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!
Wow.
YUM!
I made this tonight. I wanted more color so I added half a cubed, cooked sweet potato and some frozen peas. I used half-and-half because I didn’t have any cream on hand.
I just opened a new bottle of cayenne, and it apparently is pretty strong, so I found this really hot (good, but more than I could handle). So I added a half can of full-fat coconut milk. That made it deliciously creamy (!) but still didn’t turn down the heat enough …so I just mixed in some sour cream.
Literally had thirds.Â
Thanks for another GREAT recipe!!
I just made this as part of my weekly meal prep and I’m really looking forward to lunch tomorrow! This will definitely be a part of my regular rotation. I found that I needed more heavy cream than the recipe called for, but that could also be because my heavy cream was previously frozen and hadn’t thawed completely (about 90%) before using it.
CAN I make this in a crock pot?Â
No, this one is not well suited for a crock pot.
Can I make this in the crockpot?Â
I don’t think this one is well suited for a crock pot.
This was wonderful! I used coconut milk as suggested and it was amazing! I am looking forward to trying the next recipe! Thank you!
This recipe was easy and tasty as your recipes often are! I did not have heavy cream so I used coconut milk as you suggested. It turned out great!
I thought this was tasty. I might add a little plain yogurt next time…but the cauliflower was so easy and tasted great. Winter weather delays forced us to simmer it for longer than written, but I covered it and added extra water along the way. Both my 8 year old and meat loving husband had seconds!
So amazingly good!Â
This was really good! Have you thought about using coconut milk in place of the cream? I bet that would be delicious.
Yes, I list that as a suggestion in the blog post. :)
I made this last night and forgot to add the cream, and it was still delicious over rice. Â I’m going to have the leftovers tonight- with cream added. Â Two dishes, one prep, lol!
Maybe better if I had simmered it longer? With the cook time it still tasted a bit raw and like the flavours hadn’t had time to meld.
I’m trying to try new things, was a little hesitant about this since I’m not a huge fan of perfumed/spiced foods (different than spicy, to me). ER MER GERD. This was so good! I also made the naan, which was a really fun little project and yeah, totes necessary for that sauce. I made chickpeas from dried, and used a head of fresh cauliflower – frozen is probably a lot easier. I went ahead and printed this one out on real paper (!) because it will be made often :)
I love this recipe and will definitely be adding it to my meal prep rotation! Couple of changes: I don’t like chunks in my curry so I pulled the chickpeas and cauliflower out and ran the sauce through a blender to smooth it out, and I used fresh cauliflower which I roasted in the oven with some salt for some extra flavor. Delicious!
Perfect polar vortex comfort food! I made it as written with the coconut milk substitution and it was perfect. Added your homemade naan bread and we were wiping the skillet clean!
This was really, really good. I ran out of ginger and used the full 16oz of frozen cauliflower I bought and it still turned out amazing. Definitely adding this to our regular rotation. Thanks for the great recipe!