Air Fryer Whole Cauliflower

Learn how to roast a whole cauliflower using your air fryer. The cauliflower is par boiled and then slathered with a herbaceous vegan buttery mixture and cooked until fork tender.

Whenever I have some cauliflower to hand, I typically roast it and make soup or steam with other vegetables.

I'm abit boring and one dimensional with my approach towards cauliflower but I decided to up the ante and try roasting a whole one in my air fryer.

Since I use my air fryer more than my oven these days and while the air fryer is still trending, why not use it to roast some cauliflower.

This recipe is straight forward, using some of your favourite vegan butter and a mixture of herbs and spices, most of which are easy to obtain, nothing fancy!

Whether you are a meat eater or vegan, don't miss out of this recipe!

Reasons to make this dish

• It looks beautiful on the dinner table (need I say more).
• It is tasty and flavoursome, no more boring cauliflower.
• This recipe is suitable for most dietary requirements - gluten free, vegan, paleo etc..
• It is a really simple recipe to make using your air fryer.

Ingredients you will need

• Cauliflower - A medium or large one will suffice, thoroughly washed, you will need to remove any leaves and the base, under the stem. Don't remove the stem completely as you need it to keep head intact.
• Vegan butter - Make sure the butter is room temperature/soft enough to mixture into a creamy consistency.
• Nutritional yeast - This will give off a vegan friendly cheese flavour.
• Parsley/thyme - I prefer to use dried parsley and fresh thyme but either works.
• Garlic/onion granules - I like to use granules to powdered form is fine to use.
• Turmeric - To give the cauliflower a yellow hue.
• Paprika/pink salt/black pepper - For flavour/taste.

The steps

• Add the turmeric and pink salt to a medium sized saucepan and bring to the boil.
• Once boiled, carefully lower the cauliflower downwards into the water.
• Par boil for 5 minutes or until the cauliflower is almost tender (keep an eye on the cauliflower and test it with a fork to make sure it isn't extremely soft).

• Drain off the water and briefly rinse with cold water (this will prevent the cauliflower from cooking any further) and then blot dry with kitchen towel and set aside.
• Meanwhile, add the nutritional yeast, onion/garlic granules, parsley, thyme, turmeric, pink salt and black to a spice/coffe grinder.
• Mill the ingredients until they are ground.
• Mix the vegan butter with the dry ingredients and stir until evenly combined.

• Do a test taste of the mixture and adjust with more spices/herbs, if needed.
• Use a pastry brush to coat the cauliflower with the buttery mixture (don't worry if it starts to melt as you apply, that's normal), making sure to include in between the florets as best as you can.

• Place the marinated cauliflower in the air fryer basket ( you may want to line it in advance).
• Air fryer at 180C/356F for 12-15 minutes until the cauliflower is fork tender (test it with a fork to determine its readiness) and golden in colour.
• Prior to serving you can slice into the cauliflower and coat the inside with any leftover buttery mix to enhance the flavour even more.

Notes and tips

• Make sure the butter is soft but not melted, it should be room temperature and mixerable.
• My air fryer is a Ninja Foodi, so I used the "roast" setting for 15 minutes.
• If you are in the UK I highly recommend Vitalite plant based butter, it's soft, spreadable and delicious in taste.
• Use a pastry brush to spread the butter and make sure to get into the gaps of the florets too.
• Once the cauliflower is ready, to enhance the taste, either slice it in half or into smaller pieces and apply more of the butter mix.
• To re-heat, at 160C/320F in the air fryer for a few minutes or wrap in foil and heat it in the oven.
• It is very very important to par boil the cauliflower first, if you skip this step, you run the risk of the cauliflower head being undercooked.
• Make sure you don't over boil the cauliflower or it will be too mushy too work with when transferring it to the air fryer.
• Be sure to determine its readiness with a fork when par-boiling and air frying it.

More air fryer recipes to try

• Air Fryer Hush Puppies
• Air Fried French Fried Onions
• Air Fryer Sweet Potatoes
• Air Fryer Frozen Okra
• Yuca Chips
• Air Fryer Oyster Mushrooms (Vegan chicken)
• Air Fryer Corn on The Cob in Foil
• Air Fryer Chickpeas (No Oil)
• Air Fryer Kale Chips

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