This super easy, ultra creamy, and heavily spiced Cauliflower and Chickpea Masala is my new favorite dinner! That spicy-creamy sauce is just so 👌that I have to sop up every last bit with a piece of naan. This dish comes together super fast, requires very little chopping, is insanely inexpensive, and holds up well in the fridge, so it’s great for meal prep! This one is going right into my weekly rotation. :)
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How to Serve the Cauliflower and Chickpea Masala
I’ve been eating my Cauliflower and Chickpea Masala with a piece of naan bread to scoop up that delicious sauce, but this dish would be equally as good over a bed of hot rice. Either way it’s creamy, spicy, and oh so delish!
Make it Spicy or Mild
You can adjust the heat of this sauce by increasing, decreasing, or even eliminating the amount of cayenne pepper in the spice mix. The amount listed below creates what I would call a “medium” spice level, but that’s extremely subjective, so take that with a grain of salt.
Make it Vegan
An easy sub for the heavy cream in this recipe would be full fat coconut milk (the stuff that comes in cans, NOT the dairy milk substitute). You can play around with the quantities, but I’d guess somewhere between 1/2 to 1 cup would work well.
Cauliflower and Chickpea Masala
Servings 4 About 1.25 cups eachIngredients
Masala Spice Mix
- 2 Tbsp garam masala ($0.60)
- 1/2 tsp cumin ($0.05)
- 1/2 tsp turmeric ($0.05)
- 1/2 tsp smoked paprika ($0.05)
- 1/4 tsp cayenne ($0.02)
- 1/2 tsp salt ($0.02)
- Freshly Cracked Pepper ($0.03)
Skillet Ingredients
- 1 yellow onion ($0.21)
- 3 cloves garlic ($0.24)
- 1/2 Tbsp grated fresh ginger ($0.15)
- 2 Tbsp olive oil ($0.32)
- 12 oz. frozen cauliflower florets ($1.00)
- 1 15oz. can chickpeas, drained ($0.49)
- 1 15oz. can tomato sauce* ($0.59)
- 1/4 cup water ($0.00)
- 1/3 cup heavy cream ($0.26)
- salt to taste ($0.02)
Instructions
- In a small bowl, combine the spices for the masala spice mix (garam masala, cumin, turmeric, smoked paprika, cayenne, salt, and pepper).
- Finely dice the onion, mince the garlic, and grate the ginger. Add all three to a large skillet along with the olive oil and sauté over medium heat until the onions are soft and translucent (about 3 minutes). Add the spice mix and continue to sauté for one more minute.
- Add the frozen cauliflower florets to the skillet with the aromatics and spices, and continue to sauté for about 5 minutes more, or until the cauliflower have thawed through and are completely coated in spices.
- Add the drained chickpeas, tomato sauce, and 1/4 cup water to the skillet. Stir to combine, then allow them to simmer over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally, for about 15 minutes. This will help mellow the acidity of the tomato sauce and allow the spices to blend. If the mixture becomes too dry as it simmers, add a couple more tablespoons of water.
- After the sauce has simmered for 15 minutes, turn off the heat and stir in the heavy cream. Give the masala a taste and add salt as needed. Serve in a bowl either over rice or with a piece of bread for dipping.
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Notes
Nutrition
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How to Make Cauliflower Chickpea Masala – Step by Step Photos
Begin by combining 2 Tbsp garam masala, 1/2 tsp cumin, 1/2 tsp turmeric, 1/2 tsp smoked paprika, 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper, 1/2 tsp salt, and some freshly cracked pepper in a small bowl.
Finely dice one yellow onion, mince three cloves of garlic and grate about 1/2 Tbsp fresh ginger (ginger is hard to measure, so this is flexible).
Add the onion, garlic, and ginger to a large skillet with 2 Tbsp olive oil and sauté over medium heat until the onions are soft and translucent (about 3 minutes). Add the spice mix and continue to sauté for one more minute.
Add 12oz. frozen cauliflower florets to the skillet and continue to sauté until the cauliflower is thawed through and coated in spices.
Next, add one 15oz. can chickpeas (drained), one 15oz. can tomato sauce, and about 1/4 cup water to the skillet. Stir to combine and then let the sauce simmer over medium-low heat for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. If the sauce starts to dry out as it simmers, add a couple more tablespoons of water.
After the sauce has simmered and the tomato sauce has mellowed a bit, turn off the heat and stir in 1/3 cup heavy cream.
After stirring the cream into the sauce, give it a taste and add more salt to taste (I added about 1/4 tsp).
I garnished here with fresh cilantro, but didn’t find that it added a lot to the flavor, so that’s entirely optional!
Dig in!
When my husband and I sat down to eat this tonight, I took a bite and said – holy sh#$, this is really good. I was floored at how much it tasted like restaurant masala – but even better bc it was homemade. I used fresh cauliflower and I didn’t have masala so I added 1/2 teaspoon of All Spice and another TSP of Cumin. I cooked for maybe 15-20 minutes longer because of the fresh cauliflower. We also had to put our toddler to bed so didn’t get to dig in until after it sat, cooling on the stove for 20ish minutes. I think letting it sit longer made it even taste better – letting the sauce thicken up even more. We ate it with white rice and some Middle Eastern flat bread. Will definitely be making this again.
Made the recipe exactly as written and my husband and I both LOVED it!! Served with some stone fire mini naan! Thanks for an awesome Indian “take-out” night 😍
Made this w/fresh cauliflower rather than frozen so we increased simmer time and added a little more coconut milk (sub for the heavy cream). Way too much spices – flavor was off. Debating if we should make this again and dial back the spices to see if it can be improved or not bother.
I find it funny that you give a low star rating cause it didnt taste good but you changed the recipe so maybe thats why it didnt taste good? Dont ruin the rating just cause you dont know how to follow instructions. :))
This was delicious! Curious if it can be prepped ahead and frozen? I made it with full fat coconut milk since my husband is lactose intolerant.
Yes I think it would freeze wonderfully.
Making this tonight for dinner, but decided to experiment and threw everything in the slow cooker… will let you know how it turns out.
This looks so good. Do you think it will freeze well?
Yes you should be just fine!
I’m cooking it right now so not sure how it tastes. I omitted all salt and used no salt tomato sauce so mine will taste a bit different as it’s 0 salt. I used fresh cauliflower and low fat coconut milk. Serving it with brown rice. Gluten free, dairy free, vegan, vegetarian! Eating healthy and clean!
I usually order something like this when I go out for Indian food, so this is great to have to make at home! These are all things I have on hand (including the coconut milk for the vegan sub), so it’s a great quick thing to make spontaneously.
I loved this so so much and it came together so quickly, even with using fresh cauliflower. I blanched it while prepping other ingredients. I’ve been cooking Beth’s recipes for a while so i automatically cut the cayenne in half for my different heat tolerance. 😅 so creamy and full of depth. Great with rice and naan!
Your cooking was great! I will definitely try this soon
Loved this. Second time around we added some pre-cooked chicken from InstantPot. Superb.
This was so easy and tasty! The ingredients are simple, but the flavors all come together and make it a perfect curry-craving meal. I served it was brown rice and vegan Naan (from Nora Cooks). You must try it!
Hi there – I’m looking forward to making this, but wonder if evaporated milk or coconut milk could be used instead of the heavy cream? If not, can the rest of the heavy cream be frozen?
I would use full fat coconut milk for a substitute.
So GOOD! The sauce is perfect and delicious. This was honestly, super easy to make. I love chickpeas and I wanted to eat more vegetables and actually used 3/4ths of a whole cauliflower for this. I love the creamy, spicy masala sauce with the crunch of the veggies and the fresh cilantro on top. I served it with white rice. I will be making this more often.
Delicious and easy! Only did 1/2 of an onion and still found it to be very flavorful and spicy!
Loved the recipe, made it with coconut cream and I think it turned out well. Has a little too much cayanne/salt for me, consider using half and adding the rest in later to taste!