The 2-Ingredient Recipe That Made My Kids Love Cauliflower

Whenever I want my kids to gobble up their veggies, the name of the game is air-fried and crunchy. Whatever the vegetable, if it’s well-browned with crispy edges, they’re likely to reach for seconds. This two-ingredient cauliflower recipe is as simple and speedy as it gets, and it’s guaranteed to disappear at dinnertime.

I’ve learned that the fastest, easiest route to crisped-up cauliflower is to use the air fryer. Its powerful blast of convection heat does the trick in half the time of my oven, and it preheats much more quickly, too. Roasted vegetables in less than 20 minutes have been a real game changer in my house in the last few years—it’s become a race to get food on the table before my kids get a chance to raid the snack cabinet!

Shopping for and Prepping Cauliflower

When I’m shopping for cauliflower, I like to buy the biggest head I can find at the store (usually this ends up being around three pounds). Broken down into florets, it yields two batches worth of cauliflower. If you’re just looking to make a single batch, a 1 1/2-pounder will yield about 1 1/4 pounds of florets, enough to fill up the average air fryer basket.

Breaking down a head of cauliflower into florets isn’t too difficult. If you need a quick lesson, check out this helpful tutorial. My only additional tip is that it’s nice to get the florets into truly bite-sized (1 to 1 1/2-inch) pieces for maximum browning.

Unless you have a very big (eight-quart capacity or larger) air fryer, you’ll want to keep your batch of air-fried cauliflower florets to 1 1/4 pounds or less for optimum browning. As a rule of thumb, you’ll want to make sure everything fits in your air fryer basket in a single layer. Air frying more cauliflower than will fit in a single layer can result in soggy, less crisped florets.

The Secret Ingredient

Just a little garlic salt is all that’s needed to take your air-fried cauliflower from good to great. I toss the cauliflower with oil and garlic salt in a large mixing bowl to make sure the seasonings are evenly distributed, plus my kids love to watch the veggies go up in the air over and over. After about 50 tosses (counted out loud for extra credit), the florets are ready to cook.

Even More Garlicky Air Fried Veggies

You can prepare lots of other vegetables this way, too. Carrots, parsnips, delicata and butternut squash, sweet and regular potatoes, broccoli, and brussels sprouts are other favorites in our house. Cut the veggies into bite-sized pieces and cook as directed. Fairly hardy vegetables can go for the full 15 minutes, whereas more delicate vegetables like green beans and asparagus will cook through in about half the time.