Cauliflower is a really tasty and simple vegetable to cook and really versatile too. There are lots of easy ways to cook cauliflower. You can boil steam or roast it. It is quick and easy to cook and really nutritious.

When you decide how you want to cook cauliflower it will depend on your cooking equipment, cooking preferences and what you want to cook it with.

You can easily use the hob, microwave, oven or halogen to cook them.

Cooking cauliflower heads takes slightly longer than florets due to their size however they are still really easy to cook.

3 Easy Ways To Cook Cauliflower

Below there all the methods are shown so you can cook delicious cauliflower.

How to Cook Cauliflower on the Hob

It is quick and easy to cook cauliflower on the hob, you can boil it or steam it.

How to Boil Cauliflower Heads & Florets

1. Wash your cauliflower
2. Cut up your cauliflower head into florets
3. Boil some water and put into a large saucepan on the hob, add a lid, add salt if you like to cook with salt
4. Cook on simmer until tender. It takes about 6-8 minutes to boil florets and 10-12 minutes for a head. You can check by putting a knife into the floret. If it is soft then it is cooked.
5. Once cooked you can remove it from the heat and drain in a colander/food strainer and serve.

Note: If you prefer you can cook the head as a whole it just takes longer.

How to Steam Cauliflower

Many people prefer steams cauliflower to boiled as it gives better results. I recommend you try both methods and see which you prefer.

1. Wash your cauliflower
2. Cut it up into smaller florets
3. Put your boiling water into the bottom of a steamer or in your steamer basket and place on the hob. (You may also want to cook something else in the bottom section to save time)
4. Put your florets into the top section of the steamer and put it on top of the bottom section. Place a lid on it.
5. Steam until tender. This takes about 4-10 minutes for florets and 9-10 minutes for a cauliflower head.
6. Check with a knife when the cauliflower is soft it is ready to be served.

What Do You Need in a 3 Tier Stainless Steel Steamer?

Cook Cauliflower in the Oven for a Rich Roasted Flavour

When you roast things it creates that rich warm flavour that boiling and steaming just doesn’t. It’s just as easy to do, it just takes a bit longer that’s all.

For basic cauliflower, you simply need some olive oil and salt and cauliflower. You can add other things like herbs or other vegetables for different recipes to this if you want.

1. Wash and cut your cauliflower into florets.
2. Place them into an ovenproof dish.
3. Cover with the olive oil and sprinkle the salt (use cooking olive oil and not extra virgin).
4. Add your finely chopped herbs of choice. Basil is a good one but cauliflower works well with lots of different herbs so experiment.
5. Place into the oven and cook for about 20 minutes on 200C oven/180C Fan/ 175C Halogen Oven (Note: the halogen will be a quicker cooking time, place on bottom rack)

How to Cook Cauliflower in the Microwave

It’s really easy to cook vegetables in the microwave and cauliflower is no exception. One of the issues of cooking things like broccoli and cauliflower this way is they can become very wet and will need to be dried. It is also difficult to work out the correct time it takes to steam them. this is where a proper steamer comes in. It helps with removing water contact, gives you guidelines on how much water you should use and makes the final result more satisfactory and keeps in the vitamins.

1. Cut and wash the cauliflower head into smaller florets.
2. Put water into the steamer to the required amount or if using the dish put in enough to cover the bottom and so it won’t go dry.
3. Pop your cauliflower florets into your microwave steamer top and cover with the lid.
4. Place into the microwave and heat for about 5 minutes. The time will depend on your microwave power and quantities.
5. Once done check they are soft.
6. Now you can serve them.

If you want to cook the florets more even cut them in half.