Roasted Cauliflower with Lemon Herb Tahini Sauce
Imagine mildly spicy roasted cauliflower florets drizzled with a creamy lemon herb tahini sauce. This recipe will turn cauliflower into an elegant and delicious side dish to accompany any main course. If you love cauliflower, you will absolutely adore this flavorful and colorful recipe.
If you are looking for more cauliflower recipes, try these cauliflower steaks with green peppercorn sauce or this creamy vegan cauliflower soup.
What can you expect?
Cauliflower can be kind of a bland-tasting vegetable, don’t you think? The best thing that can happen to it is if you roast it in the oven with a flavorful spice mix. That way it will be slightly caramelized. We chose this smoky and spicy seasoning combination to enhance its natural flavors.
Why you should serve roasted cauliflower with tahini sauce? You get a rich dip with a lemony, herby, and slightly nutty flavor. It counteracts the spicy seasoning perfectly.
Ingredients
Well, apart from the main ingredient, the cauliflower here is the list of the homemade spice mix we used to make it delicious. We used dried herbs and ingredients since sometimes they are better for a marinade.
- Garlic powder
- Smoked sweet paprika powder
- Hot red pepper flakes
- Dried oregano
- Dried basil
- Dried rosemary
- Olive oil
- Black pepper
- Salt
? You can find detailed measurements for all ingredients in the printable version of the recipe card at the bottom of this post.
If you are making our lemon herb tahini sauce, here are the ingredients.
- Tahini paste
- Freshly squeezed lemon juice
- Fresh dill
- Fresh parsley
- Capers
- Garlic
- Olive oil
- Black pepper
- Salt
Instructions
Cut cauliflower into florets
- Choose a cauliflower that is firm, heavy, and tight without any brown spots.
- Peel off the leaves as much as you can. You may not be able to get rid of all leaves by hand.
- Cut off the stem at the bottom with the remaining leaves.
- Place the cauliflower head on a wooden cutting board with the stem above.
- Hold it steady by the stem. Take a sharp knife and start cutting the stem of each floret off the main stem.
- If you end up with larger florets, cut them in half.
Spice it up!
- Take a small bowl and add all ingredients of the marinade.
- Mix it well with a whisk or spoon.
Roasting the cauliflower florets
- Preheat the oven to 395 Fahrenheit (200 degrees Celsius).
- Take a sheet pan with parchment paper or a non-stick baking sheet and place florets in the middle.
- Drizzle them with the marinade.
- Use your hands to really rub in the marinades and the florets are covered on all sides with it.
- Spread the florets in one layer. Try to space them out to avoid overcrowding.
- Bake them for approx. 40 minutes. Depending on the size of the florets the baking time may be shorter, so check them halfway and adjust the time accordingly. They are ready if they are tender.
How to make tahini dressing for cauliflower
- Add all ingredients to a blender or food processor (tahini, lemon juice, garlic clove, olive oil, black pepper, salt, water, dill, parsley, and capers).
- Blend it until you get a smooth sauce. (See the reference in the below picture.)
If you need more info or details about substitutions, please visit our lemon herb tahini recipe.
Top tips to make it perfectly
- Cold vs room temperature – We recommend taking the cauliflower out of the fridge early on so that it can reach room temperature. It is easier to bake the florets crispy if the oven remains hot at all times.
- Adjust baking time – We cannot empathize enough that baking time largely depends on the size of the florets. If you have a small cauliflower head, you may end up with smaller florets. Then 40 minutes will be too much. Check them at least at halftime after 20 minutes.
- How to add the marinade? – While you can marinate the florets in a large bowl, we like minimizing the number of items you need to wash up after cooking. Therefore, we do the marinating directly on the sheet pan.
Other sauces to serve with roasted cauliflower
We really love this roasted cauliflower with this lemon herb tahini sauce, but cauliflower also pairs well with the following sauces and condiments:
- vegan green peppercorn sauce (see below picture)
- vegan spinach pesto
- vegan red pesto
- vegan onion gravy
- hummus
- cashew alfredo sauce
- chimichurri sauce
- vegan queso dip
- vegan bechamel white sauce
- vegan BBQ sauce
FAQs
How to store it?
We recommend storing roasted cauliflower and tahini sauce separately in the refrigerator. They might lose some of their crispy texture while storing, but they will still taste delicious after reheating.
Allergen info
This Roasted Cauliflower with Tahini Sauce recipe is meat-free, dairy-free, and egg-free.
- Vegan – All ingredients are supposed to be vegan.
- Nut-free – Tahini is made of sesame seeds, which means it is nut-free. In any event, check for cross-contamination issues in any products you buy.
- WFPB-friendly (whole foods plant-based) – It is not a compliant recipe since we use oil to marinate cauliflower. We use 1 Tablespoon of oil for the tahini sauce. You can skip that and add a bit of water to make it into the same consistency.
- Gluten-free – All other ingredients are supposed to be gluten-free, but always check the packaging for cross-contamination info.
- Soy-free – All other ingredients are supposed to be soy-free.
More cauliflower recipes
If you are looking for more cauliflower recipes, try these recipes below:
More vegetable side dishes
You can browse through our vegan sides recipe gallery or check out
Roasted Cauliflower with Lemon Herb Tahini Sauce
Equipment
- Non-stick frying pan (10.5 inch / 26 cm)
- Non-stick baking sheet
Ingredients
- 1 Cauliflower
- ½ tsp Garlic powder
- ½ tsp Sweet paprika powder
- ¼ tsp Hot chili powder or flakes
- ½ tsp Oregano dried, ground
- ½ tsp Basil dried, ground
- ½ tsp Rosemary dried, ground
- 3 Tbsp Olive oil
- 1 pinch Salt and Pepper to taste
Lemon herb tahini sauce
- ½ cup Tahini
- 1 Lemon (only juice, freshly squeezed)
- 1 clove Garlic
- 1 Tbsp Olive oil
- ⅓ cup Water
- ¼ cup Fresh dill
- ¼ cup Fresh parsley
- 2 Tbsp Capers
- ⅛ tsp Black pepper
- ¼ tsp Salt
Instructions
Cut cauliflower into florets
- Choose a cauliflower that is firm, heavy, and tight without any brown spots.
- Peel off the leaves as much as you can. You may not be able to get rid of all leaves by hand.
- Cut off the stem at the bottom with the remaining leaves.
- Place the cauliflower head on a wooden cutting board with the stem above.
- Hold it steady by the stem. Take a sharp knife and start cutting the stem of each floret off the main stem.
- If you end up with larger florets, cut them in half.
Spice it up!
- Take a small bowl and add all ingredients of the marinade.
- Mix it well with a spoon or spatula.
Baking the florets
- Preheat the oven to 395 Fahrenheit (200 degrees Celsius).
- Take a sheet pan with parchment paper or a non-stick baking sheet and place florets in the middle.
- Drizzle them with the marinade.
- Use your hands to really rub in the marinades and the florets are covered on all sides with it.
- Spread the florets in one layer. Try to space them out to avoid overcrowding.
- Bake them for approx. 40 minutes. Depending on the size of the florets the baking time may be shorter, so check them halfway and adjust the time accordingly. They are ready if they are tender.
Lemon herb tahini sauce
- Wash the fresh dill and parsley.
- Squeeze one lemon to capture the juice.
- Peel garlic clove.
- Add all ingredients to a blender or food processor (tahini, lemon juice, garlic clove, olive oil, black pepper, salt, water, dill, parsley, and capers).
- Blend it until you get a smooth sauce.
Notes
- Cold vs room temperature – We recommend taking the cauliflower out of the fridge early on so that it can reach room temperature. It is easier to bake the florets crispy if the oven remains hot at all times.
- Adjust baking time – We cannot empathize enough that baking time largely depends on the size of the florets. If you have a small cauliflower head, you may end up with smaller florets. Then 40 minutes will be too much. Check them at least at halftime after 20 minutes.
- How to add the marinade? – While you can marinate the florets in a large bowl, we like minimizing the number of items you need to wash up after cooking. Therefore, we do the marinating directly on the sheet pan.
- Which blender to use for the sauce? – The amount of the ingredients may be too small for your blender. In that case, take a thin long container and use a hand blender aka immersion blender. Since there are no hard ingredients, your lemon herb tahini sauce will still be creamy and smooth.
Can this be air fried?
We don’t have an air fryer, but I cannot see any reason why not.