Author: It's finally here, my Vegan Butter Cauliflower recipe! This is my version of butter chicken... but without the butter and without the chicken. This recipe took a lot of testing to make it oh so perfect, and I am so excited to finally share it with you.
Not only was I looking for excellent vegan replacements for both butter and chicken, but after discovering that a lot of traditional butter chicken recipes required an entire cup (!) of butter and additional cups of whipping cream, I cringed, and knew I wanted to make this one a little healthier too.
So I present you my (mostly) guilt-free Vegan Butter Cauliflower. Tah dah!
This recipe happens to be super easy too, in true fuss-free vegan style. Just add raw cashews, tomato paste, and a bunch of spices to a blender, and you've just made your sauce. Then add two tablespoons of vegan butter (I still wanted a bit of that butter taste, but reduced it by a whopping 14 tablespoons), saute up some onion and garlic in a pan, pour in the sauce, add the cauliflower florets, and simmer until tender. Yep, it's that easy peasy!
And oh man does it taste fantastic!! I've been eating this pretty much every day for a week because I'm madly in love. Creamy tomato-y goodness, packed full of spices, just so much deliciousness in a bowl it's difficult to comprehend.
Serve it up with some rice, naan bread, and a little cilantro, and be prepared for comfort food heaven.
To make Vegan Butter Cauliflower: add all of the ingredients to a high-powered blender and blend until smooth and creamy.
If you do not have a high-powered blender, you may want to soften the cashews first by boiling them in water for 10 minutes, draining, and then adding to the blender with all of the remaining ingredients. This will ensure a smooth sauce.
For the butter cauliflower, melt the vegan butter in a large pan or pot. When melted add the onion and garlic and sauté until the onion turns translucent and just begins to brown.
Pour in the prepared sauce and stir in the cauliflower florets. Cover and bring to a simmer. Stir the cauliflower often so the sauce doesn't burn on the bottom of the pan.
Cook until the cauliflower is fork tender, about 10 minutes. Serve over rice with a side of naan and a garnish of cilantro.
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Vegan Butter Cauliflower
Servings:
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Ingredients
For the sauce:
- 2 ¾ cups water
- ½ cup raw cashews
- 1 156ml can tomato paste
- 1 tablespoon garam masala
- 1 teaspoon chili powder
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon powdered ginger
For the butter cauliflower:
- 2 tablespoons vegan butter
- 1 yellow onion,, chopped
- 4 cloves garlic,, minced
- ½ head cauliflower,, cut into florets (about 6 cups)
For serving:
- cooked rice
- naan bread
- 1 handful cilantro,, roughly chopped
Instructions
- For the sauce, add all of the ingredients to a high-powered blender and blend until smooth and creamy. If you do not have a high-powered blender, you may want to soften the cashews first by boiling them in water for 10 minutes, draining, and then adding to the blender with all of the remaining ingredients. This will ensure a smooth sauce.
- For the butter cauliflower, melt the vegan butter in a large pan or pot. When melted add the onion and garlic and sauté until the onion turns translucent and just begins to brown. Pour in the prepared sauce, and stir in the cauliflower florets. Cover and bring to a simmer. Stir the cauliflower often so the sauce doesn't burn on the bottom of the pan. Cook until the cauliflower is fork tender, about 10 minutes. Serve over rice with a side of naan and a garnish of cilantro.
Holly says
Delicious and super easy!! I added chickpeas to have some protein and it went great!
Sam Turnbull says
Great!!
Joy St John says
Omg! Made this last night. I wasn't sure halfway through, but YUM! I had seconds. Made it with cauliflower and it was great. Told my ex and he has cauliflower he needs to use, so he's trying it. I can hardly wait to try it with your seitan recipe! Just have to wait till I get some soft tofu.
Sam Turnbull says
So happy you enjoyed, Joy!
Imanuel says
AMAZING!!!
bulletproof recipe and that quick and simple! Thank you!!!
Sam Turnbull says
So happy you enjoyed, Imanuel!
angela says
Hi Sam! Omg....I just made your butter cauliflower recipe and it was fantastic!!! I absolutely loved it. I also used 2 of your chicken seitan tenders instead of cauliflower. I had 2 frozen and just steamed them up to defrost in a steam pot and followed the recipe. My steak and potatoes husband said it was really good, got seconds, and said I can make this for dinner anytime! I usually have to make real chicken for him to add to my cooking but he said I don’t have to with this meal!! Talk about a win! Thanks so much:)
Sam Turnbull says
Amazing! So happy you enjoyed!!
Mia says
Delicious!!!! Instead of cauliflower I used assorted veggies which I marinated as if it was chicken with plant based yoghurt, garam masala, cumin, coriander powder, salt, and chilli flower. Then I roasted them on a grill before proceeding to the curry. Loved it! Thank you so much!!!
Mia says
Delicious!!!! Instead of cauliflower I used assorted veggies which I marinated as if it was chicken with plant based yoghurt, garam masala, cumin, coriander powder, salt, and chilli flower. Then I roasted them on a grill before proceeding to the curry. Loved it! Thank you so much!!!
Meg Selby says
"It is easy to eat vegan when it tastes like this!" Your recipes are helping me convert my historically hard core carnivore husband. Thank you!
Hannah says
Hi! I have a question - if I wanted to make this with seitan instead of cauliflower and therefore didn't need to cook the cauliflower in the sauce, would you say I'd still need the same amount of water or maybe reduce it?
Thank you 🙂
Patricia W says
I’ve made nearly a dozen vegan “butter chicken” recipes and have always been disappointed - until now! Yours is a truly delicious recipe that tastes like the real thing. I’ll be making it with cauliflower again, and I’m going to try chickpeas and tofu, too. Thanks!
Sam Turnbull says
Wonderful! So thrilled you loved it, Patricia 🙂
Jessica Stack says
Wow, this recipe was FABULOUS!!! As good as any I have had at Indian restaurants (and I love Indian food)! Very straightforward to make too. The only thing I ended up adding was ~1/4 tsp baking soda because mine tasted a little acidic from the tomato paste. That solved it though and it was amazing. Thank you so much for this!!!!
Sam Turnbull says
Happy you enjoyed!!
Huong Nguyen says
Thank you Sam for another delicious recipe, I will try it as I like Indian food very much
Huong
Sam Turnbull says
Great, I hope you enjoy!
Liza says
The Vegan Butter Cauliflower recipe was so delicious! I have always loved Indian food and now have a favorite vegan Indian dish I can make. I like how it was not too difficult to make also. Your many wonderful vegan recipes have been helping me gain a new interest and joy in cooking!
Sam Turnbull says
So happy you loved it, Liza 🙂
Stacey says
Thank you for such an amazing recipe. This is one of my personal favourites , I have made this many times and my family always enjoy. Tonight I added chickpeas can’t wait to see how it turns out.
Sam Turnbull says
Amazing! So happy it's a fave for you, Stacey 🙂
Trudy says
I have made this a few times now. I make a big batch as it takes even better the next day! Thank You for this!
Sam Turnbull says
You're most welcome, Trudy!
Susan Wong says
Superb! Butter chicken is one of the flavours I've been missing since going plant-based (and discovering I'm lactose intolerant). This is totally satisfying and my carnivore son says so too! And so easy as well. Thank you!
Sam Turnbull says
Thrilled you loved it, Susan 🙂
Jenna Daneels says
I have made this several times and it is all kinds of YUM! In fact, I’ll be making it again during the week with some naan bread. You should, too!
Sam Turnbull says
Yay!!!
angie says
this looks so good can't wait to try it! I live in the UK and I'm not sure what a good substitution would be for the tomato paste as we don't have that here. My options are tinned tomatoes, tomato puree or passata.
hope you can advise
thanks!
Jenna Daneels says
Hi, Angie!
Tomato paste is simply the thick concentrate of puréed tomatoes... thick like a paste. You should need a spoon to remove it from a can OR you may even find it in tube form.
Good luck!
angie says
thank you Jenna that's helpful will give it a go this week!
Sue says
I wonder if you think I could add some cubes of tofu to this dish, either raw or baked/fried. If you think this would work, when should I add it? Thanks
Sam Turnbull says
Sure go for it. Just stir it into the sauce.
Sam Turnbull says
Tomato puree should work. I would try cooking it down a bit before using it. Tomato paste is just concentrated tomato, so by cooking down the puree you will remove some excess water, making it more similar. Hope that helps!
Gail says
Sam,
Where do you get the Marsala?
Sam Turnbull says
I do all my shopping at Loblaws which is my local grocery store.
Heather says
HI Sam
I've made this twice and I am one the 3rd as I type. For some reason the cauliflower takes a lot longer to cook when I do this recipe. It's more like 30 minutes. I chop the cauliflower into bite size pieces, so not sure what I am doing wrong. The outcome tho is delicious.
Sam Turnbull says
Glad you're enjoying the recipe! Do you keep the cauliflower covered? This will help steam it quickly. You can also try turning your stove up a bit. Enjoy!
Heather Gilbert says
Love your recipes so much we bought your cook book! Yes, the cauliflower is covered while cooking and I have a gas stove, so maybe the heat is not high enough when I put it on low. But, the meal was delicious!
Sam Turnbull says
So glad you loved it, and yes try turning it up a bit next time. I hope you love my book!! Thanks for your support 🙂
Laura says
Gotta say, I was really surprised at how good this turned out! Even all the way up to tasting it and seasoning taste at the end, I was kind of unsure about it. But then I ate a bowl with the rice and cilantro and was like hey wow this is actually really good!
I added some Japanese eggplant I needed to use up, which worked well especially since my cauliflower was pretty small. I even think a can of chickpeas would be a nice addition as well.
It would've been too spicy for my picky kids, so I didn't even try giving it to them, but I thought the heat level was perfect. Maybe someday I'll find a truly mild chili powder to use in recipes like this and see if I can get my kids to eat them too .
Thank you for the great recipe! I'm going to try your tofu chili this week and am so excited!
Sam Turnbull says
Wonderful, Laura!! Thrilled it surprised you with deliciousness 🙂
Paula Bertamini says
This among many more of your recipes is one of my go to recipes. Love the flavors and simplicity of the recipe. Having family over tomorrow night and we all love this dish...we service ours with naan and coconut basmati rice. Thank you Sam for all your hard work!!!
Sam Turnbull says
You're most welcome, Paula! So happy this one is a fave 🙂
Alexandra Colacito says
I make a LOT of indian inspired meals, as a vegan. Lots of curries and tikka masalas and vegan versions of butter chicken. But this one is superior!! I don't know what it is. Maybe it's the fact that I always add a package of Tofurky Lightly Seasoned Roasted Chick'n right at the end. The combo of the "meat" and the cauliflower and the sauce and rice and cilantro is just super tangy and super satisfying. Love this!!
Sam Turnbull says
Aww that's great, so happy you love it, Alexandra 🙂