This easy, wholesome, and oh-so-delicious Instant Pot Thanksgiving Cauliflower makes holidays a breeze, freeing up the oven for casseroles and baked goods. This ultimate Thanksgiving comfort food boasts a luscious harvest infused gravy that beautifully coats tender cauliflower, hearty potatoes, zesty onions, sweet carrots, and earthy celery. Soul warming goodness that is sure to have everyone ooing and awing over this fantastic Thanksgiving Center Piece that is sure to have everyone’s belly happy.
Whole Food Plant Based, vegan, plant based, oil free, refined sugar free, gluten free and no highly processed ingredients.
Hi there, Ameera here!
Mom and I have been discussing Thanksgiving and Christmas since Spring. What are we going to make that will taste amazing and benefit our Readers?
We get tons of requests for more and more Instant Pot recipes, so we decided to make holidays even easier with this Instant Pot Thanksgiving Cauliflower dish. Yes, it is quite tasty! The gravy is absolutely DEVINE.
This dish is a cross between a stew and oven roasted/baked veggies in a beautiful Thanksgiving harvest-flavored, herbed gravy. Not only is this dish super easy to pull together, but it tastes amazing too! We devoured it.
Cauliflower Head
We included a picture to show you how to clean the cauliflower of the leaves and some of the hard stem. You really need that core stem intact in order to keep the cauliflower together in the Instant Pot (or oven). Just clean it up by remove the leaves and trim the stem down so the cauliflower can sit flat on the counter without teetering over to one side or the other. This will help with serving.
Gravy
The good news is that this one-pot wonder’s gravy can be customized to suit your individual tastes.
Simply remove all the veggies and arrange on a serving platter, then add the slurry to the liquids/gravy, stir to thicken, and cook in the hot liquid. Then switch to Sauté mode on the Instant Pot and adjust any herbs and spices according.
We loved adding an additional 1/8 teaspoon of rosemary, a pinch of sage, and a pinch of black pepper simply because that extra little boost of herbs and spices at the end really makes a difference. Additionally, if the Instant Pot indicates that the Saute mode is too hot, simply unplug, the IP will be hot enough to cook the gravy with the newly added spices.
I’ll let Mom tell you more.
Hi! Robin here.
Once again Monkey’s gifted nose comes into play. I’ve said it before, and I will say it again. Monkey’s “hyperosmia” (super smeller) allows her to pull together the most delicious spice blends I’ve ever tasted. Monkey’s spice nose is a gift! She is an amazing cook with tons of natural intuition. I taught her well, but now the student has surpassed the teacher and now I am learning from her.
Her awesome nose works for us as recipe creators because having a very great “schnoz” really helps with developing recipes that are full of flavor without using oil as a carrier.
You would be surprised how many non-WFPB recipes use olive oil as the foundation for flavor in recipes.
Take the olive oil away and one really needs to rely on herbs and spices to boost the flavor. Use too little herbs and spices, and the dish is bland; too much and the dish can be bitter or overwhelm the palate. It is definitely a balancing act for sure.
The gravy is the star of this food show! As Monkey indicated the beauty of this recipe is that you can totally adjust the spices to fit your personal taste.
If you try this comforting dish, we would love to know if you enjoy it as much as we do! Please leave us a review! Post a picture on Facebook or Instagram and tag us! We would love to hear from you.
More Thanksgiving Recipes!
- Check out our ULTIMATE THANKSGIVING RECIPES list!
Products Used:
- Instant Pot or Dutch Oven

Instant Pot Thanksgiving Cauliflower
- Prep Time: 20 Minutes
- Cook Time: 11 Minutes
- Total Time: 31 Minutes
- Yield: 4 Servings 1x
- Category: Dinner
- Method: Instant Pot/Oven
- Cuisine: American
- Diet: Vegan
Description
Easy, healthy, and delicious, this oil-free Instant Pot Thanksgiving Cauliflower boasts a luscious harvest infused gravy and makes holiday cooking a breeze.
Ingredients
Base Ingredients:
- 1 Tablespoon tomato paste
- 1 ½ cups water (or broth)
- 1 ¼ cups low-sodium vegetable broth *
- 2 Tablespoons reduced-sodium tamari *
- 2 Tablespoons nutritional yeast
- 1 teaspoon organic maple syrup
- 1 Tablespoon white miso *
- 1 Tablespoon unsalted almond butter *
Spice/Herb Ingredients:
- 1 ½ teaspoons onion powder
- 1 ½ teaspoons garlic powder
- 2 Tablespoons dried minced onions
- ¼ teaspoon dried rubbed sage *
- 1 teaspoon dried crushed thyme leaves *
- ¼ teaspoon dried rosemary powder *
- ½ teaspoon dried ground mustard powder
- 1 teaspoon sea salt (+/-) *
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
Veggie Ingredients:
- 1 large yellow onion, cut in wedges
- 3 celery ribs, cut in chunks
- 3 medium carrots, cut in chunks
- 1 lb. 8 oz. Yukon Gold potatoes, unpeeled, cut in wedges *
- 1 small (to medium) whole cauliflower *
Cornstarch Slurry
- 2 Tablespoons cornstarch (or arrowroot powder)
- 3 Tablespoons water
Optional Toppings:
- Freshly chopped parsley
Instructions
Instant Pot Instructions
- Place the Spice/Herb Ingredients into a small bowl, mix well. Set aside.
- Add all the Base Ingredients and the Spice/Herb Mix into the Instant Pot. Stir well to combine all the ingredients. Mix well by breaking up the tomato paste, almond butter, and the miso to create a smooth broth. (Don’t worry if you can’t break it all up). Scrape the bottom of the Instant Pot to pull up anything that sticks to the bottom to prevent the Burn feature from kicking on.
- Add all the Veggie Ingredients (except the cauliflower) and stir well to coat the veggies, then push the veggies down into the broth mixture.
- Remove the outer leaves and trim the stalk from the cauliflower (leaving the core intact), using your hands, place the cauliflower head on top of the mixture in the Instant Pot, then pour some of the broth mixture all over the cauliflower. Turn it up-side-down and pour some of the broth mixture inside the crevices, then place the cauliflower right-side-up to rest on top of the veggie mixture. Set the Instant Pot to Manual Pressure High for 11 minutes. When finished, press Cancel, unplug the Instant Pot, and allow to sit for 2 minutes, then do a Quick Release
- Once all the pressure is released, carefully remove the lid. Carefully remove the cauliflower head and place it on a platter. Do the same with the veggies.
- Create a cornstarch slurry by mixing 2 Tablespoons of cornstarch with 3 Tablespoons of water, whisk until smooth, then place the slurry into the broth/gravy. Plug in the Instant Pot and use the Sauté mode to heat/cook the gravy. Stir until the cornstarch slurry thickens to a gravy. If not thick enough take 3 of the potato wedges, remove the skins, and mash them really well, then stir/whisk the mashed potatoes back into the gravy to dissolve. Now add an additional 1/8 teaspoon rosemary, pinch sage, and pinch of black pepper. Whisk until incorporated. Cook the gravy for several minutes.
- Taste test the gravy and ramp up any additional flavors as desired. Then pour the gravy over the cauliflower and veggies, reserving a small amount for a gravy boat.
Oven Roasting Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400 F.
- Place the Spice/Herb Ingredients into a small bowl, mix well. Set aside.
- Add all the Base Ingredients and the Spice/Herb Mix into a ceramic/enamel lined Dutch Oven. Stir well to combine all the ingredients. Mix well by breaking up the tomato paste, almond butter, and the miso to create a smooth broth. (Don’t worry if you can’t break it all up).
- Add all the Veggie Ingredients (except the cauliflower) and stir well to coat the veggies, then push the veggies down into the broth mixture.
- Remove the outer leaves and trim the stalk from the cauliflower (leaving the core intact), using your hands, place the cauliflower head on top of the mixture, then pour some of the broth mixture all over the cauliflower. Turn it up-side-down and pour some of the broth inside the crevices, then place the cauliflower right-side-up on top of the veggie mixture. You may need to move some veggies and potatoes around to make sure everything fits well. The key is the potatoes and carrots should be more submerged in the liquids than the cauliflower.
- Cover with a tight-fitting lid, place in a preheated 400 F oven, roast for 40 minutes, spooning the broth over the cauliflower about half way through.
- After 40 minutes, remove the lid, test for tenderness and pour more broth mixture over the cauliflower, return to the oven for another 10 to 20 minutes or until tender. Note: If the cauliflower cooks faster than the potatoes or carrots, simply remove the cauliflower from the Dutch Oven and return to the oven until the remaining veggies are tender. If needed, you can place the cauliflower in the microwave to reheat before assembling on a serving platter.
- Remove the cauliflower and veggies and place them on a serving platter.
- Create a cornstarch slurry by mixing 2 Tablespoons of cornstarch with 3 Tablespoons of water, whisk, then place into the broth. Place the Dutch Oven on the stove top burner on medium-low heat to heat the gravy. Stir until the cornstarch thickens to a gravy. If not thick enough take 3 of the potato wedges, remove the skins, and mash them really well, then stir/whisk it back into the gravy to dissolve. Now add an 1/8 teaspoon rosemary, pinch sage, and pinch of black pepper. Whisk until incorporated. (See notes)
- Taste test ramp up any flavors as desired. Then pour the gravy over the cauliflower and veggie, reserving a small amount for a gravy boat.
Notes
*Tips for Success:
- Stirring in the Miso, Almond Butter, and Tomato Paste: Do you best to mix in the tomato paste, almond butter, and miso into the broth. Don’t worry if you can’t completely dissolve them. The heat from the Instant Pot or oven will dissolve them, we just want to make sure they are dissolved as much as possible before hand.
- Onions: We cut the onions into wedges so that the gravy would be smooth and luscious. We can see how some folks may not care for onion wedges in the gravy. We simply moved them to the plate with the potatoes, carrots, and celery. If you don’t like them, then discard as they served their purpose with amazing flavor to the gravy.
- Celery: Some folks do not care for celery; however, it adds great flavor to this gravy. We suggest adding the celery, but cutting them in half so you can easily fish them out and discard as they have served their purpose by flavoring the gravy.
- Thickening the Gravy: We used a cornstarch slurry to thicken the gravy. The gravy stock should be piping hot from the IP (or oven) so mixing it in should cook it up enough to thicken; however, use the saute mode to cook the cornstarch to avoid a “cornstarchy” flavor. If not thick enough, take 3 cooked potato wedges, remove the skins and mash then and return it to the gravy and stir it in. The gravy will continue to thicken as it cools.
- Instant Pot Herbs and Spices: An Instant Pot generally does one of two things, it either mellows out the spices/herbs or it really intensified them (largely dependent on the spice/herb). We found that after we thickened the gravy we needed to add 1/8 teaspoon ground rosemary, pinch of rubbed sage, and some extra black pepper. If you find that you want some additional herbs and spices mixed at the end, simply heat the gravy, add in some of your favorite herbs and spices, and cook for several minutes to allow the herbs and spices to marry with the gravy.
- Oven Herbs and Spices: Roasting tends to intensify herbs and spices as the liquids evaporate creating a very intense flavor. If you need to add some extra veggie broth when making the gravy and ramp up some spices/herbs to compensate for the extra liquid.
- Plating the Dish: Carefully remove the cauliflower after cooking and place on a serving platter. We used two large spoons to gently lift the cauliflower out to the platter. Then carefully remove all the potatoes, carrots, celery, and onions and arrange them all around the cauliflower. Then pour the gravy over the entire dish. Reserve a small amount of gravy if you wish for a gravy boat.
- Cauliflower: When you remove the cauliflower from the IP, the top will be white, that is fine. When serving, simply pour some gravy over the cauliflower to bring color and flavor to it.
- Cutting the Cauliflower to serve: We cut into the cauliflower like a pie. Don’t forget to tell dinner guests to slice out the small core from their piece. It can be easily identified and removed very easily.
- Instant Pot Size and Timings: We have an 8-quart Instant Pot. If using a 6-quart IP, select a smaller cauliflower, and you may find that you need to adjust the timing downward a tad, perhaps 7 to 9 minutes. We have received feedback that the cooking time of 11 minutes is too long; however, we did numerous tests with great success at 11 minutes with a medium/large cauliflower in an 8 quart Instant Pot. We suggest test driving this recipe if planning to use for a holiday dinner to get your IP timings down pat. Note: The cauliflower is going to be on the tender side since the IP timing is primarily based upon the potatoes and carrots. It will still stay intact and can be removed easily using two large kitchen spoons.
- Dutch Oven: We used an 8-quart Dutch Oven. If using a 6-quart, select a smaller cauliflower.
Notes Continued
*Vegetable Stock: We use Pacific Organic Low Sodium Vegetable Stock. We love this brand because it is Whole Food Plant Based compliant, as it does not contain MSG, has no oil, and does not contain any highly-processed ingredients.
*Dried Rosemary Powder: We used Penzeys Rosemary Spain Powdered. Feel free to use your favorite powdered Rosemary.
*Dried Rubbed Sage: We used Penzeys Sage Albanian Rubbed. Feel free to use your favorite rubbed sage.
*Dried Thyme Crushed Leaves: We use Penzeys French Thyme. It has amazing flavor. If you can’t find dried crushed thyme leaves, you can use ground thyme, but use half the amount.
*Almond Butter: You can leave the almond butter out with the understanding that the richness of the gravy may be compromised and you may need to ramp up other ingredients to compensate.
*Yukon Gold Potatoes: You can use your favorite potato in this dish. We used Yukon Golds simply because the skins are very thin and do not require peeling. Other types of potatoes may require peeling off the skin, i.e. Russets, etc. We cut the potatoes in half, then cut each half into thirds lengthwise to create potato wedges.
*Miso: We use Miso Master Organic Mellow White Premium Lite Miso, Certified Gluten Free. Miso really lends itself to balancing flavors when you don’t use oil. You can also substitute with chickpea miso for a soy free version.
*Tamari: We used San J Tamari Soy Sauce, Gluten Free, Reduced Sodium. You can substitute the tamari with reduced sodium soy sauce, Braggs Liquid Aminos, or Braggs Coconut Liquid Aminos.
*Sea Salt: Please adjust the sea salt based upon your family’s sea salt preferences and/or based upon dietary needs.
*Servings: 4
*Stores: In the refrigerator for 4-5 days
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Thanks ladies! This was really tasty, and I will definitely make again. I did find the pressure cooking time to be too long however (it was too soft), so like all things with the instant pot, I’ll have to play around to find the optimal time. I used a medium size cauliflower. I’ll try 9 min next time and adjust from there. But the flavor was great, and I have leftover gravy that I can use on other meals! Bonus! Thanks for sharing 🙂
Hi there Cynthia 🙂 Yaaaay!!! We are so thrilled to hear that you enjoyed this recipe and plan to make it again. As for the cauliflower, we are sorry it turned out too soft. Do you have a 6-quart IP? We have an 8-quart and found that 11 minutes was perfect, but we have had feedback that the cooking time of 11 minutes in a 6-quart IP was too long. Perhaps 7-9 minutes would be better; you’d have to play around a little with cauliflower size due to IP size. We recently added this to the notes section of the… Read more »
Yes, I have a 6 qt IP, so that’s probably the issue. I’m eating my leftovers right now, and added some peas for add’l color! Yum!
Made this for dinner on (Canada) Thanksgiving. Spot on for the flavour! I have a 6 qt instant pot and only decreased the time by a minute (wasn’t thinking…should have decreased by 5). My cauliflower was too mushy. But the rest of the veggies were good. Whew!
This is for sure a “company is coming” dish. ?
I added some butter beans at the end for a little more protein.
Hi there Sandra 🙂
Yaaaay!!! We are super EXCITED to hear that you enjoyed this recipe for Thanksgiving. Yes, we have found that the 6qt Instant Pot needs to reduce the time by a good couple minutes or so as it will cook the cauliflower a lot faster than our 8 qt Instant Pot. We love the addition of some butter beans, such a perfect combination! Thank you so much for giving this recipe a try. We appreciate your awesome feedback!
-Ameera and Robin 🙂
When putting the cauli in and you say cover with broth, do you mean the mixture that the veggies are in or actual veggie broth?
Hi there Marian 🙂
Thank you so much for reaching out to us. We apologize for the late response. We updated the recipe to clarify that we use the broth mixture to coat/cover the cauliflower. We hope this helps.
-Ameera and Robin 🙂
I made this last night and it was excellent! The flavours were fantastic. For protein I made crispy oven baked tofu. The only change I would make next time I make it would be to decrease the time in the IP as you mentioned. Love your recipes. Thx and I’ll be making it for Canadian Thanksgiving next year!
Hi there Frances 🙂
Woo hoo!!! We are so glad you enjoyed this recipe. Thank you so much for sharing your adjustments and wonderful feedback with us! We truly appreciate your kind words and support!
-Ameera and Robin 🙂
I’ve made this 2 more times and each time delicious! I’m playing with the cook time. The first night, the freshest, I did for 8 minutes (in my 8 qrt pot) and then the older cauliflower the next night for 7 minutes. I noticed that the older cauliflower was actually softer once cooked (they were the same size). I’m thinking that the freshness of the cauliflower must affect the cauliflower cook time; hence the reason my 7 minutes was overcooked vs the 8 minutes. What do u think? Regardless they were both delicious. Thanks again, you are both a great… Read more »
Awesome! We are so glad that you’ve made this recipe 2 more times and enjoyed them! This is very interesting experiment, and we appreciate you sharing it with us. It makes sense that the older the cauliflower the less time it needs to cook in the Instant Pot.
I made this tonight and the gravy was good. The others were over cooked but my boys liked it anyway. I have a question. When you say cook for 11 minutes, does that mean set the pot to 11 minutes? Or start timing when you turn the pot on? I found it took 30 minutes for my pot to come up to full pressure and then it cooked for 11 minutes. Is that how you are supposed to do it? Or did I mess up the time? I might try it in the oven next time. So far the only… Read more »
Hi there Katy 🙂 Yaaaay!!! We are so glad to hear that you and your boys enjoyed this recipe. We appreciate your wonderful feedback! We are sorry yours was a little over cooked. We have an 8-qt instant pot and the time works great; however, we found that readers who are using a 6-qt instant pot or a pressure cooker that is not an instant pot brand need to reduce their times by a couple minutes or so. As for the times, you are correct. You want to set the Instant Pot time to 11 minutes (or less if you… Read more »
This was absolutely amazing! I ended up with way too big of a Thanksgiving menu, so I had to split it up through the week. This made a special feel to the beginning of our celebratory week. The flavors made every Thanksgiving memory spiral through. I followed the oven recipe entirely except I didn’t have almond butter, so I used some tahini paste. Thank you so much for helping out vegan Thanksgiving continue to outshine the past.
Hi there Jen 🙂
Woo hoo!!! We are so thrilled you enjoyed this recipe for your celebratory Thanksgiving week – *doing a happy dance*. Thank you so much for taking the time to share your adjustment and wonderful feedback with us. We appreciate your support and kind words!
-Ameera and Robin 🙂
I have a friend with a nut allergy; can I use sunflower seed butter instead?
Hi there Douglas 🙂
We sincerely apologize for the late response. Yes, you can substitute any nut or seed butters in this recipe. Thank you so much for taking the time to write.
-Ameera and Robin 🙂
I’m following the Dutch oven method as my IP is a mini. After the first 40 minutes, when you say to remove the lid to baste again, do you leave the lid off or replace it for the remainder of the cooking time?
Hi there Suzanne 🙂
Thank you so much for reaching out to us. We apologize for the late response. Cover with the lid to capture the heat to ensure a well cooked cauliflower.
-Ameera and Robin 🙂
I really wanted a “pot roast” type meal, but wasn’t in the mood for cauliflower. So I made this recipe exactly as is, except instead of the cauliflower, I added half a bag of rehydrated soy curls the last 10 minutes of oven baking. OH. MY. GOSH. It was absolutely incredible. It’s quite the challenge keeping my fork out of the pot (after having almost 2 servings), but I reeeally want leftovers for a few days. It won’t be long before I make this again. You two have been lifesavers for those of us on the WFPB journey 😉
Hi there Julie
Yaaaay! We are so happy that you enjoyed this recipe. What a great idea to add soy curls to this recipe! Thank you so much for sharing your delicious adjustments and wonderful review. We appreciate your kind words and support!
-Ameera and Robin
I set my 6 Qt InstantPot to cook for 7 minutes, cancelled after 2 minutes and then released the pressure manually. I opened the lid to a pot of mush. I’m new at the IP and would appreciate suggestions for time adjustments for future attempts. I’m considering adding the pot’s contents to my Vitamix with a little broth. Won’t take much effort to liquify.
Hi there Rebecca, OH NO!!! We are so sorry that this happened to you. We had placed a note about the size of the IP as well as size, which it appeared you did. Some cauliflowers are more dense than others. We can only suggest, really examining the cauliflower for density – in other words are the florets packed tight or is there a lot of space between the florets and experiment a tad. Six Quart IPs definitely take less time as the size is small and the pressure will build faster. We hope this helps. -Ameera and Robin Instant… Read more »
Wondering if this would work in a crock pot – has anyone tried it?
Hi there Darlene,
Thank you for your question. We are unsure how this recipe would work out in a crock pot as we have not tested it ourselves.
-Ameera and Robin