Casseroles are something I don’t do too often, just because I prefer not to freeze too much food – but I had a bunch of stuff laying around in my kitchen and had no clue what to do with it. Casseroles are pretty handy to do once a month, to clean up any food that might be going bad and combine a ton of flavors into one compact meal.

This turned out exactly as you’d expect – very flavorful meats through each bite, extreme amounts of cheese, and a delicious crunch from the cauliflower. If you’re a fan of the recipes on the site, make sure to check out the new cookbook: Keto-fied! Comfort Foods Made Low Carb. This is how I support myself and how I’m able to do so many recipes for the site!

You have a few options for when you make this. As the recipe is, the cauliflower will be the bottom base and the cauliflower will be a little bit crunchy after you bake it. So, if you’re not a fan of the semi-raw cauliflower texture, you should par-cook the cauliflower before baking it. You can also mix together all of the cheese, beef, cauliflower and bacon to create more of a solid casserole, but I thought the idea of the cauliflower being on the bottom was nice. Again, totally up to you, but I want to make sure you know what you’re getting yourself into before starting.

Alternatively, you can cut the florets of cauliflower quite small so that they cook all the way through while in the oven! The idea I had in mind with this is when you pour the bacon grease over the top of the casserole, the cauliflower will soak some of that up at the bottom. But, there’s still some leftover grease – so feel free to add spinach, mushrooms, or any other vegetables you’d like to add more volume to it, while also soaking up the grease. You can also replace the cauliflower with broccoli to reduce carb counts.

Yields 6 Servings of Cauliflower Cheddar Bacon Casserole

The Preparation

Ground Beef Mixture:

2 teaspoons fresh garlic, minced
1 teaspoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon chili powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/4 teaspoon onion powder
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 teaspoon all-purpose seasoning, like mrs. dash
16 ounces ground beef (80/20)
1 tablespoon low-carb ketchup
1 tablespoon soy sauce, or coconut aminos
1 teaspoon fish sauce
1 tablespoon lard, or other high smoke point oil

Casserole Ingredients:

10 ounces cooked bacon, chopped
588 grams cauliflower, cut into florets
4 ounces cream cheese, softened
4 ounces cheddar cheese, grated

The Execution

1. Add 1 tbsp. Bacon Fat, 2 tsp. Minced Garlic, 1 tsp. Cumin, 1/2 tsp. Paprika, 1/2 tsp. Chili Powder, 1/2 tsp. Salt, 1/4 tsp. Cayenne Pepper, 1/4 tsp. Onion Powder, 1/4 tsp. Ground Black Pepper, and 1/4 tsp. Mrs. Dash Table Blend to the 1 lb. of Ground Beef.

2. Using your hands, thoroughly mix this together, making sure all of the spices run through.

3. Place the ground beef into a plastic bag and pour 1 tbsp. Reduced Sugar Ketchup, 1 tbsp. Soy Sauce, and 1 tsp. Red Boat Fish Sauce over the beef.

4. Use your hands through the bag to massage everything together. Roll the beef into a log and take all of the air out of the bag, then store in the fridge for at least 30 minutes.

5. Slice the bacon into small chunks and begin to cook it.

6. Once bacon is finished, save grease for later. Lay bacon on paper towels to cool and crisp up.

7. In the same pan, begin to brown the ground beef. You want it cooked, but not fully cooked.

8. While beef is cooking, preheat your oven to 350F and chop the cauliflower into florets. Chop florets to the size you want – the smaller they are the more they will cook in the oven. If you want to, you can also cook them at this stage.

9. Arrange the cauliflower florets in the bottom of a casserole dish (this is a link to a pyrex one with attachable lids, which I prefer over non-stick based ones).

10. Place ground beef over the cauliflower. You’re welcome to mix this together to create a more solid casserole once finished.

11. Rip chunks off of 4 oz. cream cheese and place over the top.

12. Place bacon and 4 oz. cheddar cheese over the top of the casserole. Pour bacon grease over the top of the casserole.

13. Place casserole in the oven and bake for 40-50 minutes, or until the cheese is nice and browned over the top.

14. Remove casserole and let cool.

15. Serve – feel free to add red pepper flakes, slices of jalapeno peppers, or sprinkling of parsley over the top!

This makes a total of 6 servings of Cauliflower Cheddar Bacon Casserole. Each serving comes out to be 593 calories, 46.2g fats, 4g net carbs, and 36.3g protein.

NUTRITION	CALORIES	FAT	CARBS	FIBER	NET CARBS	PROTEIN
2 teaspoon fresh garlic	8	0	1.9	0.1	1.8	0.4
1 teaspoon cumin	8	0.5	0.9	0.2	0.7	0.4
1/2 teaspoon paprika	3	0.2	0.6	0.4	0.2	0.2
1/2 teaspoon chili powder	4	0.2	0.7	0.5	0.2	0.2
1/2 teaspoon salt	0	0	0	0	0	0
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper	1	0.1	0.3	0.1	0.1	0.1
1/4 teaspoon onion powder	2	0	0.5	0.1	0.4	0.1
1/4 teaspoon black pepper	1	0	0.3	0.1	0.2	0.1
1/4 teaspoon all-purpose seasoning	1	0	0.1	0.1	0.1	0
16 ounce ground beef (80/20)	1152	90.7	0	0	0	77.9
1 tablespoon low-carb ketchup	9	0	0.9	0	0.9	0
1 tablespoon soy sauce	8	0.1	0.8	0.1	0.7	1.3
1 teaspoon fish sauce	2	0	0.2	0	0.2	0.3
1 tablespoon lard	116	12.8	0	0	0	0
10 ounce cooked bacon	1554	122.7	3.8	0	3.8	101.3
588 gram cauliflower	135	2.9	24.1	13.5	10.6	10.6
4 ounce cream cheese	388	38.6	4.7	0	4.7	7
4 ounce cheddar cheese	458	37.8	3.5	0	3.5	25.9
Totals	3850	306.5	43.3	15.3	28	225.5
Per Serving (/6)	642	51.1	7.2	2.5	4.7	37.6