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!
This is so dang good! The spices were on point for my husband and my tastes. I used fresh instead of frozen cauliflower and made sure to cut the florets into small pieces so it didn’t impact the cooking time; it worked like a charm.
We also added paneer cheese to the recipe at the end and served it with naan bread; it was next level amazing.
This was so yummy! I only had a “winter mix” so I cheated and used a bag of frozen broccoli and cauliflower. The fragrance in my kitchen alone had me anxious to try it (in a good way!). Loved it!
Oh and I used 1/3 of a block of cream cheese instead of heavy cream. I was really trying to use what I had on hand and it turned out great!
This was was my first budget bytes recipe and. . . meh. Is it me or is the 2 tblsp of Garam masala a typo? It was too much. It was all I tasted and not in a good way. Other chana masala recipes I’ve seen have far less (1-2 tsp).
I’m sorry you didn’t enjoy this one! 2 Tbsp was not a typo. That’s the amount that works well for my taste buds, but everyone is different and every brand of Garam Masala is different. It’s possible that yours is extra potent, or that your taste buds are just more sensitive than mine. But this recipe has an average 5 star rating out of 92 votes, so it sounds like that amount works well for most people.
I initially thought it was a lot of garam masala too, especially compared to the smaller amounts of the other spices. But wow, nope it was spot on! I just made this for the first time tonight and it’s incredibly delicious. :)
Awesome! I used half a can of evaporated milk, which I like for creaminess without as much fat.
Another tip for those of us not in the U.S. (no tomato sauce), I just blended a can of diced tomatoes and added that, worked well!
I used to have a recipe for these main ingredients, but could not find it, but who cares now! This will become a staple!
Made this yesterday and my wife accepted. Forgot the cream, but good anyway. Made apple chutney earlier in the day, so the meal was quite satisfactory. A raita would have been nice, of course, and so would pappadums, but in my area there are no Indian groceries. Served the dish with Basmati rice, chapatis might have been even better, but I have no Atta flour for the same reason. Years ago when we were healthier and had dogs, one of them went totally berserk about Chapatis.
Furthermore, I would have liked to use ghee instead of oil, but had run out of it. Have to make it one of these days since I can’t buy it either.
Being a poor disability pensioner (lttle money but plenty of time), I cook chickpeas at home and when doing a new batch for home-made hummus a few days ago, I set aside a quantity of semi-boiled ones for this dish so I got a bit of crunch and texture., I also used fresh Cauli for rhe same effect.
Being a pedant, I added garam masala at the end (exceptionally from a bag, usually I make it at home) as it does not like long cooking. Had no freah ginger, so used powder, but had freash chilies.
An excellent recipe, thank you!
Made it with coconut milk as I’m lactose intolerant. Used about a cup, didn’t come out as creamy as your pictures but still very delicious. I also used chicken stock instead of water, had some in the fridge to get rid of and figured it would add some flavor. Thanks!
This is fantastic! Made several times for meatless Mondays with fresh head of cauliflower which I blanched, it came out perfect after sautéing with spices. Don’t even miss the chicken!
That’s so wonderful to hear Susan! I’m doing Meatless Monday today!
Any way to incorporate chicken breasts or thighs into this recipe? Or maybe even ground chicken? I’ve made the Chicken Tikka Masala and it is absolutely delicious. This recipe sounds somewhat similar – only different.
This was a miss for me. I don’t know if it’s the garam masala, or maybe because I used coconut milk, but there was a cinnamony sweetness that was off putting. I love a lot of budget bytes recipes, but this one wasn’t for me.
Sorry to hear that Emily! Let me know if I can help troubleshoot the recipe at all.
It was probably your gharam masala it’s important to get good spice.
Happy with how this turned out. Had to make a few alterations based off what I had on hand but no major changes. My family seemed to like it too which is always good.
Love it when you can make it your own using what you have!
I never comment on recipes. But I needed to comment here and say I made this — and it was *so* good. And *so* easy. I love Indian/Middle eastern food, but have always been intimidated to try to make it myself. But I found myself with a head of cauliflower, looked up “cauliflower” on pinterest and this recipe came up first. I had everything necessary except coconut milk and Garam Masala. After a quick trip to this store, and I made this for dinner tonight.
I had fresh cauliflower, so what I did was spread it on a baking sheet with olive oil, salt, pepper, a dash of turmeric, and a dash of curry. I roasted it in the oven at 400 degrees for 20 minutes, then added it to the recipe when it called for it.
Thanks again for posting this and sharing it with us.
Thank you so much Jeana!
So delicious! I have made this at least 10 times!! My new favorite.
I tried Prego no sugar added spaghetti sauce instead of regular tomato sauce and it was amazing!
Thanks for sharing Brooke!
So yummy!!
A new fave!
Yay Robin!
Made the vegan version last night and it was a success! Delicious and easy. I did add some veggie broth to make a little more sauce. This on rice was so yummy. Thank you Beth! Looking forward to making this on the regular.
Happy to hear it Elizabeth!
Hi,
How did you veganize the recipe? What did you add in place of the heavy cream?
If you look at the top of the page, Beth mentions to make it vegan use some canned full fat coconut milk in place of the heavy cream.
I followed the recipe as written. Unfortunately, no one in my family liked it, including me. However, it was edible so none was wasted.
I’m so sorry to hear this Stacy. Can I possibly help troubleshoot any steps or ingredients?