Easy Instant Pot Cauliflower Mash

This easy Instant Pot cauliflower mash is so much fun to make and eat! It tastes like mashed potatoes but with made with a head of cauliflower. Packed with a ton of flavor, creamy, and you can use any color cauliflower you can find like purple!

Purple Cauliflower Mash

• Not only is this a fun vegetable side dish but it’s really tasty too. They’re rich, creamy, and put a smile on everyone’s face in our house. You can use any color your store offers, it doesn’t have to be purple. White is just as delicious.

You can make it in a Crockpot Express or as an easy Ninja Foodi recipe as well. All these pots basically work the same.

What does cauliflower taste like?

While cauliflower is a mild tasting vegetable, it doesn’t have the same neutral flavor you get with rice. In my opinion it’s highly ignored and not served as often as it should be. Coming in a few different colors, white is the most common.

We will share here how to make Instant Pot mashed cauliflower, how to cook a whole head in your multi cooker, as well as a cheesy version I’m addicted to. You can use your Ninja Foodi for any of these as well.

Ninja Foodi Mashed Cauliflower

• You could make them orange, green or yellow too depending on what color cauliflower you find at the store.
• I used purple because I have 3 girls and well I thought that it would be “totally cool”!

Ninja Foodi cauliflower mash

1. Instant Pot or pressure cooker
2. Kitchen Deluxe vegetable steamer use code TYPICALM for 15% off (safety hook included)

If you already have one of these vegetable baskets at home then use yours, you just don’t want to use a trivet. Reason is the florets will fall off into the water and become a mushy mess that are water logged.

Is cauliflower keto?

YES!! Cauliflower is a vegetable of choice if you’re on the ketogenic diet. The plant is low in carbs and can replace potatoes, rice, and even pasta. BUT with this you still get the taste of a feel good food you’re probably craving.

I’d suggest this as a side dish and if you want a heartier one that could be served as a vegetarian meal our Instant Pot cauliflower curry is great too.

Instant Pot mashed cauliflower 

1. Head of cauliflower (white, or color of your choice)
2. Butter
   1. or margarine, but real salted butter is much better
3. Cream cheese or sour cream (I use what I have on hand)
   1. if using cream cheese to smooth it out ensure it is room temperature when added
4. Parmesan cheese
5. Green onions & garlic powder – optional
6. Salt and pepper to taste
   1. really, add any and all seasonings you would normally put into your mashed potatoes

Use a potato masher as once they are steamed and softened you’ll treat them just like mashed taters.

This vegetable steamer is great for just about any veggie you want to make.

• Just pour about 1 1/2 cups of water into the bottom of your Instant pot.
• Open the steamer basket up as you see here
  • It includes a safety tool too that makes lifting the steamer out of your pot easier and safer too
• Add your cauliflower florets
• Close the lid and set to manual setting, pressure high for 3 minutes cook time
• Release the pressure with a quick release once done
• Remove the lid and put veggies into food processor or use potato masher to smooth

If you don’t have any of these you can find them on my list of favorite Instant Pot accessories. They aren’t expensive and I use them every week, totally worth it.

Once your cauliflower is nicely steamed and super soft you just pour it into a bowl, add your goodies, mix on low/medium to smooth it out, and serve!

Surprise them one night with this as a side item, I guarantee you’ll get a big “What??!! Cool!”….and they will try it!

How do you thicken cauliflower puree?

• If left inside your Instant Pot and mashed you can thicken by cooking down further while stirring often while on the saute function or inside a nonstick skillet. To thin it out just whisk in additional liquid such as broth, cream, or water.

There you have it. In just about 15 minutes total you can have yourself a fun vegetable Instant Pot dish that is fun and flavorful!

Looking for more vegetable recipes?

• Here’s how to make mashed cauliflower on the stovetop
• Buffalo baked cauliflower is great, or make air fryer cauliflower steak
• Don’t forget to try our cheesy Instant Pot cauliflower
• Pressure cooker cauliflower soup is amazing too

How long does mashed cauliflower keep?

Properly stored, cooked cauliflower will last for 3 to 5 days in the refrigerator. To further extend the duration, freeze it!

Can you freeze pureed cauliflower?

Of course! Cooking from frozen actually works great most of the time like with air fryer frozen cauliflower. Just make sure you freeze leftovers in a covered airtight container or heavy duty freezer bag. You can also wrap what’s left with heavy duty aluminum foil or freezer wrap. We rarely have any left, it’s that good.

Don’ t forget to grab your own helpful Instant Pot vegetable steamer here and get started!