One Minute Steamed Cauliflower

Grab your favorite pressure cooker and whip up healthy and delicious steamed cauliflower in just one minute under pressure! Enjoy this low carb healthy vegetable made in no time!

This is one of those “is this even really a recipe as it’s so simple?” type of posts.  But it’s such an easy and delicious recipe, so why not, right?!

In a 1 cup (100 grams) serving, cauliflower is low in calories, has ZERO fat, 5 grams of carbs, 100% of the daily recommended amount of vitamin C and so forth. What’s not to love about it?!

Cauliflower is one of those vegetables that are perfect raw or cooked.

I love it steamed personally as it’s that hybrid texture of just tender with that hint of bite still to it

Blank Canvas

Steamed Cauliflower is pretty much a blank canvas. It tastes great just steamed but when you add something as little as olive oil with salt and pepper it’s transformed into something magical!

Lately, I’ve been crushing HARD on Instant Pot Steamed Cauliflower coated in buffalo sauce!

How to make Instant Pot Steamed Cauliflower: a tutorial

You need 4 things:

1. A whole head of cauliflower
2. 1 cup of water
3. 6 quart or larger Instant Pot or Pressure Cooker
4. Steamer Basket *it’s preferred but not necessary

Cut The Cauliflower into Florets

*See below if you want to steam the whole head

1. Remove the large leaves from the cauliflower so that the stem is exposed.
2. Using a smaller knife such as a paring knife, cut around the stem of the cauliflower.
3. Break off cauliflower into larger chunks. These should break apart fairly easily.
4. Using a large Chef’s Knife, cut the cauliflower into florets.

That’s it; really!

Everybody into the Instant Pot!

1. To the Instant Pot, add the water and place the cauliflower into a steamer basket.

No Steamer Basket? No Problem!

The steamer basket helps keep the vegetables from poaching or cooking in the liquid.

Almost all pressure cookers come with a trivet. You can place the water in the pressure cooker, add the trivet then carefully lay all of the cauliflower on top.

If yours didn’t, grab one of those tin pie plates. Poke holes in it and then flatten it out with a rolling pin. Place it in pressure cooker adjusting it so it is snug against the sides but doesn’t rest in the water. Place your veggies on top of that.

Under Pressure

1. Place the lid on and set the pressure to HIGH, 1 minute. If yours has a ‘steam’ function you can press that and set it to 1 minute.

Chef’s Tip about Pressure Cooking Time

Pressure Cooker recipes do not include the time it takes for the unit to build up pressure. It’s virtually impossible to give time as there are multiple factors in place here:

1. Liquid temperature
2. Food temperature – what if it’s frozen, or partially frozen
3. Make/Model of unit

The time it takes can vary from 5 minutes to 30 minutes depending on what you’re cooking and again, the make/model plus the temperature of the starting ingredients.

For this recipe, I used cold cauliflower and room temp water. It took my unit about 10 minutes to get up to pressure.

Ice Bath Baby    

1. While the cauliflower is cooking you’ll want to prepare an ice bath of cold water and ice.
2. When the time is up, carefully perform a Quick Release and immediately put the cauliflower into the ice bath.

What you’re doing here is shocking the vegetables. This stops the cooking immediately and allows it to retain the color and crispness.

Let’s Eat! 

After 15 seconds or so, drain the cauliflower and enjoy it!

Topping/Serving Suggestions

• Drizzle with olive oil, 1/2 teaspoon each of salt and pepper. Finish with a squeeze of lemon
• Melted butter, a pinch of red pepper flakes, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and freshly grated parmesan
• Toss with buffalo sauce and serve with a side of ranch or bleu cheese

Whole Head Steamed Cauliflower  

1. Cut the bottom leaves off and part of the stem so the cauliflower rests flat. *OPTIONAL Drizzle the head with 2 tablespoon of olive oil, 1/2 teaspoon each kosher salt and pepper.
2. Add 1 cup of water to the instant pot and, if your steamer basket is large enough place the head in there. If it is not, place the trivet inside the pressure cooker and place the cauliflower on top of that.
3. Cook on High, 2 minutes followed by a quick release.
4. Submerge in an ice bath and enjoy it! *If you drizzled with olive oil prior to cooking, do not submerge.

If desired, spritz with olive oil, salt, and pepper and place it under the broiler for 30 seconds to a minute to give it that charred taste and texture.

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