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Vegan Creamy Cauliflower Casserole

Creamy Vegan Cauliflower Casserole

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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

If I went back in time I would totally tune-in to SNL’s Goth 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

This is both gluten-free certified & vegan Orrington Farms All Natural Vegan Broth Base & Seasoning, Chicken
Vegan No Chicken Broth for Creamy Vegan Cauliflower Casserole

Let’s Make Creamy Vegan Cauliflower Casserole

Ingredients for Creamy Vegan Cauliflower Casserole
Ingredients for Creamy Vegan Cauliflower Casserole

Preheat oven to 400° F (200° C). Lightly grease a 3 qt casserole dish and set aside.

Casserole dish greased with Earth Balance for Creamy Vegan Cauliflower Casserole
Casserole dish greased with Earth Balance for Creamy Vegan Cauliflower Casserole

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.

Creamy Vegan Cauliflower Casserole ready to be covered in foil and placed in the oven

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.

Creamy Vegan Cauliflower Casserole in the oven
Creamy Vegan Cauliflower Casserole in the oven

Remove from oven. If desired sprinkle with minced rosemary and/or crushed red pepper. Serve & enjoy!

Vegan Creamy Cauliflower Casserole
Vegan Creamy Cauliflower Casserole
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4.34 from 3 votes

Creamy Vegan Cauliflower Casserole

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.
Course casserole
Cuisine American, Classic, Gluten-free, Vegan
Keyword creamy, make-ahead, meal prep
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 40 minutes
Total Time 50 minutes
Servings 8
Calories 241kcal

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

Crust Topping Mixture

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

Nutrition Information is approximate.

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.com 

Nutrition

Calories: 241kcal | Carbohydrates: 26g | Protein: 7g | Fat: 14g | Saturated Fat: 3g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 3g | Monounsaturated Fat: 7g | Sodium: 461mg | Potassium: 432mg | Fiber: 4g | Sugar: 8g | Vitamin A: 248IU | Vitamin C: 38mg | Calcium: 125mg | Iron: 2mg

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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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