Take your roasted cauliflower mash recipe up a notch by adding bacon and baking it twice!Â
Cauliflower is a favorite here in the Betsylife household. Even The Hubs gets excited when he sees it on the dinner table. As a kid, my mom would only make it steamed whole in the microwave, then coated in a mustard sauce and smothered in Velveeta cheese. (It tastes way better than it sounds) These days, our favorite cauliflower preparation is simple roasted florets seasoned with salt, pepper and olive oil, but it really is a super versatile vegetable.
Have you heard all these wacky rumors that about being able to substitute cauliflower for potatoes and no one can tell the difference? Well, I’ve learned that its true to a certain extent. Cauliflower has such a mild taste that when mashed up, it is easy to mistake it for potatoes. However, in my opinion, the texture is never quite the same.
Twice Baked Cauliflower (with bacon, sour cream, and cheese!)
Despite the difference in texture, this twice baked cauliflower recipe is so good, I don’t know that I’ll ever be making the potato version again. I mean, you can’t really go wrong by adding bacon and cheese to a dish, and this has now become my favorite way to make cauliflower. In fact, I even put this recipe in my ebook.
This recipe also opened up a world of inspiration for me. What other potato dishes can I swap cauliflower for? Could I make “fries” with cauliflower? What about scalloped cauliflower “potatoes”?
I think there’s going to be some kitchen experimenting going on in my near future. In the meantime, TRY THIS! Its really, really good.
Twice Baked Cauliflower (with bacon, sour cream, & cheese!)
Take your roasted cauliflower mash recipe up a notch by adding bacon and baking it twice!
Ingredients
- 1 large head cauliflower
- 1 tbsp butter
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp pepper
- 1/2 cup sour cream
- 1/2 cup green onions chopped
- 1 cup cheddar cheese grated
- 4 slices bacon cooked until crisp then crumbled
Instructions
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Preheat oven to 350
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Spray an 8x8 baking dish with cooking spray
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Cut cauliflower into florets. Boil in a large pot until tender but not overly soft.
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Transfer cauliflower to a large bowl and mash with a potato masher.
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Add the butter, salt, pepper, sour cream, green onions, and 3/4 of the chopped bacon. Stir to combine.
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Place mixture into baking dish, top with cheddar cheese then remaining chopped bacon.
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Bake for 30 minutes
Anna @ Tough Lipstick says
I love cauliflower, bacon and cheese. This looks like a winner in my book!
betsy says
You’ll love it! I’m totally obsessed
Barbara says
Hi Betsy!
Made this for dinner tonight and it was delicious! Cauliflower was on the menu anyway and I happened to have everything on hand. I used light sour cream and 2% cheese as that was what I had, still totally awesome. My husband loved it, I served it with steak. Thanks for a great recipe!
betsy says
Great to hear!
Jackie says
This sounds so yummy! Do you think I could use frozen cauliflower instead of fresh?
Amy says
I’m wondering the same thing…think frozen would work??
betsy says
Definitely! Cook it according to package directions first
Debra says
Do you have the nutritional breakdown or just need to do each item individually. I’m tracking my food on fitness pal trying to loose weight and get healthy.
betsy says
Sorry, I don’t have a nutritional breakdown for you. I use calorieking.com to check each item. Good luck!
Heather says
This looks amazing! Going to try it tonight. Roughly how many servings would it make as both a main and side?
Thank you
betsy says
It’s only one head of cauliflower made in an 8X8 dish. You could probably get 6 adult servings out of it as a side. If it was a main dish I would say 2
Lieann says
This is basically the best Mac and Cheese…without the mac – yum.