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Free Printable: Low Carb & Keto Food List
Get It NowWhen I switched to a cleaner, lower carb way of eating over a decade ago, I really needed a healthier atlernative to macaroni and cheese, one of my favorite foods at the time. After tossing cheese sauce with a bunch of different vegetables, I settled on this cauliflower mac and cheese as the best one. It was long before anyone was talking about such things, but I’ve been hooked ever since. You get all the goodness of the classic in a lighter, real food package. Make this cheesy cauliflower with me to get the comfort and the veggies together!
Why You Need My Cauliflower Mac And Cheese Recipe
- Creamy, cheesy mac & cheese vibes – Yes, I know it’s not actual pasta, but the flavor is the same, and it totally fulfills that comfort food craving. Picture tender, golden roasted cauliflower smothered in rich, creamy cheese sauce. You won’t even miss the noodles! (But if you do, just pour this same sauce over my keto pasta or baked spaghetti squash instead.)
- Quick and easy – This dish comes together super fast! I roast the cauliflower at a higher temperature than usual to make this healthy side dish in under half an hour.
- 6 simple ingredients – Plus salt and pepper. No white flour or processed stuff you might find in boxed mixes.
- Gluten-free, keto, and family friendly – Of course you get plenty of veggies in cauliflower mac and cheese, but it’s also just 5 grams net carbs and gluten-free. My favorite part is that everyone I’ve served this to over the years has loved it, from adults to kids — so much so, that I included it my Easy Keto Carboholics’ Cookbook. (It’s also got 99 other recipes that let you enjoy the flavor of high-carb foods while sticking to your macros.)
Ingredients & Substitutions
Here I explain the best ingredients for my cauliflower mac and cheese recipe, what each one does, and substitution options. For measurements, see the recipe card.
For The Cauliflower:
If you’re unsure about mac n cheese with cauliflower (will it really satisfy that craving?), don’t be. The veggie tastes very neutral here because the sauce is so cheesy and rich! You’ll need:
- Cauliflower – Fresh cauliflower is ideal, but frozen works too—just roast it a bit longer. The amount of sauce in my recipe is for your average head of cauliflower (4 cups of florets), so if yours is very large or small, you might need to scale the sauce up or down a bit.
- Olive Oil – Or avocado oil. In an earlier version (including my YouTube video), I used melted butter to keep it simple, since it’s already in the sauce below. But with the high roasting temp, I now recommend a heat-safe oil.
- Sea Salt & Black Pepper – Add 1/2 teaspoon of garlic powder if you want more flavor, or a pinch of cayenne pepper if you like a kick.
For The Cheese Sauce:
I love this sauce so much that I wrote a whole cheese sauce post on it! It’s perfect for keto cauliflower mac and cheese, and I also use it for topping roasted broccoli. You’ll need:
- Shredded Cheese – The base of the sauce, which also thickens it all by its lovely self. Sharp cheddar cheese is my fave, but mild cheddar works, too. You can swap it for any melty cheese, like Gruyere, Gouda, or Monterey jack.
- Heavy Cream – Makes it rich and creamy. Substituting any kind of milk (except full-fat canned coconut milk) will be thinner, so you’d need more cheese to compensate.
- Almond Milk – To thin out the sauce and balance the richness. I used store-bought, but you can easily make your own almond milk, or swap in coconut milk beverage for a nut-free option (the liquid kind from a carton, not the canned thick kind). You can also just water down more heavy cream, or use regular dairy milk if you don’t mind the extra carbs.
- Butter – Make sure it’s unsalted, or your cheesy cauliflower will be too salty. I like this grass-fed brand.
How To Make Cauliflower Mac And Cheese
I have step-by-step photos here to help you visualize the recipe. For full instructions with amounts and temperatures, see the recipe card.
Cook The Cauliflower
You can use any method you like, but I highly recommend roasting! Sometimes I air fry the cauliflower for smaller batches. You can also steam the cauliflower for a quick option. To roast:
- Season the cauliflower. In a large bowl, toss the florets with the olive oil, salt, and pepper.
- Roast until golden. Spread the florets on a baking sheet (I have this one in every size and love them). Roast in the oven until tender and browned on the edges.
Make The Cheese Sauce
In a saucepan over low heat, stir together the cheese, cream, almond milk, and butter, stirring frequently until smooth. Alternatively, you can simply microwave the ingredients until the cheese melts, then stir until smooth. Be careful not to overheat.
Mix Together
Transfer the cooked cauliflower to a large bowl (you can even reuse the one from earlier!). Pour cheese sauce on top and mix to coat evenly. I like a little fresh cracked pepper over the cauliflower mac and cheese at the end.
My Recipe Tips
- Cut your cauliflower florets small. They roast faster that way, and you get smaller pieces in every bite, making the experience closer to regular mac and cheese. I aim for 1 inch pieces.
- Give the cauliflower enough space when roasting. You want each floret touching the pan to get those browned edges — and to make this process fast.
- Don’t use a whisk. The shredded cheese will clump and stick to the whisk as it melts. Using a spoon or spatula to stir the sauce works much better.
- Sauce too thick or too thin? It’s easy to adjust the consistency before mixing with the cauliflower. Keep in mind it will thicken more as it cools from piping hot to warm. But if you need to adjust, add more shredded cheese to make it thicker, or more almond milk or cream to thin it out. Easy!
- Fold in the sauce gently. The tender cauliflower can break apart if you’re too rough with it.
- Want an extra cheesy finish, crumb topping, or bacon? Just transfer your cauliflower mac and cheese to a baking dish at the end (I use this one and it’s the perfect size). Sprinkle with more cheddar if you want a melty top, crushed pork rinds for a crumb topping, or crumbled oven baked bacon. Pop under the broiler for a couple of minutes to brown the top.
Storage & Meal Prep
- Store: Keep leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 4 days. I don’t recommend freezing cheesy cauliflower, as the texture of the sauce changes.
- Meal prep: Cut and roast the vegetables, make the cheese sauce, and store separately. When ready to serve, reheat the cauliflower and sauce (I often just use the microwave for lunch), then toss together.
- Reheat: Cauliflower mac and cheese is more mushy after reheating, but still so delicious! You can microwave it, or use your oven at 350 degrees F.
Serving Ideas
I’ve totally enjoyed a big bowl of this easy cauliflower mac and cheese all by itself! But it’s also super versatile with proteins for a more balanced meal:
- Comfort Food – Try my low carb chicken nuggets, keto fried chicken, bacon wrapped hot dogs, or a for all the nostalgic vibes. For a homestyle meal, go for slow cooker turkey breast or keto meatloaf. You can even spoon keto chili over the cauliflower mac and cheese.
- Chicken – My family’s faves are simple baked chicken legs, air fryer chicken quarters, and garlic butter chicken. You can also whip up some buffalo wings for game day!
- BBQ – You can’t go wrong with my juicy burger (or a lighter turkey burger), quick air fryer brats, or saucy BBQ chicken legs. If you want to get fancy, grill a steak.
More Low Carb Cauliflower Recipes
If you like my cauliflower mac and cheese, you’ll probably also love my other comforting cauliflower recipes:
Cauliflower Mac and Cheese (6 Ingredients)
Make my easy, cheesy cauliflower mac and cheese with 6 ingredients in just 25 minutes! It's the ultimate healthy, low carb comfort food.
Instructions
[ See step photos See my tips ]Tap on the times in the instructions to start a kitchen timer.
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Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F (232 degrees C). Line a baking sheet with foil or parchment paper.
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In a large bowl, toss the cauliflower florets, olive oil, salt, and pepper.
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Arrange the cauliflower florets on the prepared baking sheet. Roast for 15-20 minutes, until crisp-tender.
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In a small saucepan over low heat (or a bowl in the microwave), heat the cheddar cheese, heavy cream, almond milk, and butter, stirring frequently, until smooth. Be careful not to overheat.
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When the cauliflower is done, transfer it to a large bowl. Pour the cheese sauce over the cauliflower and gently fold the sauce into the cauliflower until coated evenly.
Did You Like It?
Leave a rating to help other readers (this also helps me continue to provide free recipes on my site), or get the recipe sent to your inbox.
Maya’s Recipe Notes
Serving size: 1 cup
- Tips: See my recipe tips above! I’ve got notes to help you get the perfect cheese sauce consistency, options for toppings, and more.
- Store: Refrigerate leftovers in an airtight container for up to 4 days. I don’t recommend freezing.
- Reheat: Microwave or heat in a 350-degree F oven.
📖 Want more recipes like this? Find this one and many more in my Easy Keto Carboholics’ Cookbook!
I provide nutrition facts as a courtesy. Have questions about calculations or why you got a different result? Please see my nutrition policy.
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Cauliflower Mac And Cheese
291 Comments
Nancy Romain
0I loved roasting the cauliflower first. Makes a huge difference. I tried other recipes but this is the best. I changed up the cheese sauce a bit though.
Kim Hallock
0This was delicious!!!!
Jessica
0Oh my god, this was even better than I imagined!
Liz Mareld
0Delicious and very easy to prepare.
Cheryl Riding
0How many cups of florets is needed for the recipe? Can I use frozen?
Maya | Wholesome Yum
0Hi Cheryl, It’s about 4 cups of cauliflower florets. Yes, you can use frozen ones. They’ll take a bit longer to roast.
Maria Torres
0I brought this dish as my potluck platter and it was a hit! Extremely delicious.
Tegbuna
0Absolutely love it! My teenager is trying keto with me and she hates vegetables. I made some with roasted cauliflower and some with boiled cauliflower. She preferred the boiled cauliflower because the roasted version was quite crunchy. I enjoyed them both and will make this a new dish for the entire family to enjoy in our home. Thanks so much for sharing!
Melissa
0Everyone (adults and kiddos) liked this! I didn’t want to have sauce that thickened and became stringy so I added 2 TSBP extra butter and an extra 1/4 C almond milk. I will add it to my rotation! Thanks for sharing so many great recipes!!!
I can see this being great with other cheese mixes too! Grueyere! Gouda! Yummy!!!
Sue
0As Aaron commented it’s easiest to make a bechamel and melt the shredded block cheese (I successfully used 75% reduced fat cheese!)in last. I had no separation and the cheese sauce was super thick. Next time I will just use whole milk.
I also added 1/4 tsp onion powder, 1/4 tsp garlic powder, & 1/2 tsp dry mustard . Next time I will add a slivered onion (cut into thin wedges from stem to root) to the cauliflower and roast them together. Cauliflower needs lots of salt and pepper so be generous.
You can prep this dish by roasting the cauliflower then refrigerating it until needed. Put the cauliflower in an oven-safe dish and reheat at 300 F while you make the cheese sauce. Pour the hot cheese sauce over the heated cauliflower, turn the heat up to
375 F, and bake for another 15-20 min. You can also run it under the broiler to get the cheese sizzling.
What a great recipe this is! I had no idea cheesy cauliflower could be so easy and so delicious. Thank you!
Gina
0Yumm! This is tasty and easy!
Carole
0Excellent recipe. Make this all the time!
Mary
0A friend had us over for dinner last night and made this. It was fabulous!
Aaron
0Really tasty. I’ve worked with cheese sauces before, so I changed up the technique to basically be a Bechamel. It might help with the separation problem some folks are having.
– melt the 1 Tbsp butter on low-medium heat.
– add 1 Tbsp flour (I used coconut, anything should be fine), then whisk continuously for a couple of minutes until it thickens up, turns a nice tan color, and smells just a bit toasty.
– whisk in the cream and milk so they can warm up. You can stir more casually now, but don’t wander off too far lest it bubble over.
– when the mixture is warm, add in the cheese a pinch at a time and stir until it fully melts away before adding the next round. As you go you can use bigger pinches, but if you go too fast the sauce will cool down too much and you’ll get clumps.
– when the cheese is all melted in, you’re good to go.
Lisa Davis
0I made this today. I didnt have any almond milk so I eliminated it. The recipe turned out just as good. The mac n cheese is delicious. I will make again.
Janet Hartley
0This is delicious. I used whole milk, emmentaler and cream cheese, onion and nutritional yeast. Just microwaved cheese and poured it over cauliflower. It was runny at first but thickened up perfectly.
Marci Razete
0Fabulous!
Jamie
0This is so delicious! Only thing I added was some black garlic truffle seasoning. Tasted great with your meatloaf recipe. My tummy is so happy right now. Made the cauliflower in the air fryer while the meatloaf was in the oven. Cheese sauce only took a couple minutes to make, super easy.
VNH27
0This sauce is amazing and could be used for lots of other recipes too!
Sarah Anne Chafin
0Hi Wholesome Yum. This is the fifth time we’ve made this recipe. The first time I made it, it was so good that I wanted to cry. I’ve been telling people about it ever since. The second time, my husband made it at the fire station (except he used broccoli), and it was a big hit. The third time, my husband made it again, but he left the sauce on the stove too long and it separated. Lesson learned. The fourth time, I made it with Monterey Jack cheese because that’s what I had on hand, and it was also a flop. I blamed the cheese, but now I’m not so sure. The fifth time (tonight), I made sure to follow the recipe to the T, but the sauce separated again. I’ve noticed the past two times that the sauce starts out perfect and only separates after tossing it with the cauliflower. Now I want to cry because I’m so frustrated! Do you have any idea why it would do this? Could the cauliflower be too hot? Could it be too wet?
Maya | Wholesome Yum
0Hi Sarah, I’m honored you made my recipe so many times and so glad you liked it for most of them! Sorry to hear your sauce started separating! I’ve never had this sauce separate, so this is strange. Are you using frozen cauliflower that maybe is too wet? Is it fully smooth before you mix it with the cauliflower? Maybe the heat on the stove is too high?
Lisa Davis
0I made this today. I didnt have any almond milk so I added a little more hwc. The recipe turned out great. My sauce was thick and creamy. This is a great substitute for real mac n cheese. I will make again.
Roger
0Best cauliflower mac and cheese I’ve ever had.