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!
Very good recipe, easy and quite tasty. Some things I will add when I make it next, a whole stick of cinnamon, 6 whole cloves and 4 cardamon pods crushed. I have an Indian friend’s channa (chickpea) masala recipe and those are in it, they just make the sauce have that much more depth. Definitely making again!
This was amazing! I used fresh cauliflower and coconut cream (solid bit from the can) and it turned out amazing. Served with pita chips! Yum! I even didn’t have cumin so used caraway seeds as a substitute and still amazing.
these recipes are great, but can you add calories ,protein ,fat fiber , calcium , carbohydrates and sodium amounts to the recipes
If I want to substitute fresh cauliflower, would I just steam it a while prior to adding, or would I just add the fresh and increase the cooking time?
Steaming separately will probably be easier. I’ve made it with fresh cauliflower and just let it simmer longer (added more water, too) and it kind of took forever. It would probably cook faster if steamed and then the actual dish will come together faster.
Hi! I made this and it’s so delicious but a bit too spicy for my taste. For the next time I make it, what would you suggest to bring the spice level down?
Reducing or eliminating the cayenne pepper will reduce the heat level. :)
I love Indian food and can never make it taste as good as when I go to a restaurant. This recipe gets pretty close to it! It is so tasty! I used fresh cauliflower and in the future I am going to either boil or bake the cauliflower before I add it to the mixture.
I made this exactly as directed (vegan version), except that I realized only at the last moment that we were out of ginger. So I popped in a little extra cayenne and hoped for the best. Both my boyfriend and I LOVED it. Can’t wait to try it with the ginger next time!
What do you use to make it vegan? Would coconut milk work?
I used coconut milk to make mine vegan and forgot I used my frozen cauliflower so I used a large eggplant I had. Served over Jasmine rice! Really good but can’t wait to try with cauliflower next.
Yes it would. :) Or even more decadent would be creamed coconut or coconut cream.
Made this last night. Was a bit shy of the 2 TBSP of garam masala, but still: yum!
Just perfect!
Just tried this, sooooo good. Every recipe of yours has turned out amazing for me!
This is on rotation in my family’s vegetarian menu. Very popular and easy to make but also Coconut cream instead of ordinary cream
This is fabulous! Easy to make and the kitchen smells wonderful while it’s cooking. The combination of spices is spot-on and the amount of heat is easily modified (I used a bit more cayenne than called for). I paired it with the naan bread (which I make ALL the time) and it made the perfect meal. Although I usually cringe when I read reviews wherein people make a million substitutions and then rate the recipe, I will admit that the second time I made this I had no milk on hand, of any kind, so I just substituted the leftover yogurt from the naan bread recipe I made. Still fabulous. Thanks for yet another winner, Beth!
I’m excited to make this tomorrow! (The plan was to do it tonight but just discovered I don’t have tomato sauce in my pantry like I thought I did.) Anyone know if this will freeze well?
Wonderful. I substituted a cup of coconut milk and doubled the cayenne to accommodate my high tolerance for spice. It smelled SO good while I was making it. Thanks for the recipe Beth.
This recipe was SO AMAZING! I couldn’t believe how filling it was and the spices were superb. I sauteed the veggies in vegetable broth and substituted coconut milk for the heavy cream and it was excellent. Will definitely make this many more times!
Beth, I have yet to find a recipe of yours that I don’t like! This was DELICIOUS!! I had some baby spinach in the fridge that needed to be used up so I threw that in too! Can not wait for my lunch leftovers tomorrow!!! Thank you for all of your wonderful recipes!!!