Cauliflower Cheese
Cauliflower roasted rather than boiled, under a mustard-sharp sauce made with cheese that is actually strong enough to taste. A side dish that gets eaten before the roast does.
Photograph credit: Cauliflower Au Gratin (4527747147) by Vegan Feast Catering · CC BY 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons
How to Make Cauliflower Cheese
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Heat the oven to 220°C / 425°F. Toss the florets with the oil and the teaspoon of salt and spread them cut side down on a tray.
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Roast 20 minutes, until browned on the cut faces and just tender. Leave the oven on and drop it to 200°C / 400°F.
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Meanwhile melt the butter in a pan, whisk in the flour and cook 2 minutes, stirring, until it smells biscuity.
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Add the warm milk a third at a time, whisking each addition completely smooth before the next.
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Simmer 4 minutes until it thickly coats a spoon, then stir in the mustard, nutmeg, salt and white pepper.
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Take the pan off the heat, wait a minute, then add the Cheddar and Parmigiano in three handfuls, stirring each until melted. Taste — it should be assertively sharp and salty.
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Tip the roasted cauliflower into a 2 litre dish and pour the sauce over, nudging it into the gaps.
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Toss the panko with the extra Cheddar and melted butter and scatter over the top.
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Bake 15 to 18 minutes, until bubbling at the edges and deep gold on top. Rest 5 minutes before serving.
Related guide: Ingredient substitutions.
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Tips for Making Cauliflower Cheese
- Roast, do not boil. It takes the same time and tastes twice as good.
- Cheese off the heat. A boiled cheese sauce goes grainy and oily.
- Season the sauce harder than seems right. Cauliflower absorbs a surprising amount of it.
If You're Missing Something
- Panko gives the crunchiest crust here, but ordinary dried breadcrumbs will still fry crisp if that's what's in the cupboard.
What Goes With Cauliflower Cheese
- A roast chicken
- Sausages
- A sharp green salad
Sides from the same cuisine on this site: Braised Red Cabbage, Dairy-Free Scones, Duck Fat Roast Potatoes.
Storing & Reheating Cauliflower Cheese
Refrigerated for 3 days. Reheat covered at 180°C / 356°F for 25 minutes; the top re-crisps uncovered for the last 5.
What's in a Serving
Per serving, calculated from the ingredient list with USDA FoodData Central figures (SR Legacy). A calculation, not a laboratory analysis: brands, cuts and how you measure change the real numbers. How the figures are worked out.
Vegetarian when made with a hard cheese made without animal rennet in place of the parmigiano-reggiano.
Your notes on this recipe
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Compiled by Turab
Checked by script for timings, diet labels and nutrition arithmetic. How the recipes are checked. Found a mistake? Tell us.
First published ; last changed .
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