Creamy Cauliflower Gratin is creamy, cheesy, and loaded with tender pieces of fresh cauliflower. The breadcrumb topping adds a wonderful crunch to the velvety filling. It’s a wonderful side dish for any occasion, but it’s especially fantastic for a holiday feast alongside a slow-cooker spiral ham or oven-roasted turkey.
🍶Recipe Ingredients
The humble ingredients for creamy cauliflower gratin blend seamlessly to create an irresistible dish that is rich, comforting, and full of flavor, making it a standout side for any meal. Find ingredient notes (including substitutions and variations) below.
🧈 Substitutions and Variations
- Flavor Enhancers – Chopped onions, fresh thyme, and lemon juice don’t add an overpowering taste, but they add depth to the flavor profile. You can substitute dried thyme, but you’ll only need half the amount.
- Dairy – Butter is ideal for sautéing the vegetables. Olive oil or vegetable oil can be substituted. Gruyére is a creamy cheese that adds depth of flavor, however, you can substitute Swiss, Fontina, or white cheddar. For extra creaminess, we recommend both heavy cream and whole milk. However, you can use only milk, cream, half and half, or a combination of these.
- Breadcrumbs – Plain Panko adds an amazing crunch to the topping. However, plain breadcrumbs or even fresh bread that you pulverize in your food processor are great, too.
See the recipe card (with video) below for a full list of ingredients and measurements.
Expert Tip
We add our cut cauliflower to a large pot of boiling water for about 5 minutes. This softens the cauliflower. If you like cauliflower with a little more “bite” to it, no need to pre-boil. Pour the bechamel sauce directly over the cut cauliflower in the baking dish.
👩🏼🍳 How To Make Creamy Cauliflower Gratin
- Step 1: Bring a pot of water to a boil and stir in the cut cauliflower. Simmer for 5 minutes then drain.
- Step 2: Melt butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Sauté the onions until soft.
- Step 3: Stir in the thyme and then the flour. Stir and cook for 2 more minutes.
- Step 4: Stir in the milk and cream and cook until thickened.
- Step 5: Stir in the seasonings and then the cheese. Stir until just melted.
- Step 6:
Add the cauliflower to a butter baking dish and pour the cream and cheese sauce over the top.
🍞How to Make the Crunchy Topping
- Step 7: In a medium bowl, combine 2 tablespoon melted butter with the breadcrumbs. Work the butter in with your fingers or a fork.
- Step 8: Sprinkle the breadcrumbs combined with grated cheese over the top of the gratin and bake at 400°F until golden.
🍽️ How To Serve
- You’ll need the gratin to rest for at least 10 minutes before serving. This is ideal because it gives you time to bring the rest of the feast together.
- You can cover the dish with foil after it comes out of the oven and it will stay nice and hot for close to 30 minutes.
- It’s a beautiful dish and is great when presented on the table, just be sure to let guests know that the dish is hot. We serve this dish buffet-style alongside maple-glazed carrots, cloverleaf dinner rolls, and roasted asparagus with egg.
🔥 How To Store and Re-heat
- Leftovers can be placed in an air-tight container with a lid and refrigerated for up to 5 days.
- Reheating leftovers in the microwave is fine, or, add them to a baking dish, cover, and heat at 325°F until heated through, usually about 30 minutes.
- You can also heat leftovers in your AirFryer. Place them in a dish, add a splash of cream (or milk), and air-fry at 350°F for about 10 minutes. This keeps the top crunchy!
🙋🏽♂️ Frequently Asked Questions
Absolutely! You can prepare the dish 24 hours in advance, waiting to add breadcrumbs just before baking.
They can be, but the dish won’t be as flavorful as fresh. Remember, when frozen, they will retain water. Let them thaw completely and use paper towels to dry them as much as possible.
We don’t recommend freezing the dish. The creamy, cheesy sauce will break after thawing and the texture won’t be ideal.
😋 Other Creamy Side Dish Recipe
Ready to make one of the most delicious side dishes in town? Go for it!
And when you do, be sure to take a photo of it, post it on Instagram, and tag @HowToFeedaLoon and hashtag #HowToFeedaLoon!
Creamy Cauliflower Gratin
Video
Equipment
- 9"x13" dish
Ingredients
- 12 cups cauliflower cut into medium florets (usually, about 3 small/med heads or 2 large)
- 5 tablespoon unsalted butter divided, plus more for greasing the dish
- 1 medium onion roughly chopped
- 1 tablespoon thyme fresh, chopped
- 3 tablespoon all-purpose flour
- 3 cups whole milk
- 2 cups heavy cream
- 3 teaspoon Kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon black pepper
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice from 1 lemon
- 2 cups Gruyère cheese grated. divided
- 1½ cups panko Japanese bread crumbs
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375°F and bring a large pot of water to a boil.
- Butter a 9×13 baking dish.
- Carefully add the cut cauliflower to the boiling water. Stir it around with a wooden spoon. Simmer for just 5 minutes then immediately drain. Set aside.12 cups cauliflower
- Melt 2 tablespoon of the butter in a large saucepan, then add the onion and cook slowly over low heat until soft, 4 to 5 minutes.5 tablespoon unsalted butter, 1 medium onion
- Add the thyme and then stir in the flour. Cook, stirring often, for 2 minutes.1 tablespoon thyme, 3 tablespoon all-purpose flour
- Slowly add the milk and cream, and whisk until all lumps are gone. Stir with a wooden spoon until thickened, about 5 to 15 minutes (heat the milk and cream before adding to expedite this process). The bechamel sauce should be slightly thicker than the consistency of gravy.3 cups whole milk, 2 cups heavy cream
- Stir in the salt, pepper, and lemon juice. Next, add 1 cup of the cheese and stir until melted.3 teaspoon Kosher salt, 1 teaspoon black pepper, 1 tablespoon lemon juice, 2 cups Gruyère cheese
- Transfer the cauliflower to the prepared dish and pour the sauce over the top.
- Melt the remaining 2 tablespoon butter and combine with the bread crumbs and remaining cup of cheese in a medium bowl.1½ cups panko
- Top the cauliflower mixture with the breadcrumb mixture.
- Bake, uncovered, for 30 to 45 minutes, until bubbly and golden on top.
- Let rest for at least 10 minutes before serving.
Notes
Nutrition
POST UPDATE: This recipe was originally published in April 2015, but was updated with improved tweaks to the recipe with new tips and photography and a fabulous new video in March 2025.
Wesley says
Even people that don’t like cauliflower will LOVE THIS RECIPE! So good!
Kermit says
I’m not a big cauliflower fan but this recipe blew me away! Thanks, guys!