If you’re like me and can’t have beans, then you might miss hummus (I do!). No worries! Make some of this low-carb and bean-free roasted garlic cauliflower hummus, it’s paleo, nut-free, and vegan too!
I love hummus, but over the years, my body decided that it didn’t like beans and legumes anymore, and we had to take a break – permanently.
To say that I miss hummus is an understatement. Smokey baba ganoush is another favorite of mine that I can actually have, but it’s not easy to come by around here.
When I connected with Danielle over at the Natural Contents blog, she sent me a copy of her new cookbook so I could share one of her recipes with my readers. Looking through her cookbook, I immediately knew which recipe I would make and share: the Roasted Cauliflower Hummus.
Don’t let the cauliflower turn you off to this recipe, this is an incredible dip that doesn’t have a cauliflower taste. It tastes a lot like real hummus to me even though it doesn’t use tahini either.
Why we love this recipe
Even with just a handful of ingredients, this cauliflower hummus is packed with flavor. Nothing bland here! By roasting the cauliflower, lemons, and garlic, it creates a rich and complex flavor profile that you won’t get when using those ingredients fresh in this recipe.
This flavorful dip also happens to be paleo/grain free, nut free, sesame free, and vegan as well, so it fits many special diets.
Danielle’s book, Good Food for Everyone, features 80 recipes that are whole-food and inspired by the local growing season. All the recipes are gluten, grain, and soy free, with plenty of dairy-free, paleo, and vegan options! Danielle’s website has since closed its doors, but the ebook is still available to download for free.
How to make cauliflower hummus without beans or tahini
Here are the steps for making this delicious cauliflower hummus, I made a few changes to the steps when I made the recipe recently again, so our steps are slightly different than what Danielle wrote in her recipe ebook.
- Preheat oven to 425°F
- Wash and cut up the cauliflower into florets about 1 inch in size. 1 medium cauliflower head that is about 1.5 pounds will yield about 7 cups of florets. Toss with a small drizzle of olive oil and set aside.
- Cut the top off a bulb of garlic, brush a small amount of olive oil on top, and wrap with foil.
- Spray or brush a sheet pan with oil and spread out the cauliflower on the sheet pan and add the wrapped garlic.
- Bake at 425°F for 15 minutes.
- After 15 minutes, remove the pan from the oven and stir the cauliflower. Add the halved lemons to the pan, reduce the oven temperature to 400° F, and return to the oven to bake an additional 20-25 minutes. Danielle’s original recipe says to bake the lemons cut-side down, however, some of the juice got lost by cooking out onto the pan, so I might try cooking the lemons cut-side up next time. Side note, caramelized lemon juice is pretty tasty, I need to do something with that!
- Allow everything to cool for about 10-15 minutes, then juice the lemons and remove any seeds.
- Remove the garlic cloves from the roasted bulb of garlic. You can use all of the garlic cloves or fewer, I used about 2/3of the bulb of garlic in ours.
- Add the cauliflower to a food processor along with the lemon juice, roasted garlic cloves, olive oil, salt (I used smoked salt for extra flavor), and black pepper.
- Process and scrape the sides in multiple cycles until the dip becomes smooth. If you need to add a little water to this to help with blending, you can add 1 Tablespoon at a time as needed.
- Serve in a dish drizzled with olive oil and serve with your favorite veggies, crackers, or chips.
- Store any leftovers in the fridge in an airtight container for up to 4 days.
This post was originally published in February 2017 and has been updated with new photos and text in May 2025.
If you want some other bean-free hummus ideas, check out my recipe for Bean-Free Zucchini Hummus (Zummus).
Roasted Garlic Cauliflower Hummus (Bean Free)
Ingredients
- 1 medium head of cauliflower (about 1 ½ pounds, 7 cups of florets)
- 2 large lemons halved
- 1 small head garlic – stem and dirt removed but kept in skin
- 3 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 1 ¼ teaspoons sea salt (I used smoked salt)
- ½ teaspoon fresh cracked pepper
Equipment
- Food processor
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425°F
- Wash and cut up the cauliflower into florets about 1 inch in size. 1 medium cauliflower head that is about 1.5 pounds will yield about 7 cups of florets. Toss with a small drizzle of olive oil and set aside.
- Cut the top off a bulb of garlic, brush a small amount of olive oil on top, and wrap with foil.
- Spray or brush a sheet pan with oil and spread out the cauliflower on the sheet pan and add the wrapped garlic.
- Bake at 425°F for 15 minutes.
- After 15 minutes, remove the pan from the oven and stir the cauliflower. Add the halved lemons to the pan, reduce the oven temperature to 400° F and return to the oven to bake an additional 20-25 minutes. Danielle's original recipe says to bake the lemons cut-side down, however some of the juice got lost by cooking out onto the pan, so I might try cooking the lemons cut-size up next time.
- Allow everything to cool for about 10-15 minutes, then juice the lemons and remove any seeds.
- Remove the garlic cloves from the roasted bulb of garlic. You can use all of the garlic cloves or less, I used about 2/3 the bulb of garlic in ours.
- Add the cauliflower to a food processor along with the lemon juice, roasted garlic cloves, olie oil, salt (I used smoked salt for extra flavor), and black pepper.
- Process and scrape the sides in multiple cycles until the dip becomes smooth. If you need to add a little water to this to help with blending, you can add 1 Tablespoon at a time as needed.
- Serve in a dish drizzled with olive oil and serve with your favorite veggies, crackers, or chips.
- Store any leftovers in the fridge in an airtight container for up to 4 days.
Notes
Nutrition
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Sarah Jane Parker is the founder, recipe creator, and photographer behind The Fit Cookie which she founded in 2011. Sarah is based in Wyoming and has been managing food allergies for herself and her 2 children for over 20 years. Sarah was also a certified personal trainer for 12 years, as well as a group fitness instructor, health coach, running coach, and fitness nutrition specialist.
Looks good. But, please!! don’t use aluminum foil because the aluminum cooks into the food and is very harmful to your brain and nerve tissue promoting all sort of problems with accumulation of the aluminum. Use parchment instead!
Thanks Cairenn, I don’t use aluminum very often in my cooking and only for specific recipes.
This recipe has me drooling. I bet it is so good. Can’t wait to try it out at my next party/family get together.
Thanks Arlene!
We Love hummus but I have never made it with anything other than chickpeas.. I must try this version soon.
We happen to love cauliflower..and roasting it is best. Hummus has so may variations these days. Great way enjoy the foods you love, even if you have to change the ingredients. Sounds delicious.
Oh, I love this idea! Love cauliflower and it seems like such a healthy and delicious dish. I actually love beans and legumes so I think I’ll make this but with added chickpeas. I know it’s a different recipe but you inspired me!
I love traditional hummus, but beans don’t like me so I haven’t had it in a really long time! This makes a great alternative (and baba ganoush!). I’ve made hummus with zucchini before that turned out great as well – so many things you can do with veggies!
Yum! Thanks for sharing Sarah 🙂 Now, I want some too 😉
Thanks for letting me share the recipe Danielle!