Cheesy Cauliflower Bake

Cheesy Cauliflower Bake with bacon, green onion, and tomato is a low-carb, gluten-free casserole that even your picky eaters will love.

While you could easily make a meal out of the casserole itself, I enjoyed serving it with Buttermilk Brined Chicken and Veggie Ribbon Salad. This is a fantastic lower carb option to replace gratin potatoes or Air Fryer Twice-Baked Loaded Potatoes.

No, I’m not going to pretend that this recipe is totally healthy—it has too much cheese for that claim. However, I believe that we deserve to indulge on occasion, and this is one delicious way to do that.

If you’re looking for more of a cauliflower mash, Skinny Taste has a Loaded Cauliflower “Mash” Bake that sounds delicious.

There are a few steps to this recipe, but overall it’s very easy to make.

MAKE CHEESY CAULIFLOWER BAKE:

First, preheat the oven to 400ºF, and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Place six slices of bacon on the baking sheet. Once the oven is preheated, bake for approximately 10 minutes. Remember, the bacon will crisp as it cools. Remove the bacon to a paper towel lined plate to cool. Turn the oven down to 350ºF.

Next, you need to lightly steam the cauliflower. I just use a steamer basket in a large sauce pan. While the cauliflower is steaming, cook the bacon and set aside, and chop the green onion and tomato. When the bacon is cool enough to handle, chop it into small pieces.

Drain the cauliflower and return to the sauce pot. Add the cream cheese and cheddar cheese, and carefully stir until the cheese is melted. Add in the onion, tomato, bacon, mustard, garlic, and seasoning. Stir to blend all the ingredients together.

Transfer to a lightly greased  7x10 (or 8x8) baking dish and bake in a preheated 350ºF oven for about 20 minutes.

While the cauliflower is baking, make your crumb mixture. I used almond meal, golden flaxseed meal, fresh grated parmesan, and melted butter. Simply use a fork to mix together the almond meal, flaxseed meal, and butter until a crumbly texture forms. Add the parmesan and toss to coat. Set aside until the cauliflower is baked.

Remove the cauliflower from the oven and top with the “bread crumb” mixture. Broil for about 5 minutes, remove from the oven, and let rest about 5 minutes.

I am willing to bet that even your picky eaters will devour Cheesy Cauliflower Bake.

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CHEESY CAULIFLOWER BAKE NOTES:

• NOTE: This recipe was first published on November 28, 2016, but was republished with updated photos, ingredients, and notes to make the recipe more user friendly.
• Try substituting different cheeses according to your tastes. Other cheeses that work well in this recipe include: smoked Gouda, Manchego, smoked cheddar, or Gruyère.
• Yes, you could simply fry the bacon in a skillet, but to me, baking it makes much less mess. It was a tip I learned from the prep cooks in my restaurant, and I haven’t fried bacon since.
• I happened to have roasted garlic on hand, so I used 1 tablespoon of that instead of 2 teaspoons minced.
• Do make sure that you use almond meal, not blanched almond flour for this recipe. I often buy my almond meal at Trader Joe’s, but I have also ordered Anthony’s brand from Amazon.
• I use Bob’s Red Mill Flaxseed Meal. It’s great to have on hand to add to smoothies and salads.
• Use any spicy mustard that you like. This time I used Annie’s Horseradish Mustard.

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OTHER RECIPES YOU MAY LIKE:

Parsnip Mashed Potatoes

Oven Baked Pork Chops