This cheese cauliflower bake is a simple, hearty low carb side dish that the whole family loves! It cooks quickly in the air fryer and comes out cheesy and loaded with bacon!
Frequently when dieting side dishes become a sticking point. It is hard to find substitutes for the potatoes that we have been eating all our lives. I mean, you don’t realize how often you eat potatoes until you try to stop eating potatoes!
So you mix things up and eat a whole lot of other types of sides, like air fryer asparagus, air fryer mushrooms, and air fryer zucchini.
Then you get into the caulilfower. It’s not a 100% replacement for potatoes, but oh man…if you treat it right, it’ll be delicious!
This cheesy cauliflower is one of those tasty dishes that we did right. We roast the cauliflower in the air fryer with bits of bacon and then we top it all with cheese and green onion. You could even dollop some sour cream on top before serving, if you like.
Ingredient Notes:
Cauliflower – You can buy a bag of florets to save time, or you can buy a head of cauliflower that you will cut into florets yourself.
Bacon– We’re using thick-cut bacon and sprinkling it right in with the cauliflower. No need to pre-cook it.
How to Make An Air Fryer Cauliflower Bake:
Prep- Chop your cauliflower into florets and add them to a mixing bowl with olive oil, salt, and pepper. Stir to make sure you’ve coated the cauliflower in the seasoning.
Cook the cauliflower– Place the cauliflower in the air fryer basket and cook at 360 degrees F for 5 minutes. Remove the air fryer basket and stir the cauliflower. Sprinkle the raw, chopped bacon on top of the cauliflower and cook for another 10-15 minutes until the bacon is at the crispness you like. Stir this every 5 minutes while it is cooking.
Load the cauliflower– Dump the cauliflower and bacon into a small casserole dish that will fit inside your air fryer basket. Sprinkle cheddar and most of the green onion onto the cauliflower. Cook for another 3 minutes to melt the cheese. Remove from the air fryer and garnish with the remaining green onion.
Pro Tip
Transferring the cauliflower and bacon to a baking dish before topping with cheese isn’t necessary, but it does make for a prettier final dish to bring to the table. You can absolutely leave the cauliflower in the air fryer basket and sprinkle with the cheese. Serve directly from the air fryer basket or transfer to a dish after it’s finished cooking.
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