Low Carb Cauliflower Breadsticks
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 – 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 – 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.
Low Carb Cauliflower Breadsticks
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
Maybe my “Large” califlower was bigger than yours….this wasn’t good. They were dry, did not hold together and were very ‘cauliflowery’. I was hoping I’d love them, and they just didn’t work and I followed the recipe exactly.
Way to watery 🙁 super sad. They smell very good. But it’s just not even close to bread sticks. Next time I’ll ring out the water and try again 🙂
Such a unique and gorgeous recipe, delicous! keep up the good work!
Haven’t made this yet but will be. For anyone on Weight Watchers it is 3 points per serving
wow, I just made these and had some. they are delicious! I read comments and did follow a couple recommendations as I wanted them to be firm and crispy. although it added some time, I did cook the cauliflower rice in the oven for 20 min and used a cotton dish cloth to squeeze out a ton of moisture. also, I used parchment paper and was apprehensive about having them stick as another person mentioned so I swiped on a tiny, tiny bit of oil in case they were going to stick-don’t think that was needed though. I do think next time I will make them thinner by splitting them onto two baking sheets and/or cutting them towards the end and flipping they so the other side gets crisped up which will make them overall more crispy. regardless the flavor is ALL YOURS-delicious! thank you. this recipe made me a subscriber. can’t wait to try more.
Glad to see that making small changes made such a difference. Happy to have you here and thanks so much!
Can these be cooked and frozen, if so what temp would you reheat and for how long, thanks,
People, people, the nutritional info is at the end of the recipe. These folks are kind enough to give us free recipes that they experiment with until they get them right, THEN they freely post them for us. The least we can do is read until we see all the info. and not ask the same question over 5 times. And read the comments, often you’ll find additions and hints on how to make it: crispier, more flavorful, less flavorful, additional ingredients, less ingredients. Make it your own, add what you want. Thank you ladies for all your hard work, and patience.
A friend of mine this for me. It was delicious!
I made this recipe for supper. I riced the cauliflower this morning, left it out on the counter for a few hours, so it dried naturally. It worked really well. I did broil it once the cheese on top was melted. I will be using the leftovers for my pizza crust this week. It will be an amazing lunch.
What a great idea! Thanks for the helpful tip.
I was super disappointed in this recipe. This was my first time trying the cauliflower bread so I made sure I looked at several recipes and followed all the tips. I pulsed it until it was a minced consistency. I strained out the excess water. I could tell pretty much during the whole time I was shaping it onto the baking mat that this was not going to come out the way I hoped. Well, I was right. I could slice it, but it could not hold a shape. I ended up forking through it and it now sits in a riced cauliflower pile on the mat. Not sure what I’ll do with it and I don’t know if I want to try another cauliflower bread recipe again. Pretty bummed that I wasted all that time while my 15 month old napped. I could have laid down and watched TV for a minute, lol.
Can you use frozen cauliflower?
Frozen cauliflower can yield quite a bit of water/moisture. If you buy it already crumbled to save time (which is never a bad thing) just keep that in mind so that it doesn’t turn out too wet through the cooking process.
Some cauliflower is huge some small. How many cups would be useful. You may have answered this but to much to search.
Just made this. I cooked the riced cauliflower first like suggested in the comments and my “bread”sticks held together perfectly. Divine! Even met the approval of my picky kids!!!
Omg.. I made these for dinner and they were great!!! My teen son who hasn’t eaten a vegetable in years are one and he couldn’t tell the difference from this and a regular breadstick!!! He has no clue until I told him!!He couldn’t believe it!! Thanks for sharing this recipe.. it’s definitely a hit!!!
I tried the recipe with modifications. I cooked the cauli rice in the oven for 4 minutes. Cheeseclothed as much water as I could out of it. Then combined all of my ingredients. Cooked it at 450 on parchment for about 15 min. Flipped it over to get the bottom browned for another 15. Then I added my mozzarella-Parmesan-parsley mix on top. Once the cheese was melted, I turned on the broiler setting and watched it so it wouldn’t burn. Came out great!
This recipe is very good!! Amazing actually!
I baked for 40 min. in the total and used 2 eggs because the cauliflower was too big.
Very good with green salad. We enjoyed it very much!
Hi! Can this be made without the egg? It looks delicious!!
Hi! This recipe says it make 4-6 servings, but the “serving size” is not specified in the nutritional value. I love the macros, but just need to know how much an actual serving is… a quarter of the recipe or a sixth? Super excited to try it, but not until I get this info!!! I see this question has been asked a few other times and has not gotten a reply. Hoping you reply to this one!!!! Thanks so much!!!
Hi RSM. The number of servings for the full nutritional listing below the recipe is five. So one serving would be 1/5 of the total sheet of breadsticks this recipe makes. Depending on how you cut your breadsticks there may be more of less per serving. So I’d recommend cutting the “sheet” into fifths first, then cut your breadsticks. Then you’ll know how many breadsticks per serving for the breadstick size you like. Hope this helps!
Hey Marion, Just wanted to let you know that I made these breadsticks vegan and they were delicious. I used Mochi and nutrional yeast for the gooey cheesey flavor and texture and I used a flax egg as a binder. They turned out soooooo yummy. Thanks for the inspiration.
You need to microwave the cauliflower about 8 minutes before you bake it! Otherwise very delicious recipie!
I’m glad that worked for you. I’ve not needed that step when I make this recipe.
I just made this and OMG My daughter and I love it. We’re currently on Atkins diet. Thank you!