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Cauliflower Vegan Casserole
$6.15 Recipe/$1.53 Serving
Vegan cauliflower casserole is the perfect comfort food meal or side dish. Made with rice, cauliflower and a creamy sauce, this easy and delcious recipe is the perfect way to use leftover rice or get in more veggies. Naturally plant based, gluten free and dairy free!
Add water to a large pot and add steamer basket. Bring water to boil.
Cut the cauliflower off the stem and cut into bite size pieces.
Once water is boiling, add cauliflower to steamer basket, cover the pot and cook for 7 minutes or until fork tender.
While cauliflower is cooking, soak raw cashews in boiling water. To do this simply pour boiling hot water over cashews and let soak for 5 minutes.
Rinse and drain the canned white beans. If you have time, let the beans soak in clean filtered water for 1-2 minutes.
Drain the water from the cashews and beans. Add cashews and beans to blender with 1 cup vegetable broth. Blend on high 1 minute until smooth.
Once the sauce is smooth, add 1 teaspoon salt, 1 teaspoon garlic powder and 2 teaspoons of italian seasoning. Blend 5-10 seconds.
After the cauliflower is fork tender, turn off the heat and remove the lid.
Spoon the cooked jasmine rice into the casserole dish. Add the steamed cauliflower over the jasmine rice and then pour the sauce over the cauliflower. Stir well with a spoon until well incorporated. Press down on the cauliflower to flatten out the casserole.
In a small bowl combine the ingredients for the almond flour breadcrumbs. Once well combined, spoon the breadcrumbs over the casserole dish.
Bake in 425F oven for 10 minutes.
After 10 minutes of baking, turn on the broiler. Broil for 3-4 minutes. Keep an eye on the casserole to ensure it doesn't burn. You can move it around the oven a bit to ensure that the top browns evenly.
Notes
Top tips
Cut the cauliflower into similar size pieces so that it will steam evenly (you don’t want mushy pieces and hard chunks of cauliflower in the casserole). The cauliflower really doesn’t cook down much more when it’s in the oven, so be sure it’s fork tender before adding it to the casserole dish.
Be sure to use fresh cauliflower in this casserole. As cauliflower sits in the fridge it can get bitter and have a strong smell. Fresh cauliflower has green vibrant leaves and the cauliflower is mostly pale white (not yellow).
This recipe can be made with a whole cauliflower you break down at home, bagged cauliflower florets from the produce section or frozen cauliflower florets. You want at least 6 cups of cauliflower which is usually a medium head of cauliflower or 2 bags of fresh or frozen cauliflower florets.
You can also steam cauliflower in the instant pot. Chop the cauliflower up into similar size pieces. Add 1 cup of water to the Instant Pot. Place a steamer basket inside the insert on top of the water. Add the cauliflower to the steamer basket and cook high pressure for 0 minutes. After the instant pot beeps, manually release the pressure (be careful the steam is hot coming from the top).
Be sure to soak your cashews for at least 5 minutes in hot water. This helps to soften the cashews and makes them easier to blend. The longer you soak them, the softer they are. If you have a blender that isn’t as strong, you may want to soak the cashews longer or use hemp hearts in place of the cashews.
If you don’t have leftover rice, you can also use frozen rice (I always have a box of frozen jasmine rice from Trader Joe’s in the freezer) or you can make rice in your instant pot while the cauliflower is steaming.
Can you make this cauliflower casserole in advanceYes! You can steam the cauliflower and make the sauce in advance, up to 2 days. Assemble everything but the breadcrumb topping ahead of time. When you are ready to make this casserole, combine the ingredients for the breadcrumb topping, spoon it over the top and bake at 425F for 15 minutes right out of the fridge or 10 minutes if you allowed it to come up to room temperature at least 30 minutes – 1 hour before baking.Can you freeze leftoversYes! This casserole freezes very well. I would recommend scooping individual servings into something like Soupercubes to freeze in. Once frozen solid, you can transfer the individual servings to a freezer safe bag and freeze for up to 2 months. Defrost in the fridge 4+ hours up to overnight. Reheat in the microwave or in the oven once defrosted.Storing leftovers
Fridge: Store leftover cauliflower casserole in the fridge up to 5 days. You can either cover the casserole dish or transfer the casserole to an air-tight container to store in the fridge.
Freezer: Store leftovers in the freezer for up to 2 months. Be sure to put the name of the dish, the date, the use by date and reheating instructions if needed on the container so reheating is easy. Check out the tips above on how to freeze leftovers in single servings.
How to reheat leftover casseroleFrom the fridge or defrosted from the freezer, you can reheat cauliflower casserole in the microwave (1-1:30 on high heat) or in the oven 350F for 10 minutes until warm.
Nutrition Information
Nutrition Facts
Amount per Serving
Calories
407
Fat
13
g
Carbohydrates
60
g
Fiber
10
g
Sugar
4
g
Protein
17
g
Where does nutrition info come from? Nutrition facts are provided as a courtesy, sourced from the USDA Food Database.
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