Recipe for Grilled Cauliflower Steak

Making your own grilled cauliflower steaks is a great way to make your vegan meals more filling and delicious. With this recipe, you can enjoy the taste of grilled goods without any guilt!

Plus, it's easy to make with only three ingredients (plus salt and pepper). You’ll be able to whip up these tasty grills in no time at all. These stakes also make a great side dish for your favorite soups, making them a complete meal!

🤔 Why this recipe works

Imagine warm, crispy, grilled cauliflower steaks next to about anything you can think of to make a complete meal. They were perfectly cooked. Thick cauliflower slices made with whole cauliflower heads are tasty and require no effort.

1. Cauliflowers are fantastic overall - they are delicious, versatile, and even make great leftovers.
2. When sliced into thick steak pieces and grilled perfectly, grilling cauliflower unleashes its full potential and tastes much more hearty.
3. This vegan cauliflower steaks make a great main dish or side dish for a Vegetarian roast.
4. It is a healthy and low-calorie dish.
5. You only need a few staple ingredients.

We love eating seasonally; that's when you can find all those beautiful and colorful broccoli and cauliflowers. So try to eat cauliflower as part of our winter and fall season meals.

🧾 Ingredients

This vegan cauliflower steak recipe has a few simple ingredients

• Medium cauliflower head: Cauliflower is the main ingredient in the dish and provides a meaty, hearty texture and a mildly sweet flavor.
• Olive oil or avocado oil: Oil roasts cauliflower steaks and provides a rich, nutty flavor and a crispy texture.
• Garlic powder or onion powder enhances the dish's flavor and adds subtle spiciness.
• Lemon juice adds a bright, tangy flavor to the dish and balances out the oil's richness.

Optional ingredients

Freshly ground black pepper and kosher salt: Black pepper and kosher salt are used to season the dish and bring out the natural flavors of the cauliflower.

See quantities and complete instructions in the recipe card.

🔪 Instructions

Make this recipe easy in 20 minutes with minimal babysitting.

Choosing cauliflower

To make cauliflower stakes, try choosing cauliflower heads that look firm and medium in size. Make sure they don't have any brown spots.

Prepare and cut the cauliflower head

Carefully remove the outer leaves surrounding the head of cauliflower. Using a sewed knife or a sharp knife, gently slice off the cauliflower stem of the cauliflower head.

Now place the head of cauliflower on a cutting board, flat side down.

We’ll use the sewed knife to create around 1-inch thick slices.

Hint: use leftover cauliflower florets to make recipes like cauliflower rice, Indian curry, or vegan cauliflower wings.

Make thick steaks placing the knife one inch away from the outer edge and placing your hand on top of the blade and the cauliflower head, grabbing it firmly. Gently saw back and forth (some florets will likely fall apart, no worries).

Continue slicing 1-inch steak slices until you have worked your way through the whole cauliflower, always grabbing the top of the remaining cauliflower head with your free hand to keep it together.

Note: the florets that undoubtedly will fall apart from the outer slices can also make it to the grill; they will grill nicely, and the grits can be served with your cauliflower stake and are equally crunch and delicious.

Cook the cauliflower steaks

This is how to make cauliflower steaks on the stove.

Brush your grill with one tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil, and carefully place cauliflower steaks next to each other.

Season. Squeeze the lemon juice on top, followed by the onion or garlic powder, salt, and pepper to taste.

Cook at medium-low heat and fully cover with a lid or the oven baking tray— for 10 minutes. Sneak pick and make sure the cauliflower stakes have crispy edges and look golden brown.

With the help of a spatula, turn each of the thick slices gently brush with olive oil and sprinkle salt. Cover again and cook for another 10 minutes.

Make cauliflower fork-tender while also grilled: cauliflower pieces, wrap a baking dish tightly in foil or lid until heated. The drying process produces steam, which converts moisture in the vegetable cells.

Serve and garnish

Use a spatula to serve the grilled cauliflower steak recipe as desired and serve immediately. You can finely chop some parsley to garnish the cauliflower steak on each plate and add a dollop of your favorite sauce.

We like our roasted cauliflower stakes with pesto; we used kale pesto in the pictures (grab the kale pesto recipe) or our carrot top chimichurri.

💡 Top Tip

Serve each grilled cauliflower steak with a dollop of your favorite sauce. We like using our kale pesto, our Green Goddess dressing, or the oil-free creamy vegan sauce. You can also use a chimichurri sauce or any other sauce that you would use for a piece of steak, such as pico de gallo.

📖 Variations

You can make this recipe as simple as salt and pepper cauliflower steaks, or you can go for one of the suggested seasonings.

Learn how to make a whole roasted cauliflower with only olive oil and salt!

Turns out when prepared with a similar method. Cabbage steaks, with their slightly sweet and earthy flavor, offer a delightful alternative to cauliflower. They can be grilled or roasted, just like the cauliflower steaks, to achieve a tender yet crispy texture.

A pro tip: opt for a green or red cabbage, and slice it into thick, steak-like pieces.

These hearty slices hold up well to cooking and absorb flavors beautifully. You can marinate them in the same spices and seasoning used for cauliflower, ensuring each bite is infused with mouth-watering aromas.

Grilling adds a smoky nuance, while roasting in the oven brings out their natural sweetness.

🌟 March, April, and May are great months to have cauliflower, as they are in peak season!

Spices

I like using some spices when I am not having my grilled cauliflower steaks with vegan kale pesto, arugula pesto, or basil pesto. My spices of choice are garlic powder, onion powder, curry powder, coriander, red pepper flakes, turmeric powder, paprika, cajun, or a mix of Italian seasonings.

Our green creamy vegan sauce is another sauce that is super easy to make and pairs perfectly with these steaks.

Herbs

I like garnishing our cauliflower stakes with chopped parsley, but if you like cilantro, it is also a great option.

Olive oil

If it is possible, use high smoke point oil, such as extra virgin olive oil, grapeseed oil, or avocado oil.

Sometimes, we use the oil from a garlic confit instead of the extra virgin olive oil to brush the grill and the stakes before cooking. If you do so, you can skip the garlic powder; the garlicky flavor we are looking for will be in.

The same goes for any flavored oil you can think of. They are a great way to infuse flavor into a cauliflower steak.

We use a minimal amount of olive oil in the recipe to keep it healthy so you won't have any remaining oil mixture.

Spicy cauliflower steaks

We love making Harissa cauliflower steaks for a change. While grilling the steak, brush half a teaspoon of harissa sauce on each steak; then repeat after turning them.

Smoky BBQ cauliflower stakes

You can easily turn these keto cauliflower steaks into a barbecue feast. Just brush the steaks with your favorite BBQ sauce (we like the Sweet Baby Ray's, (affiliate link) because it is naturally vegan and delicious). (affiliate)

Lightly brush the BBQ sauce on each side as you turn the steak on the grill, skillet, oven, or air fryer.

♨️ Methods

Cauliflower steak air fryer method

Brush the steaks with olive oil and sprinkle your seasoning of choice, as suggested in this recipe, to coat the steaks.

Place the cauli steaks in the air fryer basket and cook at 375 ºF (190 ºC) for 15 minutes; then gently flip each steak halfway through, lightly brush with oil, and season again. Keep cooking for another 10 minutes until you desire doneness.

Roasted cauliflower slices

You can also make roasted cauliflower steaks oven-roasted, using a baking sheet for 30 minutes at 400 ºF (204 ºC), turning them halfway. Though, I find that for this recipe, it is more convenient to grill cauliflower for two reasons:

Kosher salt and Black Pepper: use small amounts, or you could make a meal taste overly salted.

1. You need to flip the cauliflowers after 10 minutes.
2. Grilled cauliflower steaks only take 20 minutes, vs 30 minutes, if oven-roasted. So preheating the oven, then opening it, flipping, using parchment paper, and opening it back seems like a lot of hassle for me; in reality, we are speaking about a straightforward recipe, so I prefer to keep it that way. NOT a baking sheet to clean, only a grill.

Tip: look for our Spiced Roasted Cauliflower recipe, with a fantastic tahini-based seasoning that will have every person at the dinner table asking for the recipe.

🥢 How to serve cauliflower steaks

Cauliflower steaks are good to add to a tasty side dish and serve dinner with them as well. What is the easiest way to make cauliflower meat with cauliflower?

In addition to adding your favorite vegan sauce, or a sprinkle homemade vegan parmesan, some serving suggestions you can enjoy with your cauliflower steak are crispy rice or steamed Jasmin rice.

You can serve it with a hearty salad, with some homemade vinaigrette, made in only 5-minutes.

🥡 Storing leftovers

Storing leftover cauliflower steaks is easy. You can store the leftovers in the fridge for up to 3 days inside a closed refrigerator using an airtight container.

For reheating, place the cauliflower steaks in a grill pan on low-medium heat, and turn them. It should take about 5 minutes. They will still be super yummy!

Alternatively, you can use the microwave.

I like using leftover cauliflower stakes for making easy pasta. Just boil your pasta, as usual, drain, and then add your favorite vegan pesto and cauliflower grits and florets, creating an easy, lazy dinner with added veggies and nutrition.

You can also add cauliflower steak leftovers to any stir-fry, curry, or salad.

📚 Cauliflower recipes

We are fans of this healthy and versatile vegetable and often use it. The following cauliflower recipes will surely quickly earn a place in your heart; they are absolutely delicious! See more recipes to include in your diet.

• Vegan cauliflower wings
• Spiced Roasted Cauliflower
• Cauliflower rice
• Vegan Eggplant and cauliflower involtini

⭐ If you try this recipe, let us know! 💬 Leave a comment, rate it, and don't forget to tag us @ourplantbasedworld on Instagram. Cheers!

📋 Recipe