Roasted Garlic Mashed Cauliflower is one of the best vegan, keto, low-carb, Whole30, and Paleo side dish recipes that is sure to be a hit at your Christmas, Thanksgiving, or weeknight dinner table. This recipe will give you super creamy puréed cauliflower that tastes just like mashed potatoes but are so much healthier for you and lower in carbs and calories!
Want a few other healthy cauliflower recipes? You might also enjoy this Whole Roasted Cauliflower, Buffalo Cauliflower Bites, Roasted Cauliflower, and this Healthy Cauliflower Soup.
Roasted Garlic Mashed Cauliflower for Cozy Weather
With Fall in full swing here, it’s time for all things cozy, comforting, creamy, and secretly healthy?!… Yup, this cauliflower mashed potatoes recipe fits the bill.
I tell my husband all of the time how much Q4 (October-December, with a few extra days in September!) is my absolute favorite time of the year.
This time starts with my husbands birthday on September 23rd and ends with my birthday and New Year’s Eve.
The weather (finally!) starts cooling off a bit here in Texas and all things pumpkin spice and comforting start to appear on the table. And this cozy side dish is one of my go-to recipes to make.
Healthy Alternative
One downside with these three months of the year is how much unhealthy food seems to surround us.
For some reason, much of our culture tends to associate comfort food with unhealthy food… but it doesn’t have to be that way!
This roasted garlic mashed cauliflower is the perfect example of how eating healthy can also make you feel all warm and cozy inside.
Not only is this side super creamy and delicious (I swear, it tastes just as good as these Instant Pot Mashed Potatoes!) but it’s secretly low-carb, vegan, dairy-free, and Paleo!!
Ingredients
This recipe is made with a few simple to find ingredients that are all 100% gluten-free, vegan, Whole30, Paleo, keto, and low-carb.
- Cauliflower – Make sure you get a LARGE head to have enough cauliflower florets for the recipe.
- Roasted Garlic – Learn How to Roast Garlic and prepare it up to 3 days in advance before making this recipe.
- Herbs – Fresh rosemary and thyme are used in this recipe, but you can also try adding sage or tarragon.
- Oil – A good quality olive oil will add a large amount of the flavor to this side dish recipe.
- Milk – In order to get the right consistency, a touch of milk will be needed. Almond and cashew milk will work great!
How to Make
Making homemade mashed cauliflower is actually a rather quick and easy process and consists of the following steps:
- Roast Garlic in the Oven up to 3 days in advance.
- Prepare the cauliflower (read more about this below!)
- Add the cauliflower to a large food processor along with any seasoning ingredients. (In this recipe we use fresh herbs and roasted garlic!)
- Read more below about why a food processor is the best appliance to use!
- Puree until JUST smooth. Be careful not to over puree or it will get too liquidy.
- Optional: reheat in a pot over medium-low heat. Serve and enjoy!
Preparing the Cauliflower
Before you can make the vegan and keto cauliflower mash you will need to prepare this cruciferous vegetable.
- First, cut a large head into florets. Make sure you cut them into similarly sized pieces so they cook at the same rate. (step 1 above)
- Next, boil the cauliflower florets in a large pot of boiling water for 10-12 minutes. (step 2 above)
- Cook’s Tip: It’s OK if you err on the side of cooking longer, but just make sure not to undercook the cauliflower! If you do, you will end up with an overly bitter flavor.
- Lastly, drain all of the excess water from the pot and dry THOROUGHLY. This is a very important step. If you do not remove ALL of the water from the cauliflower you will end up with a soupy mess instead of creamy side dish. (step 3 above)
Best Kitchen Utensil to Use
As mentioned previously, the best kitchen appliance to use when pureeing the cauliflower for this recipe is a large, 10-12 cup food processor .
A food processor will give you the most control over the consistency while giving you plenty of room to add all of the ingredients in one batch.
You can also use a Vitamix or High-Speed Blender, but you need to pay super close attention so you do not end up with overly-blended and runny texture.
Mashed Potatoes versus Cauliflower Mashed Potatoes
For those of you with super acute taste buds, you may be able to tell the difference between regular mashed potatoes and this roasted cauliflower version.
However, those of you with not-so-picky palates will hardly be able to taste the difference. But I can promise you this… your waistline will be able to tell!
Coming in at a mere 111 calories and 3 net carbs per serving… this dish has become a new favorite Paleo, low-carb, keto and Whole30 side in our family.
Serving, Storing, and Reheating
Serving: After you finish puréeing the cauliflower you will want to check the temperature of it. If it is not warm enough, add it back to the pot over Medium-Low heat and heat up to your desired temperature.
Serve with a drizzle of olive oil, a sprinkle of fresh herbs, and additional roasted garlic cloves.
Storing: You can prepare this recipe up to 3 days in advance. Just note that the cauliflower will begin to separate from the liquid and will need to be stirred before serving.
Freezing: It can be stored in a freezer safe bag or container for up to 4-6 months.
What to Serve with it?
Honey Oven Roasted Broccoli with Garlic
Roasted Garlic Mashed Cauliflower | Vegan, Paleo, Keto Side Dish
Roasted Garlic Mashed Cauliflower is the best vegan, keto, low-carb, Whole30, and Paleo side dish recipe for cauliflower mash.
Ingredients
- 1 head cauliflower cut into florets
- ¼ cup milk almond or cashew milk
- 3 Tbsp. olive oil
- 1 ½ tsp. rosemary fresh
- 1 ½ tsp. thyme fresh
- 3-4 cloves roasted garlic
- ¾-1 tsp. salt to taste
- 1 pinch black pepper
Instructions
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Roast a head of garlic in the oven. You can do this up to 3 days in advance and store in the refrigerator until ready to use.
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Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Boil cauliflower for 10-12 minutes.
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Drain water and place cauliflower on a towel and dry cauliflower completely before proceeding.
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In the bowl of a food processor combine cauliflower, milk, olive oil, rosemary, thyme, roasted garlic cloves, salt, to taste, and a pinch of black pepper.
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Puree for 1-2 minutes or until mashed cauliflower is completely smooth. Be sure to scrape down the sides of the bowl every 20-30 seconds to ensure even pureeing.
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If mashed cauliflower has cooled too much, return it to the pot and heat it to your desired temperature.
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Serve mashed cauliflower with a drizzle of olive oil and a few sprigs of rosemary or thyme and enjoy!
Recipe Video
Recipe Notes
- Do NOT use a Vitamix or high-speed blender. You will end up with overly-blended and runny cauliflower mashed potatoes.
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Shannon says
So amazing, delicious, and “garlicy”, which is my favorite part. Today I wanted potatoes so bad and this recipe fully satisfied my craving. LOVE IT!
London says
Yay, Shannon!! I’m so happy to hear you enjoyed it! Thanks so much for your comment and rating!
Krista says
Are you supposed to roast it first then boil it? Or you can do one or the other? Not very clear to me. Thanks
London says
Great question, Krista! All you need to do is boil the cauliflower (only the garlic is roasted!) Hope this clears up any confusion!
Carol A Ferguson says
I made these cauliflower “mashed potatoes” and they are a game changer for me. They were just like mashed potatoes. I pureed them smooth and used dried herbs cuz that’s what I had, and they were just fantastic! I had heard about cauliflower mashed potatoes for years but thought they would be nothing like mashed potatoes… boy was I wrong. Thank you so much.
London says
WooHoo!! It’s pretty amazing how great you can make pureed cauliflower taste, right? So happy you enjoyed them. Thanks for your comment and rating.
Jessica says
I made this for a second time tonight and it turned out great! I only have one question, your recipe says to cool for 10 minutes before pureeing. When I did that, and after pureeing, my cauliflower was cold. I reheated in a dish, but was curious if yours still turns out warm?
London says
Hi Jessica! Thanks so much for your question. I am so glad you have enjoyed the recipe! The main reason you want to let the cauliflower cool is so you can handle it enough to dry it off thoroughly with a towel. Sometimes it will cool off a bit too much and you will need to return it to the pot to heat it back up. I have adjusted the recipe to reflect this for you and others! Thanks so much for your comment and review!
Kristen says
Thank you so much for this recipe!! I never thought I could find a good tasting mashed potato substitute! Life changer for sure!
London says
Yay!! So happy you enjoyed the recipe! Thanks so much for your comment and rating!
Carrissa Girbert says
Hi. Thank you so much for this recipe. When I made this last night, it was delicious! But it was more liquidy like a Cauliflower Soup?? I followed the directions (including putting cooked cauliflower on a towel to dry before processing it. The only difference I can see is that I used a Vitamix (not a Cuisanart food processor) to chop cauliflower & add all ingredients too?? Could that be why it turned out more like soup? Oh–by the way–I didn’t like the idea of wrapping the garlic in aluminum foil. Instead, I prepared the garlic just like you said, but placed garlic on a steel cookie sheet with an oven safe glass bowl over it & put in oven for 45-60 minutes. DELICIOUS!
London says
Hi Carissa! Using a Vitamix could have definitely resulted in a more liquidy texture. The Vitamix might chop it too finely as well as puree the “potatoes” too much. I love your idea of placing a glass bowl over the garlic! I am always looking for new ways to avoid using aluminum foil too much!
Sheree says
Hello, this looks fabulous! However hubby is not a fan of almond milk – do you think it would work with either oat or soy milk? Or would these alternatives give the puree an odd taste?
Thank you
London says
Hi Sheree! I think it absolutely will. Make sure you buy an unsweetened kind and it should work great. If your husband likes cashew or coconut milk, those will substitute well, too! Thanks for the question!
Ris says
Hi great recipe! Can’t wait to try this out! I was wondering what the amount per serving is?
Thanks so much!
London says
Hi Ris! Thanks so much for the question, but unfortunately I do not know the exact measurement per serving. I normally just divide the total amount into six portions.
Amy says
Do you think this would work by using bone broth instead of almond milk?
London says
Absolutely, Amy! It will definitely give it more of a meat flavor, so you might want to try using half and half to begin with!
Jazzlynn says
Do you think using frozen “riced” cauliflower would work for this recipe or do you think it would turn out to liquidy?.
London says
Hi Jazzlyn! It might depending on the brand of frozen cauliflower. If you try it out, I would love to know how it worked for you!
Madison says
Made these for my husband this past weekend and he loved them! He didn’t even know they weren’t potatoes until I told him. Thanks so much for the recipe!