Healthy cauliflower in a light garlic Parmesan cream sauce. Garlic Parmesan Cauliflower is the perfect side dish for any occasion, a weeknight meal, a family holiday meal, and just anything yummy and delicious.
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Dinner Inspiration
I’ve been going back through some of my posts looking for dinner ideas, you know, things to inspire me to cook even though it’s 100 degrees outside.
And, I came upon my Garlic Parmesan Orzo Pasta.
For some reason that made me think that I could make this into a delicious cauliflower based recipe.
Healthy veggies in a yummy garlicky sauce. Sounds perfect to me.
Looking for other great cauliflower dishes?
Here are some of my favorite! Buffalo Cauliflower Bites, Mexican Veggie Casserole Bake, and Cauliflower Fried Rice.
Benefits of cauliflower
Maybe it’s the popularity of cauliflower right now, and the fact that you see it just about everywhere. Riced Cauliflower. Cauliflower pizza. Cauliflower mashed “potatoes”.
Heck, I’ve even seen the blue box of mac & cheese with added cauliflower now.
Cauliflower is low carb, making it Paleo, Keto, Atkins (does anyone do that anymore?), and simply healthy to eat.
I’ve always thought that cauliflower was delicious! Especially cauliflower florets dipped in ranch dressing!
Where to find riced cauliflower
So, the first step to making the Garlic Parmesan Cauliflower was to rice the cauliflower.
I’ve seen already riced cauliflower at the grocery store before, in the produce section. I’ve also seen it in the frozen section.
But, this time when I looked they didn’t have a package of plain fresh riced cauliflower. They did have one with carrots and celery in the package, but that’s not what I wanted for this recipe.
They also had the frozen bag, but frozen veggies do have a softer texture, as they are already cooked. So I passed on the frozen one as well.
Trader Joe’s often has packaged riced cauliflower, but I figured I’d just go ahead and rice it myself so I could make sure it works well.
I decided to use the {affiliate link} food processor to rice the cauliflower. It seems easier than doing it by hand with a knife. And, it keeps the mess contained a bit. (yes, it is messy to rice cauliflower!).
How to Rice Cauliflower
Using a large head of cauliflower, remove about half of the florets (the little stems or “trees” as my sister-in-law likes to call them).
Place the florets in the bowl of a large food processor, and pulse until the cauliflower looks fairly uniform in size, and about the size of a grain of rice.
If you don’t have a food processor, this can be done using the large holes on a box cheese grater or using a knife, chopping by hand. Either of these methods will make a mess of your kitchen.
And, don’t forget to look at your grocery store to see if they have riced cauliflower in the produce section.
Keto
I mentioned earlier that cauliflower is Keto, which made me wonder about dairy and cheese in the Keto diet, and if this recipe is in fact, Keto.
Turns out that dairy is acceptable in keto. And, probably just like Paleo, there are different thoughts on the subject.
Harder cheeses like Parmesan appear to be acceptable Keto as well.
Easy side dish
Serve this Garlic Parmesan Cauliflower instead of mashed potatoes with dinner.
I love taking side dishes like this and making them into a one bowl meal by adding steamed broccoli florets, or green peas.
Maybe toss in some meatless meatballs or shredded chicken. This sounds like the perfect lunch to me!
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Garlic Parmesan Cauliflower Recipe
Garlic Parmesan Cauliflower
Ingredients
Instructions
- Heat the olive oil over medium-low heat in a medium pot. Add the garlic and garlic powder and stir, for 1-2 minutes, until the garlic is fragrant. Add the butter to the garlic, and stir until melted. Add salt, pepper, and vegetable broth. Raise the heat to high and bring to a boil.
- Once it’s at a rolling boil, add the riced cauliflower, and cook 5 minutes, stirring often. Turn the heat off, and stir in the Parmesan until completely melted. Mix in the half & half. Cover, and allow Garlic Parmesan Cauliflower to sit for 5 minutes. Serve immediately, garnished with fresh herbs and more fresh pepper if desired.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutritional information is based on third-party calculations, and should be considered estimates. Actual nutritional content will vary based on brands used, measuring methods, portion sizes, and more.
Lisa@Lisa's Dinnertime Dish
We eat cauliflower at my house all the time and at any given time I have at least 2 packages of it in my freezer! This recipe sounds so flavorful! I can’t wait to give it a try!