Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Protection built in.

Meet the Other Phone.
Protection built in.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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:
chattyness · 28/10/2025 10:29

HeddaGarbled · 28/10/2025 09:19

All of you saying it’s a main meal but then saying “with bacon” etc 😃

If you need to have it with meat or eggs or whatever to it, it’s not a main, is it?

That depends on portion sizes doesn't it. If you have a huge portion of cauli cheese as we often do, that's the main feature on the plate or dish & j add a couple of rashers of bacon on the side. Or if the bacon is nicely crisped up broken into bits and sprinkled over the top, it then becomes the garnish.
If you're having a larger portion of meat & other veg then it 's smaller side portion.

winterbluess · 28/10/2025 10:41

I think it's supposed to be a side dish, but I'd more than happily just eat a large portion on its own 😃

bellocchild · 28/10/2025 10:44

It's fine as a main, but a slice of good ham goes rather well.

scrivette · 28/10/2025 10:50

We used to have it as a main as a child with sausages.

Squirrelblanket · 28/10/2025 11:18

I have it as a side but I wouldn't be annoyed if it was served as a main. Generally I do like it with something else though as it compliments so many other things well!

LillyPJ · 28/10/2025 11:18

scrivette · 28/10/2025 10:50

We used to have it as a main as a child with sausages.

If it's with sausages, it's a side dish! I think cauliflower cheese is a main dish and doesn't have to have extra meat or protein.

HelloCharming · 28/10/2025 11:23

I'm in my 50s and my mum always made it as a main dish for dinner (tea) - I was pleasantly surprised when I realised it could also be a side dish. Though have to admit the first time I saw that I think I remember it was a bit like someone had offered me lasagna as a side dish...

I don't make it now as DH won't eat it - and I'm not that fussed about it that I'd make it for myself.

Justcallmedaffodil · 28/10/2025 11:27

Always a side dish in our house. I feel it’s important for a main meal to be balanced and there’s not enough protein, or more importantly fibre, for it to be a main meal on its own.

coxesorangepippin · 28/10/2025 12:10

I wouldn't consider it a meal

It needs some sausages or something

oldwhyno · 28/10/2025 12:21

Either works for me.

rhubarbsigh · 28/10/2025 12:25

I eat it as a main, maybe with a side of green beans but I am a veggie, my DH will usually have a bit of fish with it.

Needlenardlenoo · 28/10/2025 12:26

If it hasn't got sufficient protein in, you're not using enough cheese!

gallivantsaregood · 28/10/2025 12:30

You can eat what you want in whatever way you want. If you and your husband enjoy it, great!

Personally I've never had it as a main meal, always as a side. I'm in Scotland

InterestedDad37 · 28/10/2025 12:31

Can very much be a main dish - I like to sprinkle chilli flakes on mine 😃

LakieLady · 28/10/2025 12:34

B0D · 27/10/2025 22:13

I’m in my 50’s too and we grew up having this as a main dish too. I think we had potatoes with it. We lived in the SE but family from the north so I’d guess it wasn’t a regional thing

I've never lived north of the Thames, but cauliflower cheese was a fairly regular dinner for my family, especially near the end of the month when money was tight.

I especially like it with a jacket potato.

Justputsomeyoghurtonit · 28/10/2025 12:40

LakieLady · 28/10/2025 12:34

I've never lived north of the Thames, but cauliflower cheese was a fairly regular dinner for my family, especially near the end of the month when money was tight.

I especially like it with a jacket potato.

Show quote history

Definitely not regional. I grew up in Stockport and as I said earlier, I never came across it until I was an adult! Perhaps my mum didn't like making cheese sauce!

Innermagnolia · 28/10/2025 12:41

We have it as a main dish with buttered toast. Sometimes, baked tomatoes on top too, or with broccoli in it. Loads of fibre and protein (with the amount of cheese I use!) so I think it is a complete meal really. Lovely for a weeknight or Sunday tea.

I see that I am slightly in the minority though and am only recently getting my head around it being presented as a side dish with a roast. The only meal that I would have cooked cauliflower cheese as a side dish with would be a boiled or baked ham and potatoes.

Uricon2 · 28/10/2025 12:47

Cauliflower is very high fibre/ low calorie and there's lots of protein in the sauce from milk and the cheese so I think it's pretty balanced unless you want/need loads of carbs..

pokewoman · 28/10/2025 12:52

We usually have it with a couple of slices of bacon or sausages, but its the main component of the meal. Id absolutely smash it as the main though. Id eat it for breakfast, lunch and tea. Bloody love it however or whatever its served with!

Swiftie1878 · 28/10/2025 12:55

It can be either, so no-one is being unreasonable.

soupyspoon · 28/10/2025 13:03

LillyPJ · 28/10/2025 11:18

If it's with sausages, it's a side dish! I think cauliflower cheese is a main dish and doesn't have to have extra meat or protein.

Show quote history

But that shows the thinking about how vegetables are viewed in this country. How come you view the sausages as 'main' and the cauliflower as 'side'.

The whole thing is a main meal itself, the sum of many parts, like meat and two veg, are the veg the side in that dish or part of the main meal, just like the meat is only part of the main meal.

Im eating salmon, guacamole and a mixture of red peppers, onions, green and black olives, garlic, olive oil, capers. Thats a main meal. None of the components are 'the main'.

StrawberrySquash · 28/10/2025 13:04

soupyspoon · 27/10/2025 22:18

Well guess what OP and other people - there are no food rules saying what is or isnt a main meal or a side dish

Imagine that?

That you can eat something as a main meal and some one else might prefer a smaller portion of it as a side dish?

This sort of food snobbery does my head in and Ive posted about this in various threads where people will turn their noses up at egg on toast or beans on toast or soup for a meal and say its not good enough

What makes something a main meal? Primarily size

There is almost no difference what so ever between having macaroni cheese (carb, cheese) to having cauliflower cheese with bread (carb, cheese but added bonus the veg)

Beautiful dinner. Make sure you put mustard in the cheese sauce.

To an extent, fine. But there are conventions. I wouldn't serve beans on toast at a dinner party or for Christmas dinner. And frankly meal planning would be 100 times harder without conventions, so I'm glad of them. And they change over time, which is all good.

TheWytch · 28/10/2025 13:24

It's a main dish here with crusty bread.

Never served as a side.

shrodingersvaccine · 28/10/2025 13:28

It's a main, I always think the cauliflower cheese as a side with a roast dinner thing is very English, it's not something anyone I know would do except English pals.

I'd serve chips and peas with it though (I'm Scottish). There's a bakery near me that does a cauli broccoli cheese PIE - it's a taste sensation, and they'll serve it in a roll for you. Saor Alba and their double carbs!

LillyPJ · 28/10/2025 13:28

soupyspoon · 28/10/2025 13:03

But that shows the thinking about how vegetables are viewed in this country. How come you view the sausages as 'main' and the cauliflower as 'side'.

The whole thing is a main meal itself, the sum of many parts, like meat and two veg, are the veg the side in that dish or part of the main meal, just like the meat is only part of the main meal.

Im eating salmon, guacamole and a mixture of red peppers, onions, green and black olives, garlic, olive oil, capers. Thats a main meal. None of the components are 'the main'.

Show quote history

I actually said that cauliflower cheese IS a main dish. If it's served with sausages, it would be generally better classified as a side dish. (There would be no point in me insisting that the sausages were a side dish to the cauliflower cheese, because that's just not the common understanding of the meaning of those words.) I agree that we need to change the general view that meat is 'main' and that vegetables are an optional extra.