Italian Cauliflower and Quinoa Bake

Delicious and with a big protein punch, this vegetarian quinoa bake is a favorite for meatless dinners.

Video: Italian Cauliflower and Quinoa Bake:

Double Protein

One of the tricks that works for us for making satisfying vegetarian meals is to use at least two protein sources per meal. Today’s recipe for Italian Cauliflower and Quinoa Bake uses both high-protein quinoa and also cheese. Combined with the meaty texture of roasted cauliflower, it’s satisfying from the first mouthful.

Quinoa Tip

If you ever find quinoa bitter, it might be a good idea to try rinsing it more thoroughly. This is true even if it says that it’s pre-rinsed. I actually did some tests recently to figure out how best to prepare quinoa. I taste-tested cooked quinoa that had not been rinsed prior to cooking with quinoa that had been rinsed. The difference was definitely there. Furthermore, I then tested if the amount of time spent rinsing it mattered and it really does. Quinoa that has been rinsed for 5 minutes has less bitterness once cooked than quinoa rinsed for 30 seconds or 2 minutes.

To rinse the quinoa, measure it into a fine mesh sieve. Use the sprayer from your kitchen faucet to hit the quinoa with strong jets of water. Rub the quinoa between your fingers as you rinse it for 5 minutes under the water. I know it sounds like a long time, but it’s worth trying if you’ve ever disliked quinoa but want to use it in more recipes.

Note that the recipe below has you cook the quinoa in step #3. You can instead use leftover cooked quinoa. If you make quinoa for this recipe, I recommend making a double batch so that you can use the leftovers in this Quinoa Salad Bowl with Lemon-Hummus Dressing or in this delicious Quinoa and Feta Side Dish Recipe.

And if you love quinoa, I think you’d really like farro as well. You can learn how to cook farro here, and then try this recipe for Beef and Farro Soup and this one for Special Fried Farro.

Cauliflower Type and Quantities

The recipe below calls for 30 ounces of cauliflower florets. That sounds like a lot, but it shrinks down as it cooks. Also, it ends up with a soft but meaty texture, and I find that it them is kind of acting as the meat of our meal. So you end up wanting lots of it for sure!

Bags of Florets: If you’re buying your cauliflower fresh in the produce department in the bags of florets, those bags are usually 10 ounces, so you’ll need three of them.

Heads of Cauliflower: Not all heads of cauliflower are the same size so this can be tricky. The eaiest thing to do is to weight the heads at the store. What you want is about 40 ounces, or 2.5 pounds of cauliflower to start. Once you’ve trimmed it of stems and leaves, that will be about right. If you aren’t able to weight it, I have found that 2 small-to-medium-sized heads trimmed of leaves and stems and then broken into florets ends up being about the right amount.

Frozen Cauliflower: Frozen isn’t my preference for this recipe mostly because it’s hard to get it to caramelize. But I have used it. Use 30 ounces of frozen cauliflower florets and thaw them before beginning the recipe. The texture in the end will be softer, but it will still be tasty.

Seasonings To Use

The recipe below calls for dried oregano and basil. However, if you have some store-bought Italian seasoning, that will work perfectly. Even better, try using some Italian Sausage Seasoning. And don’t worry, even though it says sausage in the title, it’s still vegetarian – it’s simply the seasonings typically used when making Italian sausage, no sausage included. I hope you love this recipe!