Today on the Fit Strong Mama blog, I’m sharing my favorite low carb casserole recipe – Loaded Cauliflower Casserole! It is the perfect substitute for one of my family’s favorite southern dishes, tater tot casserole. Let be real for a minute. Who doesn’t like a tater tot casserole? Especially, if you live in the south, right! It’s a staple at potlucks and Sunday dinner for sure!

Even though I mostly follow a low carb/ keto friendly diet, I am all about balance and really there is no food is off limits with the right moderation! However, given the chance to do a little digging for a healthier recipe, I’ve found that there are SO many great options as substitutes for a lot of my favorite recipes!

In this particular recipe, you swap traditional casserole staples such as pasta, potatoes or rice, with cauliflower. By doing this you are cutting carbs, adding extra servings of vegetables, and still getting all that cheesy, delicious goodness we all love in a good casserole!

I found this recipe at dearcrissy.com (one of my favorite sites for great, family friendly recipes!). It’s a perfect healthy side dish, or you can just as well use it as a main dish! To get this recipe for yourself, simply click on the button below!

How to Modify this Recipe for a Healthy, Low Carb Family Meal

Looking for easy ways to modify this recipe to turn it from a side dish into a main dish for a simple, quick to make family dinner? Try adding one (or more) of these ideas to make it a dinner to remember!

-        Add broccoli, or you can add 50% broccoli, 50% cauliflower

-        Add more protein such as ground beef, ground turkey, or chicken

-        Make the breakfast for dinner version by adding eggs and sausage

The Difference in Nutrition between Tater Tot Casserole and Loaded Cauliflower Casserole

Ok sister, I believe that knowledge is power and that the more you learn about WHAT to look for in recipes, food, and more, the easier it becomes to incorporate better choices into your diet. Each small decision we make for our health can lead to reaching big goals!

I want to show you the difference in the calories, fat, carbs, and protein in both a traditional casserole and its healthier alternative. With this cauliflower swap you can drastically change the carb and calorie count!

A normal, southern, tater tot casserole dish:
478 calories
37g carbs
24g fat
28g protein

This loaded cauliflower casserole:
297 calories
3g carbs
26.6 fat
11.4g protein

So right off the bat you can see the keto friendly version is lower in calories and carbs, which are important factors to watch for when following a low carb diet. Some people, when looking at the nutritional facts, might be concerned about the higher amount of fat in the low carb casserole recipe – however don’t let it scare you!

Fat is SUCH an important part of a healthy diet and is actually a key factor in helping your body function properly and have the energy you need without carbs on the Keto diet. The important thing to know about fat in ANY diet is: to make sure you are eating the right types of fat, and that your fat intake matches the type of diet that you primarily follow. For example, if you eat a lot of carbs, eating a lot of fat won’t help in maintaining balance, and may result in not so great side effects. However, in the Keto and in low carb diets, it’s important to increase your good fat because as your body adapts to the lifestyle, it can begin to use the fat as fuel (rather than carbs) and not just store it.

If you try this recipe, I would LOVE to hear how it went, or if there were any fun additions or twists you did to make it your own!