When you have a large crop of cauliflower from the garden or farmstand, you don't have time to casually include it in complicated recipes or to frantically figure out how to use it up before it goes bad without getting sick of it. You want to make the most of your harvest and to actually enjoy it.
Here at Plant to Plate, we like to keep things simple! Here are some of my favorite ways to use or preserve cauliflower:
- Make buffalo cauliflower dip with a cayenne-based hot sauce, ranch or blue cheese dressing, and cheddar cheese. I refer to this as buffalo cauliflower dip, even though the cauliflower is just torn into small (bite-sized or smaller) pieces and mixed in, because it reminds me a lot of buffalo chicken dip, which has chicken pieces. However, if you prefer a more evenly-textured dip, you can purée the cauliflower, dressing, and Frank's in a food processor. Heavy cream can also be substituted for the dressing for a thicker dip or spread.
- Break it into pieces and dip it in sriracha or buffalo sauce if you don't want to include cauliflower in the dip itself.
- Make carrot-cauliflower hummus by puréeing carrots, cauliflower, and tahini in a food processor.
- Make cauliflower-fennel soup with cauliflower florets, fennel, and chicken broth or vegetable broth. You can include cauliflower leaves too!
- Add it to other soups. With its mild but nutty taste, it's a great addition to almost any soup. It absorbs the flavors of the broth and more strongly-flavored ingredients while adding a subtle contribution of its own.
- Make cauliflower rice.
- Don't forget the leaves! Cauliflower leaves are edible and make a great addition to soups, broths, and stirfry.
- Freeze it. Cauliflower is not particularly suited to drying or canning, but freezing is a great way to preserve your cauliflower harvest.
Further Reading
Growing cauliflower? Check out these quick facts like its best growing conditions, companion plants, and expected yields.
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