!
Emily
I used florets and made these into tacos for dinner. All gone! Turned out amazingly with some breadcrumbs.
Emily
5 stars!
Richa
awesome thanks!