Creamy Baked Cauliflower

We love a great cauliflower recipe and our Creamy Baked Cauliflower is up there as one of our favorites. We’ve served this dish as both a cozy side dish as well as a hearty main course and its been a hit every single time!

One of our favorite things about cauliflower is its versatility. You can turn it into a mash, a crust for pizza, roasted, and in our case today baked up like a casserole!

How to Make Our Baked Cauliflower Recipe

Ingredients

Process

1. Preheat oven to 375˚F. In a mixing bowl toss oil, cauliflower florets, pearl onions, and salt and pepper together until cauliflower and onions are evenly coated. Lightly season with salt and pepper. Spread mixture onto a baking sheet in a single layer.
2. Roast cauliflower and onions for about 20 minutes or until lightly caramelized and softened, but florets still have a bite to them. Remove from oven, set aside and cool.

3. Melt butter in a saucepan over medium-low heat.
4. Once butter has melted whisk flour into butter until fully incorporated. Cook for about 1 minute.

5. Whisk milk into roux until mixture is smooth. Simmer, whisking occasionally, until mixture thickens. Add mustard and season with salt and pepper. Stir together until mixture is smooth. Remove saucepan from heat and stir in small handfuls of shredded gruyere, waiting until each handful has fully melted before adding more. Continue until all gruyere has been added.
6. Add half of shredded cheddar and half sliced green onion until fully incorporated and sauce is smooth. Pour cauliflower and onions into cheese sauce and gently fold together until just combined.

7. Pour mixture into a baking dish.
8. Top baked cauliflower with crispy onions and remaining cheddar and bake for 15 minutes or until top has browned and is bubbling.

9. Remove baked cauliflower from oven, top with remaining green onion and season with more black pepper. Cool slightly and serve.

Variations for Our Creamy Baked Cauliflower

• Although we love that our baked cauliflower recipe is vegetarian friendly, we’ve definitely stirred some crispy bacon into the casserole a few times and have never regretted it!
• The pearl onions can be swapped out for chopped onions or even some caramelized onions, which adds a really nice and subtle sweetness to the dish!
• Add some other herbs like minced thyme or tarragon depending on your personal preference.
• Stir some wilted, leafy greens into the casserole for some added fiber and to make this dish even more hearty.

Make Ahead Instructions

Our baked cauliflower recipe can be made up to 1 day ahead of time. To make ahead of time, prepare the recipe through step 12. Once the casserole has been assembled, without the toppings, tightly wrap the baking dish with plastic wrap or foil and refrigerate.

When ready to bake, remove plastic wrap or foil and top with remaining shredded cheese and fried onions. Add 5 additional minutes to the baking time, remove from the oven and finish with remaining green onions. Serve.

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