I just had to make this cute version of Vegan Cauliflower Cheese! It has all the flavours of the original, but with a fun festive twist too.
When I was growing up, my mother used to beg me not to play with my food. Luckily for all of us, I turned what was annoying at the dinner table, into something even better. Recipe creation! Pretty much a license to play with my food and come up with delicious and occasionally cute recipes like this one: Vegan Cauliflower Cheese 'Christmas Trees'.
📜Key Ingredients
- Cauliflower: You can use any caulifower you like with this recipe. The classic white version, or for fun, a Romanesco cauliflower. It tastes so similar to the regular kind, that it can be easily swapped into any recipe with cauliflower in it, but looks so much more festive and pretty, with its green Fibonacci whirls and swirls!
- Bechamel or White Sauce: The classic white sauce (bechamel sauce) is so easy to make vegan. Just use olive oil or vegan butter and swap the milk for oat milk or your favourite milk.
- Nutritional Yeast : This gives a lovely cheesy flavour to the whole dish, which is after all, the point of cauliflower cheese!
And what could be cuter and more festive as a fun Christmas (or any time) side than a pretty red ovenproof dish, filled with little green Christmas Trees that are then smothered in a comforting blanket of cheese sauce. Easy to make, delicious to eat!. Hey- you might even get the kids to eat some up because it looks so fun!
Now, don't panic. Just because this is a vegan cauliflower cheese dish, doesn't mean that it has loads of expensive ingredients in it. In fact, it's based on a simple roux (white sauce or bechamel sauce) , just with those two vegan staples added to it for the cheesy taste: Miso and Nutritional Yeast. These two wonder ingredients (without which my kitchen would be very much bereft) together somehow form the perfect 'cheesy' taste. Add a little mustard and no one will know that the cauliflower cheese you have just served up is vegan!!
I have one more bossy note to add to making this easy vegan side dish! Make sure your wok fry your cauliflower first, don't boil it! Boiled cauliflower a) is horrid and b) makes for a wet and soggy cauli-cheese.
All you need to do is get out your wok (or heavy fry pan) and heat it up. Add your florets of cauliflower (or romanesco cauliflower) and dry fry for a few minutes until they start to 'catch' a little. Put on a big lid over them and let the natural water in the cauli create steam and help to soften the cauliflower for a few minutes.. Voila! Perfect cooked cauli with not a single soggy floret. Yay!
👩🍳How To
For the full recipe and ingredient quantities, please see the recipe card below.
First steps
- Cut the florets.
- Wok or dry fry the cauliflower florets.
1) Cut the florets so they fit into your chosen oven dish 2) Wok or dry fry the florets to soften and add lovely charred edges
Make the Roux/Bechamel
- Heat oil or vegan butter
- Add the flour
- Toast the flour (removes the 'floury taste)
- Add the plant milk bit by bit
- Whisk so no lump
- Add the miso and whisk
- Add the mustard and whisk
- Add the nutritional yeast and whisk
1) Add oil or vegan butter 2) Add flour and cook 3) Toast/cook the flour in the oil. 4) Slowly whisk in the plant based milk 5) Keep Whisking until you remove all the lumps 6) Keep adding mylk and whisking until smooth 7) Add the miso 8) Add the mustard 9) add the nutritional yeast.
How to assemble and bake the Vegan Cauliflower Cheese
- Build the base of the cauliflower cheese with stalks or flat bits.
- Arrange all the cauliflower florets. If you're using romanesco cauliflower, make sure some peep up to form 'trees'
- Pour over the bechamel sauce
- Add your favourite vegan cheese and bake.
1)Build the base of your cauliflower cheese with the stalks 2) Add in all the florets, making sure that some peep up. 3) Carefully pour over the bechamel 4) Add your fave vegan cheese and bake.
FAQ
No this recipe is completely nut free.
Yes, make this a day or two ahead and finish off in the oven. Assemble it all, and leave it covered in the fridge. Bring to room temperature then bake as normal.
You can use romanesco cauliflower, ordinary white cauliflower, or any that you please. It also tastes great with broccoli!
We like to buy it online (affiliate link)
I do this as in combination with nutritional yeast it adds a salty, cheesy flavour that reminds me of sharp cheddar.
🥗Serving Ideas
Serve this yummy dish up with loads of other festive dishes like these:
Blushing Beetroot & Potato Boulangere
Vegan Lentil and Seed Nutless Roast
Mustard Roasted Parsnips and Chestnuts
The Best Vegan Gravy & Roast Potatoes
And if you need some more inspiration or a lovely gift for a friend, vegan or otherwise who loves to cook, why not get our lovely Cookbook: Festive Feasts! Head to this link to buy!!
📖 Recipe
Vegan Cauliflower Cheese
Ingredients
- 1 head cauliflower or romanesco cauliflower (either is fine!)
- 35 g plain flour
- 60 ml sunflower oil
- 500 ml plant milk ( Unsweetened oat or soya is best.)
- 1 tablespoon miso
- 1 tablespoon dijon mustard
- 1 tablespoon nutritional yeast
- 2 tablespoon grated vegan cheese
- Salt & pepper to taste
Instructions
Prepare the romanesco cauliflower
- Cut the cauliflower into large florets. Trim the stalk and chop too
- Heat a large wok or frying pan, add the cauliflower florets and cook until they just catch
- Put a large lid on over the florets and let their natural water content steam them for 3-5 minutes until softened
Make the cheese sauce
- In a pan, gently heat the oil and add the flour
- Stir the flour until it starts to colour a soft brown. This prevents the sauce tasting 'floury'
- Add the plant milk bit by bit, whisking all the time to prevent lumps forming
- Once a smooth sauce is achieved, whisk in the miso, nutritional yeast and mustard
- Taste and add more of the flavourings if you want a stronger taste
To assemble the cauliflower cheese 'Christmas Trees'
- In an oven proof dish, arrange the cauliflower florets and stems. Use the stems to lift up some florets so they point up further than others for a cute 'mountain' effect
- Gently pour over the cheese sauce
- sprinkle over vegan cheese if using.
- Bake in a moderate (180°C/Gas Mark 4/350°F) oven for 15-20 minutes until bubbling and golden. Be careful not to burn the trees!
- Serve immediately
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