If you aren’t into plant-based roasts or just want a fantastic vegan holiday side, this vegan roasted cauliflower steak recipe is a great option. Thick cuts of cauliflower are roasted to perfection and then drizzled with an oyster mushroom gravy sauce. Rubbed sage adds a festive and earthy feel!
This recipe was originally published in November 2013 and reposted in November 2023 with updated copy, ingredients, and instructions.
If you are the lone vegan at the holiday table, the struggle is real. I get it. Taking up oven space for only one can feel like an imposition. Wanting something substantial as your main should feel effortless, especially when you are traveling.
Or maybe you’re all about the sides and don’t care! In either scenario, this roasted cauliflower steak will come to the rescue! Oyster mushroom gravy pulls everything together, making this a festive and impressive dish.
Why You’ll Love This Vegan Roasted Cauliflower Steak Recipe
These roasted cauliflower steaks are not only easy to make but also can be made ahead, chilled, then recrisped right before dinner, making it a good option to bring along with you or prep at your guest’s home the night before. The convenient part? Recrisping the steaks won’t take up any real estate in the oven. A few minutes in a cast iron pan on the stovetop with a little olive oil is all you’ll need.
You can easily reheat the gravy in a small saucepan, adding the arrowroot or cornstarch slurry to thicken it up. Once these two things happen, you can relax and enjoy your holiday feast with family and friends.
How To Develop Color And Crispiness Around The Edges Of Your Cauliflower Steak
To get this beautiful color and crispy texture around the edges, you simply roast the cauliflower in the oven for about an hour in a cast iron pan. For this application, I just rubbed olive oil onto the outside of the steaks, then sprinkled with salt and pepper before roasting it.
This can be made for any meal, but to give it more of a holiday feel, bring out the sage! Sage adds a lovely, earthy scent. It just feels like comfort and a big, warm blanket during the holidays.
What To Serve With This Cauliflower Steak
To add some decadence, make this oyster mushroom gravy to create a well-balanced and beautifully simple dish. The texture of the oyster mushrooms with the crisped cauliflower complement each other perfectly. However, feel free to use crimini, bella, or shiitakes here. The gravy recipe below makes enough to slather over stuffing and potatoes or drizzle over biscuits the following morning.
How To Store And Finish This Recipe
The day before holiday dinner is served, roast the cauliflower steaks and allow them to cool. Transfer to a plastic container and refrigerate. You can also make the gravy the night before. Just don’t add the arrowroot or cornstarch yet. Cool and transfer to a plastic container.
Before the holiday meal, crisp the steaks in a hot cast iron pan with a little oil. You want a nice sear along the edges. Reheat the gravy, adding the arrowroot or cornstarch slurry to thicken it up.
Roasted Cauliflower Steak Recipe Ingredients
Here’s a list of ingredients you’ll need to make this recipe!
Cauliflower – This humble yet versatile vegetable is your star player here. Upon roasting, it showcases its nutty nuanced flavor. This slightly sweet note will harmonize with all the other ingredients here, providing a hearty and deeply satisfying base.
Rubbed sage – The aromatic sage takes the spotlight here, infusing your dish with an earthy warmth. With its finely ground leaves, it adds a touch of nostalgia and rustic elegance to your dish.
Plant-based butter – Whether you choose Earth Balance, Miyoko’s, Violife, or Kite Hill, it’s ready to add a creamy opulence to your vegan mushroom gravy. It imparts a luxurious texture that will infuse your gravy with a buttery, umami flavor.
Shallots – These mild and small onions elevate your dish with their pungent and crisp quality. They add depth and complexity to your mushroom gravy and add a nice texture to it.
Garlic – The most versatile flavor enhancer, garlic provides a robust, aromatic character to the gravy.
Oyster mushrooms – The delicate, slightly exotic fun guys bring a touch of umami-rich luxury to your dish. If you can’t find them, bellas, crimini, or shiitakes will do.
White wine – This brings a tangy sophistication to your gravy, infusing it with a vibrant character while perfectly balancing the flavors of the gravy.
Vegetable broth – The dependable foundation of your mushroom gravy, this liquid gold imbues your creation with a profound savory depth. I love Better than Bouillon, but homemade vegan stock or other boxed or cubed vegan options work well too.
Cornstarch or arrowroot powder – These natural thickeners work by binding with hot liquid, creating a smooth, glossy texture that creates a luxurious texture.
Other Cauliflower Recipes You’ll Love
Cauliflower is such a versatile ingredient. Here are some other ways to use this humble but mighty vegetable!
- Add a little spice to your dinner with this firecracker cauliflower recipe!
- This bang bang cauliflower recipe is a perfect appetizer or hits the spot for snacking.
- I don’t like to play favorites, but this gochujang cauliflower recipe is well … one of my favorites!
- If you want to change it up, puree your cauliflower to make this silky cauliflower puree!
Vegan Roasted Cauliflower Steaks
- Total Time: 1 hour 15 minutes
- Yield: 2 servings
- Diet: Vegan
Description
These vegan roasted cauliflower steaks are delicious as a holiday main, and perfectly portable if you are traveling. They can be made the night before and crisped up right before holiday dinner begins. An absolutely delicious oyster mushroom gravy pulls everything together!
Ingredients
for the cauliflower steaks
- 2, 1 1/2-inch thick slices of cauliflower (how-to below)
- 1 TB, plus 1 tsp olive oil
- 2 tsp rubbed sage
- salt and pepper
for the oyster mushroom gravy
- 1–2 tsp Earth Balance
- 2 shallots, sliced
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 cup chopped oyster mushrooms (cut away tough stems and freeze and reserve for making stock later)
- 2 TB dry white wine
- 2 cups vegetable broth
- 1 TB cornstarch or arrowroot powder, blended with 2 TB cold water
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.
- To cut your cauliflower steaks, place a head of cauliflower stem side down on a cutting board. Using a large knife, slice it down the very middle. Then cut down again on each half to create two, 1 1/2-inch thick slabs.
- Grease a cast iron pan with 1 TB of olive oil. Place the steaks onto the pan, and drizzle over the remaining 1 tsp of olive oil over the tops of the steaks. Sprinkle 1/2 tsp of the sage over the top of each steak, rubbing it into the oil. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and place into the oven to roast on one side for 25-30 minutes, keeping an eye on it after 20 minutes, ensuring that it does not burn on the bottom.
- After the steaks are nicely roasted on the bottom, carefully flip them over, then rub the remaining rubbed sage over the top. Return to the oven to roast for an additional 25-30 minutes, keeping an eye on them to prevent burning after 20 minutes.*
- While your cauliflower is roasting, make your gravy.
- Melt the vegan butter in a small saucepan over medium-low heat. Add in the sliced shallots and sprinkle with the salt. Saute until softened, about 3 minutes, then add in the garlic and saute for 1 minute more.
- Increase the heat to medium, then add the chopped oyster mushrooms. After 2 minutes, increase the heat to medium high and saute for 1 minute more. Deglaze the pan with the white wine, scraping up any bits on the bottom of the pan with a spatula. Add in the broth, bring to a small simmer, then reduce the heat back down to medium. Allow to reduce for 15-20 minutes.**
- *Serve the steaks immediately with the gravy. Or, if you are serving it later, just recrisp the chilled cauliflower steaks on a stovetop in a hot cast iron pan on both sides with a little oil until heated through.
- **If you are serving the gravy immediately, add in half of the cornstarch/water slurry to the gravy and stir until thickened, adding more as needed. If you are serving the steaks later, wait to add the cornstarch or arrowroot/water slurry until you are reheating the gravy.
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 1 hours
- Category: Dinner
- Method: Roasted
- Cuisine: American
Keywords: roasted cauliflower steaks, cauliflower steaks roasted, vegan main, vegan side
Elisa Bremner says
Made this for my husband for Father’s Day and he loved it! definitely as he says, “a keeper”. The only thing was I made it in my 360 pan on the stove top because I didn’t want to heat up the kitchen. Such a simple yet delicious recipe, Thank you!
★★★★★
Hannah says
I made this this year for christmas dinner for myself! perfect recipe if you’re only cooking for 1 or 2
★★★★★
erinwyso says
So happy you enjoyed. 🙂
Molly Gordon says
Erin, my granddaughter has recently become vegetarian and I think cauliflower steaks would be great for her main dish for Christmas dinner (I will be serving a standing rib roast). There will be other meatless sides she can eat. I’d love to have a gravy for her, but she dislikes mushrooms. Any suggestions for a substitute?
erinwyso says
Molly,
I think you could make this version of gravy without mushrooms and it would still work! Oh She Glows also has a great mushroom-less gravy: https://ohsheglows.com/2010/10/04/tick-tock-racing-against-the-clock/
Annie says
Would this work as well without using a cast iron pan, do you think?
erinwyso says
Annie, You won’t get that same color with a non-stick or stainless, but it should still work!
Matt says
FYI I just made this using a baking sheet greased with olive oil instead of the cast iron pan (since I don’t have one big enough for two steaks) and it turned out great. Really delicious all by itself (without the mushroom gravy) btw.
Thanks for the recipe!
erinwyso says
Matt, Thanks for the feedback, I’m so happy you enjoyed it!
Sarah Collier says
Hi Erin! I'm looking forward to trying this recipe. How much would you say the gravy should be boiling while it's reducing? It looks like your last paragraph mentions medium heat, but for me that would bring a pretty hearty boil (I think). Is there any risk of overcooking the mushrooms, or is the goal for them to be really cooked down?
Thanks 🙂
erinwyso says
Hi Sarah! Feel free to use whatever heat setting keeps it at a constant simmer. There is no risk of overcooking the mushrooms, as long as they are in liquid. In fact, the longer you cook, the better they taste, in my opinion! I hope you enjoy and have a wonderful Thanksgiving!
Unknown says
I only have one cast iron pan but would need to make enough for 4 people. Do these work well on a cookie sheet instead? Any other suggestions on how to oven roast these without cast iron? Thanks! Looks fantastic!!!!
erinwyso says
Yes, you can use a cookie sheet or glass pyrex … just make sure the steaks are oiled to ensure the steaks develop some good color. I hope you and your guests enjoy!
courtney marie says
incredible flavor! made the gravy with dried oyster mushrooms soaked in broth and sherry instead of white wine. i think my broth base is a little salty to begin with, so the gravy was pretty salty, too. made some quinoa & that soaked it up nicely. i'm not sure if the cast iron is essential, but next time i'll try roasting in glass so i can make more at a time. two little slices cook down to two littler plates of cauliflower. and we easily could have eaten the whole head. 🙂 thanks for a nice recipe.
erinwyso says
Thanks for your feedback Courtney — I am happy you liked, and were able to adjust here and there to your liking. Yes, I think I could probably eat a whole head of this too! : )
Christine (The Raw Project) says
Very creative, this looks amazing!
Kristina @ spabettie says
awww, I love Love LOVE that we were on the same wavelength but took completely different turns with it – this sounds amazing!
erinwyso says
Kristina, I love what you did with your steaks! I was wondering if you could bread the entire thing—I will definitely give your version a try!
maureen says
This looks great. I am thinking of making a seitan turkey and having cauliflower as well. Do you think this gravy will work on the seitan? also how much does it make? have you thought about taking photos along the cooking process so we can see how it looks as it comes together? that is helpful to me especially. Love you recipes and photos! thanks Erin!
erinwyso says
Thanks Maureen! This gravy will work fine with seitan — there is no dominant herb or flavor here that will compete with anything else. It makes about 1 1/2 cups gravy.
We don't do process shots that often simply because we haven't worked out a good system yet with lighting, logistics, etc. YET : ) — but your suggestion that it would be helpful will definitely make us take a closer look into doing that in the future!
Caitlin says
wow! this looks unbelievable! now i know what i'm making for thanksgiving!
erinwyso says
Thank you Caitlin! I hope you have a fantastic Thanksgiving! xo
yupitsvegan says
Wow, you got some amazing color on those! My family is in charge of Thanksgiving this year so no vegan main dish for me, just sides. I bet they would love this, though, it looks so crispy and delicious.