Smoked Cauliflower

A tender smoked whole cauliflower with a crusty smoked layer and soft cauliflower flesh, perfect as a healthy low-carb side dish or light dinner.

Bonus, this smoked cauliflower recipe works with charcoal barbecue, electric barbecue, and even in your oven! It’s also vegan, gluten-free, and keto diet approved.

What’s Smoked Cauliflower?

It’s an entire cauliflower head rubbed with marinade and slowly cooked on a smoker or charcoal barbecue.

Roasted whole cauliflower has soft, tender cauliflower flesh with a crust or smoky marinade that tastes like tandoori meat.

If you don’t want a full cauliflower at once, you can also smoke and roast cauliflower florets.

How To Make Smoked Cauliflower

It’s very to make a smoked cauliflower at home. You only need a cauliflower head and a few spices to create a tasty, smoky marinade.

Ingredients

The ingredients you need to make this cauliflower recipe are:

• A cauliflower head – make sure you remove the leaves and keep them for a soup or another recipe. Cauliflower is a great low-carb vegetable.
• Olive oil
• Garlic powder
• Cumin
• Pepper
• Tomato paste
• Yellow mustard
• Smoked paprika – this adds a lovely smoky flavor to the cauliflower
• Salt

Combine all the marinade ingredients and rub onto the cauliflower head using a pastry brush or your hand. Then, cook the cauliflower choosing one of the options listed below.

Cooking Smoked Cauliflower

There are four ways to smoke cauliflower. Obviously, the best way to create a smoky cauliflower is with a smoker.

But since not everyone owns one, I provided options using a charcoal barbecue, an electric barbecue, or even your oven.

Below I listed all my tips to make this delicious smoked cauliflower recipe based on the option you have at home.

Smoker

This is the best option for a delicious woody flavor!

Preheat your smoker to 220°F (105°C) load with one of the wood chips below. This cauliflower taste absolutely delicious with some of the below options:

• Oak
• Hickory
• Maple
• Applewood

Then, follow the instructions of the smoker manufacturer to cook the cauliflower on inverted heating.

Smoking Food On A Charcoal Barbecue

To use your charcoal barbecue to smoke food. Start a fire in your charcoal barbecue and let the fuel cook down. When the coal is white, it’s ready to smoke food.

Place your cauliflower on the side of the grill opposite the hot charcoal.

Close the lid and maintain the temperature inside the barbecue to 230°F-270°F (110°C-130°C).

If it’s too cold, add more cooked-down coals. If too hot, add a foil takeaway container filled with water and place directly onto the grill above the hot charcoal.

Don’t open the lid too often and let the cauliflower slowly cook for about 1 hour – if you insert a thermometer in the cauliflower, it should reach about 200°F (90°C).

Once cooked, remove from the barbecue and enjoy it as a side dish or meal with homemade tomato sauce or avocado dressing.

Smoking Food On An Electric Barbecue

Smoking food on an electric BBQ is possible, but it won’t add the same smokiness to your food. In fact, there is no combustion and therefore no smoke.

So let me teach you how to turn your electric grill into a smoker.

First, grab a small aluminum box – it can be a takeaway container, or you can shape a box-like shape with a piece of aluminum foil.

Fill with charcoal or pre-soaked wood. Next, preheat the electric grill to a low temperature of around 225°F (105°C).

Place that box inside the grill on the grate, cover the box with another piece of foil and punch holes with a skewer.

This box will create smoke – like a smoker box. The smoke will come out of the holes and gives a smoky flavor to your food.

After 15 minutes, add the cauliflower to the grill, as far away as possible from the heat source for an indirect heating effect.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I smoke cauliflower in the oven?

You can roast cauliflower in the oven, but you won’t have the same smoky flavor as you would get from charcoal or wood. However, it’s still a great technique if you don’t have an outdoor barbecue.

Place the rubbed cauliflower into a skillet covered with a piece of foil. Bake in preheated oven 220C for 40-55 minutes or until fork-tender.

Can I Speed Up The Process?

Yes, you can make this recipe a little bit faster by steaming, boiling, or microwaving the cauliflower head for 5 minutes before adding the marinade.

This reduces the smoking time by about 45 minutes.

Serving

This cauliflower is delicious as a main meal served with a squeeze of lemon juice, sriracha sauce, homemade tomato ketchup, or avocado dressing.

It’s also a great side dish to grilled meat marinated with my 3-Ingredient Steak Marinade.

Have you made this smoked cauliflower recipe? Try also my smoked mac and cheese and take a minute to share a comment below to let me know how it goes!