Creamy Cauliflower Faux-Tato Salad
This Creamy Cauliflower Faux-Tato Salad has all of the best parts of classic potato salad, but is low carb and whole30! Oven roasted cauliflower florets combined with bacon, chives, red onion, celery and diced pickles and everything is tossed in a deliciously creamy dressing. This salad is Whole30, Keto and Paleo and perfect for a summer barbecue!
Be warned, this is one of those salads where you toss everything together, have a bite to taste it, and 5 minutes and half a bowl later, try to convince yourself you will have just one more bite, and then you will serve it to everyone. It’s that good and that addicting.
Cauliflower is a great low carb substitute for potatoes in this spin on classic creamy potato salad. The cauliflower florets are baked in the oven until tender and develop a delicious roasted flavour which is a nice alternative to bland boiled potatoes.
Like the traditional salad, I added in chopped bacon, because lets be honest, bacon makes everything taste better and it also adds a delicious saltiness.
There is also chopped celery for some nice crunch, finely diced red onion, and fresh parsley and chives.
I have never been a fan of hard boiled eggs so I listed them as an optional ingredient but if you want some extra protein then definitely add them in.
This dressing contains just a handful of ingredients and is so easy to make. Although it seems quite thick when you first mix it together, it thins out once tossed in the salad. The dressing gets absorbed into the cauliflower florets so every bite is filled with creamy deliciousness.
This Creamy Cauliflower Faux-Tato Salad is guaranteed to be a favourite at any BBQ this summer. If you are lucky enough to end up with leftovers, they will hold up well in the fridge for at least 2 days.
Here are a few other easy salads that you might enjoy:
- Pesto Zoodle Salad with Prosciutto & Pine Nuts
- Roasted Fennel & Green Bean Salad
- Grilled Zucchini & Asparagus Salad
- Carrot Salad with Honey Mustard Dressing
- Roasted Cauliflower, Date, Red Onion & Parsley Salad
If you make this recipe let me know in the comment section below, I would love to hear what you think or take a photo and tag me (@everylastbite_) on Instagram, I love seeing your photos!
Creamy Cauliflower Salad
Ingredients
- 1 large head cauliflower
- 1/2 tbsp olive oil
- 1/3 cup bacon (approx 4-5 strips)
- 3/4 cup celery finely chopped
- 1/4 cup red onion finely diced
- 2 hard boiled eggs, roughly chopped (optional)
- 3 tbsp chives finely chopped
- 3 tbsp parsley finely chopped
Dressing
- 3/4 cup mayonnaise
- 1 tbsp chopped pickles
- 1/2 tsp dijon mustard
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp pepper
- 1 tsp apple cider vinegar
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 175 degrees Celsius (350 degrees Fahrenheit)
- Cut the head of cauliflower into small bite sized florets and place on a baking sheet. Drizzle the cauliflower with olive oil and bake in the oven for 20 minutes until the cauliflower is tender and slightly golden in colour.
- While the cauliflower is baking, fry the bacon in a pan on the stove. Once it's crisp, roughly chop it into small bite sized pieces.
- In a food processor or using a hand blender combine the mayonnaise, pickles, dijon mustard, vinegar salt and pepper and blend until the pickles are broken into small pieces. Taste and adjust the seasoning as needed.
- Once the cauliflower is tender, remove from the oven and allow to cool before transferring to a salad bowl. Top with the chopped bacon, red onion, celery, parsley and chives. Pour the dressing over top and toss until well coated. Enjoy!
Nutrition
I made the faux-tato salad this week and it was delicious!! Thank you!!
So happy to hear that! Thanks for the kind comment Dianna!
This was so good. Made a double batch for a BBQ today.
Awesome! So happy that you liked it!
This salad was so simple yet so delicious. Made it for a BBQ and it all went. Was so yummy, you know people like it when they ask you for the recipe!
Simple and delicious, my two favourite words to describe a recipe ???? So happy to hear that everyone at your BBQ enjoyed it!
Made this tonight for Memorial Day with some sliders. Delicious. My daughter who follows SCD for Crohns really enjoyed it and she doesn’t really love cauliflower.. but with the bacon and dressing she had two big helpings. Husband also liked it.. thank you! Definitely adding this recipe to bring to any BBQ!
Awesome! I’m so happy to hear that it was a hit!
I was wondering if you had nutritional information for this? It looks amazing and I really want to try it. My 6 year old is on a very strict diet and I can’t seem to find it. Thank you!
Unfortunately I don’t calculate calories, fat etc for my recipes but if you would like the nutritional values I would recommend trying the app RecipeIQ, you can just put the recipe link into the app and it will calculate everything for you.
So delicious!!! Everything you said about it and more 😀
OMG this might be the best salad I’ve ever had, so good and flavorful without all the carbs.
This batch isn’t even gone yet and I can’t wait to make this again!
We love potato salad but in an effort to be slightly healthier and to get the kids to eat more veggies we tried this recipe. It was a major hit!!!! Thankfully the kids love eggs so the added protein is a massive bonus.
This was absolutely delicious! Well be eating this one again and again, I can already tell. Thanks for sharing this with the world.
This was absolutely delicious! I can confidently say that we’ll be making this again and again!
Absolutely delicious! Warning: totally addictive.
Could you make this without roasting the cauliflower?!
Can’t wait to try this recipe as it is very close to my recipe for both potato and faux-tato salad. Just wanted to tell you that I don’t like chunks of eggs in either, so I use a fork to finely mash hard boiled eggs and mix it in to my dressing. Extra protein with no chunks of egg!
As well as Paleo, my household is mostly A:IP. This recipe is wonderful! Great texture, flavor, ease of prep. It hits all the criteria. and can be easily made vegan by eliminating the bacon and eggs. Chill for a few hours to meld the flavors. On repeat here. Thanks!
Absolutely delicious!!! Perfect for summer. And so easy to prepare. My husband who’s not a fan of cauliflower, loved it!!! It is true what others say: it’s addictive!
I don’t care for celery what so ever so when I make this salad I’m going to add finely diced carrots instead. I put it in my regular potatoe salad so why not this, right?
I love this recipe- I wasn’t a particular potato salad fan but this deliciousness is in my weekly rotation.
Oh. My. Gah! I just made this recipe with the intention of having something ready to go in the fridge for the next couple of days but, I’m not sure it’s going to last longer that 1 day! I did tweak a few things to comply with my lectin free diet ( I used prosciutto instead of bacon and A mayonnaise that I can eat) which doesn’t change the flavor profile of the recipe at all. I will be making this on a regular basis from now on and especially for any event when I have to bring a side!
Amazing! So easy. Better than potato salad. You can omit the bacon without any loss of flavor. Double this – it goes fast!!