This creamy and decadent mac and cheese is hiding a secret ingredient — cauliflower! Cooked alongside the pasta, cauliflower florets melt right into this recipe to the point of not even knowing its there in the final cheesy bite.
If you search for a cauliflower mac and cheese recipe online expecting to find a pasta-based recipe, you’re going to be sorely disappointed. Low-carb sites dominant the results taking cauliflower alone and coating it in a cheesy sauce. That might have its time and place, but this recipe goes in a different, more traditional direction.
This recipe combines both pasta and cauliflower so you’ve got your veggies included in the main dish. While I’d love to say this is great for feeding picky kids (and it most certainly is), as a 43 year old adult, I love it just as much.
The cauliflower melts right into the dish, seemingly disappearing as it cooks. What you’re left with is a classic mac and cheese in all its decadent glory and the added bonus of getting some extra nutrition worked into the mix too.
Recipe Highlights
- Creamy, cheesy, luscious comfort food when you need to satisfy that craving
- Easily lightened up with a few tweaks for something healthier
- Made in just one-pot
- Kid-friendly
- Can be made gluten-free (easy) or vegan (requires more effort)
Ingredient Overview
Mac and cheese is pretty straightforward, you need pasta, milk and cheese as the basics. From there, this recipe includes so spices to round out flavor and of course, cauliflower to sneak in some added nutritional benefits.
Pasta: I’m using cavatappi in this recipe for its fun corkscrew shape and ability to hold lots of cheesy sauce. Elbows are a great substitute and if you need this to be gluten-free, just choose your favorite GF pasta option. I often make this with chickpea or lentil pasta for added protein and fiber.
Cauliflower: The key with incorporating the cauliflower into this recipe is keeping the florets small so they cook easily and sort of disintegrate into the pasta. Fresh or frozen cauliflower both work.
Milk: The recipe calls for both milk and heavy cream which results in an incredibly rich dish. The heavy cream can be omitted and more milk used in its place. 2% milk can also be swapped for whole milk for a lower fat recipe.
Cream cheese: Use cream cheese, neufchâtel (low-fat cream cheese), or cottage cheese which is my favorite higher protein hack. You can see how great it is at making creamy pasta sauces in this cottage cheese Alfredo recipe.
Cheddar: Both yellow and white cheddar are fine for this recipe. The choice will slightly change the final color of the dish, but the taste will be the same. Always grate your own cheese instead of using pre-shredded cheese for recipes like this that require it to melt smoothly.
Spices: Salt, pepper, dried mustard powder, garlic powder and onion powder all round out the flavor of the macaroni and cheese. The one ingredient you may not have is dried mustard powder, in which case you can substitute a bit of Dijon mustard.
Fresh parsley: While this is just the garnish, I always find it necessary to point out the importance of something fresh, green and bright like chopped parsley, green onions or basil to a dish like this that’s incredibly savory and full-bodied.
How to Make Cauliflower Mac and Cheese
The full recipe card can be found at the bottom of this post detailing the exact amounts and full instructions, but this visual walk-through can be helpful before starting the recipe so you know what to expect.
- Using a large pot, bring the water and salt to a boil. Add the pasta and cauliflower and don’t be alarmed that the water doesn’t cover the ingredients. Return to a boil then reduce to a medium-low simmer and cook for 8 minutes.
- Without draining the pasta (which will not be fully cooked yet), add the milk, cream and spices. Stir to combine and cook until the pasta is al dente. Tasting it is the easiest way to know this. It should have some “chew” to it but not taste raw.
- Add the cream cheese and stir until melted into the pasta.
- Add handfuls of the shredded cheddar cheese, stirring as you go until melted and creamy.
- Garnish with freshly chopped parsley and serve immediately.
My Pro Tips
For the Best Tasting Cauli-Mac
- If the mac and cheese starts to thicken too much before the pasta is fully cooked, turn the heat down and add a splash of milk.
- This is best served immediately while warm. If it thickens too much as it sits, you can thin it out with more milk.
- This recipe is insanely delicious with some crispy crumbled bacon or pancetta on top, similar to this Greek yogurt mac and cheese.
- For to keep the recipe vegetarian but increase the protein content, use a high-protein pasta.
- Quick skillet cooked chicken sausage or ground pork sausage is an easy protein addition. Or, make our sausage mac and cheese recipe instead.
- I do not recommend freezing this recipe.
- For a vegan option: replace the milk with your favorite creamy plant-based milk option (aka: not almond milk), use vegan cream cheese and a vegan cheddar cheese alternative.
One-Pot Wonder
The overlooked, best part of this recipe is that it’s a one-pot meal. Typically, mac and cheese recipes make the roux and sauce in one pot while the pasta cooks in another and when you factor in the strainer, that’s just too many pots to clean.
I was adamant about figuring out a way to simplify this recipe. It’s a bit of a unique twist to the par-cook the pasta in the water and then use that bit of leftover water to contribute to the sauce, but it works and hopefully you enjoy the ease of both the prep and clean-up because of it.
More Creamy Pastas to Make
I linked to some of my other mac and cheese recipes above but don’t miss out on this sweet potato mac and cheese or this one-pan turkey skillet mac and cheese either.
Outside of traditional mac and cheese recipes, these pastas are super creamy and decadent as well:
Cauliflower Mac and Cheese
Ingredients
- 2 cups water
- 2 teaspoons kosher salt
- 8 ounces cavatappi pasta, dry
- 2 cups, small chopped cauliflower florets
For the sauce
- 3/4 cup whole milk
- 1/2 cup heavy cream
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon dried mustard powder
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- ½ teaspoon onion powder
- ¼ teaspoon coarse ground pepper
- 2 ounces cream cheese, softened to room temperature
- 1 ½ cups cheddar cheese, freshly shredded (white or yellow)
- freshly chopped parsley, for garnish, optional
Instructions
- In a large skillet add the water and salt. Cover with a lid and bring to a boil over high heat and then add the pasta and cauliflower. The water won’t cover all of the pasta.
- Bring the pasta to a boil, then reduce the temperature to medium-low, stirring frequently, for 8 minutes. The pasta won’t be cooked through yet. Do not drain the water that’s left.
- Add the milk, cream, salt, mustard powder, garlic powder, onion powder and pepper. Stir to combine.
- Cook until the pasta is al dente.
- Add the cream cheese and stir until melted.
- Add the shredded cheese, a handful at a time, until melted and creamy.
- Serve hot with a sprinkle of parsley, if desired.
Notes
- If using normal table or sea salt, use half the amount.
- If you don’t have dried mustard powder you can substitute 1 tablespoon of Dijon mustard.
- For a lighter option, replace the heavy cream with more milk.
- If the mac and cheese is getting too thick as it cooks before the pasta is done to your liking, turn the heat down more and add a splash of extra milk. If cooked at too high of a temperature, the liquid will evaporate faster and the recipe will require more.
- If the sauce thickens too much as it sits, add a bit more milk.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Gina Matsoukas is an AP syndicated writer. She is the founder, photographer and recipe developer of Running to the Kitchen — a food website focused on providing healthy, wholesome recipes using fresh and seasonal ingredients. Her work has been featured in numerous media outlets both digital and print, including MSN, Huffington post, Buzzfeed, Women’s Health and Food Network.
