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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:
Remaker · 27/10/2025 23:23

It would never occur to me to have it as anything other than a side dish. My dad loved it and would serve it with corned beef. It was considered just a more fancy vegetable. Personally I loathe cauliflower and if I was served that as an entire meal would have to feign illness or that I’d already eaten.

Such a British thing to serve a white main course with bread and potatoes haha.

KimberleyClark · 27/10/2025 23:23

CarterBeatsTheDevil · 27/10/2025 22:36

Loads of fibre though! And vitamins! And you can give the leaves to your guinea pigs!

Show quote history

When we had dogs we always gave them the water the cauli had been cooked in(after it had cooled obviously). They bloody loved it.

KWaldron · 27/10/2025 23:22

mamagogo1 · 27/10/2025 22:17

I like it with a roast, it contains little protein so I don’t think it’s a meal in its own right

Cheese is full of protein!

elliejjtiny · 27/10/2025 23:22

FaitesVosJeux · 27/10/2025 22:11

Always a main dish here - baked with triangles of sourdough round the edges which go all half cheesy half toasty. Food of the Gods.

That sounds like heaven.

soupyspoon · 27/10/2025 23:21

My favourite version of this was a couple of years ago when I had quite a lot of brussels left over after christmas and I thought they're going to end up binned but what can I do with them all as theres quite a lot. So I made brussel sprout cheese. It was THE best thing I think Ive done and Ive cooked a lot of amazing dishes. I put lots of mustard in it and I am a demon with the cheese

Quite a lot of it got eaten on the top of the oven after getting it out. It didnt make it to the plate.

NoSoapJustUseShowerGel · 27/10/2025 23:19

I’m in my 40s, we ate it as a main (with a couple of rashers of bacon on the side) when I was a kid. I never make it now but if I did then I’d probably do the same thing.

fruitfly3 · 27/10/2025 23:19

Firstly, this was the thread I didn’t know I needed tonight, so thank you. Second, it was a side in my house (working class northern if it matters) but I judge no one who elevates it to a main. Food of heaven.

FieldInWhichFucksAreGrownIsBarren · 27/10/2025 23:19

It's either isn't it?
Fabulous as a Sunday lunch side, equally as lush as a main with lovely crusty bread.

GarlicHound · 27/10/2025 23:17

THISbitchingwitch · 27/10/2025 22:12

I will happily have it as a main or a side HOWEVER there must never be gravy anywhere near it

I didn't know I had an opinion on this until now. GRAVY on cauliflower cheese? A despicable abomination!

Cauliflower cheese was a main dish in my childhood; we usually had peas with it, or another veg. I used to think carrots looked pretty on the side.

ChattyGeePeaTea · 27/10/2025 23:15

Always a main when I was growing up. With bread and butter on the side if we were particularly hungry.

I still find it hard to think of it as a side dish!

Dliplop · 27/10/2025 23:14

Maindish, but you can have jacket potato with it if you’re famished. Are those a main or a side (I grew up with them as a side)

JustCabbaggeLooking · 27/10/2025 23:13

Cauliflower cheese, crispy streaky bacon and baked beans. Slice of bread and butter to clean the plate.

Pepperedpickles · 27/10/2025 23:13

We usually have it with fried mushrooms and chips.

tapdancingmum · 27/10/2025 23:11

Cauliflower cheese and mashed potato as a main course. It was a staple growing up and I still do it now but sometimes serve it with sausages.

NotMeNoNo · 27/10/2025 23:11

It's closer than Brexit on the voting!

Main dish in our house. We sometimes pad it out with pasta or potatoes and crispy bacon on top.

Dagnabit · 27/10/2025 23:10

Midlander here salutes Always a side dish here but now I want it as a main with crusty bread!

GLC789 · 27/10/2025 23:09

chattyness · 27/10/2025 23:07

It can be either, sometimes we have it with crispy smoked bacon & crusty bread or with new potatoes or chips . We have it as side with roast chicken, gammon, or lamb, or I quite like it with grilled salmon and broccoli DH says it's wrong with fish but I love it 😋
It might become our Christmas eve supper with pigs in blankets & roast parsnips this year , but we can't decide what we're having yet.

Your husband is oh so very wrong!

I stand with you on how nice it is with fish!!

Conniebygaslight · 27/10/2025 23:09

My main dish always consists of meat or fish and anything else is a ‘side’ I do however have a lovely cauliflower in the fridge and I’m on my own for the week so might dip my toe…

notacooldad · 27/10/2025 23:08

It's what ever you want it to be!

Sometimes I have it with other things like green beans, sweetcorn and Yorkshire pudding, other times.es by itself.
I think its funny that she looked 'horrified ' though!
Has she had a sheltered life! 🤔 😆

GLC789 · 27/10/2025 23:08

In my home it's absolutely both! A lovely compliment to most meal. But its one of my favourite things to make and eat, so often its the main event here! Warm buttery bread to dip in! In fact, I ate it as a main for lunch today as I make extra every time I do a roast on a Sunday! X

chattyness · 27/10/2025 23:07

It can be either, sometimes we have it with crispy smoked bacon & crusty bread or with new potatoes or chips . We have it as side with roast chicken, gammon, or lamb, or I quite like it with grilled salmon and broccoli DH says it's wrong with fish but I love it 😋
It might become our Christmas eve supper with pigs in blankets & roast parsnips this year , but we can't decide what we're having yet.

AMiddleClassWomanOfACertainAge · 27/10/2025 23:07

We have it as a main, always with halved hard boiled eggs nestled amongst the cauliflower and sauce as it bakes in the oven. Sometimes add cooked pasta too. Serve with cherry tomatoes roasted in EVOO and balsamic vinegar, the acid cuts through the richness of the cheese. Yum.

Sofflespop · 27/10/2025 23:07

I grew up with it as a main, with potatoes in it and bacon on top (sometimes tomatoes on top too). I still eat it as a main, but DH & DC don’t like it. Sometimes my mum put crisps with it too! (I didn’t live in Kent)

TheCurious0range · 27/10/2025 23:07

People who are saying it's a main dish for me I add loads of other veggies, potatoes etc, that sounds delicious but it's not cauliflower cheese, it's some kind of cheesy veg and potato bake.

I love cauliflower cheese on a crispy jacket potato as a main but not just with bread.

Poobs2022 · 27/10/2025 23:06

I don't have it much at home since my husband went vegan and I (sadly) never grew up knowing it but I went to a pub in Cornwall once and I had cauliflower and broccoli cheese as a main. It came with garlic bread and it was the most comforting thing I'd ever had on a rainy day.