Turn Cauliflower Into An Elevated Side Dish With Just 2 Ingredients
Cauliflower has become a go-to veggie for a variety of sides and snacks, like buffalo cauliflower wings, since it offers a lot of benefits like being low in carbs and high in fiber, protein, vitamin C, and other nutrients.
If you're a fan of smashed parmesan potatoes with their soft and fluffy interiors and crispy outsides that are covered in cheesy goodness, it's time to try this same cooking method with cauliflower. As with the potato version, you get a crispy exterior and melt-in-your-mouth interior that's covered in parm for a dish with a rich umami undertone and the bonus of being lower in carbs. Besides its simple ingredient list, this dish is fairly easy to make too with most of the time in the kitchen being hands off.
While some recipes favor steaming the cauliflower florets before smashing them and then roasting them in the oven, there are some even simpler recipes that rely on the oven to soften the florets so they can be smashed before adding the parm and further roasting them to crispy perfection. Once you've mastered this, you can get creative, if you prefer.
Get creative with this simple side dish
Since smashed parmesan cauliflower requires so few ingredients and hands-on work, you could always get creative with this simple side by adding a few other ingredients that boost the flavor even more. On the simple end, you could add garlic or other ingredients like fresh herbs (added after the florets have been roasted), or you could play around with adding other types of cheese into the mix. We even found one recipe, from the pasta company Barilla, that sounds pretty delicious. Along with parmesan cheese, and red pepper flakes, this version includes a pesto topping.
Once the smashed parmesan cauliflower is ready to eat, you could always include a sauce for dipping. We've come across several ideas, from the very simple, that being sour cream, to an easy Texas Roadhouse ranch dressing dupe or homemade lemon aioli, which requires a bit more work. If you like a bit of spice, bang bang sauce is creamy, slightly sweet, and a little spicy and only requires three ingredients — mayo, sweet chili sauce, and Sriracha. Whether you're looking for the simplest version of this side dish and an accompanying dipping sauce or something a bit more involved, smashed parmesan cauliflower delivers with a minimal amount of ingredients and effort.
