Cauliflower Mashed Potatoes

Cauliflower mashed potato has become our favorite mashed potato alternative because it's easy to make, tastes delicious, and is light and fluffy.

You can expect a familiar, comforting flavor, similar to classic mashed potatoes, with cheesy notes and a mild cauliflower taste.

The texture is fluffier and lighter than regular mashed potatoes, which makes this recipe incredible! Also, you are going to feel great after eating it.

The best way to make it is to steam or boil the cauliflower, blend it, and mix it with boiled potatoes. You can beat the potatoes until fluffy with a hand mixer or mash them with a potato ricer or masher.

We slightly prefer steaming because it makes the cauliflower, and the final dish, less watery.

Other ingredients we like to add are extra virgin olive oil, dairy-free milk, and parmesan cheese (dairy-free cheese works too).

Potatoes

We use generic yellow potatoes (Yukon Gold). Red potatoes or russet potatoes are also good alternatives.

We prefer smooth cauliflower mashed potatoes, so we peel the potatoes before boiling them; however, if you like yours with a rustic feel to it, you can keep the peel.

Cauliflower

A fresh large head of cauliflower is recommended here, but you can also use frozen cauliflower florets, although we noticed that the mash turns out more watery with frozen cauliflower.

If you use fresh cauliflower, you can use the stem, florets, and even the outer leaves since we blend everything before mixing it with the potatoes.

Milk

Most types of milk work for cauliflower mashed potatoes. We like to use unsweetened soy milk.

Excellent alternatives are regular milk, oat milk, almond milk, cashew milk, and rice milk.

Olive oil

Extra virgin olive oil is our fat of choice. You can substitute butter or dairy-free butter for olive oil.

Parmesan cheese

Parmesan, potatoes, and cauliflower are delicious, so we recommend adding some grated parmesan cheese to this recipe.

If you are vegan, you can use dairy-free cheese instead. We tried sour cream, cream cheese, greek yogurt, and cheddar cheese, and nothing compares to the parmesan.

Nutmeg

Nutmeg is optional, but we always add a pinch. It's wintery, warm, and delicious with parmesan, potatoes, and cauliflower.

If you haven't tried cauliflower mashed potatoes with nutmeg yet, you are in for a treat.

Salt and pepper

We use sea salt and freshly ground black pepper.

Chives

Fresh chives, finely chopped, are delicious with cauliflower mashed potatoes.

Other fresh herbs that work well are flat-leaf parsley, green onion, and dill.

Potatoes

Wash, peel, and chop the potatoes into large pieces of equal size.

Put the potatoes in a large pot with cold water, add 1 teaspoon of salt, and cook for about 30 minutes or until fork tender.

Tip: cooking the potatoes starting with cold water allows them to cook more evenly without falling apart.

Drain the potatoes and let them cool down for 5 minutes.

This will allow excess steam to escape making richer and less watery mashed potatoes.

Tip: in the meantime, you can steam the cauliflower.

Transfer boiled potatoes into a dutch oven and beat until fluffy with a hand mixer.

You can also mash them with a potato ricer or potato masher.

Cauliflower

Rinse the cauliflower and chop it into pieces. Steam or boil until fork tender.

We use a steamer basket and let it steam for 20 minutes.

Add the steamed cauliflower to a food processor with grated parmesan cheese, olive oil, milk, nutmeg, salt, and black pepper.

Blend until creamy.

Note: you can also do this in a bowl with an immersion blender.

Mix cauliflower and potatoes

Add blended cauliflower mixture to mashed potatoes.

Turn the heat to medium, and whisk until the mixture is hot and well combined - about 5 minutes. Taste and adjust for salt, pepper, and parmesan.

You can also add more milk and adjust the texture to your liking.

Serve with finely chopped chives. You can add the chives in or use them as a garnish on top.

Mashed Potatoes

Mashed potatoes are a classic side dish for holidays and special occasions. Our recipe is creamy, fluffy, and delicious.

Try it with our mushroom gravy; it's one of the best side dishes ever.

Mashed Sweet Potatoes

Mashed sweet potatoes are an excellent side dish that you can make, sweet or savory. We will show you how to make both variations.

Check out our sweet potato mash recipe.

As a side dish with other tasty vegetable side dishes:

• Fennel salad with orange wedges and pomegranate seeds.
• Roasted Brussels sprouts drizzled with maple syrup vinaigrette.
• Green bean salad with tomatoes and crumbled feta.
• Carrot salad with cumin parsley dressing.
• Mushroom gravy: creamy and delicious with cauliflower mashed potatoes.
• Roasted caramelized carrots with cumin and 3 tasty topping ideas.

Tip

Steam the cauliflower: steaming is superior to boiling because the cauliflower doesn't absorb as much water, and the recipe turns out creamier and richer.

Questions

Make-Ahead: you can make cauliflower mashed potatoes 3 days ahead.

Refrigerator: cool down completely at room temperature, then store leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days.

Freezer: cool down completely at room temperature, then transfer into a freezer-friendly container and freeze for up to 3 months.

Thaw: thaw overnight in the fridge or the microwave with a thawing function.

Reheat: reheat in the microwave for 2 minutes. Alternatively, transfer cauliflower mashed potatoes into a saucepan, add 2 tablespoons of milk and reheat on the stove while whisking for 5 minutes. Add more cheese, milk, and fresh herbs to improve taste and texture.

More Cauliflower Recipes

If you love cooking with cauliflower, get new ideas from tasty and wholesome cauliflower recipes:

• Cauliflower lentil salad with a creamy cumin dressing.
• Easy cauliflower soup: velvety, creamy, and easy soup.
• Creamy cauliflower curry with Indian-inspired spice mix and chickpeas.
• Roasted cauliflower: an easy way to cook cauliflower with lemon and fresh herbs.
• Cauliflower rice: easy to make with lime and parsley.
• 15 easy cauliflower recipes: the best and brightest of cauliflower meals

These are some of our favorite side dishes to upgrade a special holiday meal:

• Easy mushroom gravy: an excellent sauce pairing for mashed potatoes.
• Perfectly caramelized onions: sweet and tangy topping.
• Tender roasted butternut squash with fresh herbs and garlic.
• Crispy red cabbage slaw with apple, walnuts, and grated carrots.

For many more side dish ideas, check out our sides category page.