How do you feel about cauliflower? If you’re anything like the rest of us, you probably don’t use cauliflower in your cooking all that often. Still, it’s a very versatile veggie packed full of healthy nutrients and low on carbs. As an added bonus, it also fits perfectly into a wide variety of otherwise-carb-heavy recipes and substitutes almost perfectly. When you’re on a low-carb diet, you still don’t want to skimp on any of your favorite recipes, right?
To that end, we have a truly delicious recipe for you today to introduce you to the wonderful world of cauliflower. Just to set this up for you, what’s the most carb-packed vegetable you can think of? Potatoes. Still, a nice loaded baked potato is one of the most delicious and comforting dinner recipes there is—and a hard one to give up if you’re on a particularly restrictive diet. Fortunately, this loaded cauliflower casserole is simple to make and is a near perfect replica of this much beloved dish. With plenty of cheese, cream, garlic and even bacon, this is a recipe you’re sure to revisit again and again. So let’s get started.
Here’s what you’ll need:
- 2 pounds of cauliflower florets
- 8 ounces of sharp cheddar cheese (shredded)
- 8 ounces of Monterey Jack cheese (shredded)
- 8 ounce block of softened cream cheese
- 1 1/2 cups of sliced green onions
- 6 cups of cooked and crumbled bacon
- 1 clove of grated garlic
- salt
- pepper
Here’s what you do:
1. Before you get started, make sure to preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Once that’s set, break up your cauliflower if you bought a whole head into florets and steam them until they’re tender, for about five minutes. You can also use frozen cauliflower instead and follow the instructions on the bag.
2. In the meantime, get out a mixing bowl and pour in six ounces of your cheddar, six ounces of your Monterey Jack, the cream cheese and your heavy cream. Use an electric mixer and cream them all together.
3. Once that’s ready, stir in your sliced green onions along with your chopped bacon and garlic. Give it all a good stir to make sure everything is well-combined and then set the bowl aside.
4. When your cauliflower is done, drain out any excess liquid that may still be there. Once it’s relatively dry, mix the cauliflower together with your cheese mixture. Give it a taste and add salt and pepper as necessary. Depending on your preferences, you can also mash this with a potato masher if you want a smoother texture in your casserole.
5. After that, pour the entire mix into a casserole dish and sprinkle the top with the rest of your cheddar and Monterey Jack cheese. Cover it up with foil and throw it in the oven for about 25 minutes.
6. When that time has passed, take the foil off and let it keep baking until the cheese on top turns nice and brown. Once it’s done, you’re ready to serve!
As you can see, this recipe comes full of delicious ingredients that are sure to tickle your fancy. While this dish is particularly heavy on fat, that’s often not a problem for many low-carb diets like keto or Atkins—and the carbs per serving are still relatively low. Even if you’re not on a diet, this is a dish you really have to try to see how delicious it is. As always, have fun with the process, add your own twists as you see fit and let us know how it goes!
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