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Original poster

The Cauliflower Cheese Conundrum

390 replies

Speckly · 27/10/2025 22:09

Earlier a friend I was out with asked me what we were having for dinner tonight. When I replied “Cauliflower cheese and crusty bread”, she said “With what?” When I told her that was our dinner she looked horrified and told me cauliflower cheese is a side dish. As kids we often had cauliflower cheese for our dinner (I’m early 50s) but I’m interested to know, is that weird? Husband and I usually have this as a main about once a month (not vegetarian btw). When I asked DH his views on the subject tonight, he said he enjoys it but that his family never really had it when he was young so he couldn’t comment. If it’s relevant at all, we live in Kent. So is it ok to eat cauliflower cheese as a main or should it only ever be served as a side dish?

YABU - Cauliflower cheese is a side dish. You need to jazz it up with some other stuff!

YANBU - Cauliflower cheese is a decent main course - ignore the haters.

OP posts:
ninjahamster · 27/10/2025 23:54

Side dish.

I eat it as cauliflower is good for you but actually think cauliflower is minging.

Flomingho · 27/10/2025 23:52

I have eaten cauliflower cheese as both a main meal and as a side. Cheese is filling so it is a substantial main.

moto748e · 27/10/2025 23:51

Lidl seem to have stopped doing those caulifower cheese pies (along with the other other veggie pies alongside them)! Which is absolutely disgraceful, and I was tempted to start a thread about it, 😀and an example of how veggie choices have been closed off by a more vociferous vegan minority. Those pies were full of fat, and probably not that healthy, but they were the nearest to junk food I allowed myself, and I'd rather eat them than some highly-processed meat substitute made from soya. My Mum made cauliflower cheese as a main meal, she and my Dad gulped it down, but I hated it, and didn't eat cheese at all as a kid, only dipped into mild cheese when I became veggie.

Sorry, droning on a bit there!

FinancesSorted · 27/10/2025 23:50

I chuck leeks, broccoli and kale into my cauliflower cheese. A packed vegetable bake smothered in homemade cheese sauce on an autumnal evening - yummy!

I suspect some people might be using packet mixes or jars for their cheese sauce 😱 which is just yuk

lifeonmars100 · 27/10/2025 23:50

TiredofLDN · 27/10/2025 22:13

It’s a side dish. Unless you put bacon or baked ham in it. Then it can be a main.

I put bacon in it and serve it with roast pototaoes when I do it as a main. Think I might make it this week now that I have been reading this thread, forgotten how tasty it is

Damsonjam1 · 27/10/2025 23:49

Cauliflower cheese can be a main or a side. When I was growing up we would only have it as a main with potatoes, although yours (OP) with crusty bread sounds perfect. Has to be home made though, using mature cheddar in the sauce, and if a main, some of the grated cheese on top and finished under the grill.

EleanorReally · 27/10/2025 23:47

i used to do it with curly chips or some sort of fried potato
but have now discovered a recipe which adds 100 gm of macaroni and do this.

Youremylobster86 · 27/10/2025 23:46

I'm in Wales and never heard of cauli cheese as a main- flabbergasted!

BaconCheeses · 27/10/2025 23:46

I'd eat it as a main but

  • as its carby and fatty I'd ditch the bread
  • moderate my portion size
  • have a fruit-based dessert like crumble and custard

That way I'd be full. Cauliflower wouldn't fill me but it's still really calorific and not very nutritious so fruit in small dessert and milky custard would help.

But both as small portions because they are part of the same overall meal.

Frequentlyincorrectbut · 27/10/2025 23:45

Main dish, although my mum used to put eggs in it and sometimes tomatoes/other veggies when I was a child.

It's made me think of cheese soufflé, which was my absolute favourite tea as a child!

Shantayyoustaysashayaway · 27/10/2025 23:44

My mum used to put boiled eggs around the side of the cauliflower before she put the cheese sauce on & would cook it as a main meal (I'm in my 50s) She also made a cheese sauce every Sunday roast. As an adult I don't like cauliflower even with a cheese sauce but don't mind broccoli.

Pinepeak2434 · 27/10/2025 23:42

I’ve had it as a main dish a couple times when I’ve bought a ready made one and everyone in my house has been out, and I’ve not been that hungry. I’d never serve it as a main meal to my husband or children.

TheDogsMother · 27/10/2025 23:37

Definitely a main dish for me for dinner as a kid.

sesquipedalian · 27/10/2025 23:36

We had it as a main when I was a kid, with chips and tomato salad. I still make it (without the chips these days). Have been known to have it with a jacket potato.

WagnersFourthSymphony · 27/10/2025 23:34

I've never heard of having bread as a side with cauliflower cheese. Potatoes, yes. But now I'm thinking some croutons might be a nice addition.
Along with the tomatoes and lardons.
👌😁

reversegear · 27/10/2025 23:33

With bacon main dish without it’s a side.

Wincher · 27/10/2025 23:32

I grew up with it as a main, with mashed potato on the top and baked in the oven. But with hard boiled eggs and sweetcorn in - yum. None of the rest of my family like it and it’s a bit of a pain to cook for one, but just occasionally I have it, no potato or other carbs, just cheesy cauliflower and egg goodness. With tons of salt and pepper and a glass of red.

Peoplecoveredinfish · 27/10/2025 23:31

Cauliflower is the food of the devil. Why would anyone want to eat a vegetable that stinks of BO? Anything else covered in cheese sauce is fair game as a main. Sweet potato is nice. YANBU to consider it a main. YABU to consider cauliflower edible.

Snailssitonwhales · 27/10/2025 23:31

We have it as a main but usually with other things added, such as pasta and broccoli or leeks to make it more of meal.

TwinklyNight · 27/10/2025 23:30

Side dish.

OneWildNightWithJBJ · 27/10/2025 23:30

Never had it growing up but now have it as a side dish, usually with gammon. I add other veg too though. Would have it as a main but I'd probably be hungry.

AnneShirleyBlythe · 27/10/2025 23:28

Pleasedontdothat · 27/10/2025 22:49

I made cauliflower macaroni cheese tonight and it was most definitely a main dish. It had leeks as well as cauliflower, with Dijon mustard and nutmeg in the sauce - it was delicious.

This is how I have it! Sometimes with brocolli too.

Onlyhereforthebatshitneighbours · 27/10/2025 23:27

Its weird af to have it a roast, sorry (yes I've tried it)
Great as a main dish occasionally
Never had it growing up

Flakey99 · 27/10/2025 23:26

Ok as a main dish providing you have other veg to accompany it such as roast carrots, spuds and peas.

elliejjtiny · 27/10/2025 23:24

I do it as a main but I would probably put in some ham or bacon in it and do broccoli and carrots on the side.

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