The other day, my blog manager Julie asked what inspired the recipes I created that week. Sometimes I honestly don’t know, I just have a lot of ideas. But then, when I thought about it more I realized I just really wanted the veggies I had incorporated into that weeks dishes. And, I just really, really wanted cauliflower. Thus, cauliflower vegan scampi was born. I was craving cauliflower and that somehow morphed into thoughts about some of my favorite meals when I was a kid, one of which was shrimp scampi with pasta. Then I realized cauliflower could replace the shrimp perfectly. And I was right!
What You Need To Make This Romantic Scampi:
- Vegan Butter and Olive Oil: Melted together, they start the steaming liquid/sauce.
- Garlic: Lots of garlic.
- Cauliflower: I used multi colored cauliflower, just to make it extra pretty, but regular white cauliflower works too!
- White Wine and Veggie Broth: Once you sauté the cauliflower for a few minutes, you add the liquid and cover to steam in the wine and broth.
- Salt, Red Pepper, Black Pepper, Lemon Juice and Parsley: For seasoning the scampi perfectly.
- Pasta or Bread: I recommend serving the cauliflower scampi with pasta, lightly dressed in lemon juice, olive oil and vegan Parmesan.
With Valentine’s Day right around the corner, I think that is another thing that inspired this cauliflower vegan scampi. It is the perfect easy, but fancy date night meal! I was absolutely astounded by how flavorful this dish is. The cauliflower is tender, buttery, garlicky and I honestly could eat an entire head of cauliflower this way. Plus, this whole thing takes about 15-20 minutes.
Why Should You Make This Cauliflower Dish?
- You need very few ingredients, most of which you may already have sitting around.
- It is so fancy, this will impress your favorite vegan OR non-vegan.
- This is one of the most delicious ways I have ever had cauliflower!
- It takes a total of 15-20 minutes to make, and you can make pasta while the cauliflower steams.
- It is soooo garlicky!
Cauliflower Vegan Scampi
Ingredients
- 2 Tablespoons Vegan butter, I used Earth Balance
- 2 Tablespoons Olive oil
- 8-10 Cloves of Garlic, finely chopped
- 1 Pound(16oz.) Cauliflower, cut into florets
- 1/2 Cup White wine,vegan (I used Pinot Grigio)
- 1/2 Cup Vegetable broth
- Salt and Pepper to taste
- Pinch of Red pepper flakes
- Juice of 1/2-1 lemon
- Fresh Parsley, chopped
- Pasta for serving if desired
Instructions
- In a medium sized pot, that has a lid, heat the vegan butter and olive oil on medium high.
- Once the butter has melted, add the garlic. Sauté, reducing heat as needed for 1-2 minutes. Or until the garlic starts to become fragrant.
- Then add the cauliflower to the pot and season with a pinch of salt and pepper.
- Sauté the cauliflower for about 2 minutes, to start to cook it.
- Next, add the white wine and broth, and pinch of red pepper. Stir to combine everything.
- Bring the liquid to a simmer, reduce heat to low and cover the pot to steam the cauliflower.
- Steam for about 8-10 minutes or until the cauliflower is tender.
- Squeeze some fresh lemon juice over the cauliflower and taste a small piece to see if it needs more salt or pepper.
- Serve immediately with the sauce left in the pot spooned over the top and some fresh parsley if desired.
- I like to serve on top of any long pasta that is lightly tossed in lemon juice, olive oil and vegan Parmesan. Then spoon more of the sauce over the pasta too!
Nutrition
Oh my! This looks amazing! Can’t wait to try it. Together with DH of course because, well, 10 cloves of garlic. Yum!
I made this recipe last night and it was a home run all the way! The only thing I did differently was too lower the carbs, I used a 50/50 mix of linguini and Palmini linguini (hearts of palm already cut in to linguini _ fabulous product). I have made a few of your recipes and I think they are terrific. What I really like is that your entrees are a spinoff of the meat/fish dishes I have eaten most of my life — like this scampi recipe likens itself to shrimp scampi. Thank you so much!
Yet another home run recipe from your website! I made this last night for my partner and I, and we both absolutely loved it!! I will be adding this into the recipe rotation! Super easy, healthy and delicious!
So good! I added some chickpeas for protein and served over angel hair pasta. It was delicious; thanks for this great recipe!