A deliciously creamy vegan sauce made using just cauliflower and coconut milk. Whole30 compliant!
So I’m now 11 days into my Whole30 challenge and feeling good. One thing I am definitely missing though is dairy.
I am a latte addict and love my cheese. And I have to admit I am secretly proud of myself for even managing this long without either of those.
My family love nothing more than a big bowl of pasta with a cheesy sauce, like this Baked Cream Cheese Pasta .
So I set about trying to find an alternative and healthier option for us all….hello Creamy Cauliflower Sauce!
What Ingredients Are in Cauliflower Sauce?
There have been different variations of cauliflower cream sauce doing the rounds on Pinterest and the like for a while now and most of them contain milk, parmesan cheese garlic cloves and then as expected, cauliflower florets and vegetable stock.
But I wanted to make a dairy free version so that I could eat it too! As well as being free from any salty stock cubes so that I could feed it to the baby.
My simple recipe only contains three ingredients:
- whole head of cauliflower
- coconut milk
- salt and pepper
Non-Dairy Milk Alternatives
I’ve used coconut milk in my recipe, but there are some really good non dairy alternatives out there these days such as:
- oat milk
- almond milk
- cashew milk
- soya milk
I’ve not tried any of the variations in my recipe yet, but if you do try them, please do let me know how it turns out.
Vegan Friendly
Because I’ve used dairy free milk in this recipe, and only simple ingredients, it’s completely vegan friendly and would make a great base recipe for a vegan alfredo sauce.
Anyway, with all these stipulations in mind I wasn’t sure how this sauce would turn out!
But with just two main ingredients and then seasoning, I think I managed to create an incredibly creamy texture that has amazing flavour!
My family loved it and lapped up the Macaroni Cheese I made using it. You can find the recipe for the Macaroni Cheese with Secret Cauliflower Sauce over with our other Pasta Recipes if you wanted to try it!
If you are not a big coconut fan don’t worry, the coconut taste is very very subtle and not overpowering at all.
Cauliflower haters shouldn’t worry either, even though the recipe does use a lot of cauliflower, if you use a super fresh cauliflower and don’t over-boil it, you won’t get that strong cauliflower taste.
What Recipes Can I use This Sauce For?
This sauce is so easy and versatile. It only took ten minutes to make and so far I’ve used it in this Macaroni Cheese pasta dish and in a Ham & Mushroom Courgetti dish using zucchini noodles!
I do have a recipe for One Pot Cheesy Cauliflower Pasta but that does contain dairy and stock, so if you wanted to make a dairy free version of that recipe, then this creamy sauce would be a great way to make it dairy free or vegan friendly.
Cauliflower lends itself really well for cream-based sauces so I’m thinking it might be a good starting point for coming up with a healthy fettuccine alfredo recipe!
And I can’t wait to try it out in soups and casseroles later in the Autumn. Have you got any other ideas of what recipes I could make using it?
Other Cauliflower Uses And Recipes
Cauliflower is really good for you as it’s high in fibre and B Vitamins so it’s perfect for sneaking into those Hidden Veg Recipes For Fussy Eaters.
Or for the grown ups looking for low calorie options, then Cauliflower Rice is a really healthy side dish that is the perfect alternative to white rice.
If you’ve never made it before, then check out my post on How To Prepare, Cook & Store Cauliflower Rice.
Looking for a delicious but healthy holiday meal to serve this Christmas or have vegans coming for lunch? Then try this Whole Roasted Cauliflower With Hazelnut Pesto. I promise you won’t be disappointed!
P.S. I apologise for how rubbish these cauliflower cheese sauce pictures are. After a 3 week break from taking pictures of food I seemed to be incapable of getting a decent shot of this sauce, plus the light was miserable that day. I promise to take better pics the next time I make it!
PrintCreamy Cauliflower Sauce
- Prep Time: 5 mins
- Cook Time: 6 mins
- Total Time: 11 minutes
- Yield: 4 1x
- Category: Sauce
- Cuisine: Vegan
Description
A deliciously creamy vegan sauce made using just cauliflower and coconut milk. Whole30 compliant!
Ingredients
- 1 small head cauliflower cut into florets (approx 300g)
- 100ml coconut milk
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Place the cauliflower florets in a pan of boiling water and turn the hob to a medium heat. Bring to the boil and then simmer for approximately 5 minutes or until the cauliflower is tender. Be sure not to over cook it so that it becomes very soft and mushy.
- Transfer the cauliflower to a blender and add the coconut milk. Blend until smooth. You can add more or less coconut milk depending on what consistency you want your sauce to be. At this point you can season the sauce to your liking.
- Keep the sauce in an airtight jar or container in the fridge for up to 3 days.
Suzy says
My husband has given up dairy so we tried this and it was lovely. I was really surprised as I’m not normally a fan of cauliflower but in this form it’s great!
★★★★★
Dounya says
Hi Ciara, i want to make this next! I forget to give my kids cauliflower so i’m looking forward to hiding it in their next pasta dish. I was wondering if i can just use full fat milk instead of coconut milk since its for the kids? Thanks
Ciara Attwell says
Yes absolutely. Normal milk will work just fine too!