Give Cheese Sauce A Lighter Finish With This Simple Addition

A good cheese sauce is comfort food at its finest: rich, creamy, and practically begging to be poured over pasta, pizza, or veggies. But there is a hack that can reach an almost Velveeta-like indulgence with a lighter vegetable-based finish. Enter: blended cauliflower. When boiled and puréed, cauliflower transforms into a silky-smooth base that can replace heavy cream and lighten your cheese sauce.

Simply add shredded cheese (sharp cheddar or Gruyère are both solid choices for flavor and meltability), maybe a dash of Dijon mustard or garlic, blend it in with the cauliflower base, and you've got a sauce that feels like a cheat code. It doesn't hurt that this sauce adds in some extra vitamins that younger or picky eaters may need! (This hack is also an easy way to move towards making a creamy recipe lactose or dairy free, though the cheese would also need a substitute.)

Blended cauliflower works great for an ultra creamy fettuccine Alfredo paired with crispy breaded chicken, or tossed with angel-hair pasta. It's the perfect switch-up for a white cheesy pizza sauce or as a base in all sorts of other creamy dishes, like a curry tomato bisque.

At this point, cauliflower isn't just having a moment, it's become fully integrated into the modern American kitchen as a flexible option. Around 2016, this culinary chameleon started popping up in all sorts of recipes, and now it's found its way into nearly every food trend, from pizza crusts to gnocchi. Cauliflower's simple flavors are versatile in the best way — a blank canvas that takes on bold flavors, whether you're air frying it for roasted vegetable tacos or roasting it into a crispy, golden cauliflower steak.

Cauliflower rice is one of the biggest upshots of this food trend. This vegetable-based rice replacement can be whipped up fast, and has much of the same flexibility as traditional rice — in burrito bowls, served with steaming curry, or as a simple side dish. (If you've ever made it, you know the trick is in the prep: cooking in small batches, and using just a few blender pulses get you fluffy cauliflower rice instead of a soggy mess.)

But the hack of boiling and then blending cauliflower for a creamy sauce is a great way to try yet another new approach to the vegetable. It can be mixed in with a tomato sauce for a rich nuttiness, drizzled over baked potatoes for a lighter potatoes au gratin, or whipped into a spinach dip for a creaminess without the weight.