Tender chunks of roasted cauliflower with delicious thai flavors and a spicy dipping sauce. This easy low carb appetizer will keep you coming back for more.
You have to pity the low carber or paleo dieter who doesn’t like cauliflower. I’ve always loved it and most other cruciferous vegetables so I came to this way of eating well-armed with choices. But cauliflower is by far the most versatile among the low carb vegetables, with perhaps the exception of zucchini. A love for these two veggies makes the transition to a low carb or paleo lifestyle a far sight easier as they can stand in for many of the former starchy, high carb favourites. The pale off-white cauliflower is particularly good at disguising itself as other foods: rice, mashed potatoes, pizza crust, and macaroni among them. I’ve even seen tortillas made from cauliflower. If you’ve decided to go paleo or low carb, you’d better come to love cauliflower pretty darn quick.
As I’ve said, I’ve loved it all my life. Raw or cooked, I’d happily munch away at cauliflower. But my cauli creativity was severely lacking until I came face to face with pre-diabetes and decided to overhaul my diet completely. I basically ate it two ways: raw with dip or dressing, or steamed with butter and salt. That was the extent of my cauli culinary experience. Sort of pathetic for a semi-adventurous eater such as myself.
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Now I love dreaming up fun ways to use that colourless descendent of wild cabbage. There are some amazingly creative cauliflower cooks out there, but I’ve come up with a few pretty good recipes myself. My Butternut Squash & Cauliflower Casserole is a perfect low carb Thanksgiving side dish, and my Cilantro Lime Cauliflower Rice is a healthy and delicious copycat recipe from Chipotle. And some readers swear that my Sour Cream & Cheddar Mashed Cauliflower is the closest low carb equivalent to mashed potatoes they’ve ever had. Since I was never that big a fan of mashed potatoes, I far prefer this lighter, healthier side dish myself.
And now many restaurants are getting in on the cauliflower action. This recipe was inspired by The Yard House which opened near us recently. They serve an appetizer of Za’atar Roasted Cauliflower with Tahini Dipping Sauce. I love it and have been known to make my whole meal out of it. I happen to have some za’atar from Penzey’s but I decided to switch it up and go with Thai-inspired flavours. We have been making a version of this peanut dipping sauce since time immemorial and roasted cauli makes a perfect sauce dipper. I will say, though, that the thai spices were so good with the cauliflower, I almost didn’t need the dipping sauce. Whether you make the sauce or not, it’s a fantastic recipe and makes a great low carb side dish or appetizer.
Tender chunks of roasted cauliflower with delicious Thai flavors and a spicy dipping sauce. This easy low carb appetizer will keep you coming back for more.
- 1/2 cup warm water
- 1/4 cup peanut butter
- 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
- 2 tsp coconut aminos or soy sauce
- 1 tsp fish sauce (Red Boat is sugar-free)
- 1 clove garlic chopped
- 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
- 1/2 tsp ground ginger
- 1 tsp coriander
- 1/2 tsp cumin
- 1/2 tsp garlic powder
- 1/4 tsp ginger
- 1/4 tsp cayenne
- 1 large head cauliflower cut into small florets
- 1/4 cup melted coconut oil
- 2 tsp fish sauce
- Lime wedges for garnish
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Combine water, peanut butter, vinegar, aminos or soy sauce, fish sauce, garlic, pepper flakes and ginger in a blender. Blend until smooth.
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Preheat oven to 400F.
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In a small bowl, combine coriander, cumin, garlic powder, ginger, and cayenne. Set aside.
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In a large bowl, toss cauliflower florets with coconut oil and fish sauce. Add spice mixture and toss to coat.
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Spread cauliflower in a single layer on a large baking sheet and roast 15 to 20 minutes, or until tender and beginning to brown.
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Serve with lime wedges and peanut dipping sauce on the side.
Serves 8. Each serving has 4.33 g of carbs and 1.37 g of fiber. Total NET CARBS = 2.96 g.
Food energy: 123kcal
Polyunsaturated fatty acids: 1.32g
Total fat: 11.06g
Calories from fat: 99
Cholesterol: --
Carbohydrate: 4.33g
Total dietary fiber: 1.37g
Protein: 3.05g
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Alice @ Hip Foodie Mom says
I also love cauliflower .. raw, roasted, cooked, you name it! and love dishes like this with the Thai spin and the dipping sauce! love it!
Amanda says
Beautiful! SO much flavor here.
Lin says
Can you use anything else in lieu of the fish sauce? I’ve got everything else I need to make it!
Carolyn says
Good question! It’s so distinctive, you will miss out on that flavour a bit. But I would go with coconut aminos or soy sauce and maybe a squeeze of lime juice.
Lin says
Great idea with the soy/lime! Thanks bunches!
linda says
Can I store leftovers and reheat? I could cut the recipe in half but I’d rather use the whole cauliflower sitting on my counter!
Carolyn says
Yes, they are good as leftovers. Just reheat gently in a warm oven or toaster oven. The sauce needs to be gently heated as well (the peanut butter can “cook” if you heat it too high).
Lisa says
I honestly wish I loved cauliflower. A couple years ago I tried the infamous cauliflower pizza crust, and it was just disgusting to me. But, I figure I’m going to try riced cauliflower soon and see if I can try and disguise the flavor a bit.
I can’t recall which blog, but I remember someone who didn’t like cauliflower, made it riced, and just happened to mix the right spices together where it was palatable. I’d love to have a new side dish, especially a healthy low carb one. I’m incredibly picky, and don’t even like zucchini. Well, except for in zucchini bread lol!
Carolyn says
It’s tough when you don’t like it. Try things out though, you may surprise yourself!
Lisa says
I’m hoping it absorbs flavor well, but I am willing to try it! I’m thinking maybe it might go well with chicken alfredo. I make my sauce real cheesy.
Lin says
Closet Cooking has 3 or 4 cauliflower rice recipes. I’ve made the chicken fried rice version and it’s pretty dang good. Here is the link. http://www.closetcooking.com/2014/03/chicken-fried-cauliflower-rice.html
Lisa says
Thank you! I’ll keep this in mind. The chicken fried cauliflower rice looks really good!
Lin says
You are most welcome! 😀
KalynsKitchen says
Happy Saturday! Just letting you know I featured this recipe in my monthly round-up of 25 Deliciously Healthy Low-Carb Recipes from October 2015. Hope a lot of my readers will come over here and try it!
Carolyn says
Thanks, Kalyn!
sue says
If someone has time, please talk to me about fish sauce. I’m a midwestern grandma who has zero experience with it, and somehow, just the name . . . let’s just say that when I see it in a recipe, I walk away. But I am seeing it more and more and would like to be better informed. I might have to put it on my new adventure list? I don’t even know where to look for it in the store, or will I need to go to a specialty store? My granddaughter and I both thoroughly enjoy cauliflower, so this might be a starting place.
Carolyn says
Fish sauce is very weird and I don’t blame you for being leery of it. It really is fermented fish and it smells awful. But for some really odd reason, it makes food taste REALLY good. It’s salty and tangy. So I highly recommend going out on a limb and trying it.
tiffany says
Oh my god I just ate a whole head of cauliflower by myself. 24 carbs I guess..
Carolyn says
Yikes! But plenty of fiber too, right?
MaryAnn says
Holy Amaze-balls! This was fantastic! The sauce is to die for! I used 2 small cauliflower heads chopped, for 2 people and it was perfect! Easy & tasty. Will def make again and again and again. Thanks for a great recipe!
Carolyn says
So glad you liked it!
Sara says
I’m going to try it with broccoli as well to see if it’s any good. More colourful that way!
Tiffany says
I just did this with shrimp instead of cauliflower and it was amazing!
Carolyn says
Great idea!