Creamy, comforting, and fluffy, cauliflower mashed potatoes is a tasty and light alternative to classic mashed potatoes.
It's an excellent side dish for the Holiday season, Sunday dinners, or a special meal with your family.

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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).
Ingredients
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.
Instructions
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.
Variations
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.
Serving suggestions
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
Our cauliflower mashed potatoes still taste like classic mashed potatoes with a mild cauliflower flavor.
The texture is creamy yet much lighter than regular mashed potatoes, thanks to the cauliflower.
First, steam the cauliflower instead of boiling it. Boiling fills up the cauliflower with water, resulting in a watery mash.
Also, you can cook the cauliflower mashed potatoes on medium-low heat while stirring to thicken it up.
Make-Ahead & Storage
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
More Holiday Sides
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.
Recipe
Cauliflower Mashed Potatoes
Equipment
- Hand mixer or potato ricer / masher
- Food processor or blender
Ingredients
- 2 pounds potatoes Yukon Gold + 1 teaspoon salt.
- 1½ pounds cauliflower
- 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil or 3 tablespoons butter.
- ½ to 1½ cups milk we use unsweetened soy milk. Start with ½ cup and add more based on your preference. We like it with 1½ cups of milk.
- ¾ cup parmesan grated, or dairy-free cheese.
- ⅛ teaspoon nutmeg
- 1½ teaspoons salt or more to taste.
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
- 1 tablespoon chives chopped.
Instructions
- Peel and chop the potatoes into large pieces of equal size. Put them in a large pot with cold water, add 1 teaspoon of salt, and cook for about 30 minutes or until fork tender. Drain them and let cool down for 5 minutes.
- Chop cauliflower into pieces and steam or boil for about 20 minutes or until fork tender.
- 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.
- Add the steamed cauliflower to a food processor with grated parmesan cheese, olive oil, milk, nutmeg, salt, and black pepper. Blend until creamy.
- Add blended cauliflower mixture to mashed potatoes, and whisk on medium heat 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.
Video Recipe
Notes
Nutritional Values
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Maria Aiello
Simply amazing and easygoing make.
Thank you !🙏
Louise
Hi Maria, I'm super happy you liked the cauliflower mashed potatoes 🙂
Thank you for taking the time to leave a comment.
All the best, Louise