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Cauliflower mash

Felix Intelegando Updated All recipes

Cauliflower mash is steamed cauliflower blended in a food processor with butter, salt and whatever spices you like until it is smooth. It takes about 20 minutes, most of it steaming time, and you can serve it anywhere you would serve mashed potatoes. If you like mashed potatoes but want to be free of the very starchy potatoes, this is an excellent alternative to try.

A white bowl of creamy cauliflower mash topped with a melting pat of butter and ground black pepper, on a wooden table
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A white bowl of creamy cauliflower mash topped with a melting pat of butter and ground black pepper, on a wooden table

Recipe

Cauliflower mash

Prep
5 mins
Cook
15 mins
Total
20 mins
Serves
4 servings

Ingredients

Method

  1. Remove the green leaves and the stalk from the cauliflower and divide it into small florets.
  2. Steam the cauliflower over a pot of water; it must be steamed, not boiled. If you don’t have a steamer, add water to a pot, insert a sieve, put the cauliflower in the sieve and cover with the pot lid.
  3. Steam the cauliflower for 10-15 minutes until it is completely tender. The time depends on the size of the florets.
  4. Tip the cauliflower into a food processor with the butter, the spices and a little salt.
  5. Run the processor until the cauliflower is mashed. It takes some time, so be patient, and do not add liquid or the mash will turn wet and soggy.
  6. Taste and season further once the mash has reached the right consistency.

Step by step, in pictures

The six moves of the recipe card, from whole head to finished mash.

  1. Line drawing of a hand using a knife to cut the stalk and leaves from a head of cauliflower on a cutting board, small florets to one sideTrim and cut into florets
  2. Line drawing of a cooking pot with a mesh sieve of cauliflower florets set inside it and the lid lifted aboveSet the florets over water
  3. Line drawing of cauliflower florets in a pot on a hob, steam rising as the lid is liftedSteam 10-15 minutes until tender
  4. Line drawing of a hand tipping steamed cauliflower florets from a sieve into a food processor bowl that already holds a cube of butterAdd butter, spices and salt
  5. Line drawing of a food processor blending cauliflower into a thick mashBlend until smooth
  6. Line drawing of a spoon lifting a taste of smooth cauliflower mash from a bowlTaste and season

How long does cauliflower mash take to cook?

Steam the florets for 10 to 15 minutes, until they are completely tender. How long depends on the size of the florets. Add a few minutes for trimming and the food processor, and the whole dish is on the table in about 20 minutes.

Why the cauliflower is steamed, not boiled

This recipe steams the cauliflower rather than boiling it, and adds no milk, cream or stock in the processor. The reason is the same in both cases: extra water makes the mash wet and soggy instead of thick.

If you do boil it, use only a little water. Then drain the florets well and squeeze the remaining water out with a potato press before they go into the processor.

No steamer or no food processor? What to use instead

  • No steamer: a sieve set inside a covered pot works as one (step 2 of the card), or boil and press the florets as described above.
  • No food processor: an electric whisk with the whipping attachment also works.

What to add to cauliflower mash for more flavour

The basic mash is deliberately plain, so it takes flavour well. Ideas that suit it:

  • Herbs and spices: whatever you would put in mashed potatoes.
  • Roasted mushrooms: fold them through or spoon them on top.
  • Cheese: add 100 g of neutral cream cheese to the recipe. It gives both the flavour and the consistency a boost. Grated parmesan blended in with the butter works too.
  • Other vegetables: mix the cauliflower with broccoli or pumpkin. Root vegetables also work if you are not following a low-carb diet.

Is cauliflower mash low-carb?

Cauliflower is far less starchy than potatoes, which makes cauliflower mash a good option on a low-carb diet such as LCHF. LCHF stands for Low Carb, High Fat: you eat fewer carbohydrates, especially sugar and starch, and more fat. The butter in this recipe fits that pattern. When you follow a diet like that, there is usually some food you miss, and for many people that is mashed potatoes.

What to serve with cauliflower mash

Serve it with any dish you would normally serve with mashed potatoes. For a meal built around the same vegetable, try our cauliflower meatballs. For the potato version to put beside this one, see baked mashed potatoes.

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