Gluten Free Cauliflower Cheese

This gluten free cauliflower cheese recipe combines silky smooth bechamel sauce with a flavour-hit from cheese and mustard.

It’s the perfect addition to a Sunday roast, but is very much the star of the show in its own right!

If you live in Britain or Ireland or, for some inexplicable reason just wish you did, you’ll probably have some strong opinions on what should sit on your roast dinner plate.

For me as a vegetarian, gluten free cauliflower cheese is always welcome!

Sunday roasts are a meal I find hard to put together when it comes to gluten free, veggie options. A roasted meat joint is usually front and centre, and no matter how good the veggie trimmings are, the plate always just seems to lack something without it.

So the presence of cauliflower cheese provides a centrepiece to the meal. As well as ensuring you get delicious cheesy sauce for your roast potatoes, of course.

Cauliflower

You’ll find articles across the internet telling you to steam your cauliflower first. And while I understand the desire to steam rather than boil vegetatbles, I find a parboil is best here. For two reasons:

First and foremost, there’s nothing worse than an undercooked gluten free cauliflower cheese. When everything else is ready to eat, the last thing you want is to have to wait another 15 minutes because your veg is rock hard. Parboiling until almost done (i.e. when piercing it with a knife meets little resistance) will save you this painful experience.

And secondly, it allows you to salt your cauliflower as it cooks in the water. 

Cauliflower takes on more flavour as it softens (which is another great reason to parboil it if you’re making a curry, as it will absorb the flavours of your spices). And essentially it’s the same principle as salting your pasta water – you want flavour in every part of the dish, not just the sauce. You can’t do that if you steam it, but you can if you boil it.

Just please don’t overdo it! Three to five minutes is perfect.

Gluten Free Cheese Sauce

My gluten free bechamel is the first building block for this one. Follow the link if you want to read more about how to make gluten free white sauce. 

But I’ve included an additional (optional) step involved with this gluten free cauliflower cheese. And that’s the addition of flavourings to the milk.

I like to add a bay leaf and half an onion to the milk before I add it to my roux. This gives the whole sauce that little bit more flavour and I think really elevates the dish. Think of it like using stock instead of water to flavour your soup.

You can skip this step if you prefer and you’ll still get a delicious bake. But we’re aiming for gold medal cauliflower cheese here – so why not go all-out!

Cornflour Roux

This roux is made with cornflour (AKA cornstarch). To me this creates the smoothest, silkiest gluten free cauliflower cheese. All purpose gluten free flour (especially anything with added xanthan gum) tends to either make this sauce grainy or viscous. Sweet rice flour is a great alternative to cornflour, but it’s not an ingredient most people have lying around the pantry, so I’ve not included it here.

Cheese

For me, this is a traditional dish that calls for a traditional cheddar.

A sharp tangy one is good, but make sure don’t go too mature for this. You want a good melter with enough cheesy flavour, but top-shelf aged cheddar is better used on the cheeseboard in my opinion.

Additions and toppings

You can keep things straight and traditional here and it will taste delicious, but I find the addition of a teaspoon of mustard helps add a bit more flavour.

My pro tip, meanwhile, is adding a dash of apple cider vinegar right before baking. I’m talking about half a teaspoon in this recipe, but if you’ve got a big baking dish to fill, possibly more!

The idea here is to lighten what is a really heavy, fatty, cheesy dish with a splash of acid. White wine vinegar will also work well here, but I’d stay away from anything dark or aged like balsamic.

If you’re a regular reader of this blog you’ll know I sometimes say lemon can work in a pinch. It’s something people often have lurking around in the fridge and can also be used to add that acid hit to a dish right at the end if you don’t have any vinegar on hand. But for this gluten free cauliflower cheese recipe I don’t recommend it. It will work to lighten things up, but it will also add a lemony flavour which I don’t feel is warranted here.

As for toppings, some more grated cheese is a must, and I also think the reddish hue of double gloucester creates a spectacular topping!

Meanwhile, some gluten free breadcrumbs add another textural note if you have some in the cupboard.

But do let me know what you like to have on your plate at a Sunday roast. If you’re vegetarian, what’s your go-to protein? I tend to stick to gluten free vegetarian sausages, but do you have a better option? Let me know in the comments below!

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Yield: Serves 4

Gluten Free Cauliflower Cheese

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 35 minutes

Total Time: 50 minutes

This gluten free cauliflower cheese recipe combines silky smooth bechamel sauce with a flavour-hit from cheese and mustard.

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Ingredients

• 1 medium cauliflower, cut into florets
• 450ml whole milk
• ½ a medium onion (optional)
• 1 bay leaf (optional)
• 30g butter or olive oil
• 30g cornflour
• 1 ½ tsp dijon or wholegrain mustard
• ¼ tsp apple cider / white wine vinegar (optional)
• 125g cheese (cheddar or double gloucester), grated
• 25g gluten free breadcrumbs (optional)
• 25g extra cheese for topping

Instructions

1. Bring a large pan of well salted water to a boil and add the cauliflower florets. Cook for 3-5 minutes, or until the tip of a knife can pierce the surface of the cauliflower stalk (but there should still be resistance).
2. Remove the cauliflower from the heat and drain, then plunge into an ice bath or run under cold water to cool.
3. Preheat oven to 200℃
4. [If pre-infusing the milk, follow this step, if not, move straight to step 5 and add cold milk to the roux.] In a small saucepan over a medium-low heat, add milk, the onion (cut half down) and the bay leaf. Bring to a simmer, and allow to cook for 5 minutes - ensuring the milk never gets to a boil. Take off the heat, and discard the onion and the bay leaf. Pour milk into a jug and reserve
5. Take the butter and melt it in a different, heavy bottomed saucepan over a medium heat.
6. When the butter has melted and has started to foam slightly, add the cornflour and stir in,
7. Allow to cook, stirring constantly, for 2-3 minutes, allowing the mixture to bubble slightly.
8. Next, add a splash of milk and whisk it in. The mixture should clump up, but constant whisking should incorporate it all into a thick paste-like sauce.
9. When the milk is fully incorporated, add another splash and repeat the process until half the milk is in the sauce, whisking constantly.
10. When you get halfway through the milk, you can add larger quantities each time. Make sure to continue whisking constantly.
11. When the milk is incorporated you should have a perfectly smooth, silky sauce that is thick but not lumpy, but still relatively loose - it should coat the back of a spoon, but still drip off.
12. Add the cheese and mustard to the mixture and stir through until the cheese melts. 
13. Add ¼ tsp apple cider vinegar, then take off the heat.
14. Take parboiled cauliflower and arrange across the bottom of a medium baking dish, then pour the sauce over the top, shaking the dish lightly to ensure full coverage.
15. Top the bake with cheese and breadcrumbs if using.
16. Bake in the oven for 25-30 minutes, or until the cauliflower is soft and the top of the dish is browned and crispy.

Nutrition Information:

Yield:

4

Serving Size:

1
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 371Total Fat: 27gSaturated Fat: 14gTrans Fat: 1gUnsaturated Fat: 10gCholesterol: 65mgSodium: 475mgCarbohydrates: 19gFiber: 4gSugar: 10gProtein: 16g

FAQs

Which gluten free flour can I use to thicken the sauce?

Gluten free corn flour (AKA cornstarch) is my go-to gluten free flour to thicken this cauliflower cheese. In fact it is my favourite for roux and bechamel in general.

That’s because all-purpose gluten free flour tends to create a grainy or viscous texture to the sauce, depending on which brand you use.

Another great choice is sweet rice flour (also known as glutinous rice flour – which is gluten free, despite its name!). This flour also produces a smooth texture, but I use cornflour in my recipes because in the UK it’s easier to get a hold of and most people already have some in their pantry.

What cheese is best for gluten free cauliflower cheese?

Mature / sharp cheddar works best for this recipe, but don’t go too mature. A cheese with a bit of tanginess to it is perfect, but bear in mind that more mature cheddars melt poorly. The fat tends to separate from the protein, leaving a harder melted cheese behind.

I have also made this recipe with red leicester and double gloucester which are great choices, too. When used on top of this cauliflower cheese, the result is a pleasing orange hue to the bake.

Can I make this vegan?

I haven’t tried this with vegan cheese, but my gluten free bechamel recipe works well with gluten free oat milk. So in theory, yes!

However, I find vegan cheese to have a slightly gummy, sticky texture which may come through in this recipe. The addition of miso or nutritional yeast to the bechamel when adding the cheese would help give it that extra umami kick that’s missing from the dairy cheese.

Do let me know in the comments if you’ve made this recipe and tried it!