Side dishes · Vegetable sides

Cauliflower mash

Name: Cauliflower mash
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 15 min
Total time: 25 min
Yield: 6 servings
Ingredients: 2 large heads cauliflower, florets; 3 tbsp butter; 1/2 cup whole-milk Greek yogurt; 3 cloves garlic, steamed with the cauliflower; 1/3 cup grated parmesan; 1 tsp salt; 1/2 tsp black pepper

The mash rebuild that actually convinces: steamed cauliflower blended with a little butter, garlic and Greek yogurt. A third of the calories, and it takes gravy like the original.

Time: 25 min (10 prep + 15 cook)
Servings: 6
Per serving: 141 kcal
Protein: 6 g

Both directions are legitimate — the score measures fullness per calorie, not virtue. Every version is the same dish, rebalanced.

Ingredients

2 large heads cauliflower, florets1100 g
3 tbsp butter40 g
1/2 cup whole-milk Greek yogurt120 g
3 cloves garlic, steamed with the cauliflower12 g
1/3 cup grated parmesan30 g
1 tsp salt6 g
1/2 tsp black pepper1 g

Every ingredient links to its food page — same data, same score, same formula.

Steps

Steam the cauliflower and garlic until completely soft, 12–15 minutes. Steam, don't boil — boiled cauliflower carries water into the mash and no amount of blending fixes it.
Let it steam-dry in the colander for 5 minutes.
Blend or mash with the butter, yogurt, parmesan, salt and pepper until smooth.
Taste for salt twice: cauliflower needs more than potato does to stop tasting like cauliflower.

Alternative

Mashed potatoesthe potato original40

Why this score

solidly filling

Low energy density — a lot of food for the calories.

Three routes to fullness — one is enough

18% of kcal

83% water

26 g/Mcal

What pulls it down

How scores work

Computed on the finished dish, not an average of the parts: 849 kcal goes into the pot, 1309 g of ingredients comes out as ~950 g of food → 89 kcal per 100 g. Cooking moves water, and energy density is the score's biggest lever — so we show the math. Full formula here.

Per

Calories: 89
Protein: (18%); 4 g
Fat: (51%); 5 g
Carbohydrates: (31%); 7 g
of which sugar: 3 g
Fiber: 2 g
Sodium: 355 mg

Percentages are the share of calories from each macronutrient.

Computed from the ingredients' USDA data — nothing typed by hand. Every number is traceable, every score recomputable.

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Photo: AI-generated. Nutrition and score are computed from the ingredients with the published formula — this recipe hasn't been kitchen-tested by us yet.