Lebanese Roasted Cauliflower with Spicy Lemon Hummus Sauce!
Our Lebanese Roasted Cauliflower with Spicy Lemon Hummus Sauce is a Whole Food Plant Based nod to the popular Lebanese dish but with a baked twist and oil free sauce. Tender roasted cauliflower is drizzled with a spicy lemon-hummus sauce and makes for a delicious vegetable appetizer or side.
Whole Food Plant Based, Vegan, plant based, oil free, refined sugar free, no highly processed ingredients and gluten free.
Hi there, Ameera here!
Our family goes crazy over Lebanese Roasted Cauliflower with s spicy sauce! It’s just so yummy! If you are looking for an easy appetizer or side that has a kick of heat, then this one is just for you.
You gotta give this one a try!
Tips for Success:
- Flavor Profile: The traditional Middle Eastern Roasted Cauliflower is served with a lemony tahini sauce, then generously drizzled with Shatta (Middle Eastern Hot Sauce). The Shatta is typically made with quite a bit of olive oil. We wanted to try to give a Whole Food Plant Based nod to this yummy Lebanese side dish/appetizer. We used a hummus-based sauce simply because it already contains tahini, and it could help temper the hot sauce because we are not using oil and included the hot sauce instead of making two different sauces like the traditional Lebanese dish While it does not taste exactly like the traditional Lebanese dish, it is a healthy nod to it and super delicious.
- Hummus: We used our The Best Hummus for this recipe. Feel free to use your favorite hummus, either homemade or store bought.
- Size of Fresh Cauliflower: You can use any size cauliflower you wish, simply trim to uniformly sized florets for even roasting.
- Amount of Sauce: We used a large head of cauliflower, so we doubled the sauce.
- Water: Feel free to add some additional water if the sauce is too thick.
- Spacing of the Cauliflower on the Baking Sheet: Make sure each floret has room to breathe on the baking sheet. If the cauliflower is all clumped together and crammed onto the baking sheet, then it will steam instead of roasting, and you will have a different culinary experience. If needed, use two baking sheets.
- Roasting Time: The time in the oven is largely dependent upon whether you used fresh or frozen cauliflower, the size of the florets, and the desired tenderness. 15 minutes is typically the minimum roasting time. We used fresh cauliflower, medium sized florets (reference photos), and wanted tender florets (no crunch). Our oven time was 25 minutes. Watch them carefully near the end to avoid burning.
- Transfer the Cauliflower: Do not dump the roasted cauliflower into your serving dish from the baking sheet. Pick up each roasted cauliflower floret and transfer it to your serving dish. Why? Because you will end up dumping all the sea salt and black pepper that fell to the bottom of your baking sheet and end up with an over-seasoned dish.
- Seasoning Opinions: We had family members who firmly felt that the roasted cauliflower needed a tad more sea salt and black pepper. We show the minimum amounts in the recipe. Feel free to increase the amounts or allow individuals to add more salt and pepper on their own individual servings.
Leftovers and Freezing:
Leftovers will generally keep for 5 days in the refrigerator. Store in a covered container.
This appetizer with sauce does not freeze well.
Pantry Products:
- Hot Sauce: We used Frank’s RedHot Original Hot Sauce.
- Hummus: We used our The Best Hummus for this recipe. Feel free to use your favorite hummus, either homemade or store bought.
- Sea Salt: Please adjust the sea salt based upon your family’s sea salt preferences and/or based upon dietary needs.
Kitchen Products:
- Large baking sheet (14×20)
- Parchment paper
We certainly hope you give these spicy cauliflower a try! If you try them, please leave us a review! Post a picture on Facebook or Instagram and tag us! We would love to hear from you.
PrintLebanese Roasted Cauliflower with Spicy Lemon Hummus Sauce
- Prep Time: 10 Minutes
- Cook Time: 15-30 Minutes
- Total Time: 25-40 Minutes
- Yield: 3-4 Servings 1x
- Category: Side
- Method: Oven
- Cuisine: Lebanese
- Diet: Vegan
Description
Our Lebanese Roasted Cauliflower with Spicy Lemon Hummus Sauce is a Whole Food Plant Based nod to the popular Lebanese dish but with a baked twist and oil free sauce.
Ingredients
- Cauliflower florets (fresh or frozen)
- Sprinkle sea salt *
- Sprinkle black pepper
- Sprinkle sweet paprika (for color)
Sauce Ingredients:
- ½ cup hummus *
- 2 Tablespoons + 1 teaspoon lemon juice (+/-)
- ½ to 1 ½ teaspoons hot sauce (+/-) *
- 1 teaspoon water (+/-)
- ½ teaspoon onion powder
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/8 teaspoon sea salt (+/-) *
Toppings:
- Chopped fresh cilantro or parsley
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400 F.
- Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper, set aside.
- Place fresh or frozen cauliflower florets onto the baking sheet, space them apart, sprinkle with sea salt and black pepper. Place in the oven (center rack) and roast for 15 to 30 minutes or until tender. The timing is largely dependent upon fresh or frozen cauliflower, the size of the florets, and the desired tenderness.
- In the meantime, make the Sauce by combining all the Sauce Ingredients into a bowl, whisk well to combine, set side. See blog post notes about the Amount of Sauce
- Once the cauliflower has been roasted to the desired tenderness, remove the baking sheet from the oven, sprinkle with a tiny bit more sea salt, then transfer the roasted cauliflower to a serving platter.
- Serve individual servings with a generous drizzle of sauce and freshly chopped cilantro or parsley.
Notes
*Please reference the blog post for Tips for Success, Pantry Items Used, Storage and Freezing, and Kitchen Products Used.
*We recommend doubling the sauce for a large roasted cauliflower. This will create 5-6 servings with a generous amount of sauce.
*Sea Salt: Please adjust the sea salt based upon your family’s sea salt preferences and/or based upon dietary needs.
*Servings: Sauce makes about 2/3 cup (3 to 4 servings)
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This looks amazing but I need a little more clarification on the amount (cups or weight) of the florets. Not sure if I’ll be using bagged pre-cut fresh florets or frozen but would appreciate amounts for each. Thank you!
Hi there Laurie,
The amount of cauliflower is based upon how much you want to cook. We provided some information in the blog post about this. You can use either fresh or frozen. You can use approx. 4 to 5 cups. I hope this helps.
-Ameera and Robin
This dish looks like what I thought I ordered yesterday in a restaurant, as an appetizer. Unfortunately, what I received was clearly deep fried, not roasted as advertised, and swimming in oil. ☹️ I can’t wait to try your version. I have some za’atar that my daughter brought me from Israel which I’ll probably sprinkle on too before serving.
Hi there Laurie,
We sincerely apologize for the late response, somehow this one got away from us. We hope you give this recipe a try and enjoy it. Thanks so much.
-Ameera and Robin
I just bought a head of cauliflower yesterday and am going to try this. I’ve been in a Cauliflower kick lately. Question, my husband ordered me a huge bag of Zaatar when I needed some for a recipe. Do you think it would swap out well here for the spices? I’m only just learning how to use it.
Hi there Laurie,
We sincerely apologize for the late response, somehow this one got away from us. You could try using a very light sprinkling of zaatar spice on the cauliflower. I wouldn’t remove any of the spices, just a light sprinkle might work.
Thanks so much.
-Ameera and Robin
Sooooo good!! The flavors are so beautifully balanced—creamy, lemony, spicy, hummus complementing the sweet roasted cauliflower, with the sparkle of the fresh parsley. Yummm!!! Thank you for this super easy and wonderful satisfying dish!
Hi there Kathleen,
YAYYYY!!! We are thrilled that you gave this recipe a try and enjoyed it! Thank you so much for taking time to leave us a great review.
-Ameera and Robin
this was absolutely delicious and was made following all your instructions.
we love so many of your recipes. Thanks for another awesome one.
Hi there Leanne,
WOOO HOOO!!! We are thrilled that you enjoyed this recipe. Thank you so much for leaving us a fantastic review.
-Ameera and Robin
Absolutely delicious! Easy to prepare too. Thank you.
Hi there Theresa,
YAYYY!!! We are so happy that you enjoyed this recipe. Thank you so much for taking time to leave us a fantastic review.
-Ameera and Robin