Roasted Cauliflower Pasta

This cauliflower pasta is loaded with flavor, packed with caramelized roasted cauliflower, Parmesan cheese, and fresh basil!

Is there any thing better than roasted cauliflower? Over here, we can eat an entire tray in just a few minutes (oops!). So why not make it into a main dish? Meet this Roasted Cauliflower Pasta. It’s got tender, caramelized cauliflower: sweet, lemony and garlicky. Then it’s got al dente pasta that’s covered in a quick Parmesan pan sauce. Top it all off with crunchy basil breadcrumbs and toasted pine nuts and well: it’s an explosion of flavor. Here’s how to make our new favorite pasta.

What’s in this cauliflower pasta?

This cauliflower pasta makes the most out of its short ingredient list! You don’t need much to get big flavor. This pasta is Italian-style: in Sicilian cooking cauliflower is often paired with lemon, Parmesan and pine nuts. Here’s what you’ll need for this recipe:

Cauliflower: You’ll make our Perfect Roasted Cauliflower: just one head of cauliflower, olive oil, garlic and lemon zest
Pasta: You can use any type of noodles (we prefer short like rigatoni, penne, etc — see below!)
Breadcrumbs: The best are homemade, but you can also use plain store bought breadcrumbs
Fresh basil
Parmesan cheese
Butter
Toasted pine nuts: they’re optional, but so good! If you can’t find them, you can substitute toasted slivered almonds, or omit them.

Serve with a side to make a filling meal!

One thing to note about this cauliflower pasta is that it disappears quickly! The serving size is moderate, so you’ll want to serve it with a side dish to keep the meal filling. Especially if you’re feeding hungry eaters! Here are some ideas for a filling Italian-style meal:

Sauteed greens: Easy Tuscan Kale, Sauteed Rainbow Chard, or Sauteed Spinach are quick to whip up.
Lentils: Seasoned French Lentils or Black Lentils would add plant-based protein.
Salad: Try our Easy Arugula Salad, Favorite Chopped Salad or Spinach Apple Salad. Or this Fennel Orange Salad is great for entertaining: so full of flavor!

Tips on roasting cauliflower for pasta

This cauliflower pasta recipe uses our favorite method for making cauliflower: this Perfect Roasted Cauliflower. To us, this is the ultimate way to make cauliflower taste incredible. Open that tab in a separate browser while you make this pasta. Here are a few notes on the method:

Roasting at high heat (450 degrees). This makes for the perfect browned, caramelized cauliflower: browning is your friend!
Use parchment paper for easy cleanup. We always use parchment paper when roasting veggies because it makes cleanup a breeze. Avoid silicon baking mats, since they can make the vegetables mushy instead of crisp.
Don’t forget to add the garlic and lemon zest! This is what takes the flavoring over the top. Make sure to account for this final step while you’re following the pasta recipe.

Use any pasta shape you’d like!

You can use any pasta shape you’d like for this cauliflower pasta! We used rigatoni because we like the look. A short pasta is nice here because it makes it easy to get cauliflower and pasta in each bite. But you could use long noodles if that’s all you have! Here are some pasta types we’d recommend:

Short pasta: Rigatoni, penne, cavatappi, shells, gemelli
Long pasta: Spaghetti, bucatini, linguine

Some notes on breadcrumbs

The crunchy breadcrumb topping takes this cauliflower pasta over the top! Here are some notes on the breadcrumbs element:

Best choice: make your own! If you have leftover bread laying around, it’s as simple as whizzing it in a food processor (or blender) and baking it in a 300 degree oven to make them crispy. Go to How to Make Breadcrumbs.
If you use store bought, be careful about salt. Try to buy crumbs that are coarse textured, because they’ll provide the best crunch. Use crumbs without salt if at all possible. If all you can find is breadcrumbs that have added salt, use less salt when flavoring the pasta!

Toasted pine nuts optional

Pine nuts can be hard to find and expensive, but they add a unique flavor to this cauliflower pasta! If you can find them, they’re a nice addition. Here are a few notes on the pine nuts element:

Don’t skip toasting the nuts! It brings out the flavor. Make sure to go to How to Toast Pine Nuts for instructions on how to toast them! It really brings out the flavor. We taste-tasted without toasting and it was far less flavorful.
Omit and it’s still good. If you still want the crunch of nut, you could use Toasted Slivered Almonds. But its just as good without!

And that’s it! Let us know if you try this cauliflower pasta and what you think in the comments below.

This cauliflower pasta recipe is…

Vegetarian.