This is the best Cauliflower Piccata recipe! It’s easy to make, full of flavor, and tastes just like a restaurant quality meal every time!
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This is the best cauliflower piccata! Not just saying that because it’s my recipe, but truly this recipe is one of our family’s favorites.
I’ll be honest, I wasn’t sure my children were going to like this dish, however, it’s one of their favorites. It’s one of my favorites not only because of the flavor, but it’s also so easy to make and takes little effort.
It truly tastes like a restaurant quality meal every single time without taking a lot on my part.
What is piccata?
If you’ve never heard of piccata, it’s an Italian dish that is very popular in Italian-American restaurants and typically made with chicken or veal. The sauce is made with lemons, butter, parsley, and capers.
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Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- Flavorful – with the aromatics, seasonings, and other ingredients that we build upon end with a super flavorful side dish that you will love
- Restaurant Quality – this dish tastes even better made at home, which means you get a restaurant quality meal in the comfort of your own space
- Easy – This doesn’t need a lot of ingredients or time which makes it a deliciously easy meal!
🥘Recipe Ingredients
Gather your ingredients!
- Cauliflower – this is the main ingredient for our dish. Cauliflower is great as a neutral base that tastes on flavor and absorbs it perfectly
- Capers – have a lemony, salty, briny taste that pairs amazingly with the vegan butter and lemons of this dish
- Shallots – these little bursts of flavor are in the onion family but have a sweetness to them but have a less punchy taste to onions
- Lemons – one of the bass flavors of piccata, this recipe uses lemons for the acid and to enhance the flavor
- Cornstarch – is used to thicken the sauce
- Vegan Dry White Wine – we used a Sauvignon Blanc, but feel free to use your favorite dry white wine for cooking. Make sure that you are using a vegan wine.
See my recipe card below for a complete list of the ingredients with measurements.
Substitutions and Variations:
- Cauliflower – you can sub this with broccoli instead or try with chickpeas. You can also do this with mushrooms, but you can skip the roasted first if you go with that options.
- Capers – while we don’t recommend swapping the capers, you could use chopped artichoke hearts instead, but you will want ones soaked in a brine to get the similar flavor
- Shallots – you can use white or yellow onions instead
- Cornstarch – swap with arrowroot powder, or chickpea or oat flour
- Vegan Dry White Wine – lemon water, or just use more stock would be a wine replacement.
Recipe FAQs:
As long as you make sure the vegan butter is soy free or swap with oil, this dish is top 9 allergen free.
We don’t recommend freezing this dish all together, but you can make the sauce in batches and freeze just the sauce.
This dish is best served the same day, but can be made 1-2 days in advance.
Other Vegan Restaurant Quality Recipes to Consider:
More Recipes To Try
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The Best Cauliflower Piccata
Ingredients
- 1 head cauliflower, cut into 1 inch slices
- 2 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 teaspoon oregano
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
- 2 tablespoon vegan butter
- 2 shallots, thinly sliced
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 tablespoon capers
- 1 lemon, half cut into thin slices, half for juice
- 2 teaspoon cornstarch
- 1 cup vegetable stock (240g)
- ½ cup dry white wine (120g)
Instructions
- Preheat over to 425 degrees F. On a baking tray, add the cauliflower pieces. Drizzle with oil and toss together. In a small bowl, combine all the spices. Sprinkle half over the cauliflower, flip and sprinkle the remaining seasoning on the other side. Bake for 20-25 minutes, flipping halfway through, or until the pieces are fork tender.
- In a skillet, over medium heat, add vegan butter and let melt. Add shallots and let softened for 2-3 minutes. Add garlic and stir, cook for 30 seconds. Add capers, lemon slices, and lemon juice. Stir.
- Add cornstarch and stir together until no powder remains. Add vegetable stock and wine, stir, scraping any fond off the bottom of the pan. Let cook for 2-3 minutes or until it thickens. Add baked cauliflower pieces and spoon some of the sauce over top. Serve over pasta, rice, mashed potatoes, or by itself.
I just made this recipe and it’s a 5 star! love the simplicity of it, yet the layers of flavors make this an extra special dish that I will use for company and on a regular rotation for the two of us. I plan to add artichokes next time. Thank you so much!
Artichokes would be a great addition!
Wow! This is incredibly delicious! Ate it with rice sopping up the juices. Will make again and again, for sure.
the sauce is so good w/rice! Try mashed potatoes too!
This Piccata recipe is amazing! Perfect amount of lemon flavor and the cauliflower soaks it up so nice. I swapped the cornstarch for arrowroot and it works just fine. Love this recipe I have already made it 4 times and it’s definitely staying in my menu cycle.
Love that you’re enjoying it so much!
I made this for dinner, and it was AWESOME!!!! I make tons of your recipes and every one of them are delicious. This one, yum! I will definitely make this again.
Awww, thank you so much! We love hearing that you’ve done multiple recipes of ours and that this one was a stand out!
The perfect blend of tartness from the lemon and saltiness from the capers. Fast and easy to prepare. Delicious over noodles.
Thank you so much! We’re so happy to hear that you enjoyed the recipe!
the best
Thank you so much!
so delicious ❤️
Thank you so much!