Wholesome Yum - Easy healthy recipes. 10 ingredients or less. Wholesome Yum is a food blog for healthy recipes, all with 10 ingredients or less. Browse over 1000 easy, healthy dishes with whole food ingredients! SAVE PIN SHARE Home Keto Recipes Low Carb Keto Side Dishes Make my easy, cheesy cauliflower mac and cheese with 6 ingredients in just 25 minutes! It's the ultimate healthy, low carb comfort food. When I switched to a cleaner, lower carb way of eating over a decade ago, I really needed a healthier atlernative to macaroni and cheese, one of my favorite foods at the time. After tossing cheese sauce with a bunch of different vegetables, I settled on this cauliflower mac and cheese as the best one. It was long before anyone was talking about such things, but I’ve been hooked ever since. You get all the goodness of the classic in a lighter, real food package. Make this cheesy cauliflower with me to get the comfort and the veggies together! Here I explain the best ingredients for my cauliflower mac and cheese recipe, what each one does, and substitution options. For measurements, see the recipe card. If you’re unsure about mac n cheese with cauliflower (will it really satisfy that craving?), don’t be. The veggie tastes very neutral here because the sauce is so cheesy and rich! You’ll need: I love this sauce so much that I wrote a whole cheese sauce post on it! It’s perfect for keto cauliflower mac and cheese, and I also use it for topping roasted broccoli. You’ll need: I have step-by-step photos here to help you visualize the recipe. For full instructions with amounts and temperatures, see the recipe card. You can use any method you like, but I highly recommend roasting! Sometimes I air fry the cauliflower for smaller batches. You can also steam the cauliflower for a quick option. To roast: In a saucepan over low heat, stir together the cheese, cream, almond milk, and butter, stirring frequently until smooth. Alternatively, you can simply microwave the ingredients until the cheese melts, then stir until smooth. Be careful not to overheat. Transfer the cooked cauliflower to a large bowl (you can even reuse the one from earlier!). Pour cheese sauce on top and mix to coat evenly. I like a little fresh cracked pepper over the cauliflower mac and cheese at the end. I’ve totally enjoyed a big bowl of this easy cauliflower mac and cheese all by itself! But it’s also super versatile with proteins for a more balanced meal: If you like my cauliflower mac and cheese, you’ll probably also love my other comforting cauliflower recipes: Make my easy, cheesy cauliflower mac and cheese with 6 ingredients in just 25 minutes! It's the ultimate healthy, low carb comfort food. Enter your email and I’ll send it to your inbox. Plus, you’ll get new recipes every week! Please enter your first name for your account. Your saved recipe will also be sent to your email. Tap underlined ingredients to see the ones I use. Tap on the times in the instructions to start a kitchen timer. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F (232 degrees C). Line a baking sheet with foil or parchment paper. In a large bowl, toss the cauliflower florets, olive oil, salt, and pepper. Arrange the cauliflower florets on the prepared baking sheet. Roast for 15-20 minutes, until crisp-tender. In a small saucepan over low heat (or a bowl in the microwave), heat the cheddar cheese, heavy cream, almond milk, and butter, stirring frequently, until smooth. Be careful not to overheat. When the cauliflower is done, transfer it to a large bowl. Pour the cheese sauce over the cauliflower and gently fold the sauce into the cauliflower until coated evenly. Leave a rating to help other readers (this also helps me continue to provide free recipes on my site), or get the recipe sent to your inbox. Serving size: 1 cup 📖 Want more recipes like this? Find this one and many more in my Easy Keto Carboholics’ Cookbook! I provide nutrition facts as a courtesy. Have questions about calculations or why you got a different result? Please see my nutrition policy. © Copyright Maya Krampf for Wholesome Yum. Please DO NOT SCREENSHOT OR COPY/PASTE recipes to social media or websites. We’d LOVE for you to share a link with photo instead. Pin It For Later! Filed Under: Healthy RecipesHealthy Side DishesKeto Lunch IdeasKeto RecipesLow Carb Keto Side DishesPopular RecipesRecipe Videos Cauliflower Recipes Make AheadRoastingUnder 30 Minutes KetoKid FriendlyNut-Free OptionVegetarian ChristmasEasterMother's DaySuper BowlThanksgiving American FallSpringWinter I’m a recipe developer and USA Today best-selling cookbook author, and I’ve been creating easy, healthy recipes using whole, real food for more than a decade — all with 10 ingredients or less! Learn about how I develop recipes here. I love vegetables, a perfectly cooked filet mignon, and a good cup of coffee. I’m passionate about healthy eating without refined sugar, so I created Wholesome Yum Foods, a line of zero sugar ingredients for cooking and baking. Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked * Type your question or comment. Name * Email * Δdocument.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Carrie This is the best stuff ever. Have made multiple times. I would eat this even when I’m not on keto. It’s that good. Even better than regular Mac n cheese! Mariko I just started a keto diet and wondered whether it would be OK to use this recipe with all heavy cream rather than milk. Also, do you think it would work by adding ground chicken or turkey? Or even shrimp for some protein. Maya | Wholesome Yum Hi Mariko, Yes, you can use all heavy cream, it’ll just make it higher in calories. The almond milk doesn’t add extra carbs compared to cream. Yes, you could add a protein, you’d just need to cook it separately before mixing with the sauce and cauliflower. DEdwards I tried this recipe. Didn’t have enough Cauliflower, so I had too much sauce. It was marvelous. I used Vanilla flavored unsweetened milk, smoked paprika. 1/2 cup cheddar n 1/2 cup Gruyère Cheddar cheese as recommended in the tips. It was so good. Next time I will try steaming Cauliflower. Wholesome Yum D Thanks for sharing your twist! Sounds like you made it work with what you had. Let me know how it goes with steamed cauliflower! Sandi M Roasting fresh cauliflower made this dish more flavorful than using steamed or frozen. The recipe is super easy to make and the ingredients are often ones I have on hand. This is definitely a dish I’ll be making again! Maya | Wholesome Yum Thank you, Sandi! Agree, I like roasted cauliflower the best here. Hope you make this again soon. Natalie I have made this before and froze it. It turned out wonderful. Maya | Wholesome Yum Thank you for sharing, Natalie! Patti Goodman Wowza!! This was sooo good, TOO good even! I’m a self-proclaimed foodie and a bona fide mac n cheese snob, but this rocked my world! The hubs and I have been eating healthy, along with working out for about 3 years now and we’ve lost 100 lbs. between us….that being said, we still love food…GOOD food! So, on the weekends I try to make us a “treat” meal, not a cheat meal. This time we had grilled thick-cut smoked pork chops and my mind automatically went to mac n cheese as a side! We’re not doing keto, but we still watch our carb intake. We do eat the real stuff occasionally, but I find myself carefully watching the portions and I feel guilty if I go over. So I came across this and thought it was worth giving a try, since I use riced cauliflower often to replace rice and mashed potatoes. I used frozen cauliflower, but roasted in my oven along with onions. I wasn’t trying to be a rebel, but I used half and half because that was what I had on hand…just made up for it by using more cheese, ha! I also put in a few dashes of cayenne pepper for a kick. It was sooo good and I think we may have ate a bit more than we should, but we didn’t feel guilty about it but.at.all! Thank you for the amazing recipe!! Maya | Wholesome Yum Thank you so much, Patti! That means a lot especially given your background being a foodie and mac n cheese snob. Thanks for sharing how you served this dish, sounds delicious. AmyA This is one of my favorites. Pairs well with so many proteins and reheats well. We have this almost weekly and nobody misses pasta when this is the side. Maya | Wholesome Yum I’m so happy it’s one of your favorites, Amy! Agree, I think it goes with everything. Patti Goodman I don’t know why I said “along with the onions” because I didn’t even use them lol Elizabeth I needed a side dish for dinner and made this. I added 2 strips of bacon pieces and roasted it with the cauliflower. I ate 2 portions, and saved the rest for later in the week. I loved it. Maya | Wholesome Yum I’m glad you liked my recipe, Elizabeth! Bacon is a great addition. Rebecca Nice flavour but unfortunately for me the sauce didn’t thicken until I added xanthum gum and I think the serving size needs looked at. The default is set to 4 but unless this was just a very small side serving then it’s definitely not going to serve 4. Even with a bigger cauliflower there wouldn’t be enough sauce. Thank you Maya | Wholesome Yum Hi Rebecca, The sauce should thicken as shown in my video. Did you make any other changes to the recipe? The serving size is based on a head of cauliflower that makes 4 cups, and 1 cup is a standard serving of cauliflower. You may want to double it if you’re serving this as a meal rather than a side dish, or based on your personal preference. Kathy Can’t wait to try this. I’m not on a low carb diet, so I do make reg mac & cheese on occasion. I always use only 2% milk. The sauce is always good. I do always add half sharp cheddar & half gruyere, which is what I’ll do for this recipe. But the unhealthy heavy cream is def not necessary, neither is half & half. Maya | Wholesome Yum Hi Kathy, Cream makes the sauce thicker than milk would. It would definitely work fine with 2% milk, but I recommend starting with a little less, so your sauce doesn’t turn out too watery. Milk also scorches more easily than cream, so watch the heat. Hope this helps! Gail My family loves this recipe. I appreciate how easy it is to make. I seasoned the dish with tarragon this time, but we also sometimes add Tabasco for a kick. It is easy, versatile and delicious. Thank you! Donna OMG! This is my FIRST time EVER in my 68 years to leave a recipe review. I made the Cauli Mac & Cheese for lunch today for my husband and I. Easy to make, and so TASTY!! We both said this recipe is a keeper, and I would not hesitate to serve it to my friends/guests for dinner. What I learned: I always think more sauce is better because I like moist food, so I doubled the sauce recipe. Didn’t need that much though! But, hey, I have some to put on other veggies at another meal. The sauce seemed a little runny, but it did thicken up as it cooled as stated by Maya. Because the sauce seemed a little runny at first, I added some Nutritional Yeast flakes. I don’t know if it thickened anything, but I love the flakes’ flavor. I also added some garlic powder and onion powder, just because I like to pretend I’m a chef! LOL My last step was to put everything into a small casserole dish and added French Fried Onion pieces on top, then broiled for a minute or so. I know, FFOs are not KETO or a part of any other healthy diet, but I am trying to use up stuff as I transition to healthier eating. (The recipe would still have been awesome without the French Fried Onions.) Thank you Maya and Team for your awesome efforts to bring healthy eating to your readers. Each recipe is a work of art with so much information. What impresses me the most is the level of detail and how you use the same format for each recipe. You have quite a professional, mouth-watering, easy-to-use, and beautiful website. Maya | Wholesome Yum Thank you so much, Donna! I’m honored to get your first-ever recipe review. 🙂 It also means a lot that the recipe info is helpful, it takes me a long time and sometimes I wonder if people read it, lol. I try my best to include only what will be relevant to the recipe and share my tips. I’m so glad you and your husband both liked this dish, and thank you for sharing your variation! Kathy Miller This was a very easy and satisfying recipe for a side dish! I did change it up a bit and used broccoli instead of cauliflower and it was delicious!!! I will definitely make it again!!! Maya | Wholesome Yum Thanks for sharing, Kathy! I love the idea of a mix of broccoli and cauliflower. Reminds me a bit of my broccoli cauliflower casserole. 🙂 Laura Flavor was excellent. My family did miss the texture of pasta but we are not practicing Keto, I’m just adding more Keto into our meals. I doubled the recipe because my cauliflower made 8 cups and added garlic powder along with the salt and pepper. Maya | Wholesome Yum I’m glad you liked it, Laura! I’m the same way with my meals. Wow, that’s a huge head of cauliflower, lol. Jessica This was fabulous! I added ground beef to it to make an easy one pan dish. Maya | Wholesome Yum Thank you, Jessica! Great idea, I’ll have to try the ground beef addition sometime. Diana I love mac and cheese but found out I needed to be gluten free,,when I found this recipe I couldn’t wait to try it,now it’s my go to when I want mac and cheese it’s so good Maya | Wholesome Yum Thank you so much, Diana! I’m so glad to hear this recipe was helpful for your new lifestyle. Joddie One of my favorite side dishes and also fantastic with (grass fed, grass finished) sausages. Michele Excellent! Janice It was delicious, absolutely delicious! I excluded the almond milk and just added 3-4 tablespoons of water to it. So yummy! Lilo Bucher This was very delicious. I added some turmeric to the cheese sauce. Yes, it came out a bit yellow but turmeric is supposed to be very healthy and it tasted great. I finally signed up for the year because I love all your recipes and it helps me keeping my blood sugars In check. Deb P. You are a genius, Maya. Mac & Cheese is one of my favorites and is a cheat meal when I’m wanting comfort food. I haven’t found an acceptable substitute until this recipe. And it’s easier to make than boiling water for noodles, etc. I microwaved the cheese sauce for 2 minutes after the cauliflower was roasted and added them to the sauce and done! Erica This was delicious! So easy and I feel like you can use this sauce and add other herbs and spices for variety. Thank you! Megan Ok – let me just say – I never leave reviews on food websites. That was the easiest, most delicious cheese sauce I ever made. I seasoned it a bit with onion and garlic powder and it was phenomenal. I can’t believe how easy it was!!!!! Every time I made a cheese sauce in the past it was roux-based and it broke or was stringy to the point of ridiculousness. Thank you! Stephani While family loved it including my picky daughter. Nicole Hi! Can I omit the heavy cream? Maya | Wholesome Yum Hi Nicole, You can’t just omit it, as the sauce will be too thick. You could replace it with more almond milk, but the sauce will be less rich, and you’ll need more cheese to compensate for the almond milk being thinner. jersuerhodes First time making this – so good! i added a little more cheese on top, but why not? 🙂 Gail Hi Maya. I reread the post and saw that it can be frozen. Going to give that a try. Thanks for the great recipe. Bailey Pretty good Holly Can you use coconut milk or coconut cream instead of heavy cream? Maya | Wholesome Yum Hi Holly, Yes, either of those would work. You might detect some coconut flavor, so I recommend using sharp cheddar which has a stronger flavor than mild cheddar. Boy Mom This was sooooooo good!! I can’t believe how quick and easy it is to make. This is definitely going into my weekly rotation of favorites!! Lucile Marchand This recipe was so amazing! I loved it! Lucy Cash Love this recipe! I am always in a hurry and it was so quick and easy! I have tried other keto mac and cheese recipes but even my nonketo family members love it! Ana Awesome! Lucky This recipe was amazing! Easy to make and delicious! Saved on my favorites. I used it as a side with a steak, and just because I like spicy food, I added crushed red pepper… yummy! Lynn This recipe is the cheesiest. Sure helps to curb the craving of Mac & cheese. I will certainly use this as a side dish many times over. Nothing wrong as having it as the main dish as well. Belin This recipe was delicious, however, the cheese didn’t come together right. Half was liquidy and half was stretchy and dense. What did I do wrong? Still giving this 5 stars. Maya | Wholesome Yum Hi Belin, Sorry to hear that happened! Usually cheddar cheese melts very well, but this can happen if the heat is too high. Try lower heat next time. It could also be that you needed to mix and heat the cheese for longer for it to melt. Finally, make sure you’re not using a whisk to stir it, as it tends to stick to the whisk and stay stringy. Hope this helps! Belin I added some mustard powder and paprika. I tried making it again and it was perfect! This time I omitted the spices but added a little gouda. So good-a! ? Lynniepooh2 Not quite the same as mac n cheese but it sure is close. Plus its homemade, healthy and without any of those long named preservatives/additives. I will put this dish in rotation starting this week with Maya’s grilled pork chops (which are marinating at the moment). Rebecca Varela I made this and used bacon cheese from our local cheese shop! It is delicious! I needed that Mac/cheese craving filled, it did!!! Lori This was a great substitute for my beloved mac and cheese. I did use whole milk and half and half as it is what I had on hand and used a blend of gruyere and cheddar. The texture was a bit grainy. I also baked it after mixing. I am new to the low carb lifestyle and trying to get new recipes that will help me tame my cravings without sugar and this was a great addition. Tabitha If you freshly grate the cheese instead of buying pregrated, it should get rid of the graininess. The preshredded has powder to keep it from sticking. Rhonda WOW!! Thank You Maya!!! Sometimes we have to trick our minds into thinking we are eating the real thing to get into a good habit, we eat with our eyes first & then the brain follows, Thank you again for another awesome recipe??? Jude Thank you for this recipie! Have just had a gastric sleeve done, and this was soft, liquidy and easy on my new tiny tummy. The whole family loved it too though! I added some garlic powder in the cheese sauce and sprinkled Fried bacon pieces on it before serving. Was really yummy and filling! Will cook again! Yum! « 1 2 3 4 My name is Maya Krampf, and I’ve been creating easy, healthy recipes using whole, real food for over a decade — all with 10 ingredients or less, and no refined sugar. I’m obsessed with testing and excited to show you what I’ve learned! I’m also the author of a few cookbooks, including a USA Today Best Seller, create weekly custom meal plans (in my app with an automatic grocery list, recipes, and macro tracking), and develop clean, zero sugar ingredients at Wholesome Yum Foods. Get The Wholesome Yum App! Copyright © 2015-2025 Wholesome Yum®. Registered trademark. Wholesome Yum is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. By using this website, you agree to the Terms Of Use and Privacy Policy. Don't have an account? Register here Keep them organized and get free recipes via email. (I'll never send spam or share your email address with anyone.) Enter your email and I'll send it to your inbox! You'll also get free recipes via email. (I'll never send spam or share your email address with anyone.) Want to save to your account? 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