Melted cheese & fresh herbs make these Low Carb Cauliflower Breadsticks an indulgent treat that are even better than traditional breadsticks!
I am totally late to the cauliflower recipe trend, but I am jumping on board as fast as I can. These cheesy cauliflower breadsticks are just as good as a restaurant’s cheesy garlic bread. The kind smothered in melted mozzarella… but without all the carbs! Flavored with fresh, fragrant herbs, these “breadsticks” are the perfect appetizer or side dish for any Italian meal. Even my kids beg for me to make these (yes, I swear…my kids are begging for cauliflower!!!).
LOW CARB CAULIFLOWER BREADSTICKS
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Growing up, I was a HUGE fan of those cheesy breadsticks you can get delivered with pizza. (Let’s be honest, I‘m still a huge fan…). It’s really mind-blowing to me that you would order bread covered in sauce and cheese with a SIDE of more bread covered in cheese. Talk about carbo-loading!!
A few years ago I created a recipe to make homemade pizza dough breadsticks. To this day they are still one of my kids’ most requested family night dinners. But, this year, both my husband and I decided that we were going to try to cut out some carbs from our diets. So I decided to make a more low-carb, keto-friendly version of this cheesy treat!
This cauliflower bread sticks recipe is bursting with garlic flavor that will have you stuffing more and more onto your plate. Normally all the carbs of cheesy garlic bread would make my insides churn. Luckily these cauliflower breadsticks are low-carb and won’t leave you feeling icky like the takeout cheesy bread does!
Ingredients for Cauliflower Breadsticks
Cauliflower –Â for this easy cheesy garlic cauliflower breadsticks recipe you’ll want to start with a large head of raw cauliflower. All you need to do is core it and cut it up into small florets. Once you’ve got your cauliflower chopped up, throw it into your food processor and pulse it until the cauliflower is the texture of rice! Super super easy and quick.
Cheese –Â no cheesy bread “wannabe” recipe is complete without tons of cheese and these low carb breadsticks are no exception. The combo of some melty, bubbly mozzarella and salty parmesan is cheesy perfection!
Seasonings – in my opinion, the most important thing about the ingredients to cheesy cauliflower breadsticks is that you use FRESH herbs. Fresh basil, fresh garlic, fresh parsley, they really make all the difference and make your breadsticks taste like they are straight out of a five-star restaurant.
How to Make Cheesy Cauliflower Breadsticks
In under 30 minutes you can prep, cook, and start eating some delicious low-carb breadsticks. It’s super simple, just follow these directions!
- I am ALL about being efficient, so before you even start prepping your cauliflower breadsticks, preheat your oven to 425 degrees F. Then line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat. This way, once your breadsticks are ready to cook, your oven will be ready to bake them!
- Then core the head of cauliflower and cut it into florets. Throw the cauliflower florets into a food processor and pulse it until it’s the texture of rice. No need to cook the cauliflower first. (If your cauliflower seems excessively moist, squeeze the riced, raw cauliflower into a paper towel or kitchen towel to help remove moisture.)
- Next, in a large bowl, mix the riced cauliflower, shredded mozzarella, parmesan cheese, egg, fresh garlic, fresh basil, fresh parsley, and salt & pepper until it’s combined and holds together.
- Place the cauliflower mixture onto the lined baking sheet and spread out into a 9-inch x 7-inch rectangle that’s 1/4-inch thick.
- Bake your cheesy cauliflower breadsticks in the preheated oven for 10-12 minutes. Then make them even better by adding MORE cheese! Remove the pan from the oven and top with the remaining mozzarella cheese. Then return the pan to the oven to continue baking until the cheese is melted and the edges are golden brown.
- Let it cool for about 10 minutes and cut into “breadsticks”. Garnish with fresh herbs and parmesan cheese. Serve with your favorite marinara sauce and enjoy!
What Sides Can you Eat on Keto?
Cheesy cauliflower breadsticks are the perfect side dish for any Italian meal. But, if you’re on the keto diet (or simply trying to cut down on carbs), finding other side dishes that are low in carbs can be tough! Here are some of my personal favorites for dishes that aren’t necessarily Italian!
Cauliflower Hummus – This yummy dip is great as an appetizer, but it also works perfectly as a keto-friendly side dish! Serve it with your favorite veggies and it’ll round out your meal!
Big Mac Salad – This salad is my GO-TO meal. It tastes just like a classic McDonalds Big Mac, but without all the guilt. I love serving this salad family style as a keto-friendly side dish.
Zoodles (Zucchini Noodles) – Whether you’re making an Italian pasta dish or an Asian stir-fry, zoodles are the perfect way to cut carbs and still eat “pasta”!
Can you Freeze Cauliflower Breadsticks?
While my family will devour an entire batch of cauliflower breadsticks in under 10 minutes, other less indulgent people may have some leftovers. Haha. If you find yourself with some extras, just let them cool completely. Then you can pop them into a freezer-safe bag, and put them in the freezer! When you’re ready to eat some cheesy cauliflower breadsticks, let them defrost and then crisp them back up in the oven!
How Many Carbs in Cauliflower Breadsticks?
While they’re not technically NO-carb breadsticks, these definitely are LOW-carb breadsticks! With about 2 grams of carbs per serving, these breadsticks are perfect for anyone on the keto diet or really for anyone! I promise you, you won’t miss the carbs at all…. these breadsticks are delicious!
Try these other tasty low carb recipes!
- Buffalo Cauliflower Bites
- Cheesy Cauliflower Pancakes
- Low Carb “Fried” Pickles
- Loaded Cauliflower Casserole
- Cauliflower Pizza Crust
- Low Carb Cheesy Bacon Cauliflower Chowder
- more APPETIZER recipes…
Tools used to make this Low Carb Cauliflower Breadsticks recipe
Silicone Baking Mat: I love this mat because NOTHING sticks to it. It saves my baking sheets from becoming brown, burnt messes.
Food Processor: I’ve had this food processor for years and I absolutely love it!
*This post originally posted on 01/03/2016.
Ingredients
- 1 head cauliflower
- ½ cup mozzarella cheese shredded
- ½ cup Parmesan cheese shaved, plus more for garnish
- 1 large egg
- ½ tablespoon garlic minced
- ½ tablespoon fresh basil chopped, plus more for garnish
- ½ tablespoon fresh Italian flat-leaf parsley chopped, plus more for garnish
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
- ¾ cup mozzarella cheese shredded
- Marinara sauce for dipping
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425 degrees F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone mat.
- Rice the cauliflower by coring the head and then cutting it into florets. Then place it in the bowl of a food processor and pulse until it is the texture of rice. (If your cauliflower seems excessively moist, squeeze the riced cauliflower in a paper towel to help remove moisture.)
- In a large bowl, mix the riced cauliflower, 1/2 cup shredded Mozzarella cheese, Parmesan cheese, egg, garlic, basil, parsley, salt, and pepper until combined and holds together.
- Place the cauliflower mixture onto your prepared baking sheet. Spread it out into a rectangle that's about 9-inches x 7-inches and 1/4-inch thick.
- Bake for 10-12 minutes. Remove from oven and top with 3/4 cup shredded mozzarella cheese and return to oven to continue baking until the cheese is melted and starting to brown.
- Cool about 10 minutes and cut into 'breadsticks'. Garnish with fresh herbs and more Parmesan cheese. Serve with your favorite red sauce and enjoy!
Notes
Nutrition
Here are a couple more of my favorite low carb recipes I think you will enjoy too…
Easy Low Carb Chocolate Mousse
Shirley Jacob says
I made this tonight and we really liked it but it needs a couple of things to make it better. The moisture needs to be wringed out using a towel or cheesecloth. It did not get crisp like bread. It also needs more garlic in recipe.
Jane says
These were delish, easy, fast and healthy! I made the mistake of putting in a second egg because it seemed drier than the video but I should have stuck with one. I had to absorb the extra moisture with paper towels. I can’t say I felt it was similar to a breadstick. We all thought this was a great basis for a knife and fork pizza crust though! My GF daughter loved them and named most of the ingredients but couldn’t nail the cauliflower. It’s very subtle. Thanks so much! It’s a keeper!
Trish says
What is the serving size and other macros. Fat & protein ? This was delicious and very easy to make.
Jen says
I added an extra egg. Also before mixing everything together put the riced cauliflower in a clean kitchen towel and squeeze the juice out. Next time will use less basil was too strong for my liking. I was able to slice and pick them up like a bread stick with the changes I made.
Annette says
I don’t have a silicone baking sheet – can parchment paper work also?
Julie @Real Housemoms says
Yes
Scott says
This is a really good recipe. It works. Just some notes. It’s definitely easier with a bag of pre-riced cauliflower. As another commenter noted, there’s “riced” cauliflower (Trader Joe’s is perfect and inexpensive) and there’s cauliflower “crumbles” which are a bit chunkier. Both will work but in my opinion the “riced” cauliflower is much better. It forms and sticks better and the consistency is more like a cheesy bread than the chunks.
Lucy says
Recipe looks yummy but again is one serving one piece? And it would be very helpful to know net carbs since I have my son on Keto due to epilepsy I really focus on net carbs thanks so much.
Amy says
I saw your post on Facebook. It looks like a great recipe and I can’t wait to try it! One thing, you used a pizza cutter to cut it on the silpat! No,no,no! The $20.00 silpat would be ruined!
Cindy DeJulio says
What are the other nutritional facts like protein and fat? Thank you.
BeeO says
This is D E L I C I O U S! yum-yum-yum! 🙂 The kids loved it, too. Thanks for sharing this amazing recipe 🙂
Julia Gusmano says
My husband is obsessed with cheesy bread sticks, but I am trying to get him to eat healthier. I’m very curious to give these a try and see what he thinks!
giftbandit says
you may have mentioned this but WHAT EXACTLY IS 1 SERVING? I made this and IT TURNED OUT AWESOME!! A bit salty, so we will eliminate the SALT and we never used the PARM cheese or parsely, which may have contributed to the saltiness. ?? thanks!
Lyn says
Not a criticism, just a thought for anyone who like me had a coarse uncooked finish with no flavour ?
Cauliflower really vary in size a lot. I live in Australia & we sometimes have small ones but usually they are pretty big. By specifying roughly how many cups of riced cauli it would have given a better result. I ended up putting my cooked crumbly bread back in the food processor with 2 additional eggs, more salt, garlic & cheese & reformed it for a 2nd baking. This time it turned out really tasty & held together, obviously I had way too much cauli first time but glad I didn’t bin it!
Elisa Bennett says
Delicious flavor, but had difficulty with the parchment fusing with the breadsticks. I tried to peel it off, but am sure I ate some paper since it was so delicious. Next time I will use a nonstick or glass pan and eat it from the pan if it sticks. YUM!
Tisa says
Awesome. I have tried crust with cauliflower and this one is the best. I used one head of cauliflower and it is making 2.5 size pizzas for me. I made them thin , trying to make it more crispy. I grated my cauliflower and patted it with paper towels after it was placed on parchment paper.
Nick says
This was amazing!!!!!! As a former chef, I can say that I am extremely impressed with the simplicity and taste of the recipe! Using fresh herbs is all the difference!
Both of my girls even had seconds (which doesn’t happen often when we introduce cauliflower products). One has to remember that this isn’t Little Caesers, it’s cauliflower 🙂
To those that said it was too mushy, I can only think that you had a crust that was too thick and then didn’t leave it in the oven long enough after putting the cheese on as it needs the extra time (extra 10-15 minutes for golden brown). The recipe worked and will be a staple at our household now.
Thank you again and my wife has already picked out a number of recipes for me to make 🙂
Jessica says
This looks like such a great idea! I can’t wait to try it! Do you think it would freeze well?
Marion M says
Jessica, thanks for the great question. I haven’t ever had them last long enough to freeze, so I’m not sure.
giftbandit says
I HAVE FROZEN (riced cauliflower before using) AND have FROZEN the leftovers AND they are fine too!
Diana says
I see on the reviews this question was asked but never answered so I’ll try again to find out how many carbs are in a serving of the bread. I’m making it this weekend and would love to know.
Marion M says
Diana, it is approximately 4 carbs per serving. I hope that helps.
Christina Aleman says
Cooking cauliflower in a different way is a very clever idea, great recipe for picky eaters.
Kori says
I cannot eat regular cows milk – dairy. I have found that goats and sheeps milk doesn’t have the same effect on my stomach as cows milk does, would i be able to sub the Parmesan and moz. for either goat or sheep milk cheese?