Healthy Baked Cauliflower Cheese (GF,VG, Nut Free)

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Comfort food at its finest. This vegan version of baked cauliflower cheese, still has that cheesy sauce that basically makes this dish it’s best. Easy to make with 6 main ingredients. Gluten, vegan and nut free to suit most diets.

Now I know lots of people have baked cauliflower cheese as a side dish, but I’ve never done that. To me, I have always seen it as a main dish. Something that stands alone with maybe some garlic bread to mop up the cheesy sauce.  

Make This Cauliflower Cheese Ahead of Time

This baked cauliflower cheese is a great dish to make ahead of time. Prepare the cauliflower and the cheese sauce mixed them together and place them in an oven proof dish. Pop in the fridge and bake it later.  

Don’t Waste The Cauliflower Leaves 

Food waste is a big problem in society today. In 2019 an estimated 987.890 tonnes of food and drink in Scotland was wasted.  

That figure is absolutely shocking. Especially when you consider how many people go hungry every day.  

In 2018 the Scottish Health Survey reported that 1 in 10 people are food insecure. Food insecurity means that, because of a lack of money, a person or household has to eat a less healthy diet or, go without food, or worries about doing so.  

To find out more about food insecurity and the survey about click here. 

 

Easy Ways to Use The Cauliflower Leaves

For this baked cauliflower cheese recipe I used the cauliflower leaves as a side dish. 

Strip the leaves from the stalk. Roughly chop the leaves and add them along with the stalks to a frying pan. Season with salt and pepper and fry in a tablespoon of oil. I chose avocado oil but any oil will work. Fry for 5-10 minutes until the stalks are fork tender and the leaves have wilted. Serve along side your baked cauliflower cheese.  

Alternatively, you could thinly slice the cauliflower leaves and use as part of a salad, like you would with lettuce. Or even add them to a soup or stew. There really is no need to waste the leaves.  

The “Cheese” Used in This Baked Cauliflower Cheese

The key ingredient in this and most vegan cheese sauces is nutritional yeast. In recent years nutritional yest has become easier to find and cheaper. Here in the UK nutritional yest is also known s yest flakes.

This sauce doesn’t contain any onion or garlic making it low fodmap. Instead i used asafoetida powder and ground fenugreek. You can use onion and garlic instead if you don’t need this sauce to be low fodmap.

Related Recipe >>>> Mac and Cheese (GF, VG, Nut Free)

Ingredients Needed:  

A Large cauliflower

Cauliflower leaves

Nutritional yeast

Non dairy milk

Smoked paprika

Mustard powder

Asafoetida powder

Ground fenugreek

Arrowroot powder

Salt and pepper

Loved This Try These Recipes Next:  

One Pot Cheesy Tomato Basil Pasta (GF, VG)

Jackfruit Korma (GF,VG)

Cashew Cream Cheese (GF,VG)

Final Result  

A healthy and easy dinner recipe. Great for those busy weeknight dinners as it only takes 30 minutes to make. Easy way to get kids to eat a portion of vegetables with dinner. As the cheese sauce is delicious and gives the cauliflower a great flavour.

Be sure to PIN this recipe for later. You can follow me on Pinterest @naturallysweetlife for loads more exciting recipes. Also over on Instagram @emmalouisecee for more food and lifestyle content.

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Healthy Baked Cauliflower Cheese

Comfort food at its finest. This vegan version of baked cauliflower cheese, still has that cheesy sauce that basically makes this dish it’s best. Easy to make with 6 main ingredients. Gluten, vegan and nut free to suit most diets.

Course dinner

Cuisine DF, GF, nut free, VG

Keyword baked cauliflower cheese

Prep Time 5 minutes

Cook Time 25 minutes

Servings 2

Author emma

Ingredients

• 1 large Cauliflower
• Leaves from the cauliflower

Cheese Sauce

• 500 ml Non dairy milk i used Alpro coconut milk
• 50 grams Nutritional yeast
• 2 tsp Smoked paprika
• 1 tsp Mustard powder
• 1 tsp Asafoetida powder
• 1 tsp Ground fenugreek
• 1 tsp Black pepper
• 1 tsp Salt
• 2 tbsp Arrowroot powder

Instructions

Cauliflower Florets

1. Cut the cauliflower florets of the head into smaller bite sized pieces. Set the leaves off to the side and save for later.

2. Bring a medium sized pot of water to a boil. Add the cauliflower florets to the boiling water for 5 minutes to part cook them. They will finish cooking when baked in the oven later.

Cauliflower Leaves

1. Thinly slice the leaves and add to a frying pan. Season with salt and pepper and fry on a medium heat for 5-8 minutes until the stalks are fork tender and the leaves have wilted.

Cheese Sauce

1. In a small pot add all the cheese sauce ingredients and mix to combine them. Reserve 1/5 of the nutritional yeast to top the cauliflower cheese before baking.

2. Bring the sauce to a simmer and leave to thicken.

Assembly

1. Pre-heat oven to 180c

2. Add part cooked cauliflower florets to a medium sized rectangle deep baking dish. Pour over cheese sauce. Sprinkle remaining nutritional yeast over the top and bake the the oven at 180c for 10-15 minutes. Until the top is golden brown and the cauliflower is tender.

3. Remove from oven and serve with the pan fried cauliflower leaves.

4. Store any leftovers in a airtight container in the fridge for up to 5 days.