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Home > Dips & Sauces > Cauliflower Cheese Sauce

Cauliflower Cheese Sauce

Last updated February 19, 2020. Originally posted February 19, 2020 By Jyothi Rajesh 16 Comments

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creamy cheesy cauliflower cheese sauce served in white bowl with text overlay
creamy cheesy cauliflower cheese sauce served in white bowl with text overlay
creamy cheesy cauliflower cheese sauce served in white bowl with text overlay

Do you believe this insanely delicious cheese sauce is all made from a vegetable! Cauliflower! Cauliflower cheese sauce is light, creamy, and cheesy, this sauce is deliciousness overload!

pouring cauliflower cheese sauce served in white bowl

This sauce is unbelievable! It looks like cheese sauce and you can use it just like cheese sauce, use it in mac and cheese or any other pasta, pour it over roasted vegetables, use it to dip vegetables. It’s so good that you’ll go licking the spoon straight off. Ofcourse it’s healthy!

What Is Cauliflower Cheese Sauce?

It’s actually thick puree of cauliflower that can be used as cheese sauce in any dish. The sauce is all cauliflower, with some sauteed garlic and seasoning along with cheese (which is optional and you can totally skip it if you want to make it vegan. Also replace dairy milk with vegan almond milk or coconut cream for vegan option).

To put it in simple words – this sauce is creamy, cheesy, savory healthier version of Alfredo sauce. Easy to make with minimal ingredients.

Cauliflower is bland vegetable. You want to improve it’s taste with loads of flavoring agents and well seasoning. Cauliflower cream is definitely a healthy substitute for most popular Alfredo sauce or béchamel sauce. The texture of the cauliflower when cooked and pureed turns into this unbelievable creamy, cheesy texture!

creamy cauliflower cheese sauce in a spoon

Why Should You Make This Cauliflower Sauce?

  • Why not?! Right! I mean cauliflower is one amazing vegetable that can be transformed into anything you want, anything! You can turn this humble vegetable into low-carb rice, make healthier low carb fried rice, looking for snack that’s low carb?, well you got cauliflower to rescue. Make low carb cauliflower bread sticks or simply make the creamiest soup without actually adding any cream!
  • When you can so many things with cauliflower, why not make insanely delicious and healthy cheese sauce? The texture and bland taste of this humble vegetable gives you the opportunity to transform it into any types of food!
  • Cheese sauce made from cauliflower is healthy. It’s got all the benefits of a cauliflower – great source of vitamin C, rich in fibre and loaded with micro nutrients!
  • The sauce is light, and you can use it in everything – in pastas, over roasted vegetables, for dipping, use it in soups (for thickening and taste).
  • It’s ridiculously easy to make your own version of cauliflower cream sauce.  All you have to do it break down cauliflower into smaller florets, cook until tender and blend with sauted garlic, seasoning and cheese!

Ingredients For The Sauce

all ingredients for cauliflower cheese sauce on white board

Vegan –

If you want to make a vegan version of cauliflower cream, skip parmesan cheese, use almond milk with coconut cream instead of regular milk and butter with olive oil.

Seasoning –

Don’t skim on the seasoning.  Cauliflower on it’s own is bland and can be boring. You need to season it well and pack some flavors too. Butter sautéed garlic helps pack flavors.

Cheese –

You can totally skip it if you want. But highly recommend it. Parmesan enhances the taste of this cheese sauce, close to real thing!

How To Make (With Step-By-Step Pictorial)

  • Rinse whole cauliflower head under tap water. Remove the green stem from cauliflower head and break cauliflower into small florets. Keep aside.

Note – make sure you have equal sized florets so they cook even.

green stem removed from cauliflower head
cauliflower head broken into smaller florets
  • Melt butter in a pan. Add minced garlic and saute until garlic is fragrant. Do NOT brown garlic. You only want garlic to soften a bit and release it’s oil. Immediately remove pan from heat and set it aside.
minced garlic sauted in butter
minced garlic sauted in butter

Note – browned garlic will give bitter taste to the sauce. DO NOT BROWN IT.

  • In a stock pot or large pot bring vegetable broth to boil.
boiling vegetable broth in stock pot
  • Add in cauliflower florets. Cook cauliflower in broth on medium heat for about 7 to 8 minutes or until florets are tender.
cooking cauliflower florest in vegetable broth in a stock pot
cooking cauliflower florest in vegetable broth in a stock pot until it's tender
  • Once soften cauliflower florets from the stock. Transfer to a blender.
tender cauliflower florets added into food processor for blending
  • Add rest of the ingredients to the blender – sautéed garlic, salt, freshly ground pepper, milk and few tablespoons of hot broth in which cauliflower was cooked.
all ingredients added to food processor for cauliflower cheese sauce
  • Blend until smooth. You can blend the sauce into velvety smooth texture with Vitamix blender!
blending cauliflower cheese sauce in food processor
  • Add in Parmesan cheese and some olive oil (it adds more flavor to the sauce) and blend again.
grated Parmesan cheese added to cauliflower cheese sauce
  • Serve over your favorite pasta. Note – cauliflower sauce by itself will have the ‘cauliflowery’ taste. Stirring it with foods like pasta (mac n cheese), pouring over roasted broccoli or vegetables works better. You can even stir it in soups to enhance taste and as thickening agent!

How To Use Cauliflower Sauce

  1. The best way to use this creamy sauce is to serve it with pasta. Mac and cheese with creamy cauliflower sauce is in so many ways healthier than your regular mac n cheese made with flour and loads and loads of cheese.
  • This sauce can be poured over any roasted or steamed vegetables. Vegetables overload with deliciousness!
  • It’s great as a creamy sauce in casseroles.
  • Use it as pizza topping, you read it right.
  • Stir in in soups, an healthy thickening agents for your soup!

Does It Taste Like Alfredo Sauce?

It may look very much like Alfredo sauce, but when it comes to taste it does have that pronounced cauliflower taste. No it doesn’t taste bad at all. In fact it tastes so good with sautéed garlic, seasoning like salt and pepper and cheesy definitely with Parmesan cheese, you won’t believe how good an healthy version of Alfredo sauce can taste!

This sauce is tried and approved by kids! They couldn’t tell that it was made of cauliflower. They simply devoured a bowl of mac n cheese made with cauliflower sauce.

How To Store Leftovers?

Got leftovers? Or want to make this sauce ahead? No problem. This sauce stores well for about a week when refrigerated. So chuck those leftovers in containers with lid on and store it in fridge. This gives you all reason to make this sauce ahead and store it and use it for few days in all your favorite food.

Cook’s Tips To Make The Best Cauliflower Cheese Sauce

  1. Make sure all florets of cauliflower are same size. It helps cook evenly.
  2. Do not brown garlic. You want to simply saute garlic in butter until it turns little soft and begin to release it’s oil. Browned garlic will taste bitter.
  3. Cooking cauliflower in vegetable stock enhances the taste of the sauce.
  4. Cheese is optional but highly recommended. It makes the sauce taste so much better and cheesy just like the real stuff. Very little cheese, oh it’s still healthy!
  5. You can totally control the sauce consistency to what you like. If you want velvety smooth creamy texture use a high powered blender like vitamix or blendtec.
  6. To make vegan version of cauliflower Alfredo sauce, replace butter with olive oil to saute garlic, replace milk with vegan friendly milk like almond milk, and ditch Parmesan cheese.
cheesy cauliflower cheese sauce served in while bowl with napkin on side

LOOKING FOR MORE SAUCE RECIPES? TRY THESE –

Peanut Sauce

Spicy Sweet Chili Sauce

Thai Mango Dipping Sauce

Schezwan Sauce

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cheesy cauliflower cheese sauce served in while bowl with napkin on side
5 from 9 votes

Cauliflower Cheese Sauce

Jyothi Rajesh
Do you believe this insanely delicious cheese sauce is all made from a vegetable! Cauliflower! Cauliflower cheese sauce is light, creamy, and cheesy, this sauce is deliciousness overload!
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Prep Time 10 mins
Cook Time 12 mins
Course Sauces
Cuisine American
Servings 5 cups
Calories 189

Equipment

  • Vitamix blender

Ingredients
  

  • 1 cauliflower head broken into florets (about 5-6 cups of florets)
  • 7 cloves of garlic minced
  • 2 tablespoon butter unsalted
  • 4 cups vegetable broth
  • ½ cup milk use almond milk for vegan version
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon pepper freshly ground pepper
  • ½ cup Parmesan cheese freshly grated
  • 2 tablespoon olive oil optional as needed to loosed the sauce

Instructions
 

  • Rinse whole cauliflower head under tap water.
  • Remove the green stem from cauliflower head and break cauliflower into small florets. Keep aside.
    Note – make sure you have equal sized florets so they cook even.
  • Melt butter in a pan. Add minced garlic and saute until garlic is fragrant. Do NOT brown garlic. You only want garlic to soften a bit and release it’s oil. Immediately remove pan from heat and set it aside.
    Note – browned garlic will give bitter taste to the sauce. DO NOT BROWN IT.
  • In a stock pot or large pot bring vegetable broth to boil.
  • Add in cauliflower florets. Cook cauliflower in broth on medium heat for about 7 to 8 minutes or until florets are tender.
  • Once soften cauliflower florets from the stock. Transfer to a blender.
  • Add rest of the ingredients to the blender – sautéed garlic, salt, freshly ground pepper, milk and few tablespoons of hot broth in which cauliflower was cooked.
  • Blend until smooth. You can blend the sauce into velvety smooth texture with Vitamix blender!
  • Add in Parmesan cheese and some olive oil (it adds more flavor to the sauce) and blend again.
  • Serve over your favorite pasta.
    Note – cauliflower sauce by itself will have the ‘cauliflowery’ taste. Stirring it with foods like pasta (mac n cheese), pouring over roasted broccoli or vegetables works better. You can even stir it in soups to enhance taste and as thickening agent!

Video

Notes

  1. Make sure all florets of cauliflower are same size. It helps cook evenly.
  2. Do not brown garlic. You want to simply saute garlic in butter until it turns little soft and begin to release it’s oil. Browned garlic will taste bitter.
  3. Cooking cauliflower in vegetable stock enhances the taste of the sauce.
  4. Cheese is optional but highly recommended. It makes the sauce taste so much better and cheesy just like the real stuff. Very little cheese, oh it’s still healthy!
  5. You can totally control the sauce consistency to what you like. If you want velvety smooth creamy texture use a high powered blender like vitamix or blendtec.
  6. To make vegan version of cauliflower Alfredo sauce, replace butter with olive oil to saute garlic, replace milk with vegan friendly milk like almond milk, and ditch Parmesan cheese.
 
Nutritional Info – Please keep in mind that nutritional information provided is only a rough estimate and can vary greatly based on products used.

Nutrition

Calories: 189kcalCarbohydrates: 11gProtein: 7gFat: 14gSaturated Fat: 6gCholesterol: 21mgSodium: 1463mgPotassium: 402mgFiber: 2gSugar: 5gVitamin A: 658IUVitamin C: 57mgCalcium: 179mgIron: 1mg
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    Comments & Reviews

  1. Natalie says

    April 27, 2020 at 2:50 pm

    5 stars
    This sauce sounds so good and so healthy. So much better than store bought stuff. I love that you added parmesan cheese. I must give this a try.

    Reply
    • Jyothi Rajesh says

      April 27, 2020 at 4:47 pm

      Thank you

      Reply
  2. Alena says

    April 27, 2020 at 9:25 am

    5 stars
    I love cauliflower and can’t wait to make this! What a creative way to turn a veggie into a sauce!

    Reply
    • Jyothi Rajesh says

      April 27, 2020 at 4:48 pm

      Glad you liked it

      Reply
  3. Nicole says

    April 27, 2020 at 8:57 am

    I’m not a fan of most cauliflower recipes but my husband is as he is doing the Keto diet. Ill have to show this to him. Thanks!

    Reply
  4. Sara says

    April 27, 2020 at 5:01 am

    5 stars
    Such a delicious sauce for pasta! Your tips and the step-by-step photos are very helpful, and the sauce is delicious!

    Reply
    • Jyothi Rajesh says

      April 27, 2020 at 4:48 pm

      Thank you

      Reply
  5. Mikayla says

    April 27, 2020 at 12:40 am

    5 stars
    This is a fantastic sauce for my son, I’ve been looking for ways to make veggies less intimidating and this is great for serving up healthy foods that he enjoys eating. Great for pasta!

    Reply
    • Jyothi Rajesh says

      April 27, 2020 at 4:48 pm

      We loved it with pasta. Thank you

      Reply
  6. Paige says

    April 26, 2020 at 12:49 am

    5 stars
    I can think of so many different delicious things to make with this sauce! Such a great idea!

    Reply
    • Jyothi Rajesh says

      April 27, 2020 at 4:49 pm

      Glad you liked it

      Reply
  7. Amanda says

    April 25, 2020 at 3:27 am

    5 stars
    I love this sauce so much! It’s the perfect topping to any pasta dish.

    Reply
  8. Veena Azmanov says

    April 25, 2020 at 12:26 am

    5 stars
    Creamy and healthy. Love the Cauliflower combination to making this delicious spread.

    Reply
  9. Amy says

    April 24, 2020 at 10:11 pm

    5 stars
    I’m totally guilty of indulging waaay to much in cheese sauce — it just goes so well with everything! 😉 Thanks so much for sharing this healthier version, so I can smother stuff in cheese without feeling guilty! I can’t wait to try it!

    Reply
  10. Amy Liu Dong says

    April 24, 2020 at 3:02 pm

    5 stars
    Amazing sauce recipe that I believe can be match on any food that needs something to be dip. The texture is so mesmerizing.

    Reply
    • Jyothi Rajesh says

      April 24, 2020 at 7:42 pm

      Thank you

      Reply

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Jyothi - Author of Curry Trail.

Welcome, I'm Jyothi

My food philosophy is simple, fresh and full of flavors! I love ‘spicy’ food. In fact so much so that I can skip dessert for extra spicy savory food!

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