1. Preheat oven to 425F.

2. Prepare cauliflower to bake.

Take a sheet pan and line it with aluminum foil. This will significantly simplify your cleanup.

Dump the cauliflower onto the foil.

Using your fingers, break apart the cauliflower into small pieces. You want some tiny pieces, some small pieces, and some small-medium pieces. Nothing too large, because it won’t crisp up as well and will get a bit mushy. Once everything is broken up, spread it out evenly across the sheet in one layer. If you have too much cauliflower to spread in an even layer, use another sheet. Having one layer is critical to get the crispy crunchy effect. 

It should look like this:

Next, spray it down with 3-4 tbsp of olive oil so that it is very well coated. I use a spray bottle like this to do this part. (If you spray it, you don’t need to toss it in the olive oil – spraying is enough.)

If you don’t have a spray bottle, drizzle olive oil all over the cauliflower, and then toss it in the olive oil, then spread the cauliflower back out in an even layer across the sheet. 

Sprinkle everything down with some salt. Salt is key.

3. Roast the cauliflower for 20-25 minutes.

If you have convection, use the convection setting to speed up the process a bit and increase crispness.

The cauliflower is ready when it has browned. Some of the small bits will look a dark brown – these are the crispy crunchy parts that make it very tasty. Just try to avoid getting anything past a dark brown shade, or you’re going to be eating some burnt stuff.  See below for our ideal cauliflower situation:

4. Let the cauliflower rest on the baking sheet for 5-10 minutes before serving.

If you remove the cauliflower from the sheet and pile it onto a plate before it cools a bit, it will steam itself so that the crispy parts lose their crispy crunchy texture and turn into mush. So don’t skip the rest period! If you need to eat right away, eat it off of  the sheet pan. I’m serious!

5. Enjoy!