Cauliflower
Peak season in the Midwest · up 18% this week
This vegetable is at its local-harvest peak from September through November, and is sold in stores year-round. This week it's peak season in the Midwest — buying it in season usually means better quality and, as the regional prices below show, a lower price.
Per a typical 107g serving, scaled from the per-100g figures in USDA FoodData Central (Cauliflower, raw).
- 1 SouthwestCheapest $1.49/ea
- 2 Northwest $1.68/ea
- 3 Southeast $3.00/ea
- 4 Northeast $3.09/ea
- 5 Midwest $3.15/ea
- 6 Southcentral $3.47/ea
Buying cauliflower in the Southwest saves about 57% versus the Southcentral this week.
- How to pick a good one
- A dense, heavy head with tightly packed creamy-white curds and crisp green leaves still wrapped around it. Brown speckles are oxidation — cosmetic in small amounts, but widespread spotting means age. The leaves are a better freshness clue than the curd.
- What a good price looks like
- A head is commonly $3 to $5 and moves around more than most vegetables — it is a fussy crop. Under $3 a head is a good buy. Compare it against broccoli by the pound when both are in the case, since they cook the same ways and the price gap between them can be large in either direction.
- What you actually get
- A 3 lb head gives about 2 lb of florets, so budget roughly a third for core and leaves. That serves four to six. Riced cauliflower in a bag is about four times the price per pound of a whole head and takes two minutes to make in a food processor.
- How to store it
- Refrigerate in a bag, stem down so condensation does not settle into the curd, for up to a week.
- In the kitchen
- Cauliflower browns beautifully and boils badly, so roast it whenever you have the choice — high heat, plenty of room on the tray, and do not turn it until one side has genuinely coloured. Cut the head into thick planks through the core rather than into florets and you get far more flat surface to brown. The leaves are edible and roast to something like a crisp.
- Getting the most out of it
- Cut it into thick slabs and roast hard; the flat faces brown properly, which is where the flavour is. The leaves and core are edible and roast well too, which matters given how much of the head they account for.
- Cauliflower Mashed Potatoes with Mushroom GravyRecipe by Minimalist Baker~$0.98 / serving 4 in-season
- Cauliflower BologneseRecipe by Two Peas & Their Pod~$1.05 / serving 4 in-season
- Sriracha and Lime Roasted Cauliflower TostadasRecipe by Foodie Crush~$1.05 / serving 4 in-season
- Vegan Cauliflower Gnocchi with Kale-Cashew PestoRecipe by The Modern Proper~$1.15 / serving 2 in-season
- Mushroom Alfredo Penne BakeRecipe by Pinch of Yum~$1.20 / serving 4 in-season
- Creamy Vegetable SoupRecipe by Nora Cooks~$1.29 / serving 10 in-season
See all 354 recipes with cauliflower →Filter by diet, time, budget, and macros.
Price from the USDA National Retail Report. Nutrition per typical serving, computed from USDA FoodData Central.
Cauliflower — FAQ
When can you buy cauliflower in season?
This vegetable is at its local-harvest peak from September through November, and is sold in stores year-round. This week the Midwest has cauliflower marked peak season.
What's the price of cauliflower right now?
As of the week of September 4, 2026, the price of cauliflower in the Midwest is $3.15/ea, up 18% from last week. It's cheapest in the Southwest at $1.49/ea.
How many calories and how much protein are in cauliflower?
A typical 107g serving of cauliflower has about 27 calories, 2g protein, 5.4g carbohydrates, 0.3g fat, and 2.1g fiber, per USDA FoodData Central.
What can I make with cauliflower?
SeasonSort indexes 354 recipes that use cauliflower, each with its cost per serving computed from this week's prices — starting from about $0.11 a serving. The cheapest are listed on this page, with a link to the full filtered list.