I used to make a delicious creamy cauliflower bake with cheese and cream before I became vegan. It was quite a heavy, rich sauce.
The first few months of being vegan, I wanted to recreate a white sauce that I liked for dishes like this leek and mushroom pasta. So I set out on a mission to recreate a vegan and healthier alternative. Once I landed on the fact that cashews make things nice and creamy and thicken a sauce up really well, this was my base for a lot of different dishes. Creamy sauces and curries are the ones I use cashews in regularly.
Can I just add…how beautiful are whole cauliflowers? I love the texture and the earthiness that they have. I also have a thing for photographing raw produce.
I normally tend to save the leaves for making stock, stir-fries or soup and the stalk of it as treats for our dog Chewy. He loves those as well as broccoli stalks.
I also make this bake with potato sometimes. So you can add them in if you like, just make sure you put them in to cook (in the boiling water) first as they take longer than the cauliflower to be ready for baking. Add about another 5-10 minutes of overall time if you decide to make it a potato and cauliflower bake.
It’s nice eaten either on its own, with some dipping bread (for that creamy, delicious sauce) and/or with a nice green salad. I hope that this blend will help you find a good base and then you can bake whatever vegetable you like with it. You can do a combination of cauliflower and broccoli as well, sweet potato, normal potatoes as mentioned above or zucchini. Your options are pretty endless!
Easy, delicious and creamy bake that everyone will love!
Ingredients
- 1 head of cauliflower, cut into florets
- 1 cup cashews
- ⅓ cup nutritional yeast
- 1 tbsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp smoked paprika (optional)
- Salt to taste
- 2 cups water
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 200C (400F).
- In a large pot, bring the water to a boil and add in the cut cauliflower.
- Cook for 10 minutes and then drain.
- While that’s cooking, in a blender, add in the sauce ingredients and blend until smooth.
- Place the cauliflower in a baking dish that fits in all the cauliflower in single file and pour the sauce over the top.
- Bake for 25-30 minutes until the sauce starts to bubble and brown on top.
- Serve on its own or with some bread and salad.
Hope you enjoy this one. Super simple and delicious. Let me know what you thought of it in the comments below!
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This looks great!
Should the cashews be soaked first? It seems like that’s the usual step in cashew cream sauces. Does it make a difference?
Thanks.
For me it doesn’t but I have a high speed blender. If you feel that it would blend better for you by soaking, I would for a couple of hours prior to using.
thank you! i’m going to try it next week 🙂
I love your Slow Sunday Morning newsletters in my inbox and I’m impressed with the positive community you have built. Keep the content coming. I find it relevant and interesting. I’m always looking for ways to fit minimalism and veganism into a busy lifestyle.
Thanks Susanne! Glad to hear you’re enjoying it 🙂
Inspired and with a cauliflower already in the fridge, I ran out and purchased the yeast (at first getting yeast levure and having to return it) and the garlic powder and set to work. I added potatoes. When the sauce was bubbling I took the dish out but it was a bit disappointing in that the color was rather brown and unappetising and the sauce stuck to the bottom of the pyrex dish and was too solid. And what was that about lining up the florets in single file? I lined them up in a line down the middle of the pan but eventually had to double them up a bit!
Hi Judy, I’m sorry to hear of your experience. Did you blend the ingredients well in the blender and add enough water? I’m not too sure without being there where it could have gone wrong but it sounds like either it wasn’t enough water and salt added. Did you use the nutritional yeast?
I love this recipe as it keeps my cravings for all things cheese at bay. I’m in my late fifties and went vegan about a year ago. I’ve always been interested in vegetarianism but didn’t have the courage to follow my own convictions. Then whilst on a retreat I met a wonderful vegan lady who said to me if you can be happy and healthy and not harm another living being then why wouldn’t you? I’m loving being vegan and wish I’d done it years ago. So if there’s anyone out there who thinks that they’re too old to change remember anything is possible! The only cravings I get are for an occasional piece of cheese so I’m so happy you posted this recipe it’s really delicious and hits that cheesy spot that I seem to have. Thanks I love your blog!!!
Thanks for sharing Gillian! Good on you for turning the corner 😉 There are so many more options now compared to a few years ago and it will only get better.
You think silken tofu can replace cashews in this dish? Looks yummy but we have nut allergies.
I haven’t tried it myself, but I imagine it would be fine 🙂
I would also use sunflower seeds instead of cashews and blend them well with the sauce mix.
OMG, it is delicious!
Thanks, Anna! Glad you enjoyed it 🙂
Do you know if this will freeze and reheat well?
Hi Dana, I haven’t actually tried freezing it myself as it’s normally gone before it even makes it to the fridge haha but I don’t see why not! Let me know how you go 🙂