Roasted Cauliflower and Sweet Potatoes
Roasted cauliflower and sweet potatoes are the perfect simple side dish that is easy to make and can quickly become a quick and easy meal! Full of flavor and a great way to get in more veggies, this roasted sweet potato and cauliflower recipe is made with just 7 ingredients and is ready in about 40 minutes and perfect for meal prep.
Why you will love this recipe
- Easy to make – simply cut up the veggies, toss them in olive oil and spices and bake in a hot oven for about 40 minutes. This recipe is so simple and when you put down parchment paper on the baking sheets, easy to clean up too! You can even add black beans or chickpeas right to the pan during the last 10 minutes of cooking to make this a full sheet pan meal!
- Healthy, delicious ingredients – the ingredients for this roasted sweet potato and cauliflower recipe are so simple and easy to find in most grocery stores! Roasting veggies in just a bit of olive oil helps them caramelize and takes them to a whole different flavor profile. Don’t be surprised if you find yourself eating the cauliflower and sweet potatoes right off the baking sheet. This recipe is vegan, Whole30, and paleo friendly along with being gluten free and dairy free so it’s perfect for almost all diets and plant based eating!
- Can easily become a meal – simply add your favorite protein for a super simple meal. You can even add leftover shredded chicken or beans directly to the baking sheet to heat up during the last 10 minutes of baking!
- Great for meal prep – the roasted cauliflower and sweet potatoes reheat very well and are even great cold on a salad or as a snack, making them perfect for meal prep!
Ingredients
- Cauliflower – Roasting cauliflower completely transforms the flavor and makes it irresistible. If you think you don’t like cauliflower, try it roasted! For this recipe I like to buy a head of cauliflower and cut the florets myself since I like to cut them down into similar size pieces. You can also use cauliflower florets or even frozen cauliflower.
- Sweet potatoes – sweet potatoes add a touch of sweetness that offset the spices perfectly! When roasted sweet potatoes get caramelized and seem to go to the next level of sweet.
- Olive oil – olive oil is drizzled over the veggies to help them crisp up in the oven and also to help the spices stick. You can also use avocado oil, melted coconut oil, melted ghee or butter as well.
- Spices: Smoked paprika, ground cumin, garlic powder, salt, red pepper flakes – these spices give the roasted cauliflower and sweet potatoes a smoky, savory flavor that really elevates the dish! You can change the flavor profile of the dish by changing out these spices, see some ideas below!
How to make roasted cauliflower and sweet potatoes
Start by preheating the oven to 425F.
Chop the cauliflower into even sized florets. By making them similar size, it guarantees that they will cook evenly in the oven.
Cut the sweet potatoes into ½ -1 inch cubes. I like to leave the skin on but if you don’t love the skin, peel it before cutting the sweet potato. The smaller you cut the sweet potato, the faster they will cook in the oven. Just like the cauliflower, try to cut them into similar sizes so they all cook evenly.
Place parchment paper down on an extra large baking sheet or 2 regular size baking sheets. You want to be sure the veggies have room to roast and not steam.
Add the veggies to an extra large baking sheet (or divide them evenly between 2 baking sheets). Drizzle the veggies with olive oil.
Next stir up your spices into a small bowl and once well combined, sprinkle them over the veggies.
Mix up the veggies on the baking sheet with clean hands or tongs. You want to be sure you are getting all the seasoning and olive oil off the pan and onto the veggies. Try to ensure all the veggies are well coated with seasoning. Once well coated, spread the veggies out into a single layer, ensuring they have room around them and are not piled up on the pan.
Bake at 425F for 35-45 minutes. Cooking time will depend on your oven and how big or small you made the veggies. You can check the veggies at the 30-minute mark and stir them around to get an idea of how much longer they may need.
Top tips
- Cut the veggies into similar size pieces – this helps to ensure all the veggies will cook evenly.
- Drizzle the veggies with olive oil or another fat – the oil helps to create a crispy crust on the veggies but more importantly helps the spices to stick to the veggies during roasting. You can make this without oil if you are oil free but you may need to increase the spices to ensure the veggies are well coated before baking.
- Use an extra-large baking sheet or two regular baking sheets – when roasting vegetables it’s important that air can get around the veggies, so they need to be spaced out on the baking sheet and not stacked on top of each other. If you try to put all these veggies on one regular baking sheet, they will steam instead of roast, and you won’t get the same flavor.
- Put down parchment paper for easy clean up – this recipe is simple to assemble and keeping the veggies on parchment paper helps to ensure simple clean up too! I prefer to use an unbleached parchment paper but use whatever you have on hand!
- Time saving tip – you can find sweet potatoes already cubed at most grocery stores in the produce section. Typically, these are more expensive than doing it yourself but are great if you are short on time. You can also pre-chop your sweet potatoes early in the week and store them in an airtight container for up to 5 days before cooking.
- Add protein during the last 10 minutes of baking. You can add pre-cooked shredded chicken or beans (black beans, chickpeas, lentils) during the last 10 minutes of cooking to warm up in the oven as the veggies finish roasting.
How to serve roasted sweet potatoes and cauliflower
- As a side dish with your favorite protein. You can even add beans or pre-cooked shredded chicken to the baking sheet while cooking. This would go great with 10 minute taco chicken, air fryer salmon or air fryer frozen shrimp too for a quick meal!
- As a topping for salad or buddha bowls with maple tahini dressing or lemon tahini dressing on top.
- Stuffed in tacos with a drizzle of dairy free nacho cheese or vegan chipotle mayo
Other spices you can use
- Curry – omit the smoked paprika and add 1-2 teaspoons of curry powder depending on how intense you want the flavor.
- Moroccan – omit the smoked paprika and add 1.5 teaspoons of turmeric and ½ teaspoon of ground cinnamon to the spice blend.
- Italian – omit the smoked paprika and cumin and add 1 tablespoon of Italian seasoning.
- Taco – omit the smoked paprika and cumin and add 1 tablespoon of taco seasoning.
- Cajun – omit the ground cumin and add ½ tablespoon of Cajun seasoning.
- Savory (this would be great for Thanksgiving) – omit the smoked paprika and ground cumin. Add 1 teaspoon dried thyme, 1 teaspoon dried parsley and 1/2 teaspoon ground sage.
Common questions
What makes roasting vegetables so delicious?
When you roast vegetables, it allows the exterior of the veggies to get crisp and caramelize any sugars that naturally occur in the vegetable while the inside stays tender and perfectly cooked. These veggies taste sweeter and have a deeper flavor.
Can you use frozen cauliflower?
Yes, you can make this recipe with frozen cauliflower. One thing you may want to do though is cut down larger pieces of cauliflower to ensure that it cooks evenly in the oven. You will likely need 2 bags of frozen cauliflower for this recipe.
What other veggies could you add?
You can add any root vegetable you love or denser vegetable that won’t burn in the oven with this long baking time at high heat. You will need more olive oil and spices if you are adding to this recipe. You may also need to use 2 extra large sheet pans if you increase the veggies significantly. Here are some other veggies you could add:
- Brussel sprouts – be sure to cut these in half or quarters depending on how large they are.
- Onion – cut into wedges to roast along side of the veggies. You can use red, white or yellow onions.
- Carrots – cut the carrots into slightly larger chunks than the sweet potatoes as they have similar baking time.
- Parsnips – peel the parsnips and cut them into slightly large chunks than the sweet potatoes as they are similar to carrots in roasting.
Can you make this in advance?
Yes, although the texture of the cauliflower is best right out of the oven. You can assemble it in advance by coating the veggies in olive oil and spices in a large bowl and place the bowl covered in the fridge for up to 5 days before roasting.
You can also roast the cauliflower and sweet potatoes and reheat them in the oven or air fryer to get some of the texture back to the cauliflower.
Can this recipe be doubled?
Yes, however you will need to either cook it separately or use two extra large sheet pans to double the recipe. You don’t want to overcrowd the pan or the veggies will steam and not roast.
When roasting with two sheet pans, it’s important that you set one sheet pan on the top 1/3 of the oven and the other on the bottom 1/3. This ensures that the bottom pan won’t steam as it cooks. Also it’s a great idea to rotate the pans halfway through cooking so they are exposed to the same heat. To do this simply move the top pan to the bottom and the bottom pan to the top.
Can you freeze this recipe?
It’s typically not ideal to freeze roasted vegetables as they get soggy when defrosted/reheated. Because of this, I do not recommend freezing them.
Storing leftovers
Store leftover roasted cauliflower and sweet potatoes in the fridge for up to 5 days in an airtight container.
Reheat in the microwave (1 minute to 1:30), in the oven (425 for 7-10 minutes) or in the air fryer (350F for 5-7 minutes).
Substitutions
- Cauliflower – cauliflower can be replaced with brussel sprouts, carrots or parsnips in this recipe. I would not recommend using broccoli since it tends to burn when cooked this long at this heat. If you want to use broccoli, roast the sweet potatoes separately for the first 10-15 minutes before adding the broccoli.
- Sweet potato – you can use carrots, butternuts squash or regular potatoes in place of sweet potatoes. If you choose to use regular potatoes, soak them in cold water for at least 15 minutes before baking. This helps to remove the excess starch so they can crisp up during roasting.
- Spices – check out the other spices you can add list above to see about good substitutions based on what you don’t have on hand.
If you love this recipe, you should try
- Moroccan Cauliflower
- Vegan Cauliflower Casserole
- Sweet Potato Quinoa Bowls
- Air Fryer Sweet Potato Cubes
- Mexican Cauliflower White Bean Soup
- Air Fryer Frozen Cauliflower
- Vegan Sweet Potato Casserole
- Roasted Broccoli and Potatoes
Roasted Cauliflower and Sweet Potato
$4.87 Recipe/1.22 ServingIngredients
- 1 large head cauliflower - $2.65
- 2 pounds sweet potatoes - $1.33
- 2 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil - $0.44
- 1.5 tsp. sea salt - $0.07
- 1.5 tsp. garlic powder - $0.15
- 1 tsp. smoked paprika - $0.10
- 1 tsp. ground cumin - $0.10
- 1/4 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes (optional) - $0.03
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 425F. Add parchment paper to an extra large baking sheet or to two regular baking sheets.
- Cut the cauliflower florets from the stem. Cut cauliflower florets down into similar size, bite sized pieces so they can cook evenly.
- Chop the sweet potatoes into 1/2 -1 inch cubes (try to make them all similar sizes).
- Add the veggies to the baking sheet (or divide them between the two smaller baking sheets). Drizzle them with olive oil.
- Combine the spices in a small bowl. Sprinkle spices over veggies.
- Using clean hands or tongs, toss the veggies in the olive oil and spices, ensuring all the spices are off the the bottom of the pan and on the veggies and all the veggies are well coated).
- Arrange the vegetables in a single layer, ensuring no piles of veggies exist. This helps them cook evenly and not steam.
- Roast at 425F for 35-45 minutes. Check around 30 minutes and stir if needed.
Notes
- Cut the veggies into similar size pieces – this helps to ensure all the veggies will cook evenly.
- Drizzle the veggies with olive oil or another fat – the oil helps to create a crispy crust on the veggies but more importantly helps the spices to stick to the veggies during roasting. You can make this without oil if you are oil free but you may need to increase the spices to ensure the veggies are well coated before baking.
- Use an extra-large baking sheet or two regular baking sheets – when roasting vegetables it’s important that air can get around the veggies, so they need to be spaced out on the baking sheet and not stacked on top of each other. If you try to put all these veggies on one regular baking sheet, they will steam instead of roast, and you won’t get the same flavor.
- Put down parchment paper for easy clean up.
- Time saving tip – you can find sweet potatoes already cubed at most grocery stores in the produce section. Typically, these are more expensive than doing it yourself but are great if you are short on time. You can also pre-chop your sweet potatoes early in the week and store them in an airtight container for up to 5 days before cooking.
- Add protein during the last 10 minutes of baking. You can add pre-cooked shredded chicken or beans (black beans, chickpeas, lentils) during the last 10 minutes of cooking to warm up in the oven as the veggies finish roasting.
- Curry – omit the smoked paprika and add 1-2 teaspoons of curry powder depending on how intense you want the flavor.
- Moroccan – omit the smoked paprika and add 1.5 teaspoons of turmeric and ½ teaspoon of ground cinnamon to the spice blend.
- Italian – omit the smoked paprika and cumin and add 1 tablespoon of Italian seasoning.
- Taco – omit the smoked paprika and cumin and add 1 tablespoon of taco seasoning.
- Cajun – omit the ground cumin and add ½ tablespoon of Cajun seasoning.
Delicious! I used the Moroccan spice variation and added chunks of red onion to the sweet potatoes and cauliflower. Came out perfect! It made a great side dish for my lamb meatball tajine. I love the versatility of being able to spice it so many different ways. This will be part of our regular rotation from now on.
The Moroccan spice blend is so yummy, I’m so glad you enjoyed this recipe so much. It makes me smile so big when I hear that a recipe will become part of your regular rotation! Thank you for coming back and letting me know. Happy cooking! Sam
FANTASTIC EVERYONE LOVED IT.
THANK YOU PAT
Success!! That is so wonderful to hear, thank you for stopping by to leave a review, it means so much.
Soooo yummy! I added garbanzo beans the last 10 minutes and then ate the veggies on corn tortillas topped with some salsa and Monterrey cheese. It was amazing! Thanks for the great recipe!
Excellent! I did sweet potatoes, cauliflower and brussels sprouts and all three were delicious. I pulled mine out just before the 30 minute mark because they were looking very done. Perfect texture.