I love roasted vegetables, especially cauliflower. They’re a great kid-friendly side dish that goes with almost any protein. Leftovers (if there are any) make salads interesting and fun to eat. It seems like I can never make enough roasted cauliflower at home . . . there are almost never any leftovers.
What makes cauliflower kid-friendly?
Roasted cauliflower is the only way my son will eat it. Finding vegetables that kids reluctantly eat is hard to find as you parents know. This is on the regular rotation, especially during those periods of loose sore teeth when he can’t enjoy his favorite carrot sticks. He never gets bored of it because it is something that he doesn’t get for lunch at school. Thus, I will gladly spend the time (no matter how tedious) to cut the cauliflower into florets. Hope you enjoy this simple but tasty recipe!
If you are lucky to find purple or orange cauliflower, the colors are amazing and some kids love to eat the rainbow! Not my child: he’s a purist and scolds me whenever he sees anything but white cauliflower!
Why this sheet pan recipe?
There are tons of recipes for cauliflower on the Internet, and tons for oven roasted preparations. What’s great about this recipe is that you can cook it at the lower temperature of 400 degrees Fahrenheit so you can roast other vegetables or protein on a different sheet pan at the same time. You can utilize the oven time by cooking two different things at once with the same amount of heat and electricity. Tried this recipe? Leave a comment and let me know what you think!
Some kids just don’t like dark or burnt or anything more than a light brown toasty color on their food. They won’t touch it if it’s a little bit brown. Also, some kids will cringe if some pieces are charred and others are not because they should all look the same. <Sigh.> I get it. In order to get nice tender cauliflower pieces that are all similar to each other without too much car with this recipe.
If you want more of a char to your roasted cauliflower, increase the temperature to 425 or 450 degrees Fahrenheit for the last few minutes when your other pans are done cooking.
Health Benefits: Cauliflower
Cauliflower has more vitamins and minerals than you would think since it is a white vegetable. It’s an anti-inflammatory vegetable that has choline, which helps the brain develop and helps boost your mood.
This relative of broccoli is high in fiber (to help you stay full and keep your bowels moving) and low in calories so it is a great addition to any meal. Some people even use cauliflower in place of rice to make their meal “low carb”. Don’t know about you, but this Hawaii-born Asian girl couldn’t imagine giving up her white rice, though I do enjoy cauliflower in my curry on occasion.
Now, if you have thyroid issues, you may want to steer clear of cauliflower and only eat it occasionally because it might make it harder for your thyroid to work properly. Don’t worry, there are tons of other vegetables that you can have instead! Look at some of these other veggie recipes:
Kid-Friendly Roasted Cauliflower
Equipment
- 1 chef's knife
- 1 large cutting board
- 1 Large mixing bowl
- 1 Large baking sheet
- parchment paper or silicone mat or aluminum foil
Ingredients
- 1 large cauliflower head cut into small florets
- 3 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tbsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp seasoned salt
- ¼ tsp black pepper
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Line baking sheet with parchment paper, silicone baking sheet, or aluminum foil.
- While the oven is preheating, wash cauliflower and cut off the leaves and lower part of the core. Cut cauliflower into bite-size pieces about 1 inch x ½ inch. (If your pieces are bigger, increase bake time by 5 to 10 minutes.)
- Place cauliflower florets in a large bowl. Add olive oil, salt, garlic powder, and black pepper and mix well.
- Put the seasoned cauliflower on baking sheet and cook for 25 to 30 minutes or until the cauliflower is tender when pierced with a fork.
