Skinny Cauliflower Mac and Cheese
Less fat AND less calories. Except taste and flavor is not compromised AT ALL! So cheesy, comforting and irresistible!
You know that saying, “Have your cake and eat it too?”
Well.
That’s what’s happening here.
You can have your cake.
With less fat.
And less calories.
With veggies sneaked in.
That you probably won’t even notice.
Because you’ll be too distracted by all that cheesy creaminess.
Don’t worry.
That’s completely normal.
Skinny Cauliflower Mac and Cheese
Less fat AND less calories. Except taste and flavor is not compromised AT ALL! So cheesy, comforting and irresistible!
Ingredients
- 3 cups cavatappi pasta
- 2 cups cauliflower florets
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 1 cup half and half, or more, as needed
- 2 ounces cream cheese
- 2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 ½ cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh chives
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
- In a large pot of boiling salted water, cook pasta according to package instructions. Within the last 3 minutes of cooking time, add cauliflower; drain well.
- Melt butter in a 9-inch oven-proof skillet over medium high heat. Whisk in flour until lightly browned, about 1 minute. Gradually whisk in half and half, and cook, whisking constantly, until incorporated, about 1-2 minutes. Stir in cream cheese, Dijon and garlic powder until slightly thickened, about 2 minutes.
- Stir in 1 cup cheese until melted, about 1-2 minutes. If the mixture is too thick, add more half and half as needed; season with salt and pepper, to taste.
- Stir in pasta and cauliflower; gently toss to combine. Sprinkle with remaining 1/2 cup cheese.
- Place into oven and bake until bubbly, about 12-15 minutes.
- Serve immediately, garnished with chives, if desired.
Did you make this recipe?
Tag @damn_delicious on Instagram and hashtag it #damndelicious!
I love this dish, and the skinniness of it is great!
That is a really clever and creative way of using cauliflower. Nice post! (:
Hi there! Random question, I just read above that you updated the recipe- which is awesome! However my hubby is super attached to the way the recipe was before and I never thought to write it down- do you think you could maybe list it just once more? Even for the day? I completely respect that you updated it, and I’m sure it’s wonderful, but I can’t for the life of me remember how you did it before and I’d really like to make it that way! Hope you don’t feel that this is disrespectful!
Not at all! But unfortunately, I no longer have that recipe. My apologies.
Here is her old recipe!
http://web.archive.org/web/20170121195624/https://damndelicious.net/2014/04/26/skinny-cauliflower-mac-cheese/
Thank you so much for posting this! This was one of my favourites and I nearly had a heart attack when I saw it was gone!
I am so confused….are these posts for the right recipe? Skinny Cauliflower Mac n Cheese? Because I have been reading everyone’s substitutions and in the recipe I don’t see any Gruyere, sour cream, Panko or onion (obviously not referring to the chives). These are the ingredients copied and pasted from the recipe:
INGREDIENTS:
1 cup cavatappi pasta
2 cups cauliflower florets
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 cup half and half, or more, as needed
2 ounces cream cheese
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1 1/2 cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
2 tablespoons chopped fresh chives
Am I missing something here? Do you have 2 different recipes for this? I really want to know how I should really make it because it looks delicious, but I love Gruyere and would rather use that than cheddar anyway.
This recipe has been updated.
Can’t wait to try it, it looks so YUMMY!! My vegetarian would definitely love this, cauliflower is her new vegetable. 🙂
Thanks for the recipe.
I am preparing to make this recipe…. however everyone’s comments refer to Gruyere Cheese but the recipe lists using cheddar cheese. Has the recipe been updated to use cheddar instead of Gruyere Cheese? I wanted to get it right and was unsure of which cheese to use now.
Yes, the recipe has been updated!
Where is the old recipe?
The old recipe is no longer available.
This is SO SO good. Every time I make it my husband comments about how good it is even though he’s had it a hundred times. For anyone who’s wondering, I do freeze it although I’m sure that changes the texture a little. I adjust the recipe to a scale of using 2 heads of cauliflower whenever they’re on sale, and I use whatever cheese I have on hand (although that obviously changes the taste and texture too). So that makes enough for one big pan and 2 small 8×8 foil pans for the freezer and I have a great “lazy meal”!
YUM!!!! I made this tonight for dinner! It was a hit!!! Saved a little for my lunch tomorrow.
This is a repeat recipe for our home!
really good – added an egg with milk before adding – really good!
I made this the other night and wanted to love it, but think I screwed up along the way. I doubled the recipie with two small heads of cauliflower, one cup of pasta, and I used mozzarella instead of cheddar(doubled all other ingredients). Unfortunately the sauce was REALLY watery and I’m just not sure what went wrong! I was expecting a more creamy cheese sauce, like an Alfredo. Any suggestions for when I remake?
Jourdan, you can try to add additional sour cream and cheese as needed until the desired consistency is reached.
This recipe had a good base flavor, but the onion was so overpowering! Perhaps the onion I used was too large. I also had problems with the cheese melting to the correct consistency without the aid of a roux. I used Swiss in place of Gruyere. Unfortunately, had to throw this one out, wanted to like it though!
Sarah, I’m sorry that this recipe did not turn out the way you had imagined. I only post recipes that have been successfully tested in my own kitchen, and as you can see from the comments here, many of these readers have had great outcomes in the final dish as well.
I really hope you get a chance to try this again using gruyere. Substituting a different kind of cheese can yield very different results both in taste and texture.
This is awesome. I will definitely try this at home.
This was absolutely fabulous, such a great twist on Mac and cheese…no butter or flour, freaking awesome. I used Jarlsberg cheese instead of Gruyere because it is what I had handy but otherwise made it as written. Thanks so much for your recipes, you hold a special place in my heart for turning me on to orzo 🙂 Keep them coming!!
Quite possibly the CUTEST recipe post ever! And yummy too. This post made my day (and inspired me to make this dish!)
Thank you from a new fan!
Yum!! This is awesome. Trying to eat more veggies but still have great taste. Your lettuce wraps and other recipes keep me coming back to your site. Thank you so much!!
Wonderful texture and flavor without velveeta. Reheats smooth. This was delicious and so easy to make. Makes a bigger batch than I was expecting.
The skinny cauliflower mac’ n cheese was amazing- really a nice, “grown up” twist on he dish. I did sub greek yogurt for sour cream because it’s what I had on hand, otherwise made as written. I really enjoy your recipes. Thanks so much! This one is a keeper.
Sub Greek Yogurt for Reduced Fat Sour Cream… even healthier
I made this dish on Monday for dinner. What a hit!!!! My picky daughter ate a huge bowl of this! My husband devoured half of the dish. It was amazing! I did make a couple substitutions. tThe recipe called for 1/2 cup sour cream, I used cream cheese (chive and onion) that I had on hand. I added peas for color and extra veggies, and I used regular seasoned bread crumbs in lieu of Panko. It was still creamy, scrumptious and very flavorful! I will be sure to make this again! The possibilities of add-ins is limitless! Thanks so much!
love love love this recipe!! It has become one of our faves here, even with the kids. Yummy!