Roasted vegetables are a staple in any Paleo kitchen. They’re fast, they’re delicious, and they’re so convenient to make alongside a typical 30-minute dinner recipe: just put the vegetables in before you get cooking, and when the meat is done, the side will be cooked too!
Unfortunately, a plain roasted vegetable side dish can get a little repetitive night after night. So here’s a simple way to jazz it up with everyone’s favorite ingredient: bacon!
Roasted cauliflower already has a natural sweetness to it – that’s the product of carbohydrates in the cauliflower breaking down and caramelizing in the heat of the oven.
Adding bacon really emphasizes this flavor: it’s an easy way to ramp up the taste of the vegetables themselves.
This is also an example of the healthiest way to use bacon or other cured meats: to add flavor to a dish, not as a main protein source for the meal.
Just make sure you get (or make!) high-quality bacon from a pastured pig because the diet of the animal gets even more important when you’re using a fatty cut of meat. Â
If you want something really decadent, you can use lard as your cooking fat, but it tastes just as good with coconut oil or butter, and whatever fat you use, it’s a simple and delicious way to make roast vegetables exciting again.
Roasted Cauliflower with Bacon Recipe
SERVES: 4 PREP: 15 min COOK: 25 min
Ingredients
- 1 head cauliflower, cut into florets;
- 5 slices of bacon;
- 3 green onions, chopped;
- Cooking fat;
- Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper;
Preparation
- Preheat your oven to 400 F.
- Toss the cauliflower in a medium-sized baking dish with some cooking fat and roast it in the oven for 20 minutes.
- While the cauliflower is cooking, fry the bacon in a skillet over medium-high heat until just done. Then remove it from the heat and chop it into bite-sized pieces when cool enough to handle.
- Once the cauliflower has cooked for 20 minutes, add the bacon to the baking dish and cook for another 5 minutes until the bacon is nice and crispy.
- Season to taste with salt and pepper, and sprinkle with the green onion on top to serve.
📖 Recipe
Roasted Cauliflower with Bacon Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 head cauliflower cut into florets
- 5 slices of bacon
- 3 green onions chopped
- Cooking fat
- Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 400 F.
- Toss the cauliflower in a medium-sized baking dish with some cooking fat and roast it in the oven for 20 minutes.1 head cauliflower, Cooking fat
- While the cauliflower is cooking, fry the bacon in a skillet over medium-high heat until just done. Then remove it from the heat and chop it into bite-sized pieces when cool enough to handle.
- Once the cauliflower has cooked for 20 minutes, add the bacon to the baking dish and cook for another 5 minutes until the bacon is nice and crispy.5 slices of bacon
- Season to taste with salt and pepper, and sprinkle with the green onion on top to serve.Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, 3 green onions
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