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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.ย 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 Cauliflowerย GF
- Nashville style Cauliflower Bites. GF option
- Mango Sriracha Cauliflower bitesย GF option
- Aloo Gobi โ Bakedย GF
- Cauliflower Fried Rice GFย 1 Pot
- Cauliflower Red pepper Soupย GF
- No Bake Cauliflower Gratinย GF option
Step by step photos:
Prep your cajun spice blend if you haven’t already, Blend the chimichurri.ย ย
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:
- 1ย cupย packed parsleyย , or one bunch parsley leaves and tender stems, chopped
- 1/4ย cupย basilย packed, or use cilantro
- 6ย clovesย of raw garlicย , more the merrier
- 2ย tbspย extra virgin olive oil
- juice of 1 lime
- 1ย tspย vinegar apple cider or balsamic or red wine vinegar
- 1/4ย tspย salt
- 1/4ย tspย black pepper
- 2ย tbspย or more avocado for creamynessย 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
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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. Iโve 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 canโt wait to try more, thank you!
sounds like an amazing meal – so glad that you tried!
Any advantage to using a baking dish vs sheet pan? Just curious!
Baking sheet will blacken the cauliflower faster. I like baking dish as the tall edges help keep the cauliflower more moist, as thereโs a bit less evaporation
Awesome awesome and delicious!
Awesomeness
New favorite dish, love it!
Awesome
Just made this and itโs delicious!
Spectacular !!!! Thank you for the review
The cauliflower steaks were delicious. But the chimichuri recipe had potential. 6 cloves of garlic was WAY too much. Perhaps I didnโt 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.
Probably the size of the cloves. Use 2 or 3