Turn Up The Heat On Your Roasted Cauliflower With Jerk Seasoning
Cauliflower has become quite popular in recent years in the form of pizza crusts, vegan-friendly wings, and even as a healthy alternative to grains like rice. There are so many delicious ways to use the cruciferous vegetable, but roasted cauliflower takes it back to the basics — and still makes for a flavorful side dish with the right seasonings. On its own, cauliflower tastes rather bland, and jerk seasoning is the solution to give it bolder flavors for anyone who appreciates layers of flavor in every bite of your daily dose of veggies.
When you roast cauliflower, it brings out its slightly sweet and nutty flavors but it still requires a little help with other spices like jerk seasoning, a staple in Jamaican cuisine that commonly consists of a blend of spices like garlic powder, onion powder, ground ginger, allspice, cayenne pepper, paprika, and pepper. All of the flavors from those spices offer bold, smoky, and slightly spicy roasted cauliflower so you don't have a bland bite on the plate. You can make it sweeter with brown sugar or add more cayenne pepper for a spicier version. Buy a store-bought bottle of jerk seasoning or make your own, perhaps with the blend included in our Jamaican jerk chicken wings recipe.
Whole, sliced, or florets?
Roasted cauliflower can be served whole, sliced, or cut into florets when seasoned with jerk seasoning. Even though the spice blend is bold, it'll still require a little salt to enhance its flavors. Depending on the recipe, you'll want to combine it with other ingredients like oil and either use the jerk spice blend as a glaze after it's roasted or season it liberally before it goes into the oven. Regardless of how you cut and prepare the cauliflower, one head should yield up to four servings depending on whether it's served as a side dish or as the main component of the meal.
To serve jerk-seasoned cauliflower as a side dish, pair it with your protein of choice and other roasted vegetables to temper the bold flavors of the seasoning. Another option is to skip the meat to keep it vegan-friendly and serve it as a main over a bed of rice and peas like you might typically serve with jerk chicken. If you like cauliflower wings, use the jerk seasoning in your favorite recipe. And before you get started, brush up on our tips for cooking with cauliflower – like how to pick the best head at the grocery store so the robust jerk seasoning doesn't go to waste.