Roasted Garlic-Parmesan Cauliflower

This recipe is inspired by one of my mom’s regular rotation dinner side vegetables. It’s always been one of my favorites, and it is super simple and cheap to make!

Ingredients 

• 1 Head of Cauliflower 
• Parmesan Cheese (freshly grated tastes best)
• Garlic (I used jarred garlic for this recipe, but you can also use fresh garlic chopped up)
  • If using fresh garlic, chop about 3-4 cloves, depending on how much garlic you like.
• Salt
• Pepper
• Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• Paprika

NOTE: I already had all the seasonings and olive oil in my pantry, but I will include the prices below in case you don’t have some of them 🙂

Prices & Where I Got the Ingredients:

• Cauliflower Head → ALDI for $2.95
• Parmesan Cheese → ALDI for $4.39
• Jarred Garlic → Walmart for $2.16

• Salt Grinder → Walmart for $2.47
• Pepper Grinder → Walmart for $2.47
• Extra Virgin Olive Oil → Walmart for $6.80
• Paprika → Walmart for $1.16

Total cost for all ingredients INCLUDING seasonings and oil (or about 3-4 servings ): $22.40

NOTE: Using pre-shredded parmesan cheese will be cheaper!

NOTE 2: Dollar Tree sells salt and pepper shakers for $1.25 for both. I just happen to have salt and pepper grinders at home.

Total cost for one serving INCLUDING seasonings and olive oil: $5.60

Instructions:

1. First, gather all ingredients and a baking sheet pan.
2. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees (Farenheit) and place the baking sheet pan into the oven to heat up.

Preparing the Cauliflower

3. Rinse off your head of cauliflower, and set it on paper towels to slightly dry.
4. Break off as many leaves as you can from the cauliflower.
   1. This makes cutting the cauliflower into small florets easier. 
5. Cut the cauliflower into small florets.
   1. Aim for consistent sizing, cutting the bigger florets in half.
6. Place the cut florets in a bowl, and add enough extra virgin olive oil to coat all florets.
7. Toss the cauliflower with the olive oil, ensuring all the florets are coated evenly. 
8. Grind salt and pepper into the bowl, and add paprika.
   1. I typically eyeball the seasonings, but proper measurements should be around a tablespoon of each, adding more of each seasoning to taste later on. 
9. Toss the cauliflower and seasonings together, again making sure that all florets are seasoned as evenly as possible. 

Cooking the Cauliflower

10. Take your hot baking sheet out of the oven and place the coated cauliflower florets onto the sheet.
    1. Make sure that they’re all laying flat on the pan, not on top of one another. 
11. Bake in the over for 20-25 minutes.
    1. They should come out looking just a little bit charred.
12. Take the cauliflower out of the oven and freshly grate on parmesan cheese.
13. Put the cauliflower back in the oven for 5 minutes to allow the cheese to melt.
14. Once your cauliflower is done cooking for the additional 5 minutes, you can pull it out and enjoy!