Summary:
Satisfy your mac and cheese cravings with this no-pasta version — a simple 30-minute recipe for roasted cauliflower florets tossed in a rich and thick cheese sauce.
INGREDIENTS
Cheese Sauce:
- 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream (Note 3)
- 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
- 2 ounces cream cheese, chopped (Note 4)
- 2 teaspoons
dijon mustard - 1/2 teaspoon table salt
- 1/2 teaspoon
garlic powder - 1/4 teaspoon
ground cayenne
INSTRUCTIONS
- Roast Cauliflower: Preheat oven to 400 F. If any cauliflower florets are larger than 2 inches, cut into smaller pieces. Toss florets with olive oil on foil-lined baking sheet until well-coated, then spread out florets in single layer. Bake at 400 F until tender, 15 to 20 minutes (Note 5). While baking, proceed to next step to prepare sauce.
- Make Sauce: Whisk all sauce ingredients together in small saucepan over medium heat until melted and smooth, about 5 minutes, reducing heat as needed so that sauce isn't hot enough to simmer. Once combined, keep warm over low heat while waiting for cauliflower to bake.
- Serve: Toss roasted cauliflower with sauce in mixing bowl until well-coated. Serve (Note 6), and evenly sprinkle parmesan cheese and black pepper on top.
NUTRITION
| Makes 4 Servings |
| Amount Per Serving: |
| Calories 350 (80% from fat) | |
| Total Fat 31g | 47% |
| Saturated Fat 16g | 78% |
| Cholesterol 76mg | 25% |
| Sodium 610mg | 25% |
| Net Carb 4g | |
| Total Carb 7g | 2% |
| Dietary Fiber 3g | 11% |
| Sugars 3.5g | |
| Protein 12g |
PHOTOS
Made it tonight. It’s BETTER than boxed mac n cheese….for sure. I added way more cheese & subbed out smoked paprika for the cayenne. Loved the garlic flavor.
Thank u for the recipe!!
This. Is. So. Good! Thank you for sharing this recipe, I’m new to Keto & this is going to make it much easier. Yum!!!
This turned out really well, overall. The flavorings were too strong for my household, so in future, I’ll probably use half or a third of the mustard, slightly less than half of the cayenne, and half of the garlic and salt, and add in about a tablespoon of butter to replace the mustard to help with emulsification.
I’ve made this a dozen times with different cheeses and they were all great.
Can you do this with frozen cauliflower?
This recipe was amazing! I also added 1/4 tsp of smoked paprika to the sauce. Next time I will cut the salt in half and make that 1/4 tsp also. The amount of sauce was more than enough for a large head of cauliflower (which was 2 lbs on the grocery receipt). I also cooked in the oven (separate from cauliflower, on cooling rack) one piece of good quality bacon, and crumbled that on the top before serving.
This was delicious!!! I did roast the cauliflower with Old Bay seasoning vs adding paprika into the sauce, but it worked out beautifully! Thank you for sharing this recipe!
I ended up roasting my cauliflower about 25 minutes.. Whole family loved it! Thanks for sharing.
Excellent recipe! I made the sauce with cream cheese and shredded cheese as noted, but then used unsweetened almond milk and a splash of regular milk, and then paprika instead of the other spices. Tasted great this way too and had the desired orangish color!
Made this for supper tonight as a side dish for Pork Loin Chops. The family loved it! Great substitution for Mac & Cheese. Will definitely make it again and again.
Could this be done in an instant pot / ninja foodi with air crisper?
Maybe. I really like the roasted flavor that comes from baking cauliflower, so steaming them in a high-pressure environment won’t be the same. Also, the cheese sauce is very thick and comes together quickly on the stovetop, and it would be more time-consuming to make in the Instant Pot because you would need to add a lot of liquid to help pressurize the pot.
This is delicious! Obviously a vegetable can’t replace pasta and not taste like a vegetable. It tastes like cauliflower covered in a delicious cheese sauce. It’s a great alternative for Mac & Cheese if your trying to eat healthy. It definitely satisfies my Mac & Cheese cravings!
Sooo good! And very easy to make too. I like the like cayenne kick 😉 thanks for the recipe
I pan-fried frozen broccoli (didn’t have cauliflower) and used sour cream in place of the cream cheese. It was probably a little runnier with the sour cream, but it was SO GOOD. We loved it. Nice, flexible, fast recipe. Thank you!
This is the best cauliflower recipe I had ever found and low carb! after I made this, I sure the extra cauliflower! I’m always gonna bake them from now on! More tastier than boiled! The cheese is very good on this cauliflower! My family don’t like the cayenne seasoning, didn’t have the garlic powder, so I used Mrs. Dash seasoning. The very little of the left over tasted great!
I’ve made this recipe several times and played with different infused oils. My favorite so far is the truffle infused olive oil.
Yum! I added a tablespoon of swerve, but next time I’ll probably cut the swerve and cayenne in half. But it’s still very delicious!
Are you referring to Swerve, the sweetener?
How many blocks of cream cheese is 2 ounces?
If you’re using 8oz bricks (it should say on your product’s packaging), then 2oz is one-quarter of a brick.
This was sooooo delicious! Thank you for this fantastic recipe! It really hit to spot! I followed another commentor’s suggestion and added smoked paprika which was delicious. Thanks!
to say this is Great is an understatement!
OMG!! this was awesome.
This was great. I make it once a week.
Try grabbing the Birds Eye SteamFresh Ranch Cauliflower. Soooo good. While a sauce like this is great, when it’s been a crazy day I just zap the cauliflower, sprinkle some cheese and microwave 30 seconds more to melt the cheese a bit more. 6 minutes to a great comfort meal!
THIS IS A HOMERUN!
Absolutely amazing!! Easy creamy smooth perfection! Thank you ☺️
If I make this the day before I want to serve it, will it reheat
okay?
I haven’t reheated this before. If you do, I recommend reheating it on the stovetop, not in the microwave, for best results.
For anyone else reading this and wondering about reheating, I reheated a leftover portion in the microwave with no problem. When I made the dish, I slightly undercooked my cauliflower, and after I mixed it with the cheese sauce, I poured it into a casserole dish and topped it with a mixture of pork rinds and cheese that I blitzed in my food processor. The topping got crunchy and cheesy-gooey under the broiler. When I reheated it two days later in the microwave, the sauce held together without breaking, and the pork rind/cheese topping didn’t get greasy or soggy. This recipe as written is legit. I only modified it because I’m a sucker for a baked mac n cheese.
On a side note, if you haven’t made Julia’s keto biscuits yet, your are missing out. They eat just like a buttery wheat flour-based biscuit. Also, check out her pancakes. I used ChocZero’s maple syrup on top and was blown away. It was like eating pancakes with Mrs. Butterworth’s as a kid. Super nostalgic.
Thanks so much for your recipes, Julia. They really are better than anything else that I’ve found. I can’t wait to cook my way through your blog.
Thanks for taking the time to share your feedback! I really appreciate it 🙂