Creamy Cauliflower Cheese Casserole with Bacon
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For low-carb comfort food, you can’t go wrong with this creamy and delicious Cauliflower Cheese Casserole!
Cooked cauliflower is covered with a cheesy cream sauce, baked in the oven until golden brown, and topped with crispy bacon – it is seriously good!
Cauliflower Cheese can be served as both a side dish and as a main dish and is super easy to make.
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Cauliflower Cheese Casserole
The full ingredients list and instructions are found in the printable recipe card at the end of this post. I highly recommend reading the blog post all the way through so that you don’t miss any tips or substitution suggestions and to ensure that you have all the ingredients and equipment required as well as understand the steps and timings involved.
Cauliflower cheese is one of my very favorite comfort foods! My mum would make it all the time when we were kids! When I decided to go low carb (and keto) I had to adapt the traditional recipe as it uses flour (a no-no ingredient) and butter to make a roux for the cheese sauce.
The sauce for this cauliflower cheese casserole is made using heavy cream (double cream), cream cheese, grated cheese, and some herbs and spices. It is also topped with bacon which is always a good thing!
This dish makes a great meal in itself or as a side dish. We love eating it with sausages or with a roast beef dinner – yum! It’s always a real treat.
You can twist things up by using half cauliflower and half broccoli, or by using different cheeses. The recipe calls for strong cheddar and mozzarella, but you could use pepperjack, blue cheese, or a smoked cheese if you like. It’s a recipe you can experiment with quite easily!
Rather than boiling the cauliflower in a pan, steam it – but don’t overcook it – and pat it dry before covering in the cheese sauce to bake in the oven. This helps to prevent the sauce from going watery. No one wants to eat watery cheese sauce!
This recipe uses American cups. They’re a handy piece of kitchen equipment to have along with a kitchen food scale. Having both in your kitchen means you’ll be able to make all of the different recipes on my blog as I use both cups and weighted measures.
You will also need a casserole dish to bake the cauliflower cheese in.
More Recipes Using Cauliflower
One of the hero ingredients in this recipe is cauliflower here are some more recipes using the same:
- Roasted Apple Cauliflower Mash with Crispy Brussels Sprouts
- Broccoli + Cauliflower Salad with Sesame Dressing
- Oven-Baked Vegetable Curry with Lemon Turmeric Rice
For more seasonal food, check out The Ultimate List of Autumn Recipes for the Fall Season! Right-click and open a new tab to read next.
More Low Carb Recipes
Looking for more low carb inspo? Check these recipes out next:
- Low Carb Egg and Pork Cups
- One-Pan Lemon & Rosemary Chicken Thighs
- Lemon Herb Chicken Drumsticks with Smoky-Bacon Greens
How Do I Make Cauliflower Cheese Casserole?
Just check out the recipe card below with full ingredients, instructions, and demonstration photos. You can print the card out too (don’t worry, the pics don’t print to save your ink!).
Cauliflower Cheese Casserole
Ingredients
- 4 cups cauliflower florets chopped into bite-sized pieces
- 6 oz cream cheese cut into chunks
- ¼ cup heavy cream double cream
- 3 Tbsp unsalted butter softened
- ¼ tsp garlic powder
- ½ tsp dried thyme
- Sea salt and black pepper to taste
- 1½ cups grated strong cheddar and mozzarella cheese blend divided
- 4 strips bacon cooked and crumbled
- 1 Tbsp fresh chives chopped
SUGGESTED PRODUCTS
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 200C/400F/Gas 6.
- Place the cauliflower in a steamer basket on top of a pot with boiling water and steam until fork-tender, around 6-7 minutes. Remove from heat and transfer cauliflower into a cold water bath to prevent further cooking. Drain well and pat dry.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the cream cheese, heavy cream, butter, garlic powder, and dried thyme. Season with salt and black pepper, to taste. Stir in ½ cup of cheese.
- Add the steamed cauliflower to the cheese mixture and toss gently to combine.
- Transfer to an oven-safe casserole dish and top with the remaining cheese and crumbled bacon.
- Place in the preheated oven and roast for 8-10 minutes or until cheese is melted and nicely browned on top.
- Remove from oven and serve immediately topped with fresh chives. Enjoy!
Nutrition
Nutritional information is always approximate and will depend on the quality of ingredients used and serving sizes. If you need exact calories and macros, please do your own calculations.
Make It A Meal!
You’ve made the side dish, but what about the rest of the courses?
Here are additional recipes to make a full meal!
- Appetizer: Balsamic Mozzarella Stuffed Grape Tomatoes
- Main Dish: One-Pan Lemon & Rosemary Chicken Thighs
- Beverage: Bourbon Apple Cider Maple Fizz Cocktail
- Dessert: Caramel Apple Cookies with Chocolate Chips Recipe
There are 500+ Recipes on The Purple Pumpkin Blog for you to enjoy – please feel free to check them out too!