Low Carb Baked Cauliflower and Cheese – easy keto side dish!

This low carb baked cauliflower and cheese is a great substitute for mac & cheese or just as a keto side dish.  The tender cauliflower is baked with 3 different cheeses for a rich and gooey cheesy casserole! Once serving has only 3.9g net carbs!

You might also like this low carb cheesy cauliflower casserole!

Growing up my mother never made that delicious baked macaroni and cheese dishes. So I don’t know why I want to dive face first into them when I’m at a party. Necessity being the mother of invention, I came up with this rich and decadent low carb cauliflower and cheese dish instead. 

I used 3 different cheeses to make a thick and gooey sauce to make this baked cauliflower dish and it only has 3.9g net carbs! While my son won’t eat cauliflower, my husband thought it was a great side dish and I ate it for my dinner.

 

How many carbs in cauliflower?

Cauliflower is so versatile, you can use it as a substitute for rice, pasta and potatoes. It doesn’t have much taste on it’s own but when you can add butter, bacon and cheese, look out! 
 
So the amount of carbs in 1 cup of raw cauliflower is only 5g and it has 3g of fiber so the net carbs are only 2g! It’s also high in Vitamin C and Vitamin K. Check out this article for more low carb vegetables.

 

 

 

Low carb cheese sauce ingredients

I used three different cheeses for this cheese sauce along with heavy whipping cream and they were sharp cheddar cheese, shredded gouda cheese and cheddar cheese powder. I only used 2 tablespoons of the cheese powder but it gives lots of color and taste. 

Speaking of cheddar cheese powder, I used this to make my nacho zucchini chips and I’m sure I’ll find many more uses for it. However if you don’t have it or want to buy it you can use grate Asiago or Parmesan cheese . 

 

 

Making keto cheese sauce

This is super easy to do. Just add half of the gouda and cheddar cheeses, powedered cheese, cream, onion powder and garlic powder in a small saucepan. Whisk until the cheese has melted and everything is incorporated. This should only take a few minutes. 

 

Low Carb Cauliflower and Cheese Recipe

First place your cauliflower florets in a microwave safe dish and cook in the microwave for 5 minutes. I like this microwave steamer for dishes like this.

While the cauliflower is cooking, make your cheese sauce by combining the 1/2 of the gouda and cheddar cheese, all of the powdered cheese, cream and spices in a small sauces pan. Whisk until the cheeses are melted.

 

 

 

Take the cauliflower out of the microwave and place in a baking dish. Cover with the cheese sauce and mix well to coat. Top with remain cheddar and gouda cheeses and bake for 40 minutes in a 400°F oven.

 

 

How to make cauliflower and cheese a main dish

You can make this cauliflower and cheese into a meal by adding protein in right before baking. Some good items to try are cooked rotisserie chicken, leftover turkey, raw shrimp, cooked taco meat, chopped up sausage, etc.  I had leftover taco meat and ate some with the leftovers. It was awesome!

 

 

Other low carb vegetables to try instead of cauliflower

While I really like this as a substitute for macaroni and cheese, you can also use different vegetables  for a side dish. Just do everything the small but sub in cooked broccoli or Brussel sprouts. Green beans should work too but you don’t want to use a vegetable that contains lots of water such as zucchini. It would just make the whole dish watery.

 

If you miss your macaroni and cheese on a low carb diet, I hope you give this one a try. The nutritional information for 1 serving is:

211 cals / 16.2g fat / 6.8g carbs / 2.9g fiber / 9.6g protein = 3.9g net carbs

 

Other keto cauliflower side dishes

My friend Angela has a great cauliflower cheese recipe I think you will like too!