These roasted cauliflower tacos get a kick of heat from poblano peppers and a kick of sweet from caramelized onions. Choose different colors of cauliflower for a festive cauliflower taco. These beautiful tacos make a perfect vegetarian taco dinner.
Serve this with Gulf Coast Style Baked Rice for a balanced meal.
Everything seems better when it’s served on a warm corn tortilla. And as much as I love roasted cauliflower on its own I’m going to have to throw it into that category as well.
You’re going to love this combination of crunchy nutty roasted cauliflower, sweet savory caramelized onion, chopped cilantro, salty cotija cheese, and earthy spicy roasted poblano peppers. And a squeeze of lime brings it all together for a perfect Southwestern blast. Yes please!
And you’re going to love the ease in which these tacos come together. And if you’re not sold yet, these cauliflower tacos are:
- Healthy
- Easy
- Vegetarian
- Just right spicy and delicious
- Gluten free
- Ready in about thirty minutes
- Perfect for Taco Tuesday
Let’s take a look.
Ingredients You’ll Need
- Cauliflower: Have fun and choose colored and white cauliflower to make a more interesting roasted cauliflower tacos..
- Poblano Peppers: Poblanos are a medium heat pepper, easy to roast and earthy in flavor. A great choice for this taco.
- Onions: Sweet or yellow onions are the choice when caramelizing is called for.
- Cilantro
- White Corn Tortillas
- Cotija Cheese: Cotija cheese is a cheese that you want to have on hand for tacos. Perfect for fresh taco recipes like these roasted cauliflower tacos. A little bit salty, perfectly crumbly and oh-so perfect in texture. And did I mention it’s not expensive. You’ll find it in the produce department alongside Mexican Crema and other Mexican style cheeses.
Ingredients Subs and Swaps
- Chile Peppers: If you don’t have poblano peppers, Hatch chile peppers would be good. Anaheims will work well. Be careful when choosing a serrano or jalapeno. They’re smaller, harder to roast and hotter in flavor.
- Tortillas: White corn tortillas are preferable for this recipe thanks to their mild flavor. You can substitute yellow corn tortillas, or white flour tortillas. If using flour tortillas, purchase the street taco size. The large burrito sized flour tortillas are just too large and would take too much filling.
- Cheese: Cotija cheese for me is the most perfect choice, but you can also use shredded Monterey Jack (It won’t melt, but the creamy texture is good). Queso Fresco is another excellent choice for tacos.
Easy Step by Step Instructions
- Step 1: Roast the Cauliflower: Roasting cauliflower concentrates the flavor and brings out the sweetness. It’s an easy task once you get it separated into florets. And there’s really no secret about the process … except one … the heat of your oven.
- Preheat your oven to 375 degrees. Place a piece of parchment paper on a large baking sheet pan. Once the cauliflower is separated into small pieces, simply place them on the parchment, sprinkle with salt and start roasting. It should take about thirty minutes for the cauliflower to be tender and starting to brown.
Step 2: While the cauliflower is in the oven, roast the poblanos stove top. Just turn the gas burners on to medium high and place a poblano pepper directly on the grate. Turn frequently until the peppers are blistered (not burnt). Once the skin has darkened, place them in a zip lock bag. No need to seal the bag tight, just lay them in. Once they steam, you’ll be able to easily slide the skin off with your fingers. You can watch my little YouTube Video to see how.
Step 3: Caramelize the onions. Heat a large fry pan over medium high heat. Once the pan is hot, add the oil. Once the oil is hot add the onions. Turn heat down to medium low and cook until onions are golden brown. About 15 – 30 minutes.
Step 4: While the onions are cooking, remove tops, the skin and the seeds from the roasted poblano peppers. Chop the peppers into small bite-sized pieces. Add them to the caramelized onions. Stir for a couple of minutes to blend the flavors.
Step 5: Scoop the cauliflower, onion, poblano mixture into a warmed corn tortilla. Sprinkle with cotija cheese and cilantro and dig in.
Tips and FAQ’s
You can but you’re rinsing flavor down the drain! Use you hands to slide the skin from the roasted peppers. It doesn’t matter if the chile peppers have little spots of the charred skin left on the pepper, there’s smoky flavor in those pieces.
Yes. If you’re having guests for tacos and need a vegetarian taco, roast the cauliflower, onions and poblano ahead of time. Mix together and refrigerate. When it’s time to build those tacos, simply reheat the mix for two minutes in the microwave at 50% power. Or until warm and steamy.
Sprinkle the cauliflower with salt and New Mexico Chimayo Chile Powder before roasting. Use the chile power sparingly, as it can be quite hot. You can also use Ancho chile powder or cayenne. And don’t forget about smoked paprika or even chili powder for a whole new dimension of flavor.
You can’t just take a corn tortilla out of the package and eat it. You must warm or heat the tortilla before filling with any taco mixture. Since we’re using chunks of cauliflower, I would suggest heating the corn tortillas stove top. Steaming them would cause the tortilla not to be sturdy enough for the cauliflower mixture. Heat a heavy skillet over medium high heat. Once the pan is hot add one tortilla at a time. Once the tortilla starts to brown (about two minutes), turn over and cook the other side for about an additional minute. Place the warmed tortilla under a clean dish cloth and heat remaining tortillas, keeping each tortilla warm under the towel as you finish the others.
Pro Tip: On Roasting Cauliflower: All ovens and their temperatures are different. Make sure you’re roasting cauliflower at 375 or 400 degrees. Anything less than that will result in a soft mushy piece of cauliflower that won’t crisp up resulting in a boring cauliflower taco instead of crispy cauliflower tacos.
Recipe for Roasted Cauliflower Tacos
These roasted cauliflower tacos don’t need much more than the fresh flavors, but if you want, Add a small dollop of Jalapeno Aioli Sauce or Restaurant Style Salsa. If you’re wanting to add a sour cream product, try Mexican Crema. It’s thinner and easier to drizzle than our American sour cream products.
More Taco Recipes
And if you love Mexican food as much as we do, don’t miss my Mexican Food Category. You’ll find more taco recipes and lots of Mexican Southwest Recipes. Including the most popular Mexican food recipe on my site for Hatch Green Chile Colorado.
Poblano, Caramelized Onion and Roasted Cauliflower Tacos
Ingredients
- 2 medium onions sliced
- 3 Tablespoons olive oil divided
- 2 medium poblano peppers roasted, cuts topped off, seed pods removed, sliced
- 1/2 head white cauliflower cut into floretes
- 1/2 head purple cauliflower cut into floretes
- 1 lime for squeezing
- cotija cheese for garnish
- Cilantro chopped, for garnish
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 375 degrees. Place a piece of parchment paper on a sheet pan. Once the cauliflower is separated into small pieces, toss them with 1 tablespoon of the olive oil. Simply place them on the parchment, sprinkle with salt and start roasting. It should take about 30 minutes for the cauliflower to be tender and starting to brown.
- While the cauliflower is in the oven, roast the poblanos stove top. Just turn the gas burners on to medium high and place a poblano pepper directly on the grate. Turn frequently until the peppers are blistered (not burnt). Once the skin has darkened, place them in a zip lock bag. No need to seal the bag, just press it flat and let them steam. Once they steam, you'll be able to easily slide the skin off with your fingers.
- Caramelize the onions. Heat a large fry pan over medium high heat. Once the pan is hot, add the remaining 2 tablespoons oil. Once the oil is hot add the onions. Turn heat down to medium low and cook until onions are golden brown. About 15 – 30 minutes. Cook time will depend on the type of pan you're using.
- While the onions are cooking, remove tops, the skin and the seeds from the roasted poblano peppers. Chop the peppers into small bite-sized pieces. Add them to the caramelized onions. Stir for a couple of minutes.
- Scoop the cauliflower, onion, poblano mixture into a warmed corn tortilla. Sprinkle with cotija cheese and cilantro. Provide a wedge of lime for squeezing and dig in.
- How To Warm Corn Tortillas: You can't just take a corn tortilla out of the package and eat it. You must warm or heat the tortilla before filling with any taco mixture. Since we're using chunks of cauliflower, I would suggest heating the corn tortillas stove top. Steaming them would cause the tortilla not to be sturdy enough for the cauliflower mixture. Heat a heavy skillet over medium high heat. Once the pan is hot add one tortilla at a time. Once the tortilla starts to brown (about two minutes), turn over and cook the other side for about one minute more. Place the warmed tortilla under a clean dish cloth and heat remaining tortillas, keeping each tortilla warm under the towel as you finish the others.
Notes
Nutrition
Roasted Cauliflower Tacos … It’s Whats for Dinner
Love the idea of roast cauliflower in a taco! Haven’t had one, but I will. 🙂 Really good stuff — thanks.
I wish our market carried the purple cauliflower as this is such a pretty combination.