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This roasted apples and cauliflower with dill is a flavorful, sweet and savory side dish that works for weeknights and entertaining!
The magic of *roasted vegetables* was one of my favorite discoveries when we first started exploring cooking. I didn’t love raw cauliflower at the time, but roasted was a whole different matter: rich, almost buttery goodness that I couldn’t help myself from snitching off the roasting pan. Can roasted vegetables be considered a gateway drug to eating nutritious foods? Eating them is one of my earliest memories of realizing healthy foods can be utterly delicious. And speaking of delicious, this roasted apples and cauliflower recipe makes vegetables taste like candy.
Our favorite cauliflower recipe? Perfect Roasted Cauliflower
Making roasted apples & cauliflower
This roasted apples with cauliflower and dill recipe is an old favorite of ours that we first made as a Thanksgiving cauliflower recipe! It’s so, so flavorful: the sweet red onions and apples are the perfect contrast to savory cauliflower, punctuated by the refreshing, aromatic fresh dill. It’s a family favorite, for sure. If you do try it, make sure to get a hold of some fresh dill; it will likely have to be store-bought since the growing season is over by now in Indiana, but it’s absolutely worth it for the splurge.
Roasted apples and cauliflower is a flavorful, sweet and savory side dish that works for various diets (vegan, dairy-free, gluten-free). This recipe takes about 50 minutes to prepare, but the time is mostly hands off. And for the flavor, it’s worth every minute of the wait. We also love the way the colors turn out: the purple of the onion, the almost bright pink of the roasted apple, and the green of the fluffy dill fronds.
Video: How to cut cauliflower
The most challenging part of this roasted apples & cauliflower recipe is actually how to cut cauliflower! Alex and I have a great new method that doesn’t end up with crumbles all over the cutting board! Watch the video below of me showing how to cut cauliflower in our kitchen.
Looking for more fall recipes?
Looking for more outside of this roasted apples with cauliflower? Here are a few of our favorite fall recipes on A Couple Cooks:
- Pumpkin Sage Stuffed Shells
- Whole Grain Classic Stuffing Recipe
- Lentil and Goat Cheese Stuffed Sweet Potatoes
- Roasted Green Beans with Hazelnuts
- Pumpkin Pie Mousse Shooters
- Roasted Vegetables
Looking for more cauliflower recipes?
Cauliflower is one of our favorite vegetables to work with! Here are a few more of our favorite cauliflower recipes:
- Crispy Breaded Cauliflower
- Crispy Cauliflower Tacos with Yum Yum Sauce
- Cauliflower Casserole with Gnocchi
- Buffalo Cauliflower with Blue Cheese Dip
- Veggie Burrito Bowl with Cauliflower Rice
- Cauliflower Soup with Moroccan Spices
- Grilled Buffalo Cauliflower Sandwich
- Tomato Coconut Cauliflower Curry
- Roasted Cauliflower Risotto
- Parmesan Roasted Cauliflower
This recipe is…
This roasted apples and cauliflower with dill recipe is vegetarian, gluten-free, vegan, dairy-free and plant-based.
Roasted Apples & Cauliflower with Dill
This roasted apples and cauliflower with dill is a flavorful, sweet and savory side dish that works for weeknights and entertaining!
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 40 minutes
- Total Time: 50 minutes
- Yield: 4 to 6 1x
- Category: Side Dish
- Method: Roasted
- Cuisine: American
Ingredients
- 1 large cauliflower (2¼ pounds whole; 7 cups chopped)
- 1 large red onion
- 2 crisp tart apples (like Honey Crisp, Jonathon or Jonagold, Granny Smith, Gala, or Fuji)
- 2 tablespoons fresh dill (do not substitute dried)
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- Fresh ground black pepper
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 450°F.
- Chop the cauliflower into florets (watch the video below). Slice the onion. Core and chop the apples into bite-sized pieces, but leave the skins on. Coarsely chop the dill.
- Place the cauliflower, red onion, and apples into a large bowl and mix together with the olive oil, kosher salt and plenty of fresh ground pepper.
- Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Place the chopped vegetables on the baking sheet, then roast for 30 to 40 minutes until the cauliflower is tender and slightly browned, stirring twice during the baking time. Remove from the oven, stir in the dill, and place in a serving dish. Serve immediately.
Notes
Inspired by The Herbal Kitchen
40 mins at 450 burns everything
Hi there! The roasting time depends on how small you cut the cauliflower and apples, and also on your particular oven. Check at 30 to 35 minutes for tenderness — we’ve added some notes to the recipe!
SERIOUS OMISSION… Did not specify what varieties of apples work for this recipe, just generic “apples”. I used what I had on hand (Northern Spy) and quickly learned that the type of apple is vital to the success of this recipe. At 450° the apples quickly turned to mush and then blackened and burned. This turned the entire dish to an unappetizing mess. Salvaging the cauliflower wasn’t an option because the burned “applesauce” had coated it. I am sure that with the right apples this is a wonderful recipe but please revise it to include suggested varieties before others waste food and time like I did. Many thanks!
Hello Deborah, we are so sorry to hear this happened! We were not familiar with the Northern Spy apple and did not realize it reacted like that in the oven! We did a little research and it says the Northern Spy can be used for roasting, so it’s interesting that this happened. We just added a note to the recipe to use only crisp tart apples (like Honey Crisp, Jonathon or Jonagold, Granny Smith, Gala, or Fuji). One question: did you happen to peel the apples? The instructions indicate to leave the peel on, which helps to hold the apples together in the oven. Let us know!