Lemony Roasted Cauliflower Risotto
You can bake this delicious cauliflower risotto recipe in the oven! This healthy brown rice risotto is easy to make, requiring minimal stirring and effort.
Updated by Kathryne Taylor on August 30, 2024
We’re seven days into our month away in Austin. So far, our daily routine has been moving at a more relaxed pace. I love it. Cookie and I are soaking up the sunshine and enjoying our walks around our eclectic neighborhood. I’ve learned how to get to the grocery store and Jeanine and Jack‘s place without the help of my phone, so I think I’m pretty much set! I’m going to do my best not to talk about this city non-stop for the next few weeks, but needless to say, I’m inspired.
This risotto is a riff on my mushroom risotto, which is one of my favorites. I used the same cooking method, which requires only minimal stirring. Brown rice offers more nutrients and fiber than white rice and offers more flavor (the more flavor, the better!). Both the rice and the cauliflower bake in the oven at the same time, so you’ll have plenty of downtime to sip on leftover white wine while you wait.
I know there are still plenty of cauliflower haters out there. Ali is one of them and she even liked this lemony risotto! Roasted cauliflower is really another animal. When it’s properly roasted, it’s tender on the inside, crispy on the edges and nutty in flavor. It really shines in this peppery, lemony, texture-rich risotto.
In my mushroom risotto post, I mentioned that I had some ideas for how to make my risotto vegan. My big idea was to add a touch of white miso to make up for the umami flavor of Parmesan, but I tried it and it just tasted funny to me. However! The starch in the short-grain rice is responsible for most of the risotto’s creaminess, so you could skip the Parmesan and add a vegan butter substitute or some extra olive oil in place of the butter. Vegans, please let me know if you give it a try.
If you’re on a cauliflower kick, don’t miss my cauliflower soup, favorite cauliflower rice, and roasted cauliflower tacos!
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Lemony Roasted Cauliflower Risotto
You can bake this easy cauliflower risotto recipe in the oven! This healthy brown rice risotto requires minimal stirring and effort. Recipe yields 4 servings.
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 small yellow onion, chopped
- 2 cloves garlic, pressed or minced
- 5 cups (40 ounces) vegetable broth, divided (if your broth comes in 32-ounce containers, feel free to avoid opening another container by substituting 1 cup water for 1 cup broth in step 3)
- 1 ½ cups brown arborio/short-grain brown rice
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 large head of cauliflower, sliced into florets
- 1 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
- ½ cup dry white wine, optional
- 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, diced
- 1 teaspoon sea salt, more to taste
- Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- Pinch red pepper flakes, to taste
- Zest and juice of ½ lemon, preferably organic (about ¼ teaspoon zest and 1 tablespoon juice)
- Garnish: ¼ cup sliced almonds or a few sprigs fresh thyme, leaves removed from stems and larger leaves torn into small pieces
Instructions
- Place your oven racks in the lower third and upper third positions. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line a large, rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Heat the olive oil in a medium Dutch oven over medium heat until shimmering. Add onion and a pinch of salt. Cook, stirring occasionally, until softened and turning translucent, about 5 minutes. Add the minced garlic and cook until the garlic is fragrant, 1 to 2 minutes.
- Add 4 cups broth (or 3 cups broth and 1 cup water), cover, and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Remove from heat and stir in the rice. Cover the pot and bake on the lower rack until rice is tender and cooked through, about 65 to 70 minutes. It will seem pretty dry when you take off the lid, but don’t worry!
- Immediately afterward, toss the cauliflower with 2 tablespoons olive oil on your lined baking sheet. Sprinkle with salt and some freshly ground black pepper and arrange the cauliflower in a single layer on the pan. Roast on the upper rack until the florets are tender and the edges are deeply caramelized, tossing halfway. This took the full hour for me, but start checking the cauliflower for doneness around 40 minutes.
- In the meantime, toast your almonds in a small skillet over medium-low heat, stirring constantly, until fragrant and turning lightly golden on the edges, about 3 to 5 minutes. Transfer to a bowl to cool.
- Remove the pot from the oven. Pour in the remaining cup of broth, the Parmesan, wine and butter. Stir vigorously for 2 to 3 minutes, until the rice is thick and creamy. Stir in the salt, a generous amount of pepper, pinch of red pepper flakes, lemon zest and juice.
- Section off one-fourth of the cauliflower to use as a garnish. Chop any large remaining pieces of cauliflower into more bite-sized pieces before transferring three-fourths of the cauliflower to your pot of risotto. Stir in the cauliflower. Taste and add more salt, pepper or lemon juice as needed.
- Divide the risotto into bowls and top with the remaining roasted cauliflower and a sprinkling of toasted almonds or fresh thyme.
Notes
Recipe adapted from my mushroom risotto.
*Make it nut free: Skip the almonds. Garnish with fresh thyme leaves instead.
Storage suggestions: This risotto keeps well in the refrigerator, covered, for a few days.
Change it up: Feel free to substitute any prepared vegetables for the mushrooms!
If you must use white arborio rice: Bake it for 40 to 45 minutes, until tender to the bite, and proceed as directed.
If you don’t have a Dutch oven: Use a large saucepan instead, then carefully pour the boiling broth and rice mixture into a casserole dish. If the casserole dish has an oven-safe lid, use that; if not, cover it tightly with foil. Bake as directed.
Nutrition
The information shown is an estimate provided by an online nutrition calculator. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice. See our full nutrition disclosure here.
Hi Kate. I have been making this risotto about 6 months now, and it is my favourite risotto of all time. The roasted cauliflower is so tasty. Keep the awesome vego recipes coming, I have yet to try one I don’t like!
I love risotto and have 3 recipes are always a hit, so am always hesitant to try new ones. I was definitely suspicious of the method, as I’ve never done the “no stir” way before. However, I decided to try it as none of your recipes have disappointed me yet, and sure enough, it turned out fantastic! Love the flavours together. A genuine thanks to you bc I know I can count on your recipes to be a success!
The baking method is life changing! You’re so sweet. I’m happy you have confidence in my recipes! Yes, test, test and then test more before I post :)
Absolutely delicious! Never knew cauliflower could taste that good. Living in very rural England I couldn’t find brown arborio so had to use white. Can’t comment on the difference, obviously but this is on my go to list now. The timings given were wrong for me, 60-70 minutes sounded like an awfully long time so I checked after 35 minutes and it was perfect. Really enjoying your recipes, keep up the good work!
Thank you, Neil! I’m glad you were surprised cauliflower could be this good. I appreciate the review!
Unfreaking believable! Thank you
I love it! Thanks for sharing, Leslie.
Unfreaking believable!
Thank you, Leslie!
Holy crap this is so good! Amazingly delicious and stylish recipe. Good enough to be a dinner party recipe. Thanks Kate
I’m happy you think so, Philippa!
Disclaimer – I know my “way” totally changes the flavor but for weeknight meal purposes I needed to do this differently via stovetop. I did the typical risotto with similar proportions. Did olive oil, onion, then add risotto to toast, then wine until it cooks down/is absorbed, then 1/2 cup of vegetable broth at a time until fully cooked down. This cuts the time down to around 30-40 mins start to finish which is crucial. Otherwise this is a wonderful weekly addition to the rotation and even my meat-hungry fiancé loves it!
This dish is amazing—super creamy and perfect for my husband who can’t have much dairy! I’m always looking for a new cauliflower recipe, and this is now one of my favorites! This and Kate’s cauliflower taco recipe. :)
I tried this last night and it was absolutely delicious. Made with cauliflower as I had in fridge. Next time will try asparagus . Thanks. I love your recipes
Thank you, Anna!
This recipe was delicious! I needed to cook a cauliflower that I had in the refrigerator and was looking for a new recipe. I made the risotto with white Arborio rice (which I had in my pantry); baked for 40 minutes and it was was perfect! I substituted a medium-dry sherry for the white wine because I didn’t want to open a new bottle of white. The sherry gave the risotto a light nutty flavor which my husband loved. My lemon was small so I used all of the zest and the juice of 1/2 the lemon as in the recipe. I will definitely make this again! Next time with brown Arborio . Thanks Kate!
I’ve made risotto hundreds of times, stove top so baking was new to me.
I puréed 3/4 head of roasted cauliflower which made just over 2 cups, reserving some for a crunchy topping.
Used 3 c broth and all of cauliflower purée. Baked for 45 min covered using white Arborio.
Rice was severely over cooked and resembled more like rice pudding. Taste was good but couldn’t get over the sloppy texture; Didn’t need to add any wine, butter, park nor additional stock.
Topped with crunchy roasted cauliflower, crisp bacon, seared scallops and a squeeze of lemon.
Will try again using stove top method to control doneness.
This is SO good and so easy. I used a cauliflower plus most of a bag of butternut squash crinkles from Trader Joe’s, plus some Brussels sprouts. I used half a cup of sharp cheddar and half a cup of Parmesan. I used a cup of soy milk in with the broth, not sure that made any difference. I was trying to follow a recipe from a store in my city that makes this, but I wanted to use brown rice so when I saw your recipe, I kind of adapted it to the one I was following. Baking the rice was so much simpler than doing it on the stove, I’ll always do it that way going forward. Thanks so much!
I also added a can of garbanzos at the end.
Once again another great recipe from you! Made it vegan, substituted the butter for evoo and the parmesan for nutritional yeast.Delicious!!
I’m glad you enjoyed it, Katie!
This is a delicious recipe!! Made exactly as written, but used white Arborio rice only because I was unable to find brown Arborio rice.
Thank you for sharing! I’m happy it worked, Molly.