If you want a leveled-up dinner, then this creamy Tuscan cauliflower dish will impress anyone! Even though it looks fancy, it’s easy and simple enough to make!
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Are you ready to level-up your cauliflower game even more? This creamy Tuscan cauliflower recipe is for you! The hack? Pan-searing the cauliflower first to lock in that deep, golden flavor before finishing in the oven.
Then we’re pairing it with a creamy, Tuscan inspired sauce that feels restaurant worthy, but we’re still making it easy to make at home.
This is the kind of dish that looks fancy, but without the stress.
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Why You’ll Love this Cauliflower Dish:
- Cozy, but Elevated – it feels special because we’re pan searing the cauliflower first and then pairing it with a rich and creamy sauce. You’ll want this for weeknights, but it’s totally worthy for guests and holidays too
- Big Flavor with Simple Ingredients – Cauliflower, lots of spices, and a few other simple and easy to find ingredients make this dish come together
- Flexible Serving – Serve it with pasta, grains, bread, noodles, or just by itself. There’s so many ways to change it up that you never get bored with this recipe. Even the cauliflower itself could be served as quarters like shown or cauliflower steaks, florets, bite size pieces, etc
Ingredients for vegan creamy Tuscan cauliflower:
Gather your ingredients!
Cauliflower
This is the star of the dish. It sears perfectly and adds a bite and warmth to the overall dish.
Substitute: You could also do this with broccoli, chickpeas, mushrooms, and more.
Cashews
We’re making a cashew cream with raw cashews to add protein and creaminess to the dish. It also helps thicken without the need for starches or flours.
Substitute: If you can’t have nuts, we’d recommend silken tofu or white beans (like butter beans or cannellini)
Sun-dried Tomatoes
We are using sun-dried tomatoes packed in oil for this recipe.
Substitute: If you use tomatoes not in water or oil, you’ll want to hydrated them first.
Chef Tip: Use some of the oil from the jar to pan sear the cauliflower for another layer of flavor added.
White Miso and Dry White Wine
These ingredients are leveling up the dish in taste even more, however, they are optional. If you don’t consume soy, you can swap the miso with more vegetable stock. And if you don’t consume alcohol, you can just omit.
Spices
We’re using a combination of fresh herbs, aromatics, and dried spices in order to bring flavor to all aspects of this dish.
Plant-Based Parmesan
We are using a plant-based parmesan to add some cheesiness and saltiness to the dish in a different way.
Substitute: You could swap this with nutritional yeast if needed.
Other Leveled-Up Vegan Meals to Try!
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Creamy Tuscan Cauliflower
Ingredients
For the cashew cream
- 1 cup raw cashews
- 1 cup water
For the Pan-Seared Cauliflower
- 1 head cauliflower, cut into 4 quarters (can also do cauliflower steaks or pieces)
- Salt and Black Pepper, to taste
- 2 tablespoons high heat oil (like avocado, grapeseed, or canola)
For the Creamy Tuscan Sauce
- 2 tablespoons plant-based butter (or more oil)
- 1 bulb garlic, minced (more or less to taste)
- 2 tablespoons Italian seasoning
- 2 teaspoons Garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon Smoked paprika
- ½ teaspoon Chili flakes
- ½ teaspoon Black pepper
- ½ teaspoon Salt
- ⅔ cup sun-dried tomatoes in oil, chopped
- 3 cups vegetable stock
- ⅔ cup vegan parmesan, grated
- ½ cup fresh parsley, chopped
- 1 lemon, juiced
- 2-4 tablespoons dry white wine (optional)
- 1-2 tablespoons white miso (optional)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425˚F/225˚C.
- For cashew cream: Add 1 cup each cashews and water to a high-speed blender and blend until smooth*. Set aside.
- For cauliflower pieces: Add salt and pepper as desired to the cauliflower pieces. In a cast iron skillet, add 2 tablespoon oil over medium high heat. Once hot, add cauliflower pieces, flat side down. Do not overcrowd the pan, and do in batches if needed. Cook for 1-3 minutes until a nice brown, caramelized color starts to appear. Then, flip to the next cut side and cook an additional 1-3 minutes.
- For baking: Place cast iron skillet in the oven and bake for 15-20 minutes**. Cauliflower should be just fork tender.
- For tuscan sauce: While cauliflower in in the oven, add 2 tablespoon plant-based butter to a skillet and let melt over medium heat. Then add minced garlic and let cook for about 30 seconds. Add 2 tablespoon Italian seasoning, 2 teaspoon garlic powder, 1 teaspoon smoked paprika, ½ teaspoon each chili flakes, black pepper and salt, and stir, then add ⅔ cup chopped sun-dried tomatoes and stir again, cook for abut 1 minute.
- Add 3 cups vegetable stock and scrape the bottom of your pot. Add in all of the cashew cream and ⅔ cup grated parmesan and whisk together. Then ½ cup fresh chopped parsley, juice of 1 lemon, and if adding the optional 2-4 tablespoon dry white wine and 1-2 tablespoon white miso. Stir together until all ingredients are well combined. If needed, thin with more stock as desired. When cauliflower is done, add it to the sauce. Serve warmed.
Notes
Video
Nutrition
Frequently Asked Questions
Vegan butter and parmesan, miso, and cashews are the ingredients we need to consider. For the vegan butter, you can just use more oil. For the parmesan, you can swap with nutritional yeast. The miso can be replaced with vegetable stock. For the cashews, depending on your allergens, you can use silken tofu or white beans (cannellini or butter beans)
This can be stored once cooled in the fridge for up to 5 days. You may need to thin the sauce if desired.
The sauce can be frozen for up to 3 months once cooled and placed in an air tight, freezer safe bag or container. However, we don’t recommend freezing the cauliflower. Instead, make that when you are ready to make the dish again.
A simple salad goes well and then we usually pick a grain like rice, quinoa, farro, or even noodles. Alternatively, mashed potatoes also pairs perfectly with it.
After over a decade of being vegan and cooking from scratch, this is hands down one of my family’s favorites! We added additional broth to extend the sauce to include pasta, button mushrooms, and wilted spinach. I’d be proud to serve this to omnivore friends!
This is amazing! Thank you so so much for your kind words about the recipe. We are thrilled to hear that it was enjoyed so thoroughly!
Another winner! Because I have to watch my cholesterol, I used olive oil instead of plant based butter, oil-free sun-dried tomatoes, and nutritional yeast in place of the vegan parm. It was fantastic! Every recipe I’ve tried from this site has been amazing! Keep up the great work! You’ve helped make eating healthy a pleasure!
I’m so happy you’re loving everything Michele!
Incredible flavor for such seemingly simple ingredients. Wish my co-op wasn’t selling cauliflower for $16.99, but that’s neither here nor there. This dish has everything I wanted, and surprised me with more.
‘Always impressed by the quality of these recipes, both in flavor, presentation, and the intricate detail involved in crafting YouTube videos and a stellar website. One of two vegan meal YouTubers I primarily defer to for these culinary experiences.
Side note, collab with Rainbow Plant Life??? Ya’ll both get it.
Oh my that price! I’m glad you enjoyed it though! Nisha is wonderful, I think a collab with her would be fabulous.
I LOVED this recipe. I used a bruschetta instead of sun dried tomatoes. I did add a little mustard to add some depth to the sauce. Better the second day. I wish I had done two heads of cauliflower. I added chunky cut zucchini about 5 minutes from serving. Family loved it.
Thank you so much for giving the recipe a try! Love how you made this recipe your own with bruschetta and mustard, what creative touches! It’s wonderful to hear it was even better the second day and that your family enjoyed it too.
Wonderful flavor in this dish! Makes plenty of sauce to serve over pasta another night.
OMG thank you so much! And love the idea of using the left over sauce for pasta another night!
Absolutely delicious . This sauce is the dog……. We made it with sweet potatoes and lentils and turned it into a pie. Definitely worth a go.
Thank you so much! We truly appreciate you trying out the recipe and love hearing that it was a hit for you!
Just delicious. I substituted in coconut oil and nutritional yeast and loved the results. I’ll definitely make this recipe again! Thanks
So glad you enjoyed!