Meat eaters, take note: Meatless meals like these sriracha spiced roasted cauliflower tostadas can be enjoyed and even craved when prepared with a few easy techniques and simple, whole ingredients that deepen their flavor for a 30-minute dinner every diner will love and busy cooks will be happy to prepare.
Whenever I ask friends or readers what their biggest kitchen challenge is, 90% of us say that it’s finding the time to cook, especially during the week when it always feels like a circus juggling act between balancing work and family.
We have the best of intentions to provide healthful, nutritious meals for ourselves and loved ones, but when life has it’s way with us, that goal can look as far-fetched as winning the lottery, that is unless you have a few no-fuss recipes like these spiced roasted cauliflower tacos in your arsenal of favorites that are ready in 30 minutes or less—prep and cook time included!
This recipe is from Kelly Pfeiffer’s newest cookbook, Superfood Weeknight Meals, Healthy Delicious Dinners Ready in 30 Minutes or Less. Kelly is the creator of the blog Nosh and Nourish where she shares healthful, easy recipes made from simple and fresh ingredients meant to inspire every kind of cook to get into the kitchen, no matter how hectic life can seem. She makes it easy to choose homemade over pre-made with healthy superfoods snuck right in.
In this new cookbook, Kelly takes a unique spin by choosing ten top superfood ingredients that are mixed and matched and then combined in creative ways as the base of recipes for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, including:
- avocado: chock-full of good for you fats and phytonutrients studies have shown help fight disease
- lentils: a valuable source of vegetarian protein and source of fiber to keep you filled up
- sweet potatoes: high in beta-carotene and vitamin C, sweet potatoes have almost twice the amount of fiber (keeping you full!) than regular potatoes
- quinoa: this may be the ultimate superfood given it contains all nine essential amino acids and is one of the most protein-rich foods you can eat. Plus, it’s gluten-free.
- almonds: snacking is just one way this superfood delivers plant-based protein, healthy fats, antioxidants helping to prevent heart disease and promote good weight management
- eggs: protein rich and loaded with other nutrients that help protect against heart disease, eggs could be the considered the perfect superfood
- spinach: rich in nutrients like folate, iron and other vitamins and boasting 1000% of your RDA of vitamin K, spinach is a favorite way to sneak in healthy and can be enjoyed equally as much cooked or eaten raw
- citrus fruit: antioxidants like vitamin C abound in fresh citrus fruits and are a terrific source of dietary fiber
- olive oil: beloved in many cultures and now a staple in American kitchens as well, olive oil has been shown to help decrease risk of heart disease and regulate blood sugar levels
- cauliflower: loaded with fiber and therefore filling when eaten, cauliflower is full of vitamin C, omega-3 fatty acids and potassium, making it the perfect candidate as the star of today’s recipe
I went back and forth on which recipe to feature here on FoodieCrush because there were so many that would make my family more than happy to eat. Breakfast Berry Cobbler. Thai Coconut Salmon Salad. Buffalo Chicken Stuffed Peppers. And who’da thunk Cheeseburger Soup could be healthified enough to be included in this book? Thank you Kelly!
But spicy flavors won out and that’s why I settled upon making a tostada version of her Sriracha Lime Cauliflower Tacos. I’ve become an huge fan of cauliflower, thanks to it’s adaptability in recipes—even as a substitute for mashed potatoes—and for it’s nutty flavor when roasted. Plus, it keeps fresh in the fridge for a decent amount of time before spoiling so that’s always a bonus for meal prep at my house.
After reading over this recipe, I knew this ingredient combination would be flavorful enough that my husband won’t balk at the idea of eating a veg-heavy-where’s-the-meat meal for dinner and simple enough that I could have it on the table in the same time it takes to watch a rerun of Modern Family.
I served these tacos on flour tortillas with extra avocado and my Mango Avocado Fruit Salsa, the perfect foil to the spicy bite of the sriracha. If mango isn’t your thing, you could substitute cantaloupe, watermelon or strawberries for that sweeter bite.
If you make this recipe, please let me know! Leave a comment below or take a photo and tag me on Instagram with #foodiecrusheats.
- 4 cups coarsely chopped cauliflower
- Juice of 1 lime
- 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
- 1 teaspoon chili powder
- 1 teaspoon sriracha plus more for drizzling on finished tacos if desired
- 1 teaspoon ginger, grated or minced
- ½ teaspoon ground cumin
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- 8 small tortillas, flour or corn
- 1 15-ounce can refried black beans
- 1 avocado, pitted and sliced or diced
- ½ cup thinly sliced cabbage
- ½ cup Mango Avocado Salsa (recipe here)
- Chopped fresh cilantro
- Preheat the oven to 425°F and line a baking sheet with aluminum foil or parchment paper, or spray with non-stick cooking spray.
- In a large bowl, combine the cauliflower, lime juice, olive oil, chili powder, sriracha, garlic, cumin, and salt. Stir until all of the cauliflower pieces are evenly coated. Transfer to the baking sheet in a single layer and bake for 30 minutes or until roasted and caramelized.
- Toast each tortilla over an open flame or in the toaster oven. Warm the refried black beans over the stove or in the microwave and then spread a spoonful or two on each tortilla. Top with a few scoops of roasted cauliflower, avocado, cabbage, Mango Salsa and cilantro. Drizzle with more sriracha if desired.
More Recipe Reasons to Love Cauliflower
Skillet Cauliflower Mac and Cheese
Gluten-Free Quinoa and Cauliflower Chowder
Penne Pasta With Cauliflower and Pancetta
Mashed Cauliflower with Parmesan and Chives
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I want to thank you so very much for all of your wonderful recipes! 🙂 They are absolutely delightful & your pictures/blog is amazing! 🙂 Keep on Keepin’! 🙂 You are doing an amazing love-filled job! 🙂
I really love your blog. It’s very inspiring for me. Thank you for sharing so many lovely stories and pictures.
These look like a winner for sure!!
We have some cauliflower to use up tonight and wanted to do something different. This is a great idea and uses up what we have on hand. Thanks for the inspiration!
Does it really call for ginger, or is that supposed to be garlic? Making this tonight, and am already salivating at the thought.
I was just trying to figure out the same thing…a bit of a discrepancy in the directions 😉 I’m not thinking ginger would taste as good as garlic with those other spices …but you don’t usually “grate” garlic
FYI Claudia, I just zoomed in on the pic of the recipe from the cookbook and it is garlic 🙂
Dang it, I didn’t read through the directions ahead of time and put in garlic and ginger. Bummer.
What a fabulous recipe and delicious recipe book.. I’ll keep my eye out for it! The mango in this flips my switch! Delicious share Heidi! Thank you!
Amazing technique! I have try it and success. It is really delicious to eat. Everyone must love it. The cauliflower increase the taste of this recipe. As usual the photography was stunning that inspire me to give a try.
Hi Heidi, I absolutely love tostadas and the cauliflower in these photos looks to die for. Top job with this recipe!
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I really love your blog. It’s very inspiring for me. Thank you for sharing so many lovely stories and pictures.
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Looking forward to making this recipe. Roasted cauliflower is a favorite at our house!
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My friend recommended this blog and he was totally right keep up the good work.
This was delicious and just as what you said about your husband liking it was the same for my husband.
Fabulous! Great flavor and will definitely make again. Thanks for sharing.
Is the ginger suppose to be the garlic?
Made this last night and AGAIN today for lunch and OH MY GOSH…this is a winner FOR SURE!!!! I did not make the mango salsa from scratch just to save on time. I added some diced cucumbers for some extra freshness and made a creamy taco sauce by mixing sour cream with a few squirts of the sraracha and it was heaven. U used hard tostadas shell instead and my only complaint is that there wasn’t enough for 3 adults to get full even after doubling the recipe LOL. DELISH!!!
By the way the first time I used ginger and garlic. The next time I just used garlic. Both times it was equally fabulous.
Made this tonight! We LOVED it!