
Cheeseburger cauliflower casserole
All the flavor of a cheeseburger baked with tender cauliflower in a creamy cheddar sauce, low-carb comfort food that still feels indulgent.
- 50 min total
- 25 min hands-on
- Follow-a-recipe easy
- Serves 4
- About $3.50 a serving
- 620 calories
- Good the next day
- Gluten-free

Dolly says: Make the full amount. It’s just as good for lunch the next day.
Ingredients
For 4 servings.
- 1 head cauliflower, cut into florets
- 1 lb 85/15 ground beef
- ½ yellow onion, diced
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 tbsp yellow mustard
- 4 oz cream cheese
- ½ cup sour cream
- 1½ cups shredded cheddar, divided
- ¼ cup dill pickles, chopped (optional)
From your pantry
- ½ cup water
- 1 tsp salt
- ½ tsp black pepper
Each serving has about 620 calories, 37 g protein, 14 g carbs and 47 g fat, and costs about $3.50 at typical US grocery prices. Both are estimates from what the recipe uses.
Missing something?
- No 85/15 ground beef? 90/10 ground beef works.
- No yellow onions? White onions or red onions work.
- No yellow mustard? Dijon mustard works.
- No sour cream? Plain Greek yogurt works.
- No shredded cheddar? Cheddar cheese or Mexican blend cheese or Monterey Jack cheese works.
Steps
Tap an underlined word for a quick explanation.
the oven to 400°F.
Preheat. Preheating means turning the oven on before you start, so it’s fully hot when the food goes in. Food that starts in a cold oven cooks unevenly and doesn’t brown the same.
How you’ll know: The oven beeps or its light clicks off, usually 10 to 15 minutes after you turn it on.
Put the cauliflower and water in a large with a lid, cover, and steam over medium-high 5 to 6 minutes, until just tender. well and pat dry.
Skillet. A skillet is a frying pan: wide and flat with low, sloped sides. The shape lets steam escape, so food browns instead of stewing.
How you’ll know: It’s the pan you’d fry an egg in, and a 10 or 12 inch one handles most recipes.
Drain. Draining means pouring off liquid, like tipping pasta into a colander or spooning extra fat out of the pan. Pour hot grease into a can or jar, not the sink, where it hardens and clogs the pipes.
How you’ll know: Only a few drips are left, and the food isn’t sitting in a puddle.
Medium-high heatTimer: 5 min 30 sec
Dolly’s tip: Drain it really well. Wet cauliflower makes a watery casserole.Wipe out the and cook the beef and onion over medium-high 7 to 8 minutes, breaking up the beef, until no pink is left. Spoon off the fat.
Skillet. A skillet is a frying pan: wide and flat with low, sloped sides. The shape lets steam escape, so food browns instead of stewing.
How you’ll know: It’s the pan you’d fry an egg in, and a 10 or 12 inch one handles most recipes.
Medium-high heatTimer: 7 min 30 sec
Food safety: Ground beef, pork and lamb are done at 160°F. When it’s cooked through there’s no pink left anywhere in the pan.
Turn the heat to low and stir in the garlic, salt, pepper, mustard, cream cheese and sour cream until the cream cheese .
Melt. Melting means gently heating something solid, like butter or cheese, until it turns liquid. Low or medium heat keeps it from browning or burning.
How you’ll know: It’s smooth and liquid, and butter may foam a little but hasn’t turned brown.
Low heat
the cauliflower and 1 cup cheddar and spread it in an 8x8-inch baking dish.
Fold. Folding means mixing gently by scooping from the bottom and turning it over the top, instead of stirring hard. It keeps light mixtures airy and soft things like berries or herbs in one piece.
How you’ll know: You use slow, wide strokes and stop as soon as there are no streaks left.
Scatter the rest of the cheddar over the top and 20 minutes, until bubbling and .
Bake. Baking means cooking in the oven with dry heat all around the food. It cooks evenly from every side, so you can mostly leave it alone.
How you’ll know: It’s golden on top and passes the recipe’s check, like a clean toothpick or the right temperature.
Golden brown. Golden brown is the color of good toast, somewhere between yellow and light brown. It means the outside is cooked and crisp but not burnt.
How you’ll know: It looks like toast and smells toasty; dark brown with a bitter smell means it went too far.
Timer: 20 min
Let it sit 5 minutes, then top with pickles if you like.
Chop. Chopping means cutting food into bite-size pieces that don’t need to be neat. Keep them roughly the same size so everything cooks evenly.
How you’ll know: Your pieces are about half an inch and roughly alike, even if none of them are pretty.
Timer: 5 min

Plan this in Dollop, and get the grocery list
Dollop puts this dinner on a night that suits your week, lists only what you still need to buy, and walks you through each step while you cook.
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