Cheesy Instant Pot Cauliflower

This cheesy Instant Pot cauliflower is a great low carb macaroni and cheese style side dish everyone in your family will love, and want you to make again.

If you’re looking for a great low carb Instant Pot recipe this cheesy Instant Pot cauliflower is a real winner! Served as a side dish at dinner time or a complete meal, I can never make enough of it! It’s now one of our favorite easy vegetable Instant Pot recipes on The Typical Mom blog.

We first made this Instant Pot cauliflower mash which is a fun and delicious side dish to try. We even used purple cauliflower so it came out as a brilliantly bright purple mashed cauliflower dish the kids loved.

I don’t have this issue in my house but if your kids aren’t super keen on eating vegetables on a regular basis I would encourage you to try fun new ways of making them.  

• And adding cheese to veggies like this cheesy Instant Pot cauliflower is always a winner!

Cheese is also a great way to get kids to eat more vegetables of course so I bet they are going to love our cheesy Instant Pot cauliflower recipe here.

Following our Instant Pot vegetable cook time chart we ended up setting it on high for just 2 minutes but if you didn’t want it quite as soft 1 minute would work well too.

When it comes to cooking vegetables in the Instant Pot it doesn’t take long at all, and you don’t want them to get mushy. I prefer to cook it a little less because when it sits, or if you add hot sauces like this one it tends to soften even more when it sits but it is just a preference really.

I left it at 2 minutes on the instructions because everyone else liked this macaroni and cheese cauliflower (as they like to call it) on the softer tenderest side of things.

If you are on a low carb diet this cheesy Instant Pot cauliflower dish is great. If not you’ll enjoy how creamy it is.

We are big vegetable lovers at this house so we make our easy Instant Pot artichokes all the time. Using my Instant Pot gives me the ability to serve vegetables more often which allows us to eat healthier. That’s just the bottom line. This new multi cooker pressure cooker just rocks!

Of course you could make this without an Instant Pot. Just steam your cauliflower in a basket on the stove, then gently boil the sauce in the recipe card below. Remove from heat, add your cauliflower, gently stir together and serve.

Either way you’ve gotta’ make this!

This is what you’ll need to make our cheesy Instant Pot cauliflower dish

1. Head of cauliflower – stem & leaves removed, broken up into medium size pieces.
2. Instant Pot vegetable steamer basket
3. Heavy whipping cream
4. Cream cheese
5. Dijon mustard
6. Cheese – sharp is great or a mix of pepper jack and cheddar is fab
7. Garlic salt and salt to taste – I add after it’s done to avoid over salting

Looking for other Instant Pot side dishes?

• Instant Pot cheesy bacon ranch potatoes
• Perfectly cooked broccoli
• Bacon and Instant Pot brussel sprouts
  • cauliflower soup is great
• Fresh Instant Pot stuffing
• Sweet Instant Pot sweet potato casserole

Here’s the printable recipe as well:

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5 from 3 votes

Cheesy Instant Pot Cauliflower

This cheesy Instant Pot cauliflower is a great low carb macaroni and cheese style side dish everyone in your family will love, and want you to make again. 

Course Entree, Main Course, Side Dish

Cuisine American

Keyword cauliflower, cheese, cheesy, instant pot, pressure cooker, vegetables

Prep Time 10 minutes

Cook Time 2 minutes

Total Time 12 minutes

Servings 5

Calories 369kcal

Author The Typical Mom

Ingredients

• 1 head cauliflower stem removed, cut into med. size pieces
• 1 c heavy whipping cream
• 2 oz cream cheese
• 1.5 tsp dijon mustard
• 1.5-2 c cheese sharp cheddar or a mix of white cheddar and sharp
• 1/2 tsp garlic salt
• salt to taste

Instructions

• Put vegetable steamer basket into your Instant Pot and add 1.5 c water too.
• Put med. size pcs. of cauliflower into steamer basket and close lid, and steam valve.
• Set to pressure high for 2 minutes. Do a quick release and remove basket with cooked cauliflower, set aside.
• Turn pot off, then push saute button.
• Add heavy cream, cream cheese, dijon mustard, garlic salt and stir until it starts to slowly bubble and cream cheese clumps are now smooth.
• Add 1.5 c. shredded cheese and stir until melted, then dump cooked cauliflower into the pot and turn your pot off.
• Gently mix together so sauce is coating all pieces, empty into a bowl to serve so it doesn't continue to cook in your pot and get too soft.
• Enjoy topped with some shredded cheese or as is, add a dash of salt if desired.

Nutrition Facts

Cheesy Instant Pot Cauliflower

Amount Per Serving (3 oz)

Calories 369 Calories from Fat 297

% Daily Value*

Total Fat 33g 51%

Saturated Fat 20g 100%

Cholesterol 113mg 38%

Sodium 549mg 23%

Potassium 428mg 12%

Total Carbohydrates 8g 3%

Dietary Fiber 2g 8%

Sugars 2g

Protein 12g 24%

Vitamin A 23.8%

Vitamin C 67.5%

Calcium 31.2%

Iron 4.2%

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.

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