This Roasted Miso Garlic Cauliflower is a crowd favorite and is super easy to make! Brushed with delicious garlic miso sauce, the cauliflower florets are roasted to golden perfection in the oven.
I never grew up eating roasted vegetables. Some of you probably already know this, but it’s not common to have an oven in a typical tiny kitchen in Japan. Sure enough, I was a late bloomer for all the delicious roasted vegetables.
One of the most frequently roasted vegetables in our house is cauliflower because I can’t resist purchasing a head or two of cauliflower whenever I shop at grocery stores. This Roasted Miso Garlic Cauliflower is our family favorite and I hope it will be yours, too!
How to Make Roasted Miso Garlic Cauliflower
Ingredients You’ll Need
- A head of cauliflower
- Cooking oil
- Salt
- Miso Garlic Sauce: white miso, soy sauce, maple syrup, garlic, and ginger
Overview: Cooking Steps
- Preheat the oven to 425˚F (230 ºC). Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper or foil for easier cleanup. I roast veggies directly on my dedicated baking sheet that I use for roasting veggies.
- Cut the cauliflower into florets or into flat cauliflower steaks.
- Coat the cauliflower with oil and salt in a large bowl. It’s an extra thing to wash, but tossing in a bowl helps spreading the oil evenly over the veggies. Transfer to the baking sheet and spread into a single layer.
- Bake cauliflower for 20 minutes then flip to brush with Miso Garlic Sauce. Bake additional 10 minutes. The baking time may vary depending on the size of your cauliflower pieces.
- Broil for 3 minutes until the edges of cauliflower are golden brown.
How to Cut Cauliflower – 2 Ways
1. Cut into Florets
Cut the whole head into halves or quarters first (depending on the size of cauliflower). Then angle the knife to cut out the cores and pull apart the florets.
This cut creates similar size florets, which is easier to serve when you have to feed a lot of people. However, the multiple sides of florets make it harder to evenly brown.
2. Cut into Steaks
Slice the cauliflower into even 1/2 inch (1.3 cm) thick steaks. We call these slices “steaks” to mimic the steak even though they have nothing to do with meat. As they are roasted, the flat sides caramelize against the baking sheet adding a depth of flavor.
The benefit of this cut is that each steak results in evenly browned pieces, but each head of cauliflower can yield only a few steaks and the rest ends up with crumbs.
All About Miso Garlic Sauce
Made with white miso, maple syrup, soy sauce, garlic, and ginger, this Miso Garlic Sauce is an all-mighty sauce for any roasted vegetables.
It’s all about the balance in flavor, so if you’re using a different type or brand of miso for this recipe, don’t forget to taste it and adjust according to your liking.
Some miso may be saltier, and the only way to avoid salty sauce is by adding more maple syrup. You can use sugar and I tried it with honey but I like the gentle flavor of maple syrup better.
One thing you have to be careful when you use this sauce is that miso burns easily. So you have to apply the sauce to the ingredients that are nearly done cooking. Estimate the cooking time for your ingredient, and brush the delicious miso garlic sauce on the ingredient near the end of cooking.
What Type of Miso to Use
For this recipe, I recommend mild and mellow organic white miso from Hikari Miso. I love all types of miso from Hikari Miso for the past 15 years and always have several tubs of their miso in my refrigerator.
By changing the type of miso, you get to enjoy different flavors of the same dish. It’s fun! But for those who are new to miso, I highly recommend getting this organic white miso from Hikari Miso to start. It’s very versatile and you can use it for almost all miso recipes!
What to Serve with Roasted Miso Garlic Cauliflower
Serve this roasted cauliflower with one of the following delicious main dishes. You can also make ahead as a meal prep dish and reheat on the stovetop, oven, or microwave until heated through.
- Shio Koji Chicken
- Honey Garlic Pork Chops
- Instant Pot Sticky Asian Ribs
- Japanese Pork Roast
- Reverse Sear Steak on Traeger with Smoked Garlic
- Honey Soy Glazed Spatchcock Chicken
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Roasted Miso Garlic Cauliflower
Ingredients
- 1 head cauliflower (medium to large; 2.3 lb, 1 kg)
- 4 Tbsp neutral-flavored oil
- ¼-½ tsp Diamond Crystal kosher salt
Miso Garlic Sauce
- 2 Tbsp miso (I use Hikari Miso Organic White Miso (you can buy on Amazon). If you use other kinds of miso, adjust the amount of maple syrup based on the saltiness of miso.)
- 1 Tbsp maple syrup
- 1 tsp soy sauce
- 1 clove garlic
- 1 knob ginger (you will need ½ tsp of grated ginger)
Instructions
- Gather all the ingredients. Preheat the oven to 425 ºF (230 ºC). For a convection oven, reduce cooking temperature by 25ºF (15ºC). Set the oven rack in the middle of the oven.
To Make Miso Garlic Sauce
- Grate ginger (I use this grater) until you get ½ tsp of grated ginger.
- In a small bowl, combine miso, maple syrup, and soy sauce.
- Add ginger and minced garlic (I use this garlic press) and mix all together. Taste the sauce and adjust to your liking. Each miso type/brand has different saltiness, so you may need to add more maple syrup.
To Prepare Cauliflower
- Cut the head of cauliflower into halves or quarters (depending on the size). Angle the knife to cut out the cores.
- Pull apart the florets with hands or the knife.
- If florets are too big, cut them into halves.
- In a large bowl, add the florets, oil, and salt. Toss all together so the florets are coated well with oil.
To Roast Cauliflower
- Transfer the florets to a baking sheet (lined with parchment paper) and spread them into a single layer.
- Bake cauliflower for 20 minutes. Take out the baking sheet from the oven to the kitchen counter and flip the florets.
- Brush with Miso Garlic Sauce on the florets.
- Put the baking sheet back in the oven and bake additional 10 minutes. Then change the oven setting from bake to broil, keeping the oven rack in the middle of the oven (9"/22 cm away from the heating source). Broil for 3 minutes until golden brown on the edges. The baking time may vary depending on the size of your cauliflower pieces.
To Store
- You can keep the leftovers in an airtight container and store in the refrigerator for 3 days and 1 month in the freezer.
