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.
Delicious! Now my husband has unrealistic expectations of my cooking as the recipe made this so easy.
HAHAHAH! I love this comment so much
Absolutely delicious! I love the flavors of piccata, and now that I am almost fully vegetarian, this is a great recipe for my menu rotation. Thanks so much.
Becky
We’re glad you enjoyed it Becky!
I’ve always loved chicken piccata so when I stumbled upon this recipe I knew I had to try it. It’s easy and very delicious. I’m a nervous cook (because I’m not the best at it), but this recipe is very accessible to those who don’t have the knack for cooking.
We are thrilled to hear you say that Kathleen and so glad you found it to be approachable
This was delicious over pasta! Great, fresh flavor! I do have a question though…my sauce never really thickened. I added a tiny bit more corn starch yet that didn’t help – any advice? Also, in step #3, you say, “Add cornstarch and stir together until powder remains” – do you mean until the corn starch does not remain and is all absorbed? I want to prepare this again and hope to get my sauce just right because this recipe is a keeper!
So glad you enjoyed the flavor, thank you! This sauce is meant to be lighter, but for more thickness, I suggest mixing the cornstarch with a little cold liquid first (a slurry) and letting the sauce simmer a few extra minutes.
And yes, that step means the cornstarch should be mixed in, not remain powdery. I’ll clarify that wording!
Unbelievably delicious! We made it last night and can’t stop thinking about it! So so so good!
yay!
This recipe is the best cauliflower piccata recipe I have made. The sauce was so amazing. Loved that the cauliflower was roasted as it gave it a flavour that took it to the next level! Went amazing with the roasted potatoes. This definitely was restaurant quality and was so quick and easy to make. Thank you🤗
We love this so much! Thrilled you enjoyed it
This was delicious and easy to make. Thank you for such a wonderful meal. Will definitely make again-yummy❣️
You’re so welcome!