For this skillet cauliflower pasta, roasted cauliflower, and andouille sausage are tossed with cooked spinach, goat cheese, and bow-tie pasta. It’s all made in your largest skillet. One pan, one dish, wonderful meal.
We’re fools for recipes that come together with as little stovetop juggling as possible. Take this skillet cauliflower pasta recipe with sausage. First, the cauliflower and sausage roast in the oven while the pasta and spinach do their thing on the stovetop. Then, as the author explains, it all comes together with pasta water and a little goat cheese. The only trick to having it come together is you need to have a really large pan so everything fits in a single layer. If you don’t have a skillet big enough, use 2 skillets or swap in a large roasting pan.–David Leite
What is LC Hump Day Pasta?
We’re glad you asked. LC Hump Day Pasta (#LCHumpDayPasta) is a little something we cooked up to help you on the night of the week that you feel least like cooking. Wednesday was traditionally Prince Spaghetti Day (for those of you old enough to remember). We’ve revamped and updated that to Hump Day and included every type of pasta there is.
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Skillet Cauliflower Pasta FAQs
What can I substitute for andouille sausage in this pasta?
In this recipe, Alana Chernila asks for cooked andouille sausage so it would make sense to use another cooked sausage to make it efficient. Cooked chorizo is a terrific substitution because it also has similar spices. If you want to swap in uncooked sausage, you’ll have to dirty another pan by cooking it before adding to the rest of the dish.
What’s the best way to reheat skillet pasta?
This cauliflower skillet pasta lasts up to 4 days in an airtight container in the fridge. When it’s time to chow down on the leftovers, add a splash of water to put a little moisture back into the pasta. You can reheat over low heat on the stovetop, stirring occasionally. It can also be rewarmed in the microwave.
Skillet Cauliflower Pasta
Ingredients
- 1 large (2 lbs) head of cauliflower cored and cut into small florets
- 6 ounces cooked andouille sausage quartered lengthwise and sliced 1/2 inch (12 mm) thick
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 3/4 teaspoon whole cumin seeds
- Kosher salt
- 12 ounces bow-tie pasta or orecchiette
- 12 ounces spinach large stems removed, roughly chopped, or baby spinach
- 4 ounces fresh goat cheese
- Freshly ground black pepper
Directions
- Preheat the oven to 425°F (218°C).
- Spread the cauliflower florets and sausage over the bottom of your largest ovenproof skillet that’s at least 14 inches. (If you don’t have a skillet big enough for everything to fit in a single layer, use 2 skillets or swap in a large roasting pan.) Drizzle with the olive oil and sprinkle with the cumin seeds and 1/2 teaspoon salt. Roast until the cauliflower is golden, about 30 minutes.
- Carefully remove the skillet from the oven. Add the pasta and spinach to the skillet with about half the reserved pasta water. Crumble the goat cheese (or just gently break it up with your hands) and sprinkle over the pasta. Gently stir, adding just enough pasta water to the mixture to melt the cheese. Season with additional salt, if needed, and lots of pepper.
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Recipe Testers’ Reviews
This skillet cauliflower pasta was a perfect meal to cook up on a weeknight, easy to assemble, and big on flavor. I really appreciated being able to prepare the sausage and cauliflower in one pan while cooking the pasta and spinach on the stovetop—a very efficient way to prepare a meal in less than 1 hour.
I love introducing new flavors to my boys. The goat cheese and andouille sausage were a hit with my 11-year-old. He rated the dish a 9.5 out of 10. He loved the flavor of the sausage and is not a big cheese fan but liked the taste of the goat cheese. My 7-year-old is a cheese connoisseur and wasn’t too hip on the goat cheese, but otherwise rated this dish a 7 out of 10.
Need a delicious weeknight pasta? This is a great choice! Skillet cauliflower pasta is fast, easy, and delicious. Prepping the ingredients takes not much more than 7 to 8 minutes. Roasting the cauliflower and sausage together and then boiling the pasta with late spinach addition is a brilliant double-duty approach. Everything comes together in the skillet in the last few minutes with some reserved pasta water and goat cheese. A very pretty dish that really hits the taste mark.
This skillet cauliflower pasta turned out to be one of those simple, satisfying recipes that should be in everyone’s weeknight dinner rotation. It’s easy to put together, tastes great, and cleans up relatively easily. I used a 12-inch cast-iron skillet and could easily have used something a little larger to contain all the ingredients.
I didn’t need much more than 1/2 cup of the additional pasta water to melt the cheese and ended up with this incredibly well-balanced mix of sauce, vegetables, sausage, and pasta. I loved the combination of spicy Andouille sausage with the sweet, slightly nutty cauliflower, the spinach, and the mild pasta. The cumin seeds were the big surprise with their added bursts of flavor. If I had to quibble over any of it, it would be that the recipe didn’t call for enough. Next time I plan to add a bit more.
I couldn’t pass up trying a recipe that takes one pan and has just four steps. And when I saw it had andouille sausage I figured it would be good. I was not disappointed. This cauliflower pasta comes together really quickly and easily—another great weeknight option for busy people. Interesting pairing, the andouille and goat cheese, but with everything else it worked just fine.
This will be on our regular pasta list of recipes—and not many recipes make it there. This skillet cauliflower pasta was simple and inexpensive. If you were to buy pre-washed baby spinach and already-cut florets of cauliflower, you could cut the prep time considerably. We used vegan sausage and frankly, we couldn’t tell the difference. For us, this recipe checked all the boxes: vegetarian, easy, affordable, easily pulled together, and very tasty.
Yes, this skillet cauliflower pasta is a very satisfying one-bowl meal. The goat cheese brings richness to the dish, but it’s not heavy or too spicy. Roasting the cauliflower develops a nuttiness that is totally absent from the vegetable when consumed raw or steamed or boiled. The cauliflower also picks up some additional flavor from the andouille sausage. Overall, a very successful recipe!
Originally published May 9, 2018
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If you make this recipe, snap a photo and hashtag it #LeitesCulinaria. We'd love to see your creations on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter.
This was an interesting one for me! It combines flavors that aren’t the most natural bedfellows, at least to my palate: roasted cauliflower, Cajun andouille, cumin seeds, goat cheese, and spinach. It’s an intriguing if odd assemblage, and even though I initially questioned it, I couldn’t stop eating it. It’s fun to wake up your palate like this! And my partner liked it, and that boy hates goat cheese. Powerful pasta conversion, haha.
It looks fantastic, Leah. We’re so pleased that you enjoyed it.
This is outrageous. We’ve made it three times already. We used andouille, Spanish chorizo, and Portuguese chorizo. (We’re a sausage kind of family). It was simple, fast, and delicious. And the best thing is it calls for one skillet. I did have a problem trying to get all the greens wilted in the pan after the cauliflower was roasted, so the second and third time, I cooked them first and set them aside. An extra bowl, but it made it easier.
Nice, Tuck! Thanks so much for taking the time to let us know you love this as much as we do.