Creamy Cauliflower Mash with Kale (Low-Carb Colcannon)
Creamy Cauliflower Mash with Kale (Low-Carb Colcannon)Colcannon is an Irish mashed potato dish that is typically mixed with greens and sometimes cabbage. This low-carb creamy cauliflower mash version uses cauliflower in place of potatoes and added kale. I’ve also seen this dish with bacon, and most often topped with a knob of butter.
This is a great side dish to Corned Beef and Cabbage, Fig Balsamic Pork Tenderloin, Garlic Lover’s Roast Beef or any type of roast.
This side dish is also perfect for any potluck or Thanksgiving holiday and it’s ready in just 30 minutes. You seriously don’t even miss the potatoes. On top of that, I also just really love using cauliflower in place of potatoes because it’s a superfood. It is super rich in nutrients with vitamins B and C, high in fiber and also provides antioxidants. These alone wreak so many benefits like gut health and digestion, weight loss, memory.
Enjoy!
More Mashed Potatoes recipes you might enjoy:
- Classic Mashed Cauliflower
- Instant Pot Mashed Potatoes
- Slow Cooker Garlic Sweet Potato Mash
- Loaded Mashed Cauliflower
- Garlic Mashed Potatoes
Creamy Cauliflower Mash with Kale (Low-Carb Colcannon)
Ingredients
- 6 cups 1 large head cauliflower, cut up into florets
- 4 teaspoons unsalted butter
- 3 cups chopped kale
- 4 cloves crushed garlic
- 2 chopped scallions
- 1/3 cup fat free milk
- kosher salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Boil the cauliflower: Put the cauliflower in a medium pot and cover with cold water by at least an inch. Add salt, and bring to a boil.
- Cook, covered until fork tender. 6 to 8 minutes. Drain in a colander (reserving some liquid if needed).
- In the same pot, melt 1 teaspoon butter medium high heat and add the garlic and scallions, cook 30 seconds, add the kale, 1/4 tsp salt, cover and cook until wilted, 6 to 7 minutes.
- In a blender, puree the cauliflower with milk, transfer to the pot with the greens and add 2 teaspoons butter, 1/4 teaspoon salt and pepper, keep warm.
- To serve, transfer to a bowl and top with remaining teaspoon butter.
Last Step:
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Nutrition
Can you use frozen kale in this recipe
If this delicious meal has salt in it, why not salty butter? Can I use the hand blender thing?
Easy, healthy, and delicious. I served this as a side with our St. Patty’s Day meal. I did substitute margarine for the butter.
Prepared recipe fairly close to the recipe but added potato to the cauliflower plus a tablespoon of cream cheese. This was a very flavorful and satisfying mash. Served it with a side of pork tenderloin. Will make again.
Love Love Love!! Very creamy and tasty. I doubled the garlic and used buttermilk instead of fat free milk, and it was a hit! Great permanent substitute to mashed potatoes.
This was a yummy as a side dish. I took the leftovers and added an egg, whole wheat flour and used my air fryer to make “potato patties”
This is a MUST MAKE. I have never been a fan of mashed cauliflower, cauliflower crusts, etc. (though I love cauliflower on its own!), but for health’s sake, I wanted to try one more low-carb potato-inspired recipe. Lots of great flavors with the crushed garlic and scallions and wilted kale. I used my immersion blender to “mash” the cauliflower, and the dish came together beautifully!
Switched low fat milk with heavy whipping cream and it is 1 carb. Delicious recipe.
OMGosh…. this is soooo good I’m sorry I didnt double the recipe tonight so I’d have leftovers for work…. delicious…. simply DELICIOUS!!
I love colcannon! Can’t wait to make this. Thanks for all your hard work providing us with delicious healthy recipes.
I made this but did half potato half caulflower and it turned out great!
I made this recipe twice. The first time I followed the recipe exactly and it was so bland that I tried again with a few tweaks using sautéed onions in place of green onions, I added a touch of sour cream, more salt in addition to the milk however it still isn’t great. Next time I will probably switch out the chopped kale in lieu of spinach or ? because of the bitterness in the kale ( I used Trader Joe’s chopped kale). I think this recipe has a lot of potential but as it is written, it just isn’t doing it for me.
Switch milk for heavy cream, I cooked the kale a little longer with a few tablespoons of broth, I also added cream cheese. I roasted my garlic. Good luck.
Can I use plain Greek yogurt instead of milk? Also considering adding a little bacon from breakfast this morning ????
Would using an immersion blender be too much? Don’t have a blender so will just use a masher if the immersion will turn it into soup……
I would probably go with the masher..
This was delicious. Served it with pot roast.
I went to Pinterest for a recipe idea for cauliflower. This recipe popped up. I had just picked kale from the garden. I love colcanan! What a find! Really enjoyed it! I used an immersion blender, much easier to clean.
I like to boil the garlic with the cauliflower, adds deeper flavor to the cauliflower, or sometimes I will squeeze in head of roasted garlic,the kale sounds like a wonderful change from cabbage, sometimes add a handful of shredded carrots, use raw minced red onion, 2tbsp. Of fat free cream cheese for richness put in a loaf pan, then I throw it in the oven for 35 minutes at 375 degrees, leftovers go in fridge, next morning I slice it and brown in a little coconut oil with an egg on top for breakfast, family LOVES it. I used to do this with potatoes, now use the cauliflower.
OMG 😋😋😋
One of my favorite recipes! so good and my quests usually cant even tell its cauliflower. Kale adds nice crunchiness.
I prepared the dish, then since the rest of the meal was not quite ready, I put this back on the burner on low. After about 20 minutes, Amy extra water had cooked off and the flavors intensified a bit. I love this side dish! Perfect with tonight’s corned beef dinner.
This is absolutely delicious!
I love the look and ingredients in this recipe. I don’t see any nutritional info and I am watching my carb/fat/sugar intake. Could you please provide this info so I can add it to my menu, if it meets my dietary requirements? Thank you so much.
Nutritional info is listed below the recipe.
I was able to make this a day before and put it in a small baking dish to reheat in the oven uncovered at 350. Served it with the Salsbury Meatballs and gravy. Huge hit with everyone.
I have made this twice now, and did it this way as well. Much easier for me to make it all in the morning and then reheat at supper time for the crew. Substituted heavy cream for the milk, and spinach for the kale, and comes out wonderful each time. I also put all the butter in the saute pan in the beginning. Everything still tastes great! I steamed the cauliflower and threw it all in the vitamix for that step.
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I steam mine because boiling it takes out a lot of the flavor and nutrients. Also, instead of regular butter I use clarified butter to eliminate the sediments like whey and casein.
I can’t wait to try this! Do you use the entire scallion for this recipe (white and green parts)?
wow, thank you for using my bowl in this photo! The food looks delicious!
Hugs Chris
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After cooking the cauliflower and letting it drain, I also put it in a towel to wring out more of the moisture and that helped the consistency of the final product.
Yum! My boys weren’t too sure at first based on looks alone, but everyone loved the taste! Great, easy side. I even used frozen cauliflower and left out the scallions because I didn’t have any on hand.
Does this freeze well? Could I cook it, eat some, and freeze the rest for another day?
I love Cauliflower but find that boiling makes it too wet…..try steaming it – this will not retain as much water. I put a steam basket (actually I use a colander) over a large pot and steam for 20 minutes…let it rest in the basket – you will not need to add any milk – it will be creamy enough.
I’m making this tonight with the skinnytaste turkey meatloaf. Made cauliflower puree a few times before (!!) but not with kale. Looking forward to it. (Total dinner is only 370 cals and yummy for a rainy Sunday!)
I was skeptical. . . like really skeptical. But this was delicious! I think the key is the garlic for flavor and just the bit of butter to give it richness. This recipe is a keeper!
This recipe was awesome! I added this recipe to my WW log and it calculated 4SP when I created the recipe. Any ideas why it is different than the 2SP you calculated?
Thank you!
Did you use recipe builder? The calculator won’t be accurate because veggies are 0 points.
Did you put in 4 servings? I just did it in the WW recipe builder and it comes up 2 sp.
Delicious! My husband looked at skeptically when I showed it to him, but after tasting it, we both agree it is great. Definitely need to drain the cauli. I scooped mine out of the cooking water directly into the blender and it is a bit soupy.
So happy he enjoyed it!
Can spinach be substituted or some other kind of green? I cant stand kale… tried it many times, many ways… just dont like it. 🙁 but really wanna try this!
I made this tonight and had my husband and room mate try them. They both loved them and said they were the best they’ve had!
🙂
Just made this tonight in about 10 minutes and it is heaven! my weakness is mashed potatoes and from now on, I will make this instead! It was incredibly good!!! Love this!!!
These are so great! My husband requested them for his birthday dinner, saying, “I can’t believe I’m requesting Kale and Cauliflower!”. 🙂
I loved this recipe! What a refreshing alternative to mashed potatoes.
This is NOT a low-carb recipe! It *could* be if you’d use heavy cream instead of fat-free milk. Also, a whole head of cauliflower makes WAY more than 4 servings! Otherwise, it looks delicious!
Thanks for the tip about the heavy cream
It’s still low carb compared to the potato version please chill.
I am trying to print some recipes, how come I don’t see a Print friendly button anymore ??? Please please help !!!
I’m having the same issue. The PRINT icon was here a few days ago.
The PRINT icon has returned!
I made this recipe tonight. I was skeptical, but it’s really delicious, and very easy to make.
I am so happy you enjoyed it!
There’s a black print button below the recipe.
I just purchased some of Trader Joe's frozen riced cauliflower – thoughts on heat up time since you won't be steaming the cauliflower first (it would be cold when added to the kale…)
Microwave it.
I have never cooked with cauliflower before and just recently came across your wonderful recipes. Any insight as to how this reheats? For instance, if I wanted to make it Saturday evening for Sunday Easter brunch? Or maybe boil the cauliflower and puree it the night before and do the rest the next morning? Thanks!
Either way should work!
This makes me want to eat 2 things I am not a fan off, cauliflower and kale..Ha! You make everything look so tasty Gina, from a dedicated WW member and fellow food blogger, thank you for all you do 🙂
This sounds absolutely heavenly for a cold night. Maybe with some flaked salmon. It's happening.
I just made this except I substituted almond milk for whole milk and parsley for kale. Also added extra garlic! DELISH! Thanks for all your awesome recipes.
No need to cut off stems, if tough then peel and just cook a little longer than the florets…
no dumb questions. Kale is a green veg that grows like lettuce, but has a tough stem down the middle of it this should be cut out most times .All grocery stores have it. most have a ruffly edge on the leaf.
I know this is a dumb question but what is kale?
You will find it in your local grocery store along with all the other lettuces.
google it
I am out of cauliflower so tried it with broccoli—I cut off most of the stem (save it for soup) cooked it -mashed it added the rest of ingredients and it was very good.
I just entered this into the online calculator to save it to my ww profile – it is telling me 4 smart points?
Did you count the cauliflower and kale as zero? Recipe builder doesn't always calculate zero veggies correctly
Can frozen cauliflower be used?
I use frozen florets. I steam them and then remove the stems before putting them in my food processor.
I do the same it’s the BEST!!
What could I use instead of the milk to keep it dairy free?
I would try what ever you are using now to replace dairy.
Any alternate milk would work (such as soy or almond milk). You could also use broth or even some of the reserved cooking liquid from boiling the cauliflower.
Lovely mash!
I just made cauliflower mash the other night. Can't wait to add kale (one of my favorites) to it next time!
Thanks for recipe. i did it yesterday. it's good 😀
I made this to have with my left-overs from last night–the Reuben Stuffed Pork Tenderloin and it was perfect with it. It was so creamy and flavorful!
Thanks Gina!! I can't wait to try this one!!!
This looks delish! I do make mashed cauliflower…but adding the kale takes it to a higher level. Thanks for posting this yummy dish.