Whole Story

The Official Whole Foods Market® Blog

Cooking with Cauliflower – Our 10 Best Ideas

By Allison Kociuruba, September 30, 2011  |  Meet the Blogger  |  More Posts by Allison Kociuruba
A member of the cabbage family, cauliflower is a hearty vegetable that rarely gets the spotlight. Packed with vitamin C and delicious raw or cooked, it’s time to give this versatile veggie a nod and explore the many ways in which cauliflower can be enjoyed. Most of us are familiar with white heads of cauliflower but there are also colorful varieties of cauliflower that come in greens and purples. When choosing what to put in your basket, look for heads that are uniform in color with no spots or bruises. Cauliflower will keep for a couple of days in the refrigerator but for the best flavor, cook soon after buying. Now that you know what to look for, here are ten ways to cook with cauliflower!

1. Cauliflower is an ideal crudité. Its mild flavor lets you enjoy whatever dip you like and its sturdiness will never disappoint. Break a head of cauliflower into medium-sized florets and serve with your favorite creamy dressing.

2. Steam cauliflower and puree or mash with just enough milk to make smooth for an alternative to mashed potatoes. Season with salt and pepper or add a favorite fresh herb. Here’s our recipe for Mashed Cauliflower.

3. Add small cauliflower florets to a pot of your favorite chicken or turkey soup instead of noodles.

4. Make a bright and tasty bowl of pan-steamed cauliflower with our Zesty Spiced Cauliflower recipe.

5. For a busy weeknight, try this colorful one-pot salmon and rice pilaf with cauliflower: Wild Coho Salmon with Sunshine Rice.

6. Add cauliflower florets to your favorite chili recipe or try ours for Bison Chili.

7. Sauté small cauliflower florets in olive oil with sliced garlic until golden and tender. Toss with fresh chopped thyme and a splash of lemon juice just before serving. Or, sauté in coconut oil and stir in a pinch of ground curry, cumin and ginger. Serve topped with toasted coconut.

8. Cauliflower purees to make a silky smooth soup. Simply sauté onion, garlic and cauliflower until golden. Add vegetable or chicken broth and heat to a boil, simmering until cauliflower is tender. Puree in a blender and season to taste or try our Creamy Curried Cauliflower Soup.

9. Make our Spicy Cheddar-Jack Cauliflower Dip for fall football watching!

10. Roast it! Preheat oven to 400°F and toss 1 head cauliflower, separated into florets with olive oil, salt and pepper and a teaspoon of caraway seeds. Roast until golden and tender, stirring occasionally.

Tell us, what’s your favorite cauliflower creation?
Category: Food & Recipes, Produce
print
Leave A Reply
Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they relate to the specific topic discussed in the post on which they are made. Off-topic comments, personal attacks (hostile, derogatory or deliberately insulting comments toward a specific individual or group) and flaming (comments intended to induce an angry response) will not be posted. For more information, please see our Comment Posting Guidelines.

 

28 Comments

Comments

Megan says ...
Thank you, thank you, thank you! I have been searching for a cauliflower recipe that my boyfriend will eat! I have always loved Cauliflower and my boyfriend refuses to eat it! Now that we have switched over to a vegetarian diet, I look forward to making some of these recipes, especially the Spicy Cheddar-Jack Dip-YUM!
10/13/2011 12:14:10 PM CDT
sue says ...
Tangy tomato and cauliflower soup. This is dead easy! I used 2 tins of tomatoes, 2 onions, about half a dozen decent sized cauliflower florets (I used frozen), garlic powder, dried mixed herbs, lemon juice lime juice, a teaspoon of vegetable oil, sea salt and aromatic pepper from grinders. place the cauliflower in a microwavable bowl and microwave until it is soft. I needed 8mins. Roughly chop or slice the onions. Put lemon and lime juices into a large saucepan with the garlic herbs salt and pepper and warm on a medium heat. Add the onions and mix together until they are soft but not stodgy. Add the tomatoes and stir together. You may need to reduce the heat. Next use a blender to mash the cauliflower I added some butter to it for a creamier texture. Add this to the saucepan and stir together. Now you can do your taste test. I added a bit more lime juice to it for a more zingy taste but you can add anything you like. I've never done anything like this with cauliflower before but I can assure you that after eating a bowl of it for my tea it was delicious. I had to let you know about my success thanks to your site! It made enough for four generous portions, or it would stretch to make six smaller starter sized portions if you are entertaining friends with a meal.
04/13/2013 12:08:30 PM CDT
Dr. M says ...
Having diabetes, I can't have mashed potatoes, so I make garlic-cheese mashed cauliflower. Cook some cloves of garlic with the cauliflower, and when you are mashing them, add whatever shredded cheese you like. Delicious! Fools people all the time. They think they are eating garlic-cheese mashed potatoes.
04/27/2013 9:55:38 PM CDT

Pages