Cauliflower cheese

Your 101 guide: How to make cauliflower cheese

When you think of rich side dishes for roasts, barbecued meats or pork chops, your mind probably goes straight to potato bake, and for good reason – it’s creamy, filling and a sure-fire crowd-pleaser (especially when it’s a cheesy potato bake). Spare a place on your table, though, for the equally delicious cauliflower cheese bake. Our recipe is loaded with flavour from Dijon mustard, wholegrain mustard and cheese, and has a crisp topping thanks to the panko breadcrumbs. While you can add extra ingredients to your dish (check out this bacon, broccoli and cauliflower cheese recipe), we’ve kept this one simple – and vegetarian – to help you easily master the basic recipe. 

Do you need to roast the cauliflower?

The short answer is yes. You could microwave or steam the cauliflower before adding it to the other ingredients, but in our opinion, the best recipes for cauliflower cheese roast the veggie. Roasting makes it nice and crisp and gives it a lovely flavour. More importantly, the cauliflower tends to dry out a bit during the roasting process, which means the finished dish is less likely to be runny and wet when you pull it out of the oven. 

The cauliflower cheese main ingredients and some simple swaps

One of the great features of cauliflower cheese sauce is that most of the ingredients are likely to be in your pantry or fridge already. The spices add interesting flavours but can easily be left out – or substituted – if you don’t have them on hand. For example, you can use pretty much any hard cheese in the fridge and any mustard will work, too. The panko breadcrumbs are light and add a beautiful crunch but you can use any breadcrumbs you have or even make your own by blitzing up day-old bread in the food processor.

How to cook cauliflower cheese: getting the sauce right

Roasted cauliflower cheese is simple to make, but there’s one tricky part – the cheese sauce. In technical terms, this sauce is called a roux and is a combination of flour and fat (in this case, butter). You’ll commonly see this technique used in recipes for bechamel sauce and it’s a great way to thicken up a sauce, soup or gravy.

The not-so-easy part of this sauce is getting the consistency right – you want a smooth, lump-free texture. Follow these tips to get it right every time. 

• Melt the butter gently: medium heat is all you need here. If the pan is too hot, you risk burning the butter.

• Stir the flour and butter together: this step takes the raw taste out of the flour. Cook, stirring for 1 minute. Once combined, the mixture should look grainy. 

• Whisk constantly: this is make or break time – you need to whisk constantly as you stir in the milk to combine the sauce. Stop whisking at this stage and your sauce may end up with lumps. 

What to serve cauliflower cheese with – some tasty ideas

Once the cauliflower is roasted and the cheese sauce is ready, all you need to do is combine the two in a baking dish and cook it in the oven. Baked cauliflower with cheese makes a great vegetarian main dish, served alongside roasted potatoes and buttery green beans. As a side dish, baked cauliflower cheese is delicious with roast chicken or a perfectly cooked steak.