Mac and Cheese Slow Cooker Cheesy Cauliflower

Slow cooker cheesy cauliflower mac and cheese recipe that is easy to throw together and the best vegetable side dish cooked in a Crockpot. Creamy and delicious, even your kids will ask for seconds of this.

You have got to try this slow cooker cheesy cauliflower recipe! If your kids will only eat vegetables with cheese on top they are going to love this side dish. Swimming in a creamy sauce, give this quick and easy Crockpot recipe a whirl. (affiliate links present)

Slow Cooker Cauliflower

Ok so we made this Instant Pot cheesy cauliflower recipe years ago and it was such a hit. This week I thought we’d make a version in the Crockpot and OH SO good y’all. Both are really cheap side dishes to liven up dinnertime from basic to amazing.

This one only takes about 10 minutes to prep and then you can let it go for a few hours. In that time you can get your main dish cooked, rested, and ready to serve all together. That is always the goal and doesn’t always work out well, until now.

Let’s talk a little bit about slow cooking shall we?? First off I have a few different varieties and I love them all. Each one has an occasion to be used like….

1. This is my favorite 6 quart programmable one with a locking lid so it’s great for bringing to a potluck too.
2. I prefer not to use liners, but rather just spray olive oil inside before adding my food for easier cleanups.

Let me give you a peek of my pretty thang I bought recently. It goes with my kitchen so I can just leave it out on the countertop all the time. 😉

Cheesy Cauliflower Bake

We’re going to use two cans of condensed soup for this one. You can mix and match them but in this batch cream of chicken and cheddar cheese soup were used. We use the latter to make Instant Pot nacho soup and cheeseburger macaroni so I buy it in bulk. You could use sour cream instead of cream of chicken too.

You can usually find a bunch of varieties at the grocery store. If you wanted to go with cream of mushroom instead of chicken you totally could. This is what you’re going to get out to get started.

1. Cheddar cheese soup
2. Cream of chicken condensed soup
3. Head of cauliflower
   1. fresh, I have not tested this with frozen cauliflower
4. Lots of cheese
5. Onion powder
6. Paprika
7. Salt and pepper

Let’s talk about the best cheese with cauliflower. Mozzarella and sharp cheddar mix is great. Or I have use already shredded and bagged Mexican blend before.

Crockpot Cheesy Cauliflower

What is the best way to cut cauliflower? First you want to rip the green outer leaves and hard stem off. The base will be thick so you’ll want a sharp knife to get that baby off. Then I first pick it up and just use your hands. Break off the cauliflower florets and sit them on a cutting board. Some will be quite large and others will be small.

If they are the right size right off the bat you can throw them right into your Crock. If they need to be sliced in half or thirds leave them on the board. Using a knife cut each one so that each piece is of similar sizes. This is important so they all cook at the same pace and are the same tender texture when done.

Then it’s best to blend the soups together to combine flavors well before pouring that on top of everything. Only half of the shredded cheese is incorporated into the sauce and the remaining goes on top. You could use the same sauce on top of Roasted Cauliflower at 400 if you wanted to as well.

Best Cheesy Cauliflower

I don’t like to add a lot of seasonings because there is enough sodium in the soup cans already, unless you choose the healthy version. Those have a lower sodium content and I prefer them if I can find them in stock. Into the cheese sauce you could add more cheese and bacon bits, diced green onions, chives, etc….

Eat with your main dish or spoon into smoked baked potatoes for dinner. It’s an easy recipe with a really short Crock pot cook time when you cook on high. If you wanted it to take longer you could certainly use low and double the timing.

Want to start eating more of this veggie? You can transform it into all sorts of things like these cauliflower pancakes too so buy an extra head.

Ready to get started on this? You can jump to recipe below. The nutritional information is listed below with calories, saturated fat, etc… If you use cream cheese to thicken it up at the end you’d need to add more fat etc…to the stats. It only accounts for exactly what is listed using a medium size head.

Let’s talk about how to save leftover cauliflower. This is easier than if you just made air fryer cauliflower with salt and pepper tossed in. Since there is a creamy sauce element to it this will stay moist a lot better than the other. First you always want to allow your food to cool completely before transferring anything to a container.

This will help prevent bacteria growth going from hot/warm right into a cold fridge. Close the lid tightly and make sure you have quite a bit of homemade cheese sauce inside the bowl too. Enjoy within a day or two of storing it. You can reheat it by transferring to a microwave safe dish and warming for about 1 minute, stirring halfway thru.

What do you eat with cauliflower cheese?

If you have two pots you could make Crockpot frozen chicken in one and this is the other. When that is done, toss with some bbq sauce and serve on slider buns. Both are very popular with my kids and likely will with yours too.

Our air fryer fried chicken breast is yummy and can be made as a finger food for a meal too. Plus to these is that kiddos can dip their pieces into the cheese as a sauce as well as ketchup to change things up a bit.

You could use this cheese mixture with just about any other veggie too. Timing may vary, like if you used broccoli instead but would likely work the same way adding a ton of flavor to an otherwise bland side.