Easy roasted sweet and spicy Instant Pot cauliflower. It makes the perfect side dish to accompany any meal, it’s naturally gluten-free, vegan and great for meal prep.
If you’re a fan of cauliflower then you will LOVE this dish. It’s so easy to make, and the flavors are just incredible!
And since it’s the soup season, make sure to check out my super easy creamy Instant Pot cauliflower soup! It’s SO good!
Instant Pot Cauliflower Side Dish
I always roasted my cauliflower on a sheet pan, and still do. I find cauliflower really easy to cook and it’s so delicious that I wouldn’t mind eating it every day.
I usually just throw cauliflower florets along with other vegetables on a sheet pan, drizzle with olive oil and perhaps some kind of sauce or seasonings and just roast it.
But recently I tried cooking a whole cauliflower head in my Instant Pot, and everyone loved it! It’s much easier than roasting in the oven, as no watching is required and the cauliflower turns out so tender that it starts falling apart!
How to Make Sweet and Spicy Cauliflower?
- Starting by removing any green leaves from the cauliflower head, and wash it.
- To make the marinade, in a small bowl whisk together the honey or maple syrup with olive oil, hot sauce, ketchup, soy sauce, or tamari sauce (for gluten-free), a grind of black pepper, and a sprinkle of salt.
- Add ½ cup of water to the bottom of the Instant Pot. Place the cauliflower head on a trivet in the pot.
- Using a brush, brush over the marinade and coat with it as much of the cauliflower head as possible.
- Secure the lid and set the vent to SEALING.
- Select the PRESSURE COOK/MANUAL setting – high pressure for 1-8 minutes (depending on the size and freshness of your cauliflower, see notes in the recipe card below).
- Allow the steam to build up and pressure cook.
- Once the cooking is finished and the Instant Pot beeps, quickly release the steam and carefully remove the lid.
- Take the cauliflower head out, glaze again and place under a broiler for 7-10 minutes to get a lovely crust.
- Garnish with chopped parsley leaves and squeeze some lemon juice.
Other Variations
This recipe is very versatile. You can simply steam the cauliflower plain in the Instant Pot, or add a different marinade or rub.
Parmesan, olive oil, garlic, salt, and pepper is a great idea. Or turmeric, olive oil, garlic, salt, and pepper.
What to Serve This Cauliflower With?
I usually serve this with brown rice or quinoa, but any type of rice will do. You could also serve it as a side dish next to any main.
This is the Instant Pot that I currently use and love. I have updated it since I created this post, that’s why in the pictures of this post the Instant Pot is an older model.
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MORE GREAT INSTANT POT RECIPES
- Instant Pot taco pasta
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- Instant Pot chicken fajitas
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I hope that you love every recipe that you make! – Diana x
Sweet and Spicy Instant Pot Cauliflower
Ingredients
- 1 cauliflower head
For the marinade:
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 tablespoons honey
- 2 teaspoon soy sauce or tamari sauce
- 1 tablespoon ketchup
- 1 ½ tablespoons hot sauce such as Franks RedHot
- ½ teaspoon ground black pepper
- ½ teaspoon salt
- parsley (chopped) for serving
- ½ lemon juiced (optional)
Instructions
- In a small bowl, mix the marinade ingredients until combined.
- Wash the cauliflower head, and using a brush just brush over the marinade until well coated.
- Add ½ cup of water to the bottom of the Instant Pot.
- Place the cauliflower head on a trivet inside the Instant Pot. Secure the lid and set the vent to SEALING. Select the PRESSURE COOK/MANUAL setting – high pressure for 1-8 minutes. If using a small cauliflower head, 1 minute might be enough. If using a large and dense cauliflower head, set at 8 minutes. For a medium cauliflower head, set at 4 minutes.
- When the cooking program ends, quickly release the steam.
- Remove the lid and carefully take the cauliflower out. Glaze again, and broil for 7-10 minutes. Garnish and serve.
Notes
- If using a small cauliflower head, 1 minute on high pressure might be enough (we tested this recipe many times starting with a small not-so-dense cauliflower, and 1 minute worked fine). If using a large and dense cauliflower head, set at 8 minutes. For a medium cauliflower head, set at 4 minutes.
- Place on a sheet pan and brown it under the broiler for 7-10 minutes for a lovely crust. Make sure that your oven is preheated, and keep an eye on it as it’s being broiled and decide how long do you need to broil it for.
- I highly recommend glazing the cauliflower head twice for maximum flavor (after pressure cooking). Glaze then broil for a few minutes, then take it out glaze again, and broil for a few more minutes.
- The original recipe was slightly tweaked, we added ketchup to the marinade for flavor and color.
Esther Sternberg
So easy to make and so tasty… Yum!
Karen
Great new way to enjoy cauliflower. Did manual high for 2 minutes and was more done than We like. Will probably do one minute next time, broil longer on low and rotate for about 20 minutes to crisp it up.
Vanessa Crouch
Made this for dinner and really enjoyed it. I will say that we cooked a large head of cauliflower for 1 minute and then did IPR. When we cook cauliflower in the Instant Pot normally we cook it for 0 minutes – I think 0 minutes would have been sufficient.
#littlesunnykitchen
Sam
Never had cooked cauliflower so thought we would try this and it was delicious. Definitely a keeper.
Leah
Do you think I could make this with florets? I was thinking to just coat them in the marinade before tossing in the Instant Pot for 0 minutes on high?
Diana
I haven’t tried florets but it should work!
Leah
I tried it, but something happened with my Instant Pot sealing valve and the cauliflower ended up cooking too long so it got extremely mushy! But it tasted really good and my kids loved it. I’ll definitely do this again once I figure out what’s wrong with the valve. The flavors were great together. Thank you!
Grace
Very delicious..perfect mixture of sweet and spicy!! I will be definitely making this again!!
Diana
Glad you enjoyed it, Grace!
LBurns
I just made this for dinner – it was DELICIOUS!!!
I never thought about cooking a whole head of cauliflower in the IP before – that’s BRILLIANT!!!
Thank you for sharing your recipe – it’s a keeper👏
KaJean Ricci
The perfect side to the chicken thighs I just made. I LOVE cauliflower, and this was snack worthy for me! Haha