Najib’s Special Lebanese Cauliflower
Najib's Special Lebanese Cauliflower is EXACTLY like the famous cauliflower from Nuba restaurant in Vancouver. It's lemony, crazy delicious, and served with a simple tahini sauce. It is totally irresistible!

Najib's Special Lebanese Cauliflower is a tradition in Vancouver. Many hold it in god-like reverence. If you say ‘Najib's Cauliflower' to anyone who has spent time in the city, you'll be forced to endure a rant about how it's the best cauliflower in the world. They're not wrong.
When I was planning out my editorial calendar for fall (yep, I do fun and exciting things like plan months in advance), I knew that one of the two cauliflower recipes I was going to share with you had to be this Lebanese cauliflower. I just didn't have any idea how I was going to do it.
I mean, how do you make cauliflower taste like the best cauliflower in the world that a great little restaurant down the road makes? Turns out it was far easier than I imagined.
My plan was to try it a few different ways. Three, to be exact. But, after the first batch was finished, my official taste tester (aka my handsome man) declared that I had nailed it. This Lebanese cauliflower tastes EXACTLY like the Najib's Special Cauliflower from Nuba.
It's like roasted cauliflower, only about 1.4 bazillion times better. That's no exaggeration. I squeezed a bunch of lemon juice over top, sprinkled a good amount of sea salt, and served it with a simple tahini sauce, just like they do at Nuba.
It's times like this, when I'm stuffing my face with the most insanely delicious Lebanese cauliflower, that I swear I have the best job in the world.
So thank YOU for reading this little blog, so I can continue to do things like oink on fried cauliflower. You da best!

I have to tell you a story. This Lebanese cauliflower nearly burned down my home. No lie. This afternoon, I bought a replacement for the deep-fry thermometer that I broke when the slippery thing fell out of my hands and shattered on the floor. It was after making the Coconut Oil Fried Peanut Chicken which, if you haven't made it yet, you should.
I attached the new, non-glass thermometer to the side of the pot and turned on the stove. About the time that the thermometer read 250 degrees, the oil started to smoke. Oil smokes at 400 degrees and will burst into flames at 500. Yikes!
Can you imagine if I had trusted the thermometer? Shudder.
If you see the oil smoking, it's too hot. Remove the pot from the heat and let it cool down. If you haven't tried your hand at deep-frying before, make sure you check out this post for some safety tips and tricks.
Anyway, don't let my near-burning-down-the-house story keep you from making this Lebanese cauliflower. You are going to love it!

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Easy and delicious cauliflower recipes:
- Roasted Tandoori Cauliflower with Tahini Yogurt
- Cheesy Irish Cheddar Cauliflower
- Garlic Brown Butter Mashed Cauliflower
- Golden Roasted Turmeric Cauliflower
- Creamy Cauliflower Hummus
- Baked General Tso's Cauliflower
- Skinny Bang Bang Cauliflower

Najib's Special Lebanese Cauliflower
If you love this recipe as much as we do, let us know with a 5-star rating!
Ingredients
- Oil, for frying (avocado oil works great)
- 1 medium head of cauliflower, cut into small florets (do NOT wash the cauliflower!)
- 2 tablespoons cornstarch, or sub tapioca starch for paleo
- 1 lemon, sliced
- Sea salt
- Optional: cilantro or parsley to garnish
The Tahini Sauce
- 2 tablespoons tahini
- 1 teaspoon lemon juice
- 1 small garlic clove, grated
- A pinch of sea salt
Instructions
- Add 2 inches of oil to a medium sized pot with high sides. Attach a candy/ deep-fry thermometer to the side. Heat the oil over medium-high heat until it reaches degrees 300 degrees Fahrenheit. Lower the heat to medium and let the oil continue to heat until it reaches 350 degrees Fahrenheit.Oil
- Toss the cauliflower with the cornstarch. This will ensure it is completely dry and safe to deep-fry. Fry the cauliflower, several pieces at a time, for 5-7 minutes, or until the cauliflower is golden brown and soft. Remove the cauliflower pieces from the hot oil and set them on a paper towel lined tray. Keep them warm on low heat in your oven while you fry the rest.1 medium head of cauliflower, 2 tablespoons cornstarch
- While the cauliflower is frying, prepare the tahini sauce by mixing all the tahini sauce ingredients together with two tablespoons of water.2 tablespoons tahini, 1 teaspoon lemon juice, 1 small garlic clove, A pinch of sea salt
- Once all the Lebanese cauliflower has finished frying, squeeze a generous amount of lemon juice over the cauliflower and sprinkle with sea salt. Serve with extra lemon wedges on the side and a little cilantro or parsley over the top.Sea salt, Optional: cilantro or parsley to garnish, 1 lemon
As a lebanese I find it hilarious people pay nuba for fried cauliflower. Definitely make it at home. Super easy recipe, no one would pay that much for it at home
Can’t wait to try this. Ate at Nuba last week and the cauliflower was out of this world.
Try adding a bit of sumac to the sauce.
Incredible! It does taste just like at the restaurant. I’m feeling very accomplished after making this recipe. It is very simple…because I had your recipe to follow. Thanks very much for documenting your exploration and discovery. Delicious!
Made this today and it’s just perfect!
So delicious!
Yay!!
Just curious, I love this dish and judging by the reviews you’ve done a great job replicating it, but it seems a but crazy to me that a Lebanese cauliflower dish would have zero spices in it… No cumin, sumac or anything!?
The squeeze of lemon juice and a little dip into the tahini sauce is all the cauliflower needs. It’s really good. But I do think that a sprinkle of sumac after you fry the cauliflower would be delicious. 🙂
Hi!!
I am sooooo excited to make this tonight! I need to go the baked route, despite knowing the texture will be less delicious. Could you advise what temp and for how long I should put it in? Do I still use corn starch?
Thanks so much!
When I roast cauliflower I cook it at 400 degrees for 30-40 minutes. You might want to check out this recipe for roasted cauliflower. 🙂 https://www.theendlessmeal.com/easy-roasted-italian-cauliflower/
This recipe is dead on! I make
It an air fryer and turns out perfect and the most closest I’ve ever gotten to Nuba!
So great to know this can be made in an air fryer!!
I want to try making this in my air fryer. Did you toss the cauliflower in a little bit of oil before putting it in the air fryer? Did you still use the cornstarch?
Thank you for the help!
I just ate this at Nuba last night and this morning I woke up to try and find a recipe to make it. The cauliflower and the carrot dip riddled my dreams last night. I’m so glad I found this! Thank you!!
It’s really the best, isn’t it?!!
So simple, delicious and healthy I all but dream about this fabulous dish.
That makes me so happy to hear!
This sounds like a lovely recipe and I really want to try it! Unfortunately, I don’t have a cooking thermometer. Is there any other way I can estimate when the oil is hot enough to use?
Yes! Take a small piece of bread and put it into the oil. If it browns in 1 minute then the oil is hot enough. If the oil starts to smoke at all immediately remove it from the heat.
This turned out REALLY well. I used a Philips air fryer – 12 minutes at 390 degrees. Additionally I used curry flavored olive oil and two teaspoons of Ellbee’s Asian Zing gourmet garlic. Amazing. The tahini sauce coagulated when I added the lemon juice but some extra olive oil and water did the trick. Yum!
Such a great idea to use an Air Fryer! I seriously need to get one. 🙂
Right on the dot.Best & excellent- SAHTINE
Thanks so much!
Thanks! I made this tonight, followed your instructions and everything went just perfectly. I have largely avoided deep frying in an open pan – my father once started to make fries and then fell asleep on the couch with fairly disastrous results so I’ve had a healthy fear ever since. Thankfully your great oil temp instructions gave me the confidence to do this without undue anxiety (though I did make sure I had a lid and silicone mitts handy just in case…
Delicious, and just like Nuba. I will make this again for sure!
I’m so happy you liked it! And I hope your dad was ok after that incident. That’s scary!
I am making this as I type, without Tahini sauce. We love Nuba and this cauliflower dish! I cannot keep the heat at 300 Celcius, as well as I prefer not to completely kill the nutrition of the cauliflower. LOVE THIS!!! my fire alarm went off. I am keeping all doors and windows open until this is done.
Isn’t Nuba cauliflower the best? I hope you love my version just as much!!
The temps are in fahrenheit!! 300C is 572F! No wonder you’re having trouble.
You’re absolutely right! I hadn’t caught that in the last comment. Heating the oil that high would be dangerous! I’ll have a look thought the post to see if there is any way I can make that more clear. Thank you for noting that!
Hi Kristen,
I’m just wondering, instead of deep frying the cauliflower, can I bake it instead?
Thanks!!
You definitely can! Just know that the texture would be the same. It will still be yummy though! Just make sure to keep it in the oven until it is nicely browned – more brown than you think it should be. I always suggest roasting cauliflower until it is just shy of burning. 🙂
I have tried this recipe tonight. My cauliflower wasn’t crispy, more soft/soggy. Also, it did not look as nice and brown as yours. What did I do wrong? Too little oil or not hot enough?
Also, the tahini sauce is quite a thick consistency? Are you suppose to just dip your cauliflower in it or drizzle it over?
Please help – I need to get this recipe right for a dinner party we are having Saturday night !
I’m so sorry for the late reply! I’ve been away and haven’t had access to checking the comments. It sounds like the oil may not have been hot enough. While the cauliflower while the cauliflower will be soft, it shouldn’t be soggy. When oil is not hot enough it can soak into what you’re frying. And you can add a little water to the tahini sauce if it needs thinning. The consistency will depend on how much oil (how thick/thin) the tahini was that you used. 🙂
What type of oil did you use? Krysha Nair
I use grapeseed oil. Any neutral flavored oil will work. 🙂
I just made these yummy treats today and It’s now my favorite cauliflower recipe. Thank you for sharing your recipe Kristen.
That’s so great to hear! I love them so much, too. 🙂
Ι’ve never tried fried cauliflower before and after reading your recipe and looking at your beautiful photos, it really looks like I HAVE to, asap! Thanks for sharing, Kristen, will be definitely giving this a try soon.
You totally do! Honestly, it’s so so delicious!!
The Lebanese restaurant here roasts their cauliflower after drizzling it with tahini, lots of garlic and lemon juice. It is to die for!! (I make it at home quite often 😀 ) I’ll have to try this for a different twist… Thanks!
It sounds really similar! I love love love roasted cauliflower. 🙂
I just saw a photo of this recipe on Pinterest, and immediately I wondered if it might be like the cauliflower my husband and I ate during our last trip to Vancouver, where we had one of our favourite meals at Nuba. We both still talk about that cauliflower! I’m so excited to give you recipe a try. Thank you!
I’m so happy you found it! It is seriously my favourite cauliflower. 🙂
What temperature do you first heat the oil to before turning down?
Attach a candy/ deep-fry thermometer to the side. Heat the oil over medium-high heat until it reaches degrees. Lower the heat to medium and let it heat to 350 degrees.
What is it best paired with?
I look forward to giving this a try!
Thanks for catching that! I heat the oil to 300 degrees over med-high heat then turn the heat down to medium while it rises to 350 degrees. Doing it this way speeds things up at the beginning without risking over heating the oil at the end,
I love this recipe on its own as a snack. It would be great in a wrap or beside some grilled meat or veggies, too. 🙂
I searched for this recipe after trying this at Nuba and I gotta say, you NAILED it, It’s a very easy and straight forward recipe but still, I have tried this dish at different restaurants and they never taste like Nuba’s, so after making this and tasting it, I had a triumphant moment. Dinner yesterday was special because of this. Thank you!!!
You are so welcome! I have to admit that I was pretty stoked when I first tried it, too. 🙂
Your photography is beautiful!! 🙂
Awww you are too kind! Thank you so much!!
This sound out of this world tasty. Next meal I fry something, this is my side dish!
It is! You’re going to love it. 🙂
I think Najib needs to move to the east coast! Looks like we’ve been missing out all along 😉 This looks sooo insanely delicious. I actually used to love ordering roasted cauliflower with tahini from a very tiny Lebanese restaurant many many years ago and completely forgot about how delicious that combo is. Thanks for the reminder 🙂
They do! It’s one of my favourite places to eat. Crazy how roasting and frying cauliflower changes it so dramatically, isn’t it?!
This cauliflower sounds amazing! Looks so crispy and delicious. I am not a huge fan of cauliflower but I am sure I would love it served this way!
Oh girl, I think you would! This stuff is totally delicious. 🙂
Oh my word this sounds amazing! Even better, I have all the ingredients 😉
So glad you and your house are okay!
Thanks, girl! It was a close call. 🙂
I’m caulifower obsessed! There’s nothing you can’t make with it, I’ve been using it for everything!
Me too! Rice, polenta, pizza crust, tacos … it’s like magic. 🙂
This is probably the most beautiful dish of cauliflower I’ve laid my eyes on….
Thanks, love!!