This Vegan Indian Butter Cauliflower recipe is a fantastic spin on traditional butter chicken that’s just a full of vibrant flavors.
Butter Chicken is one of the most popular Indian dishes and this Vegan Indian Butter Cauliflower is going to give you all the same flavors and vibes without the meat.
Not only is this recipe full of flavor, but it’s also very easy to make and will be loved by all.
If you serve this to others, they may even have a hard time believing that you made this dish!
Never miss another post! Sign up for our weekly newsletter and get them all delivered easily! Plus, 15 easy recipes delivered immediately!
Sign Up For My Newsletter Today!
Why You’ll Love This Dish
Full of Flavor
One of the hardest things to do is replicate flavors that you’ve had at a restaurant or that remind you of a favorite dish. There’s no problem with that here. The recipe isn’t lacking flavor at all!
Simple
It’s also hard to feel like you can get amazing flavor without spending a lot of time in the kitchen; however, this recipe gives you everything that you need easily and it’s not time consuming.
Oven Roasted Cauliflower and Hummus Bowl Ingredients:
Gather your ingredients!
Below are notes about the ingredients before we get into the full recipe located lower in this post on how to make vegan dish:
- Cauliflower – We are cutting a head of cauliflower into florets. You want to make sure that you try to get them into even sizes if possible so they cook in the same amount of time.
- Onions and Garlic – our aromatics in the dish and really help to kick start our flavors
- Fire Roasted Tomatoes – fire roasted tomatoes give a little more pizzazz to the dish and we really love using them in this dish
- Sugar – optional, however, the sugar helps balance out the acidity of the tomatoes
- Canned Coconut Milk – acts as a replacement for heavy cream that you may see in non-dairy versions
- Apple Cider Vinegar – to help with the tanginess of the recipe and also help bring out the spice flavors
- Ginger – we are using fresh ginger for this recipe for the best flavor
- Spices – we are using a variety of spices for all the components of this dish. We really think the combination of all of these together really helps to heighten the dish and give that ultimate flavor.
Substitutions and Variations:
- Cauliflower – You could sub cauliflower with tofu, potatoes, chickpeas. Or get creative and do a combo of vegetables!
- Fire Roasted Tomatoes – regular diced tomatoes will also work
- Sugar – still optional, other sugar sources like coconut or date granulated sugar, agave, or maple syrup would also work
- Canned Coconut Milk – vegan heavy cream would also work for this recipe
- Apple Cider Vinegar – lemon juice, lime juice or white vinegar would be a sub
- Ginger – ground ginger can also work. We recommend ½ teaspoon to start and then adjust to taste
Step by Step Instructions:
To start you’re going to preheat the oven to 400°F.
Grab a large bowl and add ½ cup coconut milk, vinegar, paprika, garlic powder, onion powder and salt, then whisk that together well. After mixed, add in your cauliflower florets and coat everything well.
Let this marinate for 10 minutes, then in one even layer place on a baking sheet. Cook in the oven for 18-20 minutes.
While you wait for your cauliflower to cook, over medium heat in a large skillet add your oil. Add onions, garlic, and ginger and cook for 3-4 minutes until fragrant and onions have softened.
Stir in your garam masala, curry powder, cayenne and salt. Let this cook for another minute to heat and activate your spices.
Then, add in tomatoes and stir to combine. Bring to a boil, then turn down to simmer. Let your sauce simmer and thicken (about 4-5 minutes).
Turn off your heat, and carefully pour your sauce into a high speed blender. Blend until you have a smooth consistency. Pour sauce back into pan over low, add remaining coconut milk, and stir.
Give it a taste, if you feel like you’d prefer a sweet or need more balance with the acidity of the tomatoes you can add in the sugar. Otherwise, omit.
Once done, add your cauliflower and let cook until heated through and well combined (about 5-8 minutes). Top with cilantro. Serve.
We prefer to serve with rice and naan.
Frequently Asked Questions:
Coconut milk is the only top 9 allergen in this dish. Swap it for another non-dairy milk. You may want to let it reduce longer or add in a teaspoon of cornstarch to help thicken faster.
Yes. Once cooled completely, you can store in an air tight container in the fridge for 2-3 days.
Yes. You’ll need to use two sheet pans to cook your cauliflower florets, but you can double the other parts of the recipe as written
We wouldn’t recommend freezing this dish.
What other vegan cauliflower dishes could I make?
If you love this cauliflower recipes, you may love these even more:
- Oven Roasted Cauliflower and Hummus Bowl
- Vegan Crispy Roasted Cauliflower
- Oven Roasted Cauliflower Steaks with Pesto and Beans
- Vegan Cheesy Cauliflower Taco Casserole
- BBQ Cauliflower Wings
- Spicy Vegan Cauliflower Burger
Pin this Vegan Indian Butter Cauliflower for later!
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Did you make and love this recipe?
Click the 5 stars in the recipe card above or below in the comment section! This is a great way to support us so we can continue to bring great recipes!
Butter Cauliflower
Ingredients
Marinade
- 1 large head of cauliflower, cut into bite size pieces
- ½ cup canned coconut milk
- 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- ¼ teaspoon salt
For the Butter Sauce
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- ½ yellow onion, chopped
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 inches fresh ginger, grated
- 1 tablespoon garam masala
- 2 teaspoon yellow curry powder
- ½ teaspoon cayenne pepper, more or less to taste
- ½ tsp salt, more or less to taste
- 2 15oz cans fire roasted tomatoes
- ½ cup canned coconut milk
- 2 tbsp vegan cane sugar, optional
- ¼ cup fresh cilantro, roughly chopped, optional
Serve With
- cooked rice
- vegan naan
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400°F.
- Into a large bowl, add ½ cup coconut milk, vinegar, paprika, garlic powder, onion powder and salt. Whisk together well. Add in cauliflower florets and coat everything well. Let marinate for 10 minutes, then place in even layer on a greased baking sheet. Cook in the oven for 18-20 minutes.
- While cauliflower cooking, over medium heat in a large skillet add your oil. Add onions, garlic and ginger and cooked for 3-4 minutes until fragrant and onions have softened.
- Stir in garam masala, curry powder, cayenne and salt. Let this cook for another minute to heat and activate your spices. Add in tomatoes and stir to combine. Bring to a boil, then turn down to simmer. Let your sauce simmer and thicken (about 4-5 minutes).
- Turn off heat, and carefully pour sauce into a high speed blender. Blend until you have a smooth consistency. Pour sauce back into pan over low, add remaining coconut milk, and stir. Taste and add sugar if desired.
- Add your cauliflower and let cook until heated through and well combined (about 5-8 minutes). Turn off heat and add cilantro. Serve with rice and naan.
Quentin
Absolutely delicious! I’m sometimes too lazy to do the marinade and just coat the cauliflower with olive oil (+salt and pepper), still amazing. Thanks very much to you two!
Larisha Bernard
So happy to hear that
Q
Score again! Thanks for this one. I omitted the cayenne spice for the kids and the whole family devoured this!Thank you again!
Larisha Bernard
So glad you enjoyed it!
Patrycja
This is one of my favorite recipe EVER. Easy, quick and delicious! It’s my comfort food 🙂
Larisha Bernard
YAY!
Jeff
Made this tonight. Delish recipe and definitely going to make again!
Larisha Bernard
Great!
Lauren
Wow wow wow! I made this last night but with a mix of Cauliflower and vegan chicken pieces. Unbelievably delicious! My bf said it’s the best vegan butter chicken he’s ever had (he’s been vegan 7 years). It was really easy and inexpensive too. It will definitely become a regular meal in our house.
Larisha Bernard
awesome, so happy to hear that
Nessa
SPECTACULAR!! This took me STRAIGHT to flavor town!! This is the first review I have ever left, BECAUSE IT WAS THAT DAMN GOOD!! Thank you Nard Dog for this rockin recipe 🌟🌟🌟
Larisha Bernard
so so so happy you loved it!
Jules
This was lovely! Made it last night with chickpeas (like you mentioned in the video) to make it stretch that bit further. My youngest usually refuses to eat chickpeas, this time the plate was clean! Thank you for posting this!
Larisha Bernard
That’s such a win!
Mattias
O.k., this was just simply AMAZING 💪🏻. I’m a novice in the kitchen but the simple instructions led to a fantastic “lick the dish clean” meal. I’m ready to open an Indian restaurant now😎😂. Loving the recipes and this one has been voted a keeper in our family 👍🏻.
Larisha Bernard
hahhaha! Love this
Richard
We really enjoyed this recipe. I marinated cauliflower and chicken separately, since there is still a carnivore in the house. I made the sauce and used half for the cauliflower and half for the chicken. Then rounded out the meal with rice, chickpea masala and a lentil dahl. Thanks for sharing.
Larisha Bernard
So happy that it was a hit
Martha
This is really good. This will stay on our rotation list. Yum! Thank you.
Larisha Bernard
Glad to hear it!
Judith
This a very easy and quick meal for a weekday night. I made it today. It was soooo delicious. Thank you for that.
Larisha Bernard
Glad you enjoyed it so much!
Renee
I can’t wait to try this recipe! In the video, you mention adding chickpeas to bulk up the meal. Would you add them with the cauliflower? Is there enough sauce for both the cauliflower and chickpeas. And would this also work with additional tofu? Thanks!
Larisha Bernard
There’s enough sauce to add either! You can add to the pan with the cauliflower or you can add when you add it after the sauce is blended (either will work)