Easy Creamy Cauliflower Au Gratin Casserole Recipe
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This easy Au Gratin Cauliflower Casserole with bacon is a lovely low carb casserole that you can serve any day! This cauliflower side dish is great any time of year, but it is especially welcome at the holidays when you are looking for some lighter carb items to serve.
Cheesy and delicious, the cauliflower gratin tastes wonderful and a lot like potatoes, with a lot fewer carbs. I love making this all year round.
Why You Will Love This Recipe
Hello Friends! I hope you are having a great week. It has been a productive week at our home as I have been cleaning out my craft closet and pulling out the Christmas decor.
Today’s recipe is a cheesy cauliflower dish that is wonderful to serve at dinners. The cauliflower is a vegetable that I have only recently embraced. Since I follow weight watchers during the week (on most weeks – ahem), this low carb vegetable tastes a lot like potatoes but saves you calories and carbs.
If you have never made a cauliflower dish, this is a great one to try. The tender cauliflower is blended with a creamy cheese sauce, then topped with bacon. This makes a delicious side dish for your holiday dinner table.
Cauliflower has about 1/5 of the calories that potatoes have and if you substitute it in some dishes, this is the perfect side dish to enjoy and you will be saving calories without even realizing it.
Cauliflower Gratin Recipe Ingredients
Cauliflower– This tastes best with fresh cauliflower. Pick a firm cauliflower head with no bruises or dark spots. This recipe can also be made with frozen cauliflower.
Milk or cream- I used heavy cream, but you can use a mixture of half cream and half milk for this recipe
Butter – unsalted
Cheese – I like to use Cheddar cheese, but you can mix it up with some Fontina, gruyere cheese or Parmesan cheese.
Bacon – I’m partial to low-sodium bacon as I feel it has enough salt in it. You can also use turkey bacon if you wish.
Full list in recipe card.
Equipment and Kitchen Tools
- large bowl
- medium saucepan
- baking dish
- spoon
- cheese grater
How to make Cauliflower Au Gratin Casserole
The full recipe is below, but the major steps are:
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- Cook the cauliflower over medium heat. Add cooked cauliflower and bacon to the casserole dish.
- Melt the butter. Then in a small bowl, mix together melted butter, milk, and some of the Cheddar cheese.
- Top with a light layer of cheese.
- Bake until golden brown. Let the dish cool for a few minutes before serving to allow the cheesy sauce to thicken.
Don’t forget to bookmark this recipe! You will want to make this again.
- Shred the cheese ahead of time and keep it in your refrigerator. Or you can buy the cheese that is already shredded.
- You can buy prepared cauliflower florets if you want to save time.
- You can make the bacon ahead of time or use bacon bits, but I highly recommend you make the bacon yourself.
- Store leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator.
Recipe Variations, Notes, and Substitutions
- You can top the casserole with a few breadcrumbs before baking for a nice comfort food touch.
- Add a little garlic to change up the flavor a bit.
- You could add some toasted walnuts or bread crumbs to the top of this casserole for a nice crunch.
Recipe FAQs
The cheese is a key ingredient, so choose a good quality cheese that melts well, such as Gruyere, Cheddar, or Parmesan. You can also use a combination of cheeses for a more complex flavor.
Yes, let it cool first and then transfer to an airtight container and freeze up to 3 months.
You can add a dash of thyme, garlic, and/or nutmeg for an added flavor boost.
More Delicious Cauliflower Recipes
Lemon Roasted Cauliflower – A delicious Lemon Roasted Cauliflower recipe that is perfect any time of year. Made with herbs and lemon, for a tasty vegetable side dish!
Baked Cauliflower with Cheese -An easy cauliflower bake for a tasty side dish idea!
Broccoli Cauliflower – An quick side dish that is healthy too!
Au Gratin Cauliflower Recipe
Cauliflower Au Gratin
Ingredients
- 2 large heads cauliflower stems removed and separated into evenly-sized florets
- 1 cup 2 sticks unsalted butter
- 2 cups heavy cream
- 3 cups sharp cheddar cheese divided
- 1 ½ cups cooked and crumbled bacon
- Sliced green onions garnish
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Prepare a 9×13 casserole dish with nonstick cooking spray.
- 2 .Fill a large stockpot with water to three-quarters full. Add about 1 teaspoon salt. Bring the water to a boil over high heat.
- Add the cauliflower florets and cook for 10 minutes or until fork-tender.
- Drain the cauliflower well and place in the casserole dish.
- Sprinkle half of the bacon over the cauliflower and tuck into the cauliflower florets.
- Meanwhile, in a large skillet, melt the butter over medium-low heat.
- When the butter is melted, add the heavy cream and bring to a boil, stirring often. Allow mixture to simmer for 10 minutes. Stir in 2 ½ cups of the cheese and stir until melted. Allow sauce to simmer, stirring often, for an additional 3 to 4 minutes or until the sauce coats the back of a spoon and begins clinging to the sides of the skillet.
- Pour the sauce over the cauliflower and bacon. Top with the remaining cheese and bacon.
- Bake for 45 minutes or until the cheese has melted and the cauliflower begins to brown.
Notes
- You can make the bacon ahead of time or use bacon bits, but I highly recommend you make the bacon yourself.
- Store leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator.
Nutrition
I hope you enjoyed this creamy cauliflower au gratin recipe.
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Delicious! We’re hosting this year! Well, by “hosting,” I mean just the five of us (whoa, five now) and Cassidy’s mom and her husband. They live in a small town without even a stoplight and have zero cases of COVID and he’s totally high risk so we feel safe with them in our bubble. Still a weird year, though.
Needs delicious recipes like this! And Cassidy is low carb.
Nice! We are having a dinner with just our immediate family too. Hope you have a wonderful holiday!