This cauliflower pasta is loaded with flavor loaded with caramelized roasted cauliflower, parmesan, and fresh basil!
Is there anything better than roasted cauliflower? Here you can eat a whole platter in minutes (oops!). So why not make a main course out of it? meet this Roasted cauliflower noodles. It features tender and caramelized cauliflower: sweet, lemony and garlicky. Then there’s al dente pasta with a quick parmesan sauce. Top it off with crunchy basil crumbs and toasted pine nuts and good: it’s a taste explosion. This is how we prepare our new favorite pasta.
What’s in this cauliflower pasta?
This cauliflower pasta makes the most of its short list of ingredients! You don’t need much for a great aroma. This pasta is Italian: in Sicilian cuisine, cauliflower is often accompanied by lemon, parmesan and pine nuts. What you need for this recipe:
- Cauliflower: You will prepare our perfectly roasted cauliflower: a single head of cauliflower, olive oil, garlic and lemon zest
- Pasta: You can use any type of pasta (we prefer short pasta like rigatoni, penne, etc – see below!)
- breadcrumbs: The best are homemade, but you can use regular breadcrumbs too
- Fresh basil
- parmesan cheese
- butter
- Roasted Pine Nuts: they are optional but so good! If you can’t find them, you can substitute toasted slivered almonds or omit them.
Serve with a side for a hearty meal!
One thing to note about this cauliflower pasta is that it goes away fast! The portion size is moderate, so be sure to serve it with a side dish to keep the meal filling. Especially if you are feeding hungry eaters! Here are some ideas for a hearty Italian meal:
Tips for cooking cauliflower for pasta
This cauliflower pasta recipe uses our favorite way to prepare cauliflower: that perfect roasted cauliflower. For us, this is the ultimate way to make cauliflower taste amazing. Open this tab in a separate browser while you prepare this pasta. Here are some notes on the method:
- Fry at high heat (450 degrees). This results in the perfect golden, caramelized cauliflower: browning is your friend!
- Use parchment paper for easy cleaning. We always use parchment paper when roasting vegetables because it makes cleaning easier. Avoid silicone baking mats as they can make veggies mushy instead of crispy.
- Don’t forget to add the garlic and lemon zest! The aroma takes care of that. Be sure to include this last step as you follow the pasta recipe.
Use any pasta shape you want!
You can use any pasta shape you like for these cauliflower pasta! We used Rigatoni because we like the look. A short pasta is good here because it makes it easy to get the cauliflower and pasta into every bite. But you can use long noodles if that’s all you’ve got! Here are some types of pasta that we recommend:
- Short pasta: Rigatoni, penne, cavatappi, shellfish, twins
- Long Noodles: Spaghetti, bucatini, linguine
A few notes on breadcrumbs
The crispy breadcrumbs topping gives this cauliflower pasta a very special flair! Here are some notes about the breadcrumb element:
- Best choice: do it yourself! If you have leftover bread lying around, it’s as simple as threading it through a food processor (or blender) and baking it in a 300 degree oven to crisp it up. Go to How to Make Breadcrumbs.
- If you use store-bought, be careful with salt. Try to buy coarse crumbs as they give the best crunch. If possible, use unsalted crumbs. If you can only find breadcrumbs with added salt, use less salt to flavor the pasta!
Optional toasted pine nuts
Pine nuts can be hard to find and expensive, but they add a unique flavor to this cauliflower pasta! If you can find them, they’re a nice addition. Here are some notes on the Pine Nuts element:
- Don’t skip toasting the nuts! It brings out the taste. Be sure to head over to How to Roast Pine Nuts for instructions on how to toast them! That really brings out the flavor. We tasted without crickets and it was much less tasty.
- Leave it out and it’s still good. If you still want the nutty crunch, you can use roasted almond slivers. But it’s just as good without!
And that’s it! Let us know if you’ve tried these cauliflower pasta and what you think of them in the comments below.
This cauliflower pasta recipe is…
Vegetarian.
The description
This cauliflower pasta is loaded with flavor loaded with caramelized roasted cauliflower, parmesan, and fresh basil!
- 1 Perfect roasted cauliflower recipe
- 8 ounces short pasta (rigatoni, penne, etc.)
- ½ cup Breadcrumbs (homemade or store-bought breadcrumbs* – see note)
- 6 fresh basil leaves, plus more for garnish
- ¾ cup grated or grated parmesan cheese, divided
- 3 tablespoons Salted butter
- ¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes
- Kosher salt
- ¼ cup toasted pine nuts, optional
- Make the cauliflower: Prepare the roasted cauliflower. When ready, add the garlic and lemon zest as instructed in this recipe.
- Meanwhile, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil.
- Prepare the herb crumbs: Place basil leaves on cutting board with ¼ cup parmesan cheese; Use a large knife to chop them together until finely chopped. Then place in a bowl and mix with the breadcrumbs.
- Cook pasta: Cook the pasta al dente (start tasting a few minutes before the package recommends: you want them to be tender but still a bit firm inside). Reserve about ¾ cup of cooking water. Then drain the noodles and put them back in the pot.
- Season pasta: Immediately add the butter and ½ tsp Kosher salt (or less if using store-bought breadcrumbs with salt) and stir until melted. Then add the remaining ½ cup Parmesan cheese and about ½ cup pasta water. Stir until a creamy sauce forms, adding more of the reserved pasta water if needed (if it’s sticky, just add more pasta water and stir until a creamy sauce forms)
- Prepare and serve pasta: Stir the roasted cauliflower into the pasta. Garnish with breadcrumbs and a drizzle of olive oil. Garnish with red pepper flakes and toasted pine nuts, if using. Serve hot.
Remarks
*If you can only find store-bought breadcrumbs that contain salt, remember the salt in the pasta to account for this (see step 5).
- Category: main course
- Method: roast meat
- Kitchen: Italian
- Diet: vegetarian
Keywords: Cauliflower Noodles
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