Vegetable Dishes
Cauliflower Cheese
Tender cauliflower florets baked in a smooth cheese sauce made with mature Cheddar and a little English mustard powder, under a crisp topping of breadcrumbs, Cheddar and Parmesan. The classic side for a Sunday roast or Christmas dinner, or a supper with a jacket potato.
- Serves 6
- Side dish for 6, or supper for 3
- Bakes in 25 minutes
- Assemble a day ahead
- Vegetarian if you use vegetarian Parmesan-style cheese
- British
Method
Heat the oven to 200°C (fan 180°C, gas 6). Bring a large pan of well-salted water to the boil.
Add the cauliflower (900 g) and cook for 4–5 minutes, until a knife slides into the stalks with a little resistance; add the small inner leaves for the last minute. Drain well in a colander and leave to steam-dry for 5 minutes, then arrange in a baking dish (about 20 × 30 cm). Wet cauliflower makes a watery sauce, so do not skip the drying.
Warm the milk (600 ml) with the bay leaf (1 bay leaf) in a small pan until steaming.
In a medium pan, melt the butter (50 g) over a medium-low heat, stir in the flour (50 g) and mustard powder (1 tsp) and cook, stirring, for 1–2 minutes without letting it colour. Remove the bay leaf and gradually whisk in the hot milk, a ladleful at a time, until smooth.
Bring to the boil, stirring all the time, then simmer gently for 3–4 minutes until thick enough to coat the back of a spoon. Take off the heat and stir in two-thirds of the Cheddar (150 g) and the nutmeg (pinch). Taste and season with salt and pepper (to taste).
Pour the sauce evenly over the cauliflower. Mix the remaining Cheddar with the breadcrumbs (30 g) and Parmesan (20 g) and scatter over the top.
Bake for 20–25 minutes until the sauce is bubbling at the edges and the top is crisp and golden. Leave to stand for 5 minutes before serving.
Tip: tap a step to tick it off as you cook.
See also
Chef’s notes
- Make ahead: assemble the dish up to a day ahead, cool, cover and chill. Bake from the fridge for 35–40 minutes at 190°C (fan 170°C, gas 5) until piping hot in the middle. It freezes poorly because the sauce turns thin.
- For a deeper flavour, infuse the milk: add half an onion studded with 3 cloves and a few peppercorns with the bay leaf, bring to the boil and leave to stand for 20 minutes before straining.
- Cheese: a mature or extra-mature Cheddar gives the best flavour. Try mixing in some Lancashire, Red Leicester, Gruyère or a little crumbled Stilton.
- Make it a main course: add 100 g diced cooked ham or crisp bacon to the sauce, or bake it with a tray of roast potatoes and a green salad.
- Christmas timing: put it in the oven when the turkey comes out to rest.
How this recipe was developed
We compared cauliflower cheese from Gordon Ramsay, Rick Stein and Jamie Oliver with BBC Good Food’s most-rated version.
- Blanch briefly and dry well. BBC Good Food’s cauliflower cheese (4.7/5, 501 ratings) boils the florets for 5 minutes; Gordon Ramsay cooks them for 4–5 minutes, then refreshes and drains them. We add a few minutes’ steam-drying so the sauce stays thick.
- Mustard in the roux. Gordon Ramsay stirs a tablespoon of English mustard powder into the roux and adds cayenne; Rick Stein finishes his sauce with English mustard. We use a teaspoon of powder so the cheese flavour stays in front.
- Mature Cheddar, plus a mix if you like. Gordon Ramsay uses mature Cheddar, Lancashire and Cheshire; Rick Stein mature Cheddar. We use mature Cheddar and suggest other British cheeses in the notes.
- Infused milk as an option. Rick Stein infuses the milk with onion, cloves, bay and peppercorns before making the sauce. We keep the bay leaf and give the full infusion in the notes.
- A crisp topping. Gordon Ramsay tops the dish with breadcrumbs mixed with cheese and thyme; Jamie Oliver uses breadcrumbs and almonds. We mix crumbs with Cheddar and Parmesan.
Sources we compared (ratings as shown on each site on 31 October 2026):
- Gordon Ramsay: Cauliflower Cheese
- Rick Stein (Rick Stein (delicious.com.au)): Cauliflower cheese
- Jamie Oliver: Cauliflower cheese
- BBC Good Food (Sarah Cook): Cauliflower cheese (4.7/5, 501 ratings)
This is an original Cookeryonline recipe written in our own words. Ingredient choices and techniques are credited above; no source text has been copied.