Cauliflower Mashed Potatoes
These Cauliflower Mashed Potatoes are a revelation! They have far fewer carbs than your usual mashed potatoes, but are just as smooth and creamy. It’s a creamy vegetable side that’s easy to prepare, and I share a secret for ensuring that they aren’t watery and bland. This recipe only takes 20 minutes to make!
I’m always a little suspicious of “lighter recipes” that are substitutions of classics, but mashed cauliflower is legitimately delicious. It’s certainly worthy of holiday meals like Thanksgiving alongside some Maple Glazed Carrots, Butternut Squash Soup, and Drop Biscuits.
The first time I made mashed cauliflower at home, I was trying to recreate the cauliflower puree I so often had at fancy restaurants. They always tasted similar to mashed potatoes, but with a silkier and lighter texture, plus more flavor. I have finally figured out how to make them flavorful, creamy, and rich, yet lighter than usual.
Why This Recipe Is The Best
Not watery – I will show you in the step-by-step below how to squeeze the cauliflower to remove excess water after steaming. This makes a HUGE difference and makes the end result similar to the consistency of real mashed potatoes.
Flavorful, not bland – Another benefit of squeezing the water out is that it lets us replace the excess liquid with a small amount of butter and cream. It’s not overly heavy, but still creamy and flavorful.
Make-ahead friendly – You can make the entire dish ahead of time, then reheat before serving, just like you would with regular potatoes.
Fully customizable – The beauty of this recipe is that you can try tons of different flavor variations. You can add garlic, butter, different kinds of cheese, chives, scallions, and more.
How much cauliflower do you need?
Because we will be squeezing a lot of the water out of the vegetable, you will need more cauliflower than you think. I usually do two heads for four people.
Step by Step Overview:
Cut the heads of cauliflower down into florets:
Steam or boil the florets until fork tender. I do this in my instant pot, but you can steam in a pan, in the microwave, etc.
Let the florets cool, then squeeze the excess water out using a kitchen towel:
Sometimes when I’m impatient, I’ll just twist the bottom using tongs. It’s very hot, so don’t touch with bare hands!
Also, don’t skip this step! I’ve tried other methods for getting rid of excess water, even pressing the cauliflower through a strainer, and it’s not enough. You really need the towel.
Combine the cauliflower with cheese, butter, sour cream, salt, and pepper:
But really, you can do any sort of flavorings you want to.
To finish, you have two options:
- Mix it all by hand, and enjoy a chunkier texture.
- Transfer the ingredients to a food processor, and mix until smooth.
I personally like it with a smoother texture:
How to Serve It
This is a fantastic side for hearty, meaty dishes like Beef Wellington, Roasted Pork Tenderloin, or Prime Rib. It also makes for a beautiful “base” to the plate where you can place the meat on top and capture any sauce in the cauliflower mashed potatoes.
If you have any leftovers, I also enjoy spreading this over Sourdough Discard Flatbread.
Recipe FAQ and Tips:
Yes, so long as you’re okay with a chunkier texture, you can mash everything by hand.
Eh, kind of. I find the texture to be so much worse that I don’t bother, but it’s definitely edible.
Yes, just simply rewarm in the oven or microwave to serve again. The only downside is that I think that cauliflower is always a bit smellier once it has been refrigerated as leftovers.
This means you need to squeeze it a little better with the towel next time. I’ve tested it without the towel, just pressing as much water out as possible through a strainer, and it wasn’t good enough. The towel is important!
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Cauliflower Mashed Potatoes
Ingredients
- 2 heads of cauliflower*
- 1/2 cup grated cheddar cheese (about 2.5 ounces by weight)
- 1/4 cup sour cream
- 2 tbsp butter softened
- 1/2 tsp salt or to taste
- 1/8 tsp black pepper or to taste
- 2 tbsp chopped chives optional
Instructions
- Cut the cauliflower heads down into florets, then steam or boil for about 8-10 minutes, until completely fork tender and soft.
- You can also cook the florets in an , by adding 1/2 cup of water to the bottom, and placing the cauliflower florets on the steamer insert. Using high pressure, steam for 2 minutes.
- Let the cauliflower drain and cool, then squeeze in a kitchen towel to remove the majority of the water in the cauliflower. If you’re in a hurry, I’ve had success with using tongs or rubber gloves to squeeze the cauliflower while it’s still hot, just don’t use your bare hands!
- For a chunkier cauliflower mash, mix the cauliflower with the remaining ingredients by hand.
- For a smoother texture, puree the squeezed cauliflower in a food processor with everything but the chives, for about one minutes, until smooth.
- Mix in the chives if desired, or simply sprinkle on top to garnish. Enjoy!
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition is estimated using a food database and is only intended to be used as a guideline for informational purposes.
Post updated with new photos, writing, and tips in September 2018. Originally published April 2013. This post contains affiliate links.
130 Comments on “Cauliflower Mashed Potatoes”
Great Recipe , love it
I absolutely LOVE these and don’t miss the potatoes at all!
This might convince me to try mashed cauliflower. Haha! My husband is suuuper skeptical of cauliflower…wonder if I could get him to eat it? 😀
A chef in Jackson, MS used to suggest adding a small amount of mashed potato flakes if it was too watery and to improve the flavor.
Thank you!
I just love mashed cauliflower! This recipe looks so good.
Have you ever made it using frozen cauliflower? Just wondering if it would be too moist.
Thanks,
CherylK
Hi Cheryl, that’s a really good question. I haven’t tried it, but I will try to test this soon. If you try it, please share here as well.
I finally broke down and make cauliflower mash! (Cauliflower, S/P, Garlic and a little butter) I was pleasantly surprised by the taste. I normally like cauliflower but was a bit skeptical of substituting them for mashed potatoes. Whether I boiled them too long, blended them too long, the consistency was just too creamy for me. The taste was good, but they were very creamy… because of this I did however come across a new easy and healthy recipe!!! “Alfredo Sauce” (my cauliflower was in no way watery… it still held its peaks, and was not runny) After dinner I decided to make some whole wheat pasta and give this idea a whirl (I couldn’t let the mash go to waste).
To my surprise it worked. The mash mixed with the pasta and made for a great lunch the next day!! Cant wait to try out my newfound sauce with chicken:) Thanks for the recipe!!
Hi Kristin, that’s fantastic! I’m so glad it was enjoyable and you found a cool new way to eat it!
Joanne, you are my “go to” girl when I’m looking for something really special. My mother used to make a wonderful cauliflower dish by steaming the cauliflower, then placing it in a butter casserole and sprinkling with buttered breadcrumbs (melt butter and add breadcrumbs until it comes together nicely — not too wet, but not too dry either). Bake and serve. This dish was a winner on our dinner table, and that’s saying something! You KNOW how kids dread having cauliflower for dinner! I’ve made mashed cauliflower before, but tonight I’m using your recipe. I know we’ll love it.
Hi Deena, this is such a nice comment, thank you! The cauliflower recipe your mom made sounds really nice! I hope you all enjoy the cauliflower “mashed potatoes”…a few people have said they have enjoyed it so fingers crossed you do too!
My mother used to make cauliflower the same way. I just made it for myself tonight! The long steaming time plus the good bit of salt bring out this lovely “sweet”, “nutty” taste in the cauliflower. All the raw taste is gone. Paired with browned butter breadcrumbs that also get salted, and the dish gets into wow territory for me. Comfort food. Though browned butter and salt would probably make a shoe taste good.
For the 900g of cooked cauliflower (one head), I used 50g (a little less than half a stick) butter and 40g (~1/3cup) plain breadcrumbs. Not sure how much salt I use.
Hey, and save yourself the time of making florets first. I just rip off the big leaves, and plop my cauliflower head whole, stem side down, into my pressure cooker. I do high pressure for 12 minutes, instant release or natural release doesn’t matter. Then I pull it out of the pot by the steam rack handles and roll the head onto the serving dish so that its stem side is up. Now it’s easy to cut out the stem (and small leaves) and spread out the cauliflower with a knife. I go brown up some butter with the breadcrumbs, salt everything well, pour the butter mixture all over the cauliflower, and go to town on it.
My Other Half hates overcooked vegetables, but he does admit the flavors are nice in this dish. Your recipe, Joanne, gives me ideas. Maybe squeezing out the water and pureeing the cauliflower will make all the difference. The wheels in my head are turning. Time to go buy more cauliflower.
Hi Sylvia, thanks for sharing! I love hearing about your creativity, and you share some great tips. I think I can only fit one head of cauliflower in my pressure cooker unless I cut it up. Do you have the larger one?
I made it a couple of time without even adding cream and BF didn’t even notice it was not potatoes!
I love love love cauliflower and haven’t had mashed once in ages. Need to buys some and make
The cauliflower mashed potatoes look very healthy! We love mashed potatoes but this seems like a perfect alternative!
What’s funny is another commenter said she served it to her family and they didn’t know they weren’t eating mashed potatoes! haha. I think it’s different but it’s a nice way to make cauliflower nonetheless =)
That’s hilarious! It looks exactly the same – the texture is just different. I think that would be so funny to not mention that it’s cauliflower!
Those look so gorgeous and smooth!
Thanks Carrian! Cauliflower has never looked so sexy. LOL.
These are the best version of cauliflower mashed potatoes that I have ever tasted!! Great tips and video, thank you for sharing!!
Susie, that’s so wonderful!!! I’m so glad to hear this. Happy cooking =)
I made a version of this recipe for the holidays. It was interesting because everyone just assumed they were eating mashed potatoes. No one suspected there was cauliflower in the mix. I’ve seen it done with parsnips too.
Kristi, what a great comment!! I love this! The parsnip idea is brilliant as well.
Hi Joanne,
Just stumbled across your website and loving it. I love this cauliflower purée recipe you have. If you want another cracking cauliflower dsh to try r serve up to guests, take a look at this:
http://www.fdathome.co.uk/cauliflower-risotto-with-chocolate-jelly/
You won’t be disappointed.
Dave.
Hi Dave, Awesome! It’s going on my list.
Okay, I just have to laugh: my cousin walked in the door yesterday with a head of cauliflower and told me that my grandma had told her that I wanted a cauliflower. I had asked no such thing. Then I realized that she follows your blog as well and had probably seen this recipe and just assumed that I had wanted to make it. (Which I do, but I didn’t think I’d do it right away!)
So now there’s a bunch of cauliflower sitting on the counter, ready to be turned into “mashed potatoes.”
LOL!!!! That’s really funny. Have fun cooking and hope you all like them!
hello! I’m a fan of your site! I’m writing from Japan.
I have also been trying to figure out good ways to eat cauliflowers, and I will certainly have to try mashed potatoes!
I like to stir fry cooked cauliflower with olive oil, garlic, chili pepper, and lots of cilantro, salt and pepper. It’s a middle eastern dish, I think.
Also, I like to do fritters with cauli, with batter seasoned with oyster sauce. Quite tasty!
I look forward to your next recipe, as always!
Hi Sanae, oh cool, where in Japan? I have only been to Tokyo but I was there for a few weeks. I absolutely love the ways in which you cook cauliflower. I’m going to try that chili pepper garlic cauliflower stir fry! Fritters are always great too =)
Hello Joanne!
I live in Chiba, that’s where the airport is. I think you landed there first when you came to Tokyo. I hope you enjoyed your stay and liked the food, too!