Italian Cauliflower Marinara Bake is a quick and tasty dinner made with only five ingredients. This has all the flavor of your traditional Italian dishes without all the carbs. Vegetarian and Gluten free.
UPDATED….. This post has been updated with new pictures. It was originally posted in March 2016 but wanted to showcase it again with some better pictures. The recipe & post words still remain the same.
As I’m sitting here getting my thoughts together and preparing for the new week, I’m looking out my backdoor and thinking….What a beautiful day we have on the horizon.
I so look forward to getting out there and digging in the dirt and bringing some new life to the backyard.
But even though the weather is going to be picture perfect this week I’m going hold off a little longer.
Since good ole Mother Nature can really sneak in on you.
So before I get all plant happy I’m going make sure Winter is officially done.
So let’s get on with the recipe I want to talk about today.
I really love Italian food but after going gluten-free I had to make a lot of adjustments to my Italian dishes.
I’m Really, really happy though with how this one turned out.
This is about as close to Italian as you can get without adding the pasta.
And I assure you that it’s just as tasty. This pairs great with a nice green salad and you don’t even have to feel guilty about eating this since its cauliflower.
All this cheesy goodness you can’t help but love it. And it was just as easy to prepare as boiling noodles requires.
I made this with a ready made Marinara sauce from Trader Joe’s since I was looking for a quick easy dinner. But most of the time I like to make homemade sauces.
A lot of times it’s hard to find store bought sauces without added sugar. I mean who needs extra sugar in their sauce when tomatoes are already naturally sweet.
Hello Easy Dinner with this “Italian Cauliflower Marinara Bake” and here are a few more Easy dinner ideas:
Italian Cauliflower Marinara Bake
Ingredients
- 1 medium head cauliflower
- 7-8 baby bella mushrooms sliced
- 1/2 yellow onion chopped
- 1/2 tsp. oregano
- 1/2 tsp. basil
- 1 1/2 tbsp. olive oil
- salt & pepper to taste
- 1 25 ounce jar marinara sauce
- 8 ounces shredded mozzarella cheese
- dash of red chili pepper flakes
Instructions
- Preheat oven 400 degrees
- Break cauliflower into florets and put in medium mixing bowl. Coat with olive oil, oregano, basil, salt and pepper. Roast in preheated oven on baking sheet about 20 minutes
- Remove from oven and place back in mixing bowl. Add mushrooms, onions and give a quick toss.
- Place back on baking sheet and cook 10 more minutes.
- Reduce heat to 350 degrees and place cauliflower mixture into casserole dish. Top with marinara sauce, mozzarella cheese, and dash of red chili pepper flakes.
- Bake 30 minutes until bubbly. Remove and let sit 10 minutes prior to serving.
We liked the dish however, we feel the recipe should have less sauce. Next time I make it, I will stir the cheese into the mixture and add half the sauce. The cauliflower was not over cooked which was a big concern. I will make it again.
A lovely recipe, I love baked cauliflower, and that cheese looks yummy! I agree about the sugary sauces, too much sugar and salt.
This looks so yummy and cheesy, and easy too. I bet it would taste good with a big wodge of homemade polenta…
Never thought of combining cauliflower with a marinara sauce – genius!
Thanks Bintu!
This looks delicious! What a yummy and healthy meal, suited for any night of the week. Thanks for sharing! Luci’s Morsels | fashion. food. frivolity.
Thanks Luci 🙂
I love how versatile cauliflower is! And those Italian flavors minus the carbs sound great!