I love cauliflower cheese and my Gluten Free Cauliflower Cheese recipe has to be my favourite version. The gluten free cheese sauce is made with double cream (heavy cream) and a little cornflour to thicken the sauce.
I love cauliflower cheese and eat it regularly as a main dish, when I don't want meat. The extra flavour bomb ingredients from the sauteed leek, sun-dried tomatoes and spring onions, pack in flavour.
Why you'll love this recipe:
- Make ahead earlier in the day, or the day before and bake in the oven when you are ready to serve.
- Hands on prep time is minimal, as the sauce is made in a matter of minutes.
- The gluten free cheese sauce contains no cornflour making it suitable for Coeliacs or anyone following a gluten free diet.
- A great way to get kids to eat cauliflower - my kids would not touch regular cauliflower cheese (believe me I've tried) but they love this version with the added flavours.
How to make gluten free cauliflower cheese
- Preheat the oven to 200C/180CFan/390F.
- Cut the cauliflower into florets and add to a pan of boiling salted water. Reduce the heat to medium and cook the cauliflower for 6-8 minutes. Test the cauliflower, it should be soft, but retain a little bite.
- When ready, drain the cauliflower in a large sieve and set aside to steam for a minute or two to drain completely. Then add to an oven-proof dish.
- While the cauliflower is cooking, get on with making the sauce. Melt the butter in a small saucepan, over a medium heat, and add the leeks and a pinch of salt. Cook the leeks for 5 minutes.
- Now add the double cream and 140g of the grated cheddar cheese. Heat gently, stirring constantly, to melt the cheese.
- Place the cornflour into a small bowl. Remove some of the creamy sauce into the bowl and stir through the cornflour to form a smooth paste. Return the cornflour mixture to the saucepan and stir through the sauce. Keep stirring until the sauce thickens.
- Remove the sauce from the heat and stir through the spring onions, sun-dried tomatoes and diced mozzarella cheese.
- Season the sauce to taste with salt and black pepper, then pour over the cooked cauliflower.
- Scatter the remaining 60g of grated cheddar cheese over the top of the dish, and place into the hot oven to bake for 20 minutes.
- Remove from the oven and serve immediately.
Recipe ingredients & substitutions
- Cauliflower - I use 1 head of medium-sized cauliflower (cut into florets) to serve 6 as a side, or 3 as a main meal.
- Butter - you can use either salted or unsalted butter to saute the leeks.
- Leek - I use I medium-sized leek, trimmed, quartered and sliced.
- Cream - I use double cream (heavy cream) for the sauce as it has a thick consistency. This stops you needing to add flour or cornflour to thicken the cheese sauce.
- Cheese - I use both mature cheddar cheese and some drained and diced mozzarella cheese in the sauce. Further grated cheddar is added to top the dish before baking in the oven.
- Cornflour - I use a little cornflour in this recipe to thicken the sauce.
- Onion - I use spring onions to flavor the sauce and add a little extra freshness. You could swap the onions for chives.
- Tomato - I use sun-dried tomatoes in oil, which I drain and chop before adding to the sauce. Not only do they have an intense tomato flavour, but I find they add less water to the sauce than fresh tomatoes would.
- Seasoning - I season the sauce with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper.
Recipe variations
- Swap the mature cheddar cheese for another strong flavored cheese like Gruyere or Parmesan cheese.
- Want to add in more vegetables, no problem. Try sauteing some mushrooms, carrots, bell peppers, or red onions along with the leek.
- Stir some freshly chopped herbs, like chives, garlic or parsley, through the cheese sauce.
- This recipe would work equally well for broccoli or romanesco. Or try a mixture of both broccoli and cauliflower.
- A teaspoon of English or Dijon mustard can be added to the sauce, if you want to add some sharpness.
Serving suggestions
This cauliflower cheese recipe will serve 6 as a side dish or 2-3 as a great tasting vegetable main. If serving as vegetable main dish, I like to add a couple of extra vegetable sides. However, I usually keep those simple, something like some steamed carrots, garden peas, or green beans. If adding a potato I also go with something simple like a steamed or boiled new potato.
Useful hints and tips
- Double or treble the recipe if you are feeding a crowd.
- Following a low-carb diet? I don't use too much sun-dried tomatoes, but you may prefer to swap them for fresh tomatoes or leave them out altogether.
- Serving vegetarian diners? No problem, just ensure you use vegetarian cheese.
- Allergy advice: gluten free, egg free, soya free, peanut free and nut free. For comprehensive and detailed allergy advice go to Allergy UK.
FAQs
To stop cauliflower cheese becoming watery you need to do 2 things. Firstly, don't overcook the cauliflower, only cook the florets to al-dente, so you leave them with a little bite. Secondly, once cooked, drain the cauliflower into a large sieve then leave to sit for a couple of minutes to steam dry and drain away any excess water.
Yes, absolutely. Just ensure you don't overcook the cauliflower and drain away any excess water before you add it to the dish.
This is a great make ahead dish, you can prepare the cauliflower and the sauce in advance (up to stage 9 in the recipe card below), then allow to cool before covering and storing the the refrigerator for 1-2 days.
When you are ready to cook, remove from the fridge, cover the top with the remaining grated cheddar cheese and place in the oven to cook. You may need to cook a little longer as the dish will be fridge cold.
Fridge: Store any leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for 2-3 days then reheat to piping hot in the microwave, or a warm oven, when you are ready to enjoy.
Freezer: I don't recommend freezing this dish as the cooked cauliflower breaks down quite a bit during the defrosting process. Also, double cream can be prone to splitting, so I prefer not to freeze.
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Additional recipe suggestions
If you like this recipe then try some of these easy vegetable sides recipes:
- Honey Roast Carrots
- Easy Oven Roasted Asparagus
- Honey Roasted Root Vegetables
- Easy Dauphinoise Potatoes
- Easy Boulangere Potatoes
For all my favourite vegetable recipes in one place, check out my 12 Best Vegetable Side Dishes post.
Gluten Free Cauliflower Cheese Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 head medium-sized cauliflower (cut into florets)
- 20 g butter
- 1 leek (trimmed, quartered and sliced)
- 300 ml double cream (heavy cream)
- 200 g mature cheddar cheese (grated)
- 1 tablespoon cornflour
- 3 spring onions (sliced)
- 6 sun-dried tomatoes in oil (drained and chopped)
- 100 g ball of mozzarella cheese (diced)
- salt & black pepper
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 200C/180CFan/390F.
- Cut the cauliflower into florets and add to a pan of boiling salted water. Reduce the heat to medium and cook the cauliflower for 6-8 minutes. Test the cauliflower, it should be soft, but retain a little bite.
- When ready, drain the cauliflower in a large sieve and set aside to steam for a minute or two to drain completely. Then add to an oven-proof dish.
- While the cauliflower is cooking, get on with making the sauce. Melt the butter in a small saucepan, over a medium heat, and add the leeks and a pinch of salt. Cook the leeks for 5 minutes.
- Now add the double cream and 140g of the grated cheddar cheese. Heat gently, stirring constantly, to melt the cheese.
- Place the cornflour into a small bowl. Remove some of the creamy sauce into the bowl and stir through the cornflour to form a smooth paste. Return the cornflour mixture to the saucepan and stir through the sauce. Keep stirring until the sauce thickens.
- Remove the sauce from the heat and stir through the spring onions, sun-dried tomatoes and diced mozzarella cheese.
- Season the sauce to taste with salt and black pepper, then pour over the cooked cauliflower.
- Scatter the remaining 60g of grated cheddar cheese over the top of the dish, and place into the hot oven to bake for 20 minutes.
- Remove from the oven and serve immediately.
Notes
• Please note that the nutrition information provided above is approximate and meant as a guideline only •
Gareth says
This recipe has a step that says to add cornflour
Lesley says
Hi Gareth, thank you very much for pointing this out. I adjusted the recipe after further testing and clearly forgot to go back and amend the post intro. My apologies, but I'm glad you commented which has allowed me to rectify the error.
Cat says
This was a cheesy, gooey and delicious delight!
Lesley says
Thank you Cat, I've glad you enjoyed it.
Chloe says
OOoh I'm usually a cornflour girlie but I needed zero persuading to try a double cream version! No regrets, this was so good!
Lesley says
Thank you Chloe, I think everything tastes great with a touch of double cream.
sisley says
Absolutely delicious. You wouldn't know it was gluten free.
Lesley says
Thank you Sisley, I find that adding in the extra flavors ensures you don't feel like you're missing out.
Janice says
I was so pleased to find this recipe because I love cauliflower cheese but hate making the sauce! This solves the problem and, oh my, it is soooo delicious.
Lesley says
Thank you Janice, I know what you mean, this makes it a whole lot easier.