Lately, it feels like people have found a way to incorporate cauliflower into practically everything. Cauliflower is incredibly versatile and can be used to make noodles, pizza crust, gnocchi, rice, and countless other dishes. This begs the question: which cauliflower trends are actually worth eating? Cauliflower can be a good substitute for certain ingredients, but certainly not for others. I embarked on a mission to answer this question, and here’s what I discovered.
Cauliflower Noodles
Noodles and Company sells cauliflower rigatoni, so I decided to give it a try. Honestly, the noodles didn’t taste much like cauliflower at all. This is probably because the noodles are simply “cauliflower infused,” meaning that there likely isn’t much cauliflower in it. Overall, it felt like I was just eating normal pasta, so I can’t say I wouldn’t recommend it. I don’t, however, think it’s an improvement from regular pasta.
Cauliflower Crust
Nowadays, you can find cauliflower pizza crust in a lot of grocery stores in addition to restaurants. I tried the mac and cheese pizza with cauliflower crust from Snap Pizza, and it was truly a game changer. You could tell it wasn’t normal pizza crust, but it did the trick. It was still crispy and held all the ingredients when I picked up a slice. It did cost extra, but if you’re looking to decrease your refined carbohydrate intake or simply try something new, I would highly recommend!
Cauliflower Gnocchi
Cauliflower gnocchi is one of the most popular items that Trader Joe’s sells, and if you tried it you’d understand why. It’s certainly different from traditional potato gnocchi, but equally as good. It also doesn’t require much preparation. Simply sautéing the gnocchi in a pan with olive oil and sprinkling it with salt and pepper is all you need to make it taste delicious. Definitely worth the hype.
Cauliflower Rice
Cauliflower rice can be a good substitute for regular rice, but it depends on the dish. In my opinion, any dish that uses rice to soak up sauce doesn’t work with cauliflower rice because cauliflower doesn’t absorb sauce very well. When it comes to fried rice, cauliflower works perfectly. It still, however, needs lots of seasoning and other ingredients to take the dish to the next level.
Overall, in my opinion, the best cauliflower trend is probably cauliflower gnocchi. It’s good by itself, but there are countless other ways to prepare it. Cauliflower crust is definitely a close second, but it falls just short of its regular counterpart. Either way, most cauliflower trends are definitely worth trying, but aren’t necessarily better than the original, carbo-loaded ingredients they’re designed to replace.