Cheesy Cauliflower Casserole makes the most delicious side dish or meatless main dish! Full of flavor with cauliflower, sautéed mushrooms & leeks, and an easy cheesy sauce that won’t pack on the calories. This is incredible! (Thanks to Sargento for sponsoring this post!)
Have you ever watched that TV show Chopped? It’s one of my favorite cooking shows to watch because I’m always intrigued by what the chefs can come up with and make in such a short amount of time!
If you haven’t seen it yet, the premise is that each chef is given a mystery ingredient basket and they have to make a dish within a short period of time for each round. After the judges taste the dishes, someone is kicked off and the final two still in the running finish the show with the dessert round. The winner gets $10,000 bucks! The ingredients are usually normal but mixed with a few that are somewhat strange. But the chefs are always so amazing at coming up with dishes to incorporate them all.
Well, Sargento® and Food Network is teaming up and doing their own Chopped challenge called the Chopped at Home Challenge. It’s really cool! Round One Basket ingredients are Cauliflower, Crimini Mushrooms, Leeks and Sargento Sharp Cheddar Fine Cut Cheese. That’s a pretty good list, right?
So I had to get in on the Chopped Challenge! At first I was thinking I’d make a cauliflower crust pizza with a cheesy mushroom topping…but then my mother in law came into town to visit and she mentioned a cauliflower casserole. My brain started working and I couldn’t wait to try a cheesy cauliflower casserole filled with mushrooms and leeks and Sargento cheesy goodness!
You guys, this cheesy cauliflower casserole is to-die-for. My husband tried it and asked if it had cream or butter in it because it’s so rich and flavorful, but it has zero cream or butter and only a few ingredients. It really makes a spectacular side dish or meatless entree and it’s SO EASY! You’ll be amazed at the textures and flavors of cauliflower and mushrooms together! Plus the Sargento Sharp Cheddar Cheese is one of my favorite of their products. It’s so rich and packs a ton of flavor. I’d like to think that if I was on the TV show Chopped and given these ingredients, that I would have totally won with this dish, lol! 😉
How would YOU like to be a part of the Chopped at Home Challenge? Check out the Food Network’s website to read more about how you can submit your very own recipe to FoodNetwork.com/ChoppedChallenge for the chance to win $5,000 and a trip to New York City to compete in a televised Chopped cooking challenge for a $10,000 grand prize!!! Hurry because round one submissions end soon! You won’t want to miss this great opportunity!
And you definitely don’t want to miss this Cheesy Cauliflower Casserole! Add this into your dinner menu this week and see if your family likes it as much as mine did! I can’t wait to make it again…and again…and again… 😉
Cheesy Cauliflower Casserole
Ingredients
- 1 head cauliflower cut into florets
- 3/4 cup leeks diced
- 1 8-oz container cremini mushrooms (aka baby bella mushrooms), sliced
- 1 Tbsp. olive oil
- 2 Tbsp. all-purpose flour
- 1 cup milk
- 1 egg
- 2 cups Sargento Sharp Cheddar Cheese divided
- 1 tsp. salt
- 1/2 tsp. pepper
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350ºF.
- Boil water in a large pot and add cauliflower florets. Boil for 5-7 minutes, or until crisp-tender. Drain and pour into 2.5 quart casserole dish.
- Meanwhile, sauté mushrooms and leeks in olive oil until softened. Drain any excess liquid out. Pour over cauliflower in casserole dish.
- Whisk together flour, milk and egg in a medium sized bowl. Stir in 1 cup cheddar cheese. Pour over cauliflower and mushroom mixture. Stir together in casserole dish. Top with 1/2 - 1 cup cheese and bake in preheated oven for 25 minutes.
- Let cool for 5 minutes and serve up. Enjoy!
Want more healthy meatless side dish ideas? Try these:
Spinach & Artichoke Stuffed Spaghetti Squash
Tomato Zucchini Skillet Side Dish
Lemon Green Beans Amandine
This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Sargento. The opinions and text are all mine.
YUM! I don’t eat cauliflower near enough and am always looking for new ways to prepare it and interesting recipes. This looks amazing! Can’t wait to try. Pinning!