Hello there! This is one of those recipes that I wasn't really very sure at all that it'd work. And then it did, better than I could have hoped for. Yep, these roasted cauliflower nuggets are crispy and full of crunch with a soft roasted cauliflower middle. These and a pot of sour cream equals happy kids :)

Roasted Cauliflower Nuggets

Having been given the seal of approval by the 2½ year old (that ½ is very important!) neighbour I was looking after, I felt obliged to put these on the site. While I'm not convinced she knew exactly what she was eating, she did indeed sit happily at my kitchen table munching her way through bowl of these.

And she's a Very Picky Eater. I know this first hand from experience and looking after her almost since the day she was born. She's quite rightly not shy about telling me when she disapproves of something. Mostly with facial expressions :)

I've got my very own fussy eaters and I consider myself pretty 'in touch' with what picky eaters will eat: Plain, plain and plain. That's not to say boring, there just needs to be a bit more thought put into what you're feeding them so they get some variety without knowing they're getting some variety!

These little crunchy delights happened by accident really. I'd been making some chicken tenders and had a Ziploc bag of buttermilk left and I hate to waste food, so I popped some cauliflower florets that were hangin' about in the bottom of the fridge into the bag to soak in the buttermilk.

At this point I still wasn't holding out much hope but after a couple of hours they looked good and so I breadcrumbed them and started feeling more hopeful about them :)

Well what can I say? I love it when a plan comes together and these certainly did that. It was the bread-crumbing that I wasn't so sure about, I didn't know if the breadcrumbs would 'stick' to the cauliflower enough to coat the whole cauliflower floret. Bu they did and so I heated up the oven and roasted them, and oh boy! They came good!

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I like to use Ziploc bags when I'm coating anything in anything! It avoids the mess and gives you a nice way to shake everything in the bag and make sure whatever it is you're coating, gets fully coated.

If you're trying this for the first time, make sure you use a big enough bag so that you can really shake it up. Cauliflower florets are pretty strong and can take the shaking, and it's the easiest, cleanest way to do this.

I used buttermilk to soak these cauliflower nuggets, as. I do to soak the chicken tenders. I find that buttermilk creates a better base for breadcrumbs to stick to and this is especially true for cauliflower nuggets.

Whereas raw meat has more of a 'sticky' surface to start with, cauliflower is bone dry and so it needs something to keep those crunchy breadcrumbs on. And buttermilk worked perfectly.

Wholemeal Breadcrumbs

Do all kids love food baked in breadcrumbs? It's been something of a secret weapon of mine when I've tried to get the kids to eat something or at least try something. Particularly at the start of eating Clean, the first time I'd give them a new food if I could breadcrumb it I would. And it very often worked.

I've used wholemeal breadcrumbs since the start. Breadcrumbs become golden and crispy regardless of the color of the flour and so to use white bread, in my opinion is a wasted opportunity to get some wholemeal into the kids. You really can't tell the difference.

To bread crumb the cauliflower florets here, I put the breadcrumbs into another Ziploc bag and give them a good shake. After they've been in the buttermilk for at least ½ hour (you need to leave it longer for meat as the buttermilk tenderises it, not needed for cauliflower) so it can get into all the nooks and cranies, transfer each floret to the breadcrumb bag.

Try to shake off as much of the butter milk as you can before you transfer each piece to the other bag, then you won't get clumps of breadcrumbs, just a fine coating of breadcrumb on each floret.

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Cooking Notes

Shake as much butter milk off each floret before you put them in the breadcrumb bag
When you're making the breadcrumbs, whizz the processor for slightly longer so you get a finer crumb. This gives you more crunch!
Use an oil spray to mist the nuggets with Olive oil before they go into the oven. If you pour the oil from the bottle, you can't make sure all angles are covered like you can with an oil spray. If you can't get one of these or don't have one, drizzle a tiny bit of oil on them and then turn them slightly more often during cooking time to move them about in the oil on the baking tray

What To Serve With Cauliflower Nuggets

The most obvious thing to serve these with is fries, so you can have an alternative nuggets and fries dinner. Cauliflower has quite a mild flavor so lends itself well the being dunked in tomato sauce or mayo.

You could have these with some raw vegetable sticks, peppers, carrots etc... or some chopped tomatoes. And I served these with a dip, sour cream, with some chopped summer onions on top for color!

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How To Make Roasted Cauliflower Nuggets

Ingredients

1 Cauliflower Cut into small florets
3 Slices Wholemeal breads Processed into breadcrumbs
1 Cup Buttermilk
Olive oil In a spray bottle

Instructions

Put the buttermilk into a large ziploc bag and add the cauliflower florets. Shake the bag for a couple of minutes making sure the buttermilk gets all over the cauliflower. Leave for ½ half hour or so, shaking several times
Heat up your oven to a medium heat and line a baking tray with grease proof paper
Whizz up the bread in a processor until you have very fine breadcrumbs. Transfer the breadcrumbs to another large Ziploc bag
Using tongs, take each piece of cauliflower, shake is gently to get the excess buttermilk off, and place it in the breadcrumb bag
Once all the cauliflower is in the bread crumb bag, zip it up and shake to cover all the florets with crumbs
Place the cauliflower on the baking tray and spray each one with olive oil and bake for 15 minutes, then take the tray out, turn the nuggets over and respray with oil. Put them back in the oven for another 15 minutes until golden brown and crispy
Serve!

Roasted Cauliflower Nuggets Recipe

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