Grilled Cauliflower With Spiced Yogurt Sauce

Our recipe for grilled cauliflower results in a deeply flavored, tender whole head that makes an impressive-looking side dish or main course. It’s served with a spiced yogurt sauce and a refreshing cucumber salad, which provide a cool and creamy contrast to the charred vegetable. To achieve a creamy, fork-tender interior, we steam the head before brushing it with a mixture of oil, garam masala, paprika, and garlic and then grilling it on all sides. Besides contributing tons of flavor, the spiced oil lends the cauliflower a deep reddish-brown color that deepens as the exterior chars on the grill. Serve the head whole and carve at the table for an eye-catching dish everyone will want a piece of.

Key Ingredients for Our Grilled Cauliflower Recipe

Cauliflower: When shopping for this cruciferous vegetable, look for heads that are firm, unblemished, and feel heavy for their size. To store it, remove any shrink wrapping and place head in a loose bag (unsealed, so moisture can escape); pop it in your fridge's crisper drawer, where it can hang out for up to one week.

Garam masala: This combination of spices—including cinnamon, peppercorns, coriander, and cardamom—is often used in Indian dishes like chana masala and butter chicken. Here, it lends a deep, complex flavor to the grilling oil and spiced yogurt. If you don't have any on hand, you can swap in an equal amount of curry powder or a mixture of three-quarters of a teaspoon ground cumin and one-quarter of a teaspoon ground allspice.

Sweet paprika: Mild sweet paprika is largely responsible for the stunning burnished color of the grilled cauliflower. If you prefer a spicier flavor, you can swap in hot paprika instead. For even more oomph, consider replacing some of the sweet paprika with smoked paprika.

Greek yogurt: Thick and creamy Greek yogurt forms the base of the spiced yogurt sauce that's served alongside the cauliflower and salad. We recommend using whole-fat yogurt for the creamiest result, though you can use a reduced- or non-fat option if you'd prefer. If you can only find traditional yogurt instead, you can use it here, just note that it will be a bit more loose and runny.

Persian cucumbers: Petite Persian cucumbers are mild, crunchy, and so easy to prep, as they don't need to be peeled or seeded. If you can't locate them, slice up two-thirds of an English cucumber instead.

Heirloom tomato: We love the deep, rich flavor of an heirloom tomato in this recipe, but you can certainly swap in whichever type looks best to you when shopping (just make sure it's ripe and fragrant). If cherry or grape tomatoes look best, you can use a pint of either in place of one heirloom tomato.

Prepping a Whole Cauliflower for Grilling

Trim it: Before cooking the cauliflower, you'll want to trim off any green leaves and cut the stem so it's flush with the bottom of the head. There's no need to remove the core for this recipe—in fact, you'll want to keep it intact to hold the head together and make slicing and serving easy and mess-free.

Steam it: To achieve a fork-tender finished texture, this recipe has you steam the cauliflower until a knife can be easily inserted into the stem (this will take anywhere from seven to 10 minutes). A steamer basket is your best bet for this step, but if you don't have one, you can place the cauliflower in a large, microwave-safe cooking vessel with a few tablespoons of salted water and microwave it, covered, until tender, eight to 10 minutes. (Since microwave times can vary significantly, we suggest checking for doneness beginning at six minutes and every two minutes or so after that).