These Roasted Cauliflower and Sweet Potatoes are spicy, warm, and perfectly caramelized. It's a delicious fall and winter side dish for any meal. Serve it with chicken, fish, meat, or even with eggs for breakfast! It's seasoned with garam masala and tapioca starch, which makes everything extra crispy. Perfect for meal prep and a great addition to salads!
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Why You'll Love This Cauliflower and Sweet Potatoes
Packed with flavor - The vegetables are tossed with garam masala, which gives them a ton of flavor. It's not a very spicy spice blend, but it packs a lot of flavor. It has a mix of cumin, cardamom, coriander, black pepper, cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg. The warm, earthy flavors of all those spices work really well with the cauliflower and sweet potato.
Crispy but tender - Both veggies are tossed with tapioca starch, which helps to crisp them up on the outside really well, but they still stay tender and soft on the inside. The starch creates almost a coating or a crust on the outside, and it helps the veggies caramelize. I highly recommend giving it a try!
Great for meal prep - The roasted veggies are just as delicious reheated as when they were fresh! They're great for meal prep because you can easily make a lot of different dishes with them. You can serve them with a side of protein, add them to salads, or even serve them with eggs for breakfast instead of hash browns.
Ingredients
- Cauliflower - You can use either one small cauliflower for this or ½ of a large one. You could easily make a double batch with a whole large cauliflower for meal prep as well, but I like making smaller batches because my oven is small and it wouldn't fit.
- Sweet potato - Look for medium-sized, firm sweet potatoes with no visible black spots or mold.
- Garam masala - The one I use is a mix of cumin, coriander, cardamom, black pepper, cloves, nutmeg, cinnamon, and bay leaf. There are lots of different brands, each one with slightly different flavors and spices, but my favorite is this Garam Masala by Watkins.
- Avocado oil - I always recommend using pure avocado oil for most cooking and roasting because of its high smoke point and neutral flavor, but you can use other cooking oils as well. You could use olive oil, but I don't recommend extra virgin olive oil because it has a low smoke point.
- Cornstarch - You can use either cornstarch, tapioca starch, or arrowroot starch (often called tapioca or arrowroot flour). It's an optional add-in in but it makes the vegetables extra crispy and creates a nice crust on the outside.
- Fresh parsley - I like adding a sprinkle of chopped fresh herbs like parsley on top of the veggies before serving. It adds freshness, flavor, and color. You could also add cilantro, chives, or even green onions.
Variations and Substitutions
- Add other hearty veggies - You could add carrots, yellow or red potatoes, red onion, broccoli, or even peeled beets! You don't want to add any vegetables that are too soft and would cook more quickly than cauliflower and sweet potatoes.
- Different spices - If you don't have garam masala, curry powder would be a great substitute. You could also just toss the veggies with some sea salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, smoked paprika, and dried spices like thyme or oregano if you want to keep things really simple.
- Make it into a meal - You can add chickpeas while the veggies are still roasting to get them a little crispy, or add them cold, along with greens like kale or cooked rice or quinoa.
- Tahini dressing - Whisk some tahini with olive oil, lemon juice, sea salt, and black pepper for an easy and quick dressing. It adds an earthy flavor and a little creaminess.
Step-by-Step Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 425°F and prepare a large baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Dice the sweet potatoes and chop the cauliflower into bite-sized pieces and florets.
- Add diced sweet potato and cauliflower florets to your prepared baking sheet. I like to keep them separate so the cauliflower doesn’t steam the potatoes when it releases water.
- Toss both with avocado oil.
- In a small bowl, mix together garam masala, sea salt, and tapioca starch.
- Sprinkle the spices on the vegetables and toss to coat everything evenly.
- Roast them in the preheated oven for 15 minutes, toss, and roast for 15-20 more minutes.
- Sprinkle the roasted vegetables with finely chopped fresh parsley and finish with a squeeze of lemon. Enjoy!
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Tips & Tricks!
- Give everything enough space - The more space the vegetables have on the sheet pan, the better they'll crisp up. If the pan is too crowded, they might steam instead of roast. They'll still be delicious, just much less crispy.
- Don't skip the starch - If you want them to be extra crispy, make sure to toss them with tapioca, arrowroot, or corn starch before cooking. It makes a ton of difference, I promise!
Serving Suggestions
- Protein - You can serve the veggies as a side with roasted chicken, turkey, pork, beef, fish like salmon, or with steak. You can also serve them as a side with burgers to change things up from usual fries or salad!
- Salads and bowls - Add them to salads with rice, kale, or quinoa. They're delicious with tahini dressing, avocado, and red onion.
- Breakfast - This might not be the first thing you'd think of with these, but they're so good with eggs in the morning! I like warming them up in a pan on the stove and serving them with sunny-side-up eggs instead of hash browns.
Storing and Reheating
Store any leftover roasted veggies in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3-4 days. I don't recommend freezing them because they would be too mushy once defrosted.
You can reheat the vegetables either in the oven at 350°F until warmed through or in a pan with a splash of water or oil. I usually do it in a non-stick pan because it's easier than heating up the oven. You can also reheat them in the microwave.
FAQs
Make sure they have enough space to breathe. Sweet potatoes are very soft once cooked, and there's not much you can do to change that, but when you give them enough space on your baking sheet and toss them with starch, they crisp up nicely on the outside. Always make sure they're not overlapping or even touching too much.
Similar Recipes
If you want to try other delicious and easy sides, check out four of my favorites linked below! The brussels sprouts are a reader favorite and my most popular recipe on Pinterest! To see all the latest sides, head over to Side Dishes.
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Print📖 Recipe
Roasted Cauliflower and Sweet Potatoes
- Prep Time: 10 mins
- Cook Time: 35 mins
- Total Time: 45 minutes
- Yield: 3-4 1x
- Category: Sides
- Method: Oven
- Cuisine: American
- Diet: Vegan
Description
These Roasted Cauliflower and Sweet Potatoes are spicy, warm, and perfectly caramelized. It's a delicious fall and winter side dish for any dinner. Serve it with chicken, fish, meat, or even with eggs for breakfast! Perfect for meal prep and a great addition to salads!
Ingredients
- 1-1 ½ lb sweet potato, peeled and diced (1 large sweet potato)
- 1 lb cauliflower, chopped into florets (½ large cauliflower head)
- 2 tbsp avocado oil (or other cooking oil)
- 2 tsp garam masala spice
- 1 tsp fine sea salt
- 1 ½ tbsp tapioca starch (or cornstarch)
- 2 tbsp finely chopped fresh parsley
- A squeeze of lemon
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 425°F and prepare a large baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
- Add diced sweet potato and cauliflower florets to your prepared baking sheet. I like to keep them separate so the cauliflower doesn’t steam the potatoes when it releases water.
- Toss both with avocado oil.
- In a small bowl, mix together garam masala, sea salt, and tapioca starch.
- Sprinkle the spices on the vegetables and toss to coat everything evenly.
- Roast them in the preheated oven for 15 minutes, toss, and roast for 15-20 more minutes.
- Sprinkle the roasted vegetables with finely chopped fresh parsley and finish with a squeeze of lemon. Enjoy!
Notes
Storing: Store any leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days.
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Veronika Sykorova says
Garam masala gives these veggies a ton of flavor and I highly recommend not skipping the starch, it helps to make them extra crispy and caramelized!