Description
Look no further for a perfect holiday side dish; this cauliflower mac and cheese recipe is festive, flavorful, and fabulous! You are bound to fall in love with this!
Ingredients
Scale
- 2 fresh heads of cauliflower
- 2 cups of cheese (Parmesan, asiago, and mozzarella)
- 2 cups of milk (or less)
- 1 cup of chopped (white or yellow) onions and garlic
- 1-teaspoon salt
- ½ white or black pepper
- 1 teaspoon seasoning powder
- 1 teaspoon of onion powder
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- 2 tablespoon of olive oil
- 2 tablespoon of plant butter
- 2-tablespoon of flour
- More salt and Pepper to taste (if needed)
Instructions
- Wash and cut all vegetables and set aside. Place a big clean pot on the stove and add olive oil, as it starts to heat up and add the chopped onions and garlic. Cook to soften (for about 2 – 3 minutes) and then add the cut cauliflower. Stir, and add the salt, seasoning powder, onion powder, and pepper. Stir very well to combine. Cook cauliflower up to 10 – 12 minutes to sauté a little bit. This will help to reduce the moisture content of cauliflower. Turn off the stove and scoop off cauliflower into another bowl to chill until the next step.
- Meanwhile, preheat oven to 350 and spray a baking dish, set aside.)
- Rinse the big pot (or use without rinsing), place it back on the stove at medium-high heat and allow the pot to heat up. Add butter and reduce heat to medium-low. Add flour into the butter and keep stirring for about 2 – 3 minutes or less (until the flour is no longer raw). Then begin to gently stir in the milk, add all the milk, and continue to stir gently. Add some salt and pepper and taste for flavors (remember, the cauliflower is well seasoned, so don’t add too much salt). As the milk starts to thicken, turn off the stove and add the cheese if possible, leave out a ¼ of cheese to sprinkle on top.
- Add the sautéed cauliflower and gently coat and mix well into the cheese sauce, ensure that every bit of the cauliflower is coated in cheesy goodness. Then add the entire cauliflower into the sprayed baking dish, sprinkle the remaining ¼ of cheese on top of the cauliflower “mac and cheese,” and then place it into the oven. Bake for about 30 minutes or until the top of your cauliflower “mac and cheese” starts to develop a golden-brown color.
- Remove from oven, and place in a safe area to rest a bit before you start digging in. Garnish with rosemary or parsley for a touch of green. Serve by itself or alongside other favorite dishes. Enjoy!
Notes
Cauliflower has tons of moisture, so if you love thick sauce, you could increase the quantity of flour as well as cheese. You could already reduce the milk from two cups to about 1 – 1½ cups of milk.
I have, in the past, used a combination of regular flour with almond (2 tablespoons of almond flour and one tablespoon of regular flour), and it worked fine.
I used plant butter; you can use regular one if you choose.
