"Cheesy" Baked Cauliflower Poppers (Dairy Free)

Monday, January 28, 2013



So how are these "cheesy" but dairy free you may be wondering?  No I did not use fake or imitation cheese (yucky).  I used nutritional yeast, which is a healthy alternative to cheese that has a delicious nutty cheese flavor that will blow your mind, cheese lover or not.  These are by far my favorite munchy crunchy salty snack.  Sounds crazy but two heads of cauliflower is almost not enough, at least it wasn't for Max and I.  These are a spin off of these cauliflower poppers that I posted about a while back but with a little bit more attitude and flavor.

What you will need:
  • 2 heads of cauliflower
  • 1/4 cup of olive oil
  • 1 tsp of garlic salt
  • 1/2 cup of nutritional yeast.  *You can add a little more if you want them extra "cheesy" 
Directions:
  1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
  2. Wash and clean the cauliflower. Cut off and discard the stem. Cut the cauliflower up into small pieces.
  3. In a large bowl, combine the olive oil, garlic salt and nutritional yeast. Add the cauliflower pieces and thoroughly coat each piece.
  4. Place cauliflower pieces onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.  If you want to add a little more "cheese" sprinkle it on top at this time.  Bake for one hour and turn 3 times during cooking until each piece has a nice brown coloring. The browner and more caramelized they are the better.
  5. Remove from oven and enjoy!
These are so so good!  Please come back and let me know what you think if you make them.
   
*Carb count for one batch (one head) of "cheesy" baked cauliflower poppers is 16 grams.

37 comments:

Anonymous said...

So excited to try this! I am no longer eating cheese but need something to fill those cravings.

Michelle said...

Looks so yummy!

Unknown said...

I will be making these babies soon! YUM! Such a perfect combo! XO Brynn

Lindsay said...

I LOVE your recipes... these look delicious! xo

sherri lynn said...

I have never tried nutritional yeast, but since cheese falls into one of my favorite food categories, it sounds like I need to try it out!! I love that your healthy snacks are being passed on to Max. I feel like that it so rare these days!

Mindy said...

Okay, I'm buyin' what you're sellin' I will finally try this yeast you speak of. See, all you had to do was call it "cheese" :o)

Jennifer @ Delightfully Noted said...

I just heard of nutritional yeast recently from a co-worker who says she uses it to sprinkle on her popcorn and kale chips. I meant to check into it, thanks for the reminder!

Alexa said...

Oh yum Lindsay! I've heard really good things about the nutritional yeast. Must give it is a shot!

Anonymous said...

I love nooch! And I am loving cauliflower!!! Those look amazing!!

Hanna said...

These look awesome!!! My hubby makes somethign similar but with just beaten egg whites. DEFINITELY have to add the yeast. I LOVE YEAST!!! I like it best on my popcorn:)

Anna Elder said...

Ok, I have to say this sounds really bizarre to me…but I'm willing to try it. haha. ;) I've obviously never heard of nutritional yeast…where have I been?? Oh, that's right…I live in Oklahoma.

Ashley said...

where do you buy your nutritional yeast? i looked once at whole foods in the baking aisle - no luck and i didn't have time to hunt someone down to help.

Lindsay @ Delighted Momma said...

Ashley- Whole Foods will have it for sure. You just have to ask :)

Unknown said...

I'm excited to try this! We don't eat dairy over at our place either :-) - and I've got a huge tub of nutritional yeast that is begging to coat some cauliflower!!! LOVE your recipes. XO

Anonymous said...

Tasted nothing like cheese.

Anonymous said...

Just made them and ate half the tray!!!!!!! Oh my word!!!! So delicious! Thank you so much for sharing this deliciousness!

Anonymous said...

My husband loved these! I just made these as a side for dinner. He couldn't stop telling me how much he liked the flavor. It was my first time using nutritional yeast but wont be my last!

Unknown said...

Looks delicious! I must get some nutritional yeast!

Unknown said...

I am new to your blog and I am slightly obsessed with it now. Love it! Just made these and they were soo delicious!! My kids loved them which is a big compliment. I was skeptical about the nutritional yeast tasting like cheese but it does! Oh how I miss cheese so thank you for introducing me to it! Love all your paleo friendly recipes!

Unknown said...

I am new to your blog and now am slightly obsessed. Love it! I tried these tonight and they were sooo delicious! My kids loved them which says a ton. Thank you for all of your yummy paleo recipes! I was skeptical about the nutritional yeast tasting like cheese but it did! So excited I miss cheese. :)

Unknown said...

My carnivore of a son loved these. My picky vegetarian son wouldn't touch them. Oh well, more for me.

Heather Espana said...

I made these tonight. Soooo good! I was surprised by how potent the smell of roasting nutritional yeast is, but the taste is superb!

Cindy M. said...

I made these last night and my whole family devoured them. They were awesome!

Anonymous said...

A friend made these & was raving about them! Just printed the recipe & getting all the goods to make em. Pretty excited that my family may actually like something healthy! :)

Anonymous said...

They are outstanding! I am going to try them in the dehydrator next. From what I've been told, cut the olive oil in half for the dehydrator.

Anonymous said...

Second time I made these, but first time with the nutritional yeast ... Ate a whole head of cauliflower by myself! Very good. I added a bit more olive oil because it seemed dry mixing it up - but I will try cutting back next time. They were great, but definitely not 'crunchy' - softer because I probably used too much oil! My health food store sold the yeast in bulk, so I just bought a small amount :)

Anonymous said...

I just made these tonight, they are delicious !

Unknown said...

Baking in the oven right now…and they smell amazing!!! Thanks for the carb count makes it easier for me! (: (Fellow type1)

kmn said...

I love your site Lindsay! I've been using Nutritional Yeast for a little over a year now so I was sure I would like this recipe. And I was right! This is my new favorite snack!

Unknown said...

I wonder how these would do oil-less on a silcone baking sheet with just a sprinkle of water to help the nooch stick to the cauliflower?

Anonymous said...

These are very good! Thanks for the idea and for the nudge to finally try nutritional yeast!
I wanted to pass on that I wanted to lower the fat content a bit (since I knew I'd eat the whole batch!) and it came out just fine with half the oil - it actually got done in 40 min instead of 60!

Unknown said...

These are great. Made these during the week for the first time and again today, due to my 2 picky eaters request who usually won't touch vegetables. Can't wait to try more of your recipes as my oldest son was just diagnosed with type 1 diabetes.

Unknown said...

just a little note to say that i made these tonight as a side for dinner and they ROCKED!!! i could seriously eat an entire head of cauliflower by myself. thank you for such yumminess!!!

Unknown said...

just a little note to say that i made this tonight to go with our dinner and it ROCKED!!! i seriously could have eaten an entire head of cauliflower by myself. thanks for the yumminess!

Anonymous said...

I just made these with purple cauliflower and OMG, it was delicious! I'm surprised at how "cheesy" it actually tasted with the nutritional yeast. So simple and it goes well for my hypoglycemia. :)

Anonymous said...

Love these !! I used to hate cauliflower. My kids ask me to make these !!! I add crushed red chili to it too !

Anonymous said...

These were really delicious! A 13, 12, 8 and 4 year old gobbled them up and asked for more!

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