This Creamy Vegan Cauliflower Casserole is classic comfort food. This recipe is easy and can be made ahead and baked before eating, just wait to make the Ritz crust topping until you are baking the casserole.
Ritz Crackers Are Vegan!
Even though Ritz crackers have a buttery taste, they do not contain any animal products. The internet also tells me that the bacon flavored Ritz crackers are also vegan. I love eating my Ritz with Oil-Free Flaked Crab-less Vegan Salad.
To Crush The Ritz Crackers
I put them in a baggie and smash them with my hands. If desired you can roll a cup or rolling pin over the baggie to make crumbs.
Cauliflower Texture
If you want soft, cauliflower cut and slice into smaller pieces and bake longer, about 40 minutes. If you want more toothsome cauliflower, cut into larger florets or slices and bake less, about 30 minutes. You’ll only be able to bake for about 10 minutes once the crushed Ritz mixture has been added after removing the foil, so you may want to test the cauliflower’s doneness before adding the crushed Ritz mixture.
Cream Sauce
This cream sauce is thin in the blender and thickens in the oven because of the tapioca starch.
Nooch
I always use and recommend unfortified nutritional yeast. This adds nice umami and depth of flavor to the creamy sauce.
The fortified stuff can taste synthetic or vitamin-y. Additionally, fortified nutritional yeast can lose potency when stored, so there is no reason to suffer through the artificial taste when there is a chance of not receiving the benefits of its synthetic vitamins.
Nutritional yeast is typically gluten-free, check labels. The ones I have linked to below are gluten-free.
These two are my favorite unfortified nooches:
Broth Talk
I strongly recommend finding yourself some vegan no-chicken broths. I much prefer the no-chicken base flavors to regular veggie base flavors. I’ve made things and not liked them because I substituted regular veggie broth instead of my trusted no-chicken varieties. Seeing the word chicken on vegan products tends to fry my brain a little.
For Gluten-Free Certified No-Chicken Base use
Let’s Make Creamy Vegan Cauliflower Casserole
Preheat oven to 400° F (200° C). Lightly grease a 3 qt casserole dish and set aside.
Make Creamy Sauce
Place all cheese sauce ingredients in a high-speed blender. Blend until smooth, about 2 minutes. I do one round on the soup setting of my Blendtec.
Pour half of the sauce on the bottom of the greased casserole dish. Now add the cauliflower florets and pour the remaining cheese sauce on top of the cauliflower.
Bake
Cover with foil and bake for 30 – 40 minutes, until hot & bubbly.
Make Crust Topping Mixture
Combine the melted Earth Balance, crushed Ritz crackers, and 1/2 teaspoon granulated garlic in a small bowl. Stir to combine. Set aside.
Remove Foil, Sprinkle & Bake More
Remove foil & sprinkle with crushed Ritz cracker mixture.
Return to oven and bake for another 10 minutes or until crumbs are golden brown. Watch closely to avoid burning.
Remove from oven. If desired sprinkle with minced rosemary and/or crushed red pepper. Serve & enjoy!
Creamy Vegan Cauliflower Casserole
Equipment
- high speed blender
- 3 quart casserole dish
- foil
Ingredients
- 1 large head cauliflower cut into bite-size florets (about 2.5 pounds) leaves and hard stem removed and discarded
Creamy Sauce
- 1 cup roasted & salted cashews no need to soak if you have a high speed blender
- 2 cups unsweetened & unflavored oat milk or soy or almond
- 1 cup vegan no chicken broth link goes to vegan & gluten-free no chicken broth base
- 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
- 1/4 cup tapioca flour/starch
- 1/2 cup unfortified nutritional yeast link goes to unfortified & gluten-free certified
- 1 TBSP dijon mustard
- 1 teaspoon granulated garlic
- 1 teaspoon granulated onion
- 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
- 1 teaspoon sea salt more to taste if desired
Crust Topping Mixture
- 1 cup about 28 crumbled Ritz crackers (2 fresh stacks) or panko breadcrumbs or gluten-free breadcrumbs (if needed for gluten-free) sometimes I use a mix of crumbled Ritz & panko breadcrumbs
- 1/2 teaspoon granulated garlic
- 2 TBSP Earth Balance melted; plus more to grease the casserole dish
Optional Garnish
- minced rosemary
- crushed red pepper flakes
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400° F (200° C). Lightly grease a 3 qt casserole dish and set aside.
Make Creamy Sauce
- Place all cheese sauce ingredients in a high-speed blender. Blend until smooth, about 2 minutes. I do one round on the soup setting of my Blendtec.
- Pour half of the sauce on the bottom of the greased casserole dish. Now add the cauliflower florets and pour the remaining cheese sauce on top of the cauliflower.
Bake
- Cover with foil and bake for 30 – 40 minutes, until hot & bubbly.
Make Crust Topping Mixture
- Combine the melted Earth Balance, crushed Ritz crackers, and 1/2 teaspoon granulated garlic in a small bowl. Stir to combine. Set aside.
Remove Foil, Sprinkle & Bake More
- Remove foil & sprinkle with crushed Ritz cracker mixture. Return to oven and bake for another 10 minutes or until crumbs are golden brown. Watch closely to avoid burning. Remove from oven. If desired sprinkle with minced rosemary and/or crushed red pepper. Serve & enjoy!
Notes
To Crush The Ritz Crackers
I put them in a baggie and smash them. If desired you can roll a cup or rolling pin over the baggie.Cauliflower Texture
If you want soft cauliflower cut into smaller pieces and bake longer, about 40 minutes. If you want more toothsome cauliflower, cut into larger slices and bake less time, about 30 minutes. You’ll only be able to bake for about 10 minutes once the crushed Ritz mixture has been added after removing the foil, so you may want to test the cauliflower’s doneness before adding the crushed Ritz mixture.Make-Ahead
This recipe is easy and can be made ahead and baked before eating, just wait to make the Ritz crust topping until you are baking the casserole.Cream Sauce
This cream sauce is thin in the blender and thickens in the oven because of the tapioca starch.Nooch
I always use and recommend unfortified nutritional yeast. This adds nice umami and depth of flavor to the creamy sauce. The fortified stuff can taste synthetic or vitamin-y. Additionally, fortified nutritional yeast can lose potency when stored, so there is no reason to suffer through the artificial taste when there is a chance of not receiving the benefits of its synthetic vitamins. Nutritional yeast is typically gluten-free, check labels. www.planttestkitchen.comNutrition
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If you enjoyed this recipe, you might also enjoy
- Vegan Green Bean Casserole
- Classic Vegan Muffin Tin Stuffing
- Vegan Instant Pot Mashed Potatoes (No-Drain)
- Vegan Swedish Meatless Balls
- No-Boil Vegan Ricotta Stuffed Pasta Shells In Red Sauce
- Whole Roasted Cauliflower & Vegan Makhani Sauce
- Easy Vegan Cauliflower Walnut Taco Meat
Did You Make Creamy Vegan Cauliflower Casserole?
How did it go? Did you go with Ritz, panko or a gluten-free crust topping? Tell me all about it in the comments section below! If this recipe went well for you, pretty please leave a 5-star rating on the recipe card to help others find it.
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