Air-Fryer Cauliflower Recipe

As a toddler, I was disgusted by cauliflower. I’d insist on eradicating it from my plate sooner than even considering the rest of my meal. I do know I didn’t give the vegetable a superb shake, nonetheless then as soon as extra, the one cauliflower I knew was bland, pale, faintly sulfurous, and nearly on a regular basis each under- or overcooked.

It wasn’t until maturity that I found the fun of nutty, rich, roasted cauliflower. Roasting it at a extreme temperature creates a crisp exterior with a younger—nonetheless not mushy—inside. The extreme heat moreover ensures that these unpleasant sulfurous compounds don’t sort. Proper this second, cauliflower is a staple in my dinner rotation: It’s easy to make, pairs successfully with almost the whole thing, and is likely to be dressed up with a favorite seasoning combine, current herbs, or a simple sauce I already have available.

On a busy weeknight, my favorite approach to roast cauliflower is in my air fryer. I merely press a few buttons, and the air fryer is ready to go. There’s a trigger why the tools is such a popular powerhouse: It’s primarily a tiny convection oven that circulates air successfully to promote browning on meals, which is why it’s so good at shortly and utterly roasting greens.

Though cooking cauliflower inside the air fryer isn’t subtle, there are a few solutions and strategies that may assist you to make flavorful cauliflower that’s every crisp and tender. We requested seasoned recipe developer Julia Levy to methodically test air-fryer–roasted cauliflower by cooking batch after batch until she’d perfected the strategy. Proper right here’s what it is worthwhile to know.

Concepts for Making Good Air-Fryer Cauliflower

Scale back into evenly sized florets. Defending the entire florets roughly two inches in dimension creates further ground house for crisping, whereas moreover allowing for further uniform cooking. Slicing up cauliflower into florets is relatively easy, merely make sure to remove the fibrous center core, then cut back with the pure branching system of the florets to attenuate waste.

Add moisture sooner than cooking. In her air-fryer roasted broccoli recipe, Genevieve components out that for utterly roasted broccoli, protect moisture at a minimal, nonetheless with roasting cauliflower, the choice is true. Cauliflower and broccoli look associated at first, and the aim is equivalent when you’re roasting them in your air-fryer—sweet nuttiness from browning and caramelization—nonetheless cauliflower is denser than broccoli, and should be dealt with in any other case to comprehend florets which is likely to be tender inside and crisp and on the pores and skin.

To organize dinner, style, and crisp up the cauliflower inside the air fryer, we found that tossing it with oil and water does the trick. Oil and water collectively would possibly sound counterintuitive, nonetheless here’s what happens: The water steams the dense vegetable initially to soften it, and when the water evaporates, the oil provides optimum heat change for browning. The result is cauliflower that’s creamy on the within and flippantly crisped exterior.

Crank up the heat. As with completely different brassicas, extreme heat is what you might be after proper right here with the intention to get in all probability probably the most style out of cauliflower.

Maintain it simple or costume it up. Whereas crispy air-fryer cauliflower is unbelievable with nothing better than a sprinkle of salt and the oil it’s cooked in, it’s moreover an unimaginable canvas in your favorite seasonings. Gussy it up with a mixture of Madras-style curry powder, garlic powder, and cumin sooner than roasting, finish it with a mixture of current herbs and lemon, or toss it with a easy Buffalo-style scorching sauce. See the Variations half below the recipe for detailed ideas on dressing up your air-fryer cauliflower. It’s possible you’ll as properly incorporate the cooked cauliflower proper right into a quiche or salad or toss your favorite pasta with it. Personally? I like to indicate mine proper right into a warmth salad with a zesty lemon vinaigrette.

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