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.
128 Comments on “Cauliflower Mashed Potatoes”
I found steaming a whole head instead of breaking it down to florets absorbs less water as long as you don’t steam it long. I didn’t have to squeeze water out.
Can you use an electric hand mixer?
My guess is without the blades it wouldn’t get smooth enough, though you could try since the cauliflower is quite soft. This is also probably too thick for a blender.
What type of kitchen towel is good to use to drain the cauliflower with?
I like to use a linen type material rather than terry
Thank you for responding. I will try that. We have been using regular kitchen towels. It’s so hard to squeeze the water out.
Once cauliflower cools, can you drain liquid by using a salad spinner?
This i a question.
Can you use an electric hand mixer as opposed to a food processer ?
I wanted to try this recipe, it looks good. But I do not understand 14 Carbs per serving. There is hardly any ingredients that even have any carbs.
Nevermind, did not realize cauliflower was so high. But hard to imagine 2 heads only produce 4 servings. Will try it. Thank you
I attempted this tonight and what I found is that the recipe is missing something critical: LIQUID (typically milk). If you do exactly as directed, you will not end up with a smooth mash, but something that’s between mash and cauliflower rice. I poured some milk in as I was processing until I got to the consistency I wanted, but you really should tell people that; novice cooks might be confused and frustrated otherwise.
Omg!! This recipe is so good! I did do a few things differently though.
I used 6 bags of frozen cauliflower, I added a bit more sour cream (probably 1/2 cup or more), I also didn’t have a food processor so I used my ninja blender lol.
They turned out so smooth & so good! The consistency is almost identical to mashed potatoes, not runny AT ALL (I did make sure I squeezed as much water as possible out)! I made them for Christmas yesterday and me & my mom loved them! Thank you for sharing!
OH THIS IS WONDERFUL!!!
When your diet does not allow potatoes, this is the saving grace!!!
On the cauliflower can u use a mixer on it ?
Absolute best! I took your recommendation of drying cauliflower to extreme as I ended up with a brick which was easily solved by adding milk. Serving for thanksgiving so you know it was excellent. Thank you for the great recipe.
Will frozen florets work as well?
Yes, just follow the directions on the bag or whatever and then squeeze them, add them to the food processor/bowl as the recipe says. NB that if you squeeze them out, you need to add back some liquid such as milk to achieve the smooth consistency pictured.
Okay, so these were amazing! Thank you so much. My youngest loves mashed potatoes and I can’t wait to try these when she comes home from college. I used parmesan bc I was serving with Beef Bourguignon. Perfect.
Such a good recipe! They came out some much thicker and less watery than any cauliflower mashed I’ve had in the past.
Delicious! Easy! Will definitely make many more times!
I only used one head of fresh cauliflower bc it is just me. For a family you will most definitely need two heads.
I recommend.
How much is 1 serving? ( ex. 1 cup = 1 serving or 1/2 cup=1 serving)