This delicious cauliflower au gratin is dairy-free! It is easy to make with a cheese-flavored cooking cream (we are lucky here!) but in this recipe I’ll tell you how to make it with regular cooking cream and even without cooking cream!
How to make cauliflower au gratin
There are many ways to make dairy-free cauliflower au gratin. If you live in Finland you are lucky to have amazing oat-based cooking creams, which are made for gratins like this. They are mildly oaty and very creamy, and there are several flavors to choose from. For this gratin I chose the cheese-flavored cream. This cheese-flavored cream is a dream come true for vegans! The cheese flavor is made naturally (no nasty ingredients) with a secret combination of flavors and it tastes cheesy in the right way.
If you don’t have this amazing cream this is what I suggest:
- Any natural cooking cream. This can be oat-based, soy-based or almond-based. For about 1 cup of cream add about 4 tbsp of nutritional yeast, 1 tsp onion powder and about 1/2 tsp salt (or to taste).
- If you don’t have vegan cooking cream, you can do this: blend about 1/2 cups of cashews and 1 cup water until you have a smooth cream. Season same as above: 4 tbsp of nutritional yeast, 1 tsp onion powder and about 1/2 tsp salt (or to taste). If you don’t have cashews, almonds are great too!
- There is one item you absolutely need to make a delicious dairy-free cauliflower au gratin: dairy-free parmesan! If you happen to have Violife Prosociano (a dairy-free hard “cheese” very similar to parmesan), this is what I recommend and always use. It gives this gratin exactly the right salty cheesy flavor!
- In addition you need: lots of black pepper and dairy-free butter. Freshly ground black pepper is what takes this gratin to the next level flavor wise and dairy-free butter gives an additional scrumptious touch and a “buttery” flavor. We use a Danish brand called Naturli, which tastes amazingly almost like butter.
Recipe: vegan cauliflower au gratin
- ~800 grams / 28 oz cauliflower (two small cauliflower heads)
- about 2 tbsp olive oil
- salt
- 1 cup cooking cream either cheese-flavored by Kaslink AITO or neutral (soy/almond/oat-based or any dairy-free cream you like, coconut might be too coconutty)
- If using neutral cooking cream add: 4 tbsp nutritional yeast, 1 tsp onion powder, about 1/2 tsp salt or to taste (vegan parmesan adds saltiness too)
- about 1 cup grated vegan parmesan (I recommend Violife Prosociano)
- about 4 tbsp dairy-free butter
- lots of freshly ground black pepper
Preheat oven to 200 C/ 392 F. Cut cauliflower into small bites and mix together with olive oil. Place on a baking sheet preferably so that the cauliflower pieces are not overlapping and sprinkle some salt on top. Bake in the oven for 25 minutes.
Mix cooking cream with the seasoning and about 3/4 cups of grated parmesan until fully combined. Place pre-roasted cauliflower bites to a baking dish, pour cooking cream-parmesan mix on top. Give a good mix and bake for another 20 minutes or until cauliflower looks roasted.
When the gratin is ready sprinkle rest of the grated parmesan on top and a generous amount of black pepper.
Serve as a side dish or as a pasta sauce.
Note: this grating doesn’t get a melted cheese effect as a topping but it is very creamy and cheese flavored. If you want to have a melted cheese topping, you can add about 1/2 cup of your favorite shredded vegan cheese on top!
If you love cauliflower like I do, I’m sure you’ll love these recipes:
Creamy strawberry nice cream (with hidden cauliflower!)
ps You can follow Myberryforest blog also on Pinterest!
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