low carb cheese sauce

Judlepip

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I do not have diabetes
Can someone tell me a thickener that's low carb? I want to make a cauliflower cheese, but don't want flour or cornflour carbs.
 

chalup

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Cook up a bit extra cauliflower and puree it. Add it into the sauce to thicken. Also start with heavy cream instead of milk.
 

maglil55

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Can someone tell me a thickener that's low carb? I want to make a cauliflower cheese, but don't want flour or cornflour carbs.
I do it the way I always made a cheese sauce for tortellini- add a little double cream to a pot with ground black pepper to taste. Start adding grated gruyere to the pot and keep stirring with a wooden spoon until the cheese melts and mixes with the cream. I do this by sight but you will need about 150mls double cream to one of these small wrapped blocks of gruyere you can get in supermarkets. It will look quite runny when it melts but will thicken when taken off the heat. You can add more grated cheese to the top of the cauliflower to grill. You can also mix the cheese - gruyere plus emmental (2/3 to 1/3) or add some mozzarella to the mix - gives it a stringy texture. I also add a fair bit black pepper.
 

lovinglife

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I do similar to @maglil55 but I use creme fraiche as I don't like cream - won't work with single cream - steam your cauli instead of boiling it will also cut down on liquid from the cauli watering down your sauce
 
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Snapsy

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I make cauliflower cheese using just cauliflower and cheese.

I microwave 500g frozen cauliflower for 20 minutes. I puree a third of it, with all the water that has come out of it (not much), with a big handful of strong grated cheddar cheese and about 100g Philadelphia cream cheese - this makes a gorgeous, smooth, delicious cheese sauce. I mix it together with the remaining two thirds of the florets, bung cheese on top and bake it.

Total carbohydrate count is around 20g. Serves 4, probably, although the two of us regularly polish off half each.
 

Resurgam

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I just steam half a cauliflower, move it to a solid metal bowl grate lots of red Leicester over it then put it back over the hot water with a lid on. In a few minutes the cheese has melted, and then I take the bowl off the water, remove the lid and leave it to cool down for a while, and then I eat it.
 

bulkbiker

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Double cream, cream cheese and loads of cheddar. Heat and melt cheddar into the other two. Mozarella can make it more gloopy as well. I just chuck in whatever is past its prime.
Alternatively grate cheese (lots) over steamed and baked cauliflower and put back in over for 20 mins
 

DeejayR

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As advised above, whizz some cooked cauli and add to the sauce. We've just had half a mighty cauli cheese with a bacon, onion & cheese sauce with smoked paprika and mashed butternut squash & celeriac on top with more cheese and some tomatoes. Plus broccoli & green beans. I now have to test for the squash but I'm optimistic it won't hurt.
 
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RosieLKH

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I do cream or cream cheese, whisked with an egg in and grated cheddar. Pour over and bake in the oven. It's like cauliflower cheese souffle. I also do the same sauce between layers of bolognese style mince and cabbage and bake, or lamb mince and aubergine and bake. For all these I have cooked or mostly cooked the veg & meat separately first.
 

Brunneria

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Hi All :D

Am just reviving this thread because @copilost asked how to make LC cheese sause on another thread, and I knew threre were some great recipes on here.

My own LC cheese sauce takes a couple mins and a microwave.

Put a handful of grated cheese in a bowl.
Pour cream onto it.
(Quantities are endlessly variable, depending on amount you need, and how liquid you want it)
Microwave til melted and hot.
Stir, taste, season and pour over whatever you like. :D

Nice additions are mustard, horseradish, chilli sauce, herbs, garlic... although maybe not all at once ;)
 
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copilost

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@Rachox think that was one of the ones I was taking inspiration from (when I accidentality made cauliflower cheesecake!) but I got the proportions all wrong (obviously I didn't actually follow the recipe). I think I got carried away and put in too much cream cheese to cheese. It's all ratios in cooking :)
This new cooking is going to be challenging but fun, pork belly in the oven :) sadly no fennel or potatoes but still "pork_actual_belly" woo hoo
 

PamJHS

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Double cream, cream cheese and loads of cheddar. Heat and melt cheddar into the other two. Mozarella can make it more gloopy as well. I just chuck in whatever is past its prime.
Alternatively grate cheese (lots) over steamed and baked cauliflower and put back in over for 20 mins

Yes, I saw this method in a keto recipe and it is delicious. I even bought some gruyere to put in with the cheddar, but I guess it will work with whatever cheese you enjoy. And as a bonus, it's so much easier than faffing about with making a flour and butter roux then gradually adding milk.
 

copilost

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I went wrong at the "loads of cheddar" I'm still so programmed into restricting fats, especially saturated fats. Still I like a challenge and "more cheese" is my kind of challenge ;)
 

PamJHS

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I went wrong at the "loads of cheddar" I'm still so programmed into restricting fats, especially saturated fats. Still I like a challenge and "more cheese" is my kind of challenge ;)

Having yo-yo dieted my way up to obesity over the last 40 years, I realised dieting was never going to work for me, and I've spent the last couple of years getting used to listening to my hunger, rather than following a diet. So I was more than ready to face the Eat More Cheese Challenge!
 
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Resurgam

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I see that 2 and a half years ago I had not got the cream cheese part of the recipe - or perhaps I was still in that strange time after diagnosis when I could hardly function due to the Metformin and Atorvastatin effects, and I just forgot about it.
 

nomoredonuts

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I often get "high" after Sunday dinner cauli cheese and I've been using cornflour (cornstarch) in place of flour for the lower carb count for a while now. I probably ought to give the cream/cream cheese and cheese route a go. (And maybe substitute the Sunday Guinness for something different...)