Popcorn is undoubtedly vegan food, but popcorn isn’t definitely keto-vegan food. Read below how traditional popcorn plays havoc with your health, and why you should pamper your whole body —including your taste buds — with this super-delicious and healthy popcorn alternative!
About the Easy “Cheesy” Cauliflower Popcorn recipe
Regular popcorn is so high in carbs that it easily skyrockets your blood sugar levels. These blood sugar spikes followed by insulin spikes are utterly dangerous and one reason for deterioration in our health. In the long run, you can become prone to diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, obesity, and even cancer.
Moreover, popcorn is often prepared using highly-processed vegetable seed oils, like sunflower oil. Processed and heated vegetable seed oils can easily be the most hazardous foods there are. Heated, processed vegetable seed oils are rancid, and they are carcinogenic (that’s cancer again)! Even inhaling fumes from heated oils might cause lung cancer. Plus, these rancid oils cause inflammation all over your body — including in your brain.
Lastly, there are almost no nutrients in regular popcorn. When you eat nutrient-deficit popcorn, you are actually flushing out important nutrients from your body. In order to digest that popcorn, you will use an ample amount of vitamins and minerals to enable the sophisticated chemical reactions that break down the molecules and absorb the stuff that you can utilize. And in popcorn, there is not too much to utilize but a lot to process and break down!
Considering all these facts, why on earth would you like to torture yourself with that kind of crap? (Sorry for being a little harsh here, but that’s how the truth is!) I want you to understand these facts so that you can choose a better, healthier, and even tastier option.
Keto-vegan or not, if you crave popcorn or something savory to munch and snack, this healthified popcorn recipe fits the bill.
Crisp-tender cauliflower makes a perfect popcorn alternative; it’s wonderful to bite and has a great mouthfeel. The “cheesy” taste and feel you’ll get from the nutritional yeast — an important source of the vitamin B group to vegans. It even contains vitamin B12 which plant-based foods lack.
Add some onion powder and garlic powder, and you’ll get even closer to the cheese taste.
Unrefined sea salt, Himalayan salt — or any natural salt — contain minerals that your whole system needs. For example, from natural salt you’ll get potassium and sodium for nerves, and also calcium and magnesium for muscles.
Tips for making the Easy “Cheesy” Cauliflower Popcorn
By now, I have hopefully convinced you to switch your regular popcorn to this healthy treat.
Luckily, this recipe is very easy to make (although not as easy as throwing a bag of popcorn in the microwave oven), and your body — and your mind — will certainly thank you for choosing this healthy option.
So, to prepare, have around 2 lbs. (900 g) raw cauliflower. Organic cauliflower is the best, naturally, because it shouldn’t contain any pesticides or herbicides that accumulate in your body and cause harm in the long run.
Chop the cauliflower into bite-size pieces, slightly larger than regular popcorn. I would say double or triple the size of the regular popcorn. Why? Because it makes it more fun to eat!
Pour the cauliflower chunks into a large bowl. The larger the better, because it makes it easier to toss the cauliflower chunks in the bowl, and that way the chunks won’t get tossed on the floor by accident.
Pour in the olive oil. I recommend extra virgin olive oil because it stands heat better than refined olive oils. It’s a common misconception that olive oil doesn’t stand heat. However, there are studies where olive oil had been heated on extremely high heat for 36 hours and it didn’t oxidize. So, it should be safe to heat your olive oil.
Instead of olive oil, you can use melted coconut oil. It stands heating even better than olive oil — because it’s the most saturated oil there is for cooking.
Then, take a small bowl and combine the almond flour (use coarse almond flour or almond meal)…
…nutritional yeast (for that cheesy flavor and vitamin B!)…
…onion powder and the natural salt (I have unrefined sea salt here… except I forgot to take a photo about adding it! Sorry! So here goes the onion powder)…
…and the garlic powder.
Mix well.
Pour the mixture over the cauliflower.
Toss well so that the cauliflower chunks are covered all over with the almond flour mixture.
Spread the covered cauliflower chunks on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper in a single layer, so that the chunks barely touch each other.
Bake at 400 °F (200 °C)…
…until crisp-tender. Be sure to leave the cauliflower relatively crisp. If you overbake it, you’ll lose the delicious crunch and mouthfeel. These babies have to have something to bite! They shouldn’t get mushy. In my oven, 10 minutes makes a perfect result.
Let cool down for a few minutes.
Serve warm, for example with a nice keto-vegan mayonnaise based dip.
Are you ready? Here’s the recipe.
First the video, though:
Ingredients
- 2 lbs = 910 g cauliflower, chopped into bite-size pieces
- 1/4 cup = 60 ml extra virgin olive oil
- 1/2 cup = 120 ml coarse almond flour (almond meal)
- 2 tablespoons nutritional yeast
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- 1 teaspoon (or to taste) unrefined sea salt OR Himalayan salt
- 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400 °F (200 °C).
- Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Place the cauliflower and olive oil in a large bowl.
- In a small bowl, mix the almond flour, nutritional yeast, onion powder, salt, and the garlic powder.
- Add the almond flour to the bowl with cauliflower. Toss well.
- Spread the cauliflower on the lined baking sheet in a single layer so that the cauliflower pieces barely touch one other.
- Bake for 10-15 minutes, until crisp and only a little bit tender. Don't overbake!
- Remove from the oven, and let cool for a few minutes. Serve warm.
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