Air Fryer Cauliflower is a delicious low carb side dish recipe your family will fall in love with. With only five minutes hands-on time and a handful of ingredients, this will be a recipe you will come back to over and over.
If there is one type of recipe I have been getting requests for more than any other, it is low-carb recipes. And I get it. Lowering the amount of carbohydrates in your diet not only has great health benefits, it is a great way of controlling your appetite.
One of the heavy hitters when it comes to low-carb eating is cauliflower. This versatile vegetable can be used to replace rice and pizza crust, plus so much more.
But, I really love cauliflower just roasted as a side dish. In fact, one of my kids delights in cauliflower as a side dish. It makes appearances regularly on our dinner table.
In this Air Fryer Cauliflower recipe, we are crisping it up using the air fryer. This is very similar to my Roasted Broccoli recipe, we are just letting the air fryer do the roasting and freeing up our oven.
How to Cook Cauliflower in the Air Fryer
Here is a brief overview of how this air fryer roasted cauliflower recipe comes together. Scroll to the recipe card at the bottom of the post for the full recipe, including all ingredients and measurements.
Prepare the Cauliflower
I like to cut the florets into bite-sized pieces. See my tips below to make quick work of cutting up your cauliflower. Then toss the cauliflower with fresh garlic, salt, pepper, and olive oil.
Cook it in the Air Fryer
Put the cauliflower in the basket of the preheated air fryer. Cook it for 15 to 20 minutes, tossing it once or twice while it is cooking. This is optional, but we love to toss the hot cauliflower with finely grated Parmesan cheese.
Tips and Tricks
- Picking a good head of cauliflower: Pick a head of cauliflower that is bright white and doesn’t have any brown spots. The whole head should be tight together without any loose sections. Finally, the cauliflower head should have bright green leaves that are tightly attached.
- How to cut cauliflower: First, cut the cauliflower in half, then cut the thick core out of each half. Cut off the florets and cut them into bite-sized pieces. You can see step-by-step photos and directions here: How to Cut Cauliflower
- Using frozen cauliflower: Be sure it is thawed and patted dry before making this recipe.
- Don’t overcrowd the air fryer basket: If you are cooking a lot of cauliflower, you will want to do so in batches so it can cook evenly and get the nice crisp on it.
- Cooking cauliflower in the oven: Prepare the cauliflower exactly as written, spreading it out on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Bake it in a 425 degrees Fahrenheit oven for 20 minutes, tossing once in the middle.
- Doubling the batch: This recipe cooks down from about six cups of cauliflower to only two cups. This recipe can easily be doubled. Keep in mind that you will need to cook it a little longer.
- Making air fryer buffalo cauliflower: Toss the cooked cauliflower with some buffalo sauce and serve with blue cheese dressing for dipping.
Low Carb Dinners to Pair With Cauliflower
If you are looking for some great and healthy dinners to serve with this roasted cauliflower, try some of these!
If you make this Air Fryer Cauliflower recipe or any of my other side dishes, please leave me a comment and let me know what you think!
Air Fryer Cauliflower
Ingredients
- 1 head of cauliflower (about 6 cups of florets)
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
- 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese (optional)
Instructions
- Preheat your air fryer to 400 degrees.
- In a large bowl, toss the cauliflower with garlic powder, olive oil, salt, and pepper. Add it to the basket of your air fryer.1 head of cauliflower, 1 teaspoon garlic powder, 1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil, 1 teaspoon kosher salt, 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
- Air Fryer for 18 to 23 minutes. Toss once in the middle.
- While still hot, toss the cauliflower with the cheese. Serve and enjoy.1/4 cup Parmesan cheese
Deanna says
Hello Lisa, I tried making your recipe last night but ran into some issues. I used only about half moving more to a quarter of the ingredients, preheated the air fryer to 400°F, and set the cook time for 7 minutes since I was using less food. When I checked, the food was already a dark brown, but I thought it might need to crisp up more, so I put it back in for another 7 minutes. Unfortunately, it burned and turned black very quickly.
Can you help me figure out what I did wrong?
My air fryer has a “Roast” button—should I have used that instead? Your recipe didn’t specify, so I just used the regular air fryer setting.
Also, was I supposed to remove the tray? I wasn’t sure, so I left it in during cooking.
Your recipes are always clear and easy, but I’m new to using an air fryer and want to try this recipe again. Any advice would be appreciated!
Deanna
Hi Deanna! First, I’m so sorry that this recipe didn’t work out for you. I’m wondering if the difference is in the type of air fryer. It sounds like you have an oven style and mine is one with a basket. Less of the recipe would definitely require less cooking time for sure. Once the food begins to brown, it really will only continue to get more brown. I would suggest when you use the air fryer (since it is oven style), to err on the side of less time and check on it sooner. Again, sorry this one didn’t work out for you!