Break away from carb-heavy summer salads and wow everyone with this super yummy roasted Cauliflower Salad!
This easy faux-tato salad starts with perfectly roasted cauliflower. It’s cooled and tossed with celery, onion, bacon, and cheese in a rich creamy dressing.
So easy to make and everyone loves this recipe!
A Fully Loaded Cauliflower Salad
- Just as refreshing as it is delicious this is a great twist on a potato salad.
- This is best made in advance and chilled to let the flavors blend!
- This recipe works as a hearty side dish with all your favorite bbq recipes and even those who don’t follow a low carb lifestyle LOVE this cauliflower potato salad.
- Roasting the cauliflower so it’s lightly caramelized adds extra flavor!
Ingredients & Variations
Cauliflower – Use fresh cauliflower for best results. Frozen cauliflower florets will work but should be thawed first. Fresh broccoli can be substituted in this recipe or use cauliflower and broccoli!
Bacon – No time to cook bacon? Use pre-packaged bacon bits and pop them in the microwave for about 45 seconds to crisp. Use chopped hard-boiled eggs for a meatless salad, if desired.
Dressing – Mayonnaise, sour cream, sweet relish, and apple cider vinegar only need a few savory seasonings. Add in some fresh herbs like dill or parsley, a squeeze of fresh lemon juice, or a minced clove of garlic.
Cheese – Cheddar is best but if it’s not available, use shredded mozzarella, a Mexican blend, feta, bleu cheese crumbles, or parmesan!
Add-Ins – Radishes, celery, and green onions bring the crunch and contrast. Add other favorites like chopped pickles, red onion, olives, or red bell pepper.
How to Make Cauliflower Salad
The flavor of this recipe is similar to a classic potato salad and it’s one of our fave low carb recipes.
- Toss cauliflower with olive oil and seasonings. Roast until browned (per recipe below).
- Whisk dressing ingredients together in a small bowl.
- Toss cooled cauliflower with remaining ingredients & dressing.
- Cover & chill at least 2 hours before serving.
Storing Leftover Salad
Keep leftover loaded cauliflower salad covered in the refrigerator for up to 4 days, stirring before serving.
Picnic-Perfect Salads
Did you make this Loaded Cauliflower Salad for a crowd? Be sure to leave a rating and a comment below!
Loaded Cauliflower Salad Recipe
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 head cauliflower cut into bite-sized pieces, about 8 cups
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- salt and black pepper to taste
- ½ cup sliced radishes
- ½ cup diced celery
- ½ cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese
- 2 green onions sliced
- 4 slices bacon cooked and crumbled
Dressing
- ½ cup mayonnaise
- ¼ cup sour cream
- 3 tablespoons sweet relish
- 1 teaspoon yellow mustard or dijon mustard
- 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
- salt and black pepper to taste
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425°F.
- Toss cauliflower pieces with olive oil, salt and pepper. Roast on a sheet pan for 15 to 20 minutes or until tender-crisp. Set aside to cool completely.
- Whisk all dressing ingredients in a small bowl.
- Place cooled cauliflower in a large bowl along with the remaining ingredients. Toss with dressing.
- Chill at least 2 hours before serving.
Notes
Nutrition Information
Nutrition information provided is an estimate and will vary based on cooking methods and brands of ingredients used.
Course Salad, Side Dish
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This was very good! However, there is no way this will feed 12 people. My husband doesn’t like sweet pickles, so I left them out. Still good!
Glad you enjoyed it, Beverly! We found this recipe made 12 ½ cup side-dish servings. Hope that helps!
I am one of those cooks who will make a recipe even if I don’t have ALL the ingredients and I didn’t yesterday. I had no radishes. I read Tammy’s review from 2021 and we were having a heat wave. I cooked the cauliflower, bacon and I added chicken on the grill in the morning. Chopped and chilled everything and put it together after lunch. I had our dinner all done by early afternoon.
We have just moved to a much warmer area and I will be needing recipes for cold suppers in the +90° weather. Now if I can just find a dozen or so more I should be all set.
I know it’s extra work, but thanks for putting the serving size in the nutrition .
You’re welcome Judy, glad we can help!
Is there a vegan way to make it
Hi Linda, we haven’t tried but you could try substituting the ingredients for vegan options.
Very tasty… addictively so. Roasted the cauliflower and cooked the bacon in tinfoil on the barbecue to avoid heating up my kitchen during some sweltering weather. Will definitely make it for company, post-COVID!
It’s amazing, will definitely do this again and can’t wait to share. Left out the relish, to cut down the carbs.
When I suggested this salad to my husband yesterday, he looked at me like I was crazy! I made it anyway and he raved about it! We both ate two helpings and I can hardly wait to have leftovers today!
Looks great!
I will love to get your recipe
Scroll down to the recipe card, or click the Jump to Recipe button at the top to find the recipe. Enjoy Keith!
Won’t make this again. The relish is what throws it off. Nobody liked it in my fam!
Then leave out the relish. I hate sweet relish. Can’t wait to make this using dill relish or chopped picles.
This salad is amazing! Thank you so much for sharing!! I was asked to bring a second salad to a BBQ – the first being a creamy coleslaw – so I made a champagne/dijon vinaigrette dressing instead as a lighter option for people. Huge hit!!
Sounds delish Lorna!
Absolutely delicious! Thank you! Not having potato salad during the summer is tough….but this is a game changer! Bye Bye Carbs!
How many servings does this make ?
This recipe makes 12 servings Zelda.
I made This its very good. like it.
What is sweet relish? Nit sure we have that in Australia. Are there any other suggestions?
You can use finely chopped sweet pickles or bread and butter pickles.
This was very tasty! I made it last summer I like that folks are using much more cauliflower lately, as do I. One thing that I’ve made recently, in order to cut down on the carbs in Potato Salad, is that I used half amount of potatoes & half amount of cauliflower florets (approx. the same size as the diced potatoes). I seasoned & mixed everything together with the same ingredients which I always use when making my family’s iconic Potato Salad. I took it to a family gathering, and it was a huge hit. The flavor of Potato Salad was not sacrificed by using some cauliflower, and no-one was afraid to ‘indulge’.
I can’t wait to try your recipes!
Thank you Andrea! Happy you’ve found Spend With Pennies!
I made this for a family get together and we all enjoyed it. Next time I will not roast as long, for more crunch…but tasted great!
So happy to hear that you loved this cauliflower salad Marj!
Love so many of your recipes. I feed a large family and not one of them, has been disappointed with any of your recipes, that I have prepared. Thanks for your wonderful site.
Thank you so much for your kind words Diane! I’m so happy you’ve found some recipes to enjoy!
do you have an actual cook book that you sell? I would love that! I print off most of your recipes and have made most of them! what I like is the “jump to recipe’ feature. they are simple easy to get yummy recipes that print on 1 or 2 pages!
I don’t have a cookbook at this time Penny. Please enjoy the recipes at Spend With Pennies!
Have you tried making the cauliflower salad and not roasted the cauliflower? Just leave it raw. What do you think? Too crunchy, too strong?
I sure have and it’s great that way too! I make a raw broccoli cauliflower salad. The only suggestion I have with raw cauliflower is to make sure the pieces are pretty small so they are easy to eat! Enjoy!
I use raw just cut it small so it’s not hard to eat does not last long at my house.