This roasted cauliflower is packed with goodies like crispy savory bacon, garlic, and served with a creamy herbed aioli for dipping. It’s paleo, Whole30 compliant and keto friendly. Perfect as a holiday side dish or for anytime!
Veggies and I, we have a special relationship. In a nutshell, I love them unconditionally, BUT, I love them even more when I get to dress them up a little bit.
Or a lot. Like with garlic and bacon – the two things that belong with veggies the most. Oh, I need roast those veggies too, of course. But really, I DO love them unconditionally, and mostly they love me, too.
But seriously, about that bacon and garlic, I’m not kidding one bit. If you browse through my veggie side dish recipes, you’ll find that time after time I’m roasting them with garlic, bacon, herbs, and making some sort of aioli as a dip. If it ain’t broke, we don’t fix it – but tweaking is allowed!
And that’s where this roasted cauliflower comes in. In the past I really only used cauliflower to make “rice” – and really only fried rice, since that’s my favorite way to cook it.
I rarely roasted it as florets since it just seemed sort of boring to me. BUT it’s anything but boring in today’s recipe! This roasted cauliflower is packed with smoky flavor from the crispy bacon, and it’s caramelized just the right amount from that delicious bacon fat.
The bacon and florets are roasted together in the oven and make the best kind of magic, and it’s SO easy. The bacon fat makes the cauliflower crisp up as it cooks without any effort at all. The garlic joins a little bit later along with some rosemary, making your entire house smell amazing!
Onto the aioli. I’m a huge fan of mayo-based dips with a huge caveat – the base needs to be homemade mayo.
If you haven’t tried my homemade mayo recipe yet, it’s an absolute MUST and my hands-down favorite mayo recipe. I’m not a traditional mayo lover by any means, but when you make it yourself it’s like an entirely different substance. In the very best way!
It’s creamy and not too thick, with the right amount of fresh lemon flavor and no strong undertones, as long as you use a very mild flavored oil. Click here for the homemade mayo recipe I used to make this aioli.
With my homemade mayo as a base, we can create a really simple yet standout aioli with just a few additional ingredients. Minced fresh garlic, minced fresh herbs, salt, and pepper. That’s it!
The aioli complements the cauliflower so well, but I promise that you’ll also want to serve it with just about everything else you make, too! It’s just that good.
I hope you’re ready for one of the most delicious and simple veggie side dishes you’ll ever make! Garlic bacon roasted cauliflower, here we come!
Garlic Bacon Roasted Cauliflower with Herbed Aioli {Whole30, Keto}
Garlic Bacon Roasted Cauliflower with Herbed Aioli {Whole30, Keto}
Ingredients
- 1 head cauliflower cut into florets
- 6 slices nitrate free bacon sugar free for Whole30
- 5 cloves garlic minced
- 2 tsp rosemary fresh, minced
- Sea salt and pepper to taste
Aioli:
- 1/2 cup homemade mayo*
- 3 cloves garlic minced
- 1/2 tsp fresh lemon juice
- 1 tsp minced fresh herbs I used sage, rosemary and thyme
- Sea salt and black pepper to taste
Instructions
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Preheat your oven to 425 degrees. Spread cauliflower florets in a single layer on a large baking sheet. Cut bacon into pieces, then sprinkle all over cauliflower.
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Roast in the preheated oven for 15 mins, then stir and return to single layer. Continue to roast another 5 mins or until bacon is mostly crisp, then, sprinkle with the garlic and rosemary.
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Continue to roast another 5-7 mins or until all is toasty. Once done, sprinkle with sea salt and pepper to taste (remember the bacon adds salt, so be careful!)
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During the last 5-7 mins of roasting, whisk together all aioli ingredients in a small bowl. Serve alongside the cauliflower for dipping. Enjoy!
Recipe Notes
*You can also use a paleo store bought version, but I highly recommend starting with my easy homemade recipe for the best flavor.
Nutrition
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Want More Paleo and Whole30 Veggie Side Dish Recipes? Try One of These!
Garlic Bacon Balsamic Roasted Brussels Sprouts
Roasted Butternut Squash with Bacon and Apples
Butternut Sausage Apple Cranberry Stuffing
Butternut Squash Fries with Rosemary and Bacon
Roasted Carrot Fries with Bacon
Garlic Parsnip Fries with Bacon Aioli
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It’s looking soo delicious ???
This was delicious! Will be making this again!
Hi 🙂 can I substitute bacon for “chicken bacon”? Do you think it would still be really good in flavour?
This works with all the new instructions when you need to turn off or turn on every time. So just try it and look some other options quickly with it. Thanks a lot