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Low-carb cauliflower rösti is the recipe you didn’t know you needed!

These cauliflower rösti cakes – like hash browns! – are a delicious and low-carb alternative to the potato version. Serve for breakfast, brunch or lunch with the suggested smoked salmon and crème fraîche. Or, why not pair with poached eggs or slices of creamy avocado? I’ve got a whole list of ways to enjoy these röstis – many suitable for your smallest eaters.

I also include my easy cauliflower prep method for making perfect röstis. So no more grated fingers!

Aaand, to give you more choice, I give instructions for both frying (quicker) and baking (fat-free). With so many options, you are bound to find a method and flavour menu to suit you.

Why rösti a cauliflower?

After all the above hype you may still be wondering why anyone would want to rösti a cauli. After all, the fried shredded potato version is pretty peng.

But for those who are trying to follow a lower carbohydrate diet, or even a keto one, cauliflower is the best starch-a-like going. Not only does it resemble rice or couscous when grated, when the moisture is removed, it crisps up quite well. And for the most part, it easily sheds its imposing taste and takes on a new, snazzier, identity.

Bake it! Pressing the mixture on lined baking tray

Lightening things up

Even though I love my carbs, I’ve got a few carbohydrate-imposter recipes here (links below) on Food To Glow. It’s just good to have a few such recipes in your cooking repertoire. Using cauliflower in traditionally heavy recipes like a traditional rösti really lightens them up. It’s not quite the same texture or taste as all that shredded, fried potato. We, however, think they taste really good in their own right. It is well balanced, not too sweet or savory, with a subtle Scandi vibe. I really hope you like them. My valiant taste-testers, Andrew and Rachel, demolished each batch as they were made. And no, I don’t starve them specially. 😉

I could have called these röstis cauliflower hash browns. But I decided that the soft interior and slightly crispy outside is more akin to the texture of a Swiss rösti. With hash browns, most people like them uniformly crisp, which these are not, and cannot be unless deep-fried. These are also quite like vegetable fritters, but I think of fritters as chunkier bites. These are more delicately textured nibbles.

What’s in these low-carb cauliflower röstis?

The basics are:

A cauliflower, cut up into rough chunks. We are doing something rather nifty with them in a bit.

Eggs, 2

Psyllium husks or cornstarch or tapioca starch. In the absence of gluten, these bind everything together. I made some with psyllium husks and some with cornstarch. To be honest, the psyllium (also known as ispaghula) works best as far as cohesiveness. However, many of you won’t have psyllium husks just handy. Those of you who do have it might be wondering about the “effect” of having this ingredient in here. Well, unless you eat the whole batch yourself in one go, it’s just a brilliant ingredient binder. No psyllium? Just use cornstarch or tapioca starch. I bet very finely ground chia seeds would work, too. {Here’s an Amazon UK affiliate link to purchase a 250g pack of Nature’s Root Organic Psyllium Husk Powder .}

Seasonings – salt, pepper, cardamom, ground coriander. The latter two are to make it a bit more Scandi, so leave them out if you don’t want this vibe. It is subtle, but very nice.

Herbs – dill and chives

A shallot, small onion, or onion powder

Some oil for frying, if you choose to fry these instead of bake them

Toppings!

How to make low-carb cauliflower rösti

First of all, tackle the cauliflower. As with my other riced cauliflower recipes, I turn to my blender. How does it not turn it to instant baby food? I hear you ask. Well, the secret is water. Buoyant water. Here’s how it works.

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Making cauliflower crumbs/rice/couscous Roughly chop the cauliflower and pop it in the blender. Then top with enough water to make them float around a bit. Press the lid on and tap the Pulse button 4-5 times. This will bounce the pieces around, in and out of the whirring blade. Pour the nubbly cauli into a sieve and drain off the water. If your blender isn’t big enough to take the whole cauliflower with the water added and room for a bit of bouncing, do in two batches. 

Then, the best thing is to de-gorge the cauliflower. This we do by lining a bowl with a thin tea towel, adding the riced cauliflower, then tossing in some salt. Wait a few minutes for the internal liquid to be released, then really wring the towel to squeeze out the water. The pieces will be beautifully dry and separate when poked with a fork. This isn’t necessary, but is highly recommended.

At this stage you could open freeze the cauliflower crumbles on a lined baking tray and tumble the tiny, barely-frozen pieces into a labelled bag to freeze further, for another time and another recipe. But we are making a gorgeous batch of golden röstis! And all you do is mix everything together, bar the oil, and decide if you are frying or baking. Oh, and the mix keeps well in the fridge for five days or so.

Bake it! Pressing the mixture on lined baking tray

Fry it! Frying in a little oil

Bake or Fry – it’s your choice. After this prep it is a simple matter of mixing everything bar the oil and either dolloping in ¼ cup measures into a medium-hot, oiled pan, pressing into a small half-inch thick pancake to crisp up – four minutes or so on each side. Or, portion out and pat down some cauliflower mix on a baking parchment-lined baking tray and cooking in the oven. The latter takes about 18-20 minutes. Lightly oil-spray the parchment paper if you wish, for easier flipping.

(l) baked low-carb cauliflower rostis, (one in middle is psyllium husk added);

(r) fried rostis with psyllium husks added

And there you have it! Low-carb cauliflower röstis, deliciously crisped on the outside yet soft, and ready to top with anything you fancy. If you need some ideas, I’ve got some for you below.

cauliflower rostis with hardboiled egg and gherkin + avocado and tempeh chorizo

How to eat your cauliflower rösti

Really, you can top your low-carb cauliflower röstis with just about anything savory that you like, but we like these. 

• With best-quality smoked salmon, creme fraiche, cucumber slices and fennel pollen (shown);
• Sliced avocado and tempeh bacon or chorizo (above); perhaps adding scrambled tofu for more protein
• Poached or fried egg with ketchup
• Slice up and dip into aoili, salsa or ketchup
• Top with leftover dal, vegetable curry, or similar
• Roll up or top with chopped egg, pickled herring and gherkins (above, minus the herring)
• Top with seasoned crab and aoili
• Top with cheese and quickly grill until bubbly. Serve with a bit of chutney or salsa. (shown below – Andrew LOVES this)
  

  grilled cheese and chutney cauliflower rösti

Other lower-carb cauliflower recipes on Food To Glow

Cauliflower Rice Tabbouleh Bowl

Easy Cauliflower Rice Kedgeree

Cauliflower and Almond Pizza Crust with Fresh Tomato Sauce

Whether on Pinterest, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter or of course here on the blog, I love to see what you do with my recipes, and I welcome your comments, star ratings, tweaks and suggestions on my Low-Carb Cauliflower Rösti, and any of my other 600+ recipes. 

**Also, if you’ve made/intend to make this recipe, please do consider rating it as it will make this recipe more visible on search engines. To do so, click the appropriate star underneath the small photo on the recipe card, below. Thank you so much!**

How will you top your low-carb cauliflower rösti?

5 from 6 votes

Print

Low-Carb Cauliflower Rösti

These cauliflower roösti cakes are a delicious and low-carb alternative to the potato version. Serve with the suggested smoked salmon and crème fraiîche. Or why not pair with poached eggs or creamy avocado? A really fabulous breakfast, brunch or lunch recipe. My easy method for prepping the cauliflower for perfect roöstis is included, too. No more grated fingers! And I give instructions for both frying (quicker) and baking (crisper and oil-less).

Course Breakfast, Brunch

Cuisine Scandinavian, Swiss

Keyword cauliflower, fritters, hash browns, low-carb, rosti

Prep Time 20 minutes

Cook Time 18 minutes

Total Time 38 minutes

Servings 10 small röstis

Calories 41 kcal

Author kellie anderson

Ingredients

• 500 g cauliflower trimmed and cut into chunks
• 3 eggs organic
• 1 tbsp ground psyllium husks optional, but really helps hold it all together in the absence of gluten; use 2 tbsp cornstarch/tapioca starch otherwise
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp ground cardamom optional
• 1 banana shallot grated OR 1 tsp onion powder
• 1/4 tsp ground coriander
• 1/2 tsp black pepper
• 2 tsp chopped chives fresh or dried
• 2 tsp chopped dill fresh or dried
• olive oil or coconut oil to fry

Instructions

1. MAKING CAULIFLOWER RICE THE EASY WAY. By now most of you know my trick for ricing cauliflower. But in case not, this is what I do. 1) Place roughly chopped cauliflower in your blender. 2) Fill with water so that the bottom pieces float around the blade. 3) Pop on the lid and pulse four-five times. You should have crumbly, nubbly cauliflower rice.

2. Drain the cauliflower into a sieve, then pop in a mixing bowl lined with a thin tea towel or cheesecloth, and sprinkle with 1 heaped teaspoon of salt, mixing it in. Lightly gather up the tea towel into a ball. Leave for 15-30 minutes. Pull the tea towel tight and twist to squeeze out the liquid. The salting ("de-gorging") step will take away a good bit on internal moisture (and the salt!) and make for a crisper rosti.

3. Pour the eggs, cauliflower and other ingredients except oil into a mixing bowl. Mix well to make a batter. If you aren't using the psyllium husks you may see some egg coming away from the mix. Just mix it in as you make up the individual rostis.

To Fry

1. Heat a thin skim of oil in a saute pan over a medium heat. Take a 1/4 cup, or an ice cream scoop, and scoop up some mixture. Press it in firmly, upending into the hot fat. Press down with a spatula or the back of the cup to about 1/2-inch depth. Carry on with two more or so - depending on pan size, making sure there is enough room to flip the röstis. Cook for about four minutes on each side, until very golden. Carefully flip each rösti (they will be quite soft at this stage) and cook for a further four minutes. Keep warm on a tray in the oven, or loosely cover, while you cook the rest.

To Bake

1. Preheat the oven to 180C fan/200C/400F. Line a baking tray with baking parchment. I like Bacofoil brand as the little bubbles keep the röstis above any excess moisture. Use a 1/4 cup or ice cream scoop to dollop on evenly spaced mounds of cauliflower rösti mixture onto the tray. Flatten to about 1/2-inch thick. Bake for about 18 minutes, flipping halfway through if you care about even colouring (I'm not bothered about the bottom side).

2. Serve warm or room temperature with any topping you fancy. I've given some ideas in the Notes box below. I hope you love these little nibbles as much as we do.

Recipe Notes

The nutrition values are based on baking 3.5-inch rostis. 

Psyllium or cornstarch? I wouldn't get psyllium husks especially for this, but it is imo superior to the usual cornstarch or tapioca starch used in low-carb fritters. It does however darken the whole mixture.

Tweaks: instead of the suggested seasoning, try 1 tsp of Old Bay seasoning mix or your favourite seasoning blend. Perhaps curry powder or Creole. You can also make them plain if serving to fussy children as they do not taste cauliflowery at all. Another idea is to keep the batter plain but add 1 heaped tbsp of nutritional cheese or about 50g of grated Parmesan. 

Serving suggestions:

• With best-quality smoked salmon, crème fraîche, cucumber slices and fennel pollen (shown)
• Sliced avocado and tempeh bacon or chorizo (shown); perhaps adding scrambled tofu for more protein
• Poached or fried egg with ketchup
• Slice up and dip into aoili, salsa or ketchup
• Top with leftover dal, vegetable curry, or similar
• Roll up or top with chopped egg, herring and gherkins (shown)
• Top with seasoned crab and aoili
• Top with cheese and quickly grill until bubbly. Serve with a bit of chutney or salsa. (shown)

Leftovers? The röstis keep well for two days in a paper towel-lined box. They are nice warm or room temperature, so are suitable for lunchboxes. The batter itself will keep well for five days. If you aren't using the psyllium the batter may be quite wet, so mix it up really well. You could add more cornstarch, but it's best not to.

Nutrition Facts

Low-Carb Cauliflower Rösti

Amount Per Serving

Calories 41 Calories from Fat 9

% Daily Value*

Fat 1g2%

Saturated Fat 1g6%

Cholesterol 49mg16%

Sodium 267mg12%

Potassium 176mg5%

Carbohydrates 5g2%

Fiber 2g8%

Sugar 1g1%

Protein 3g6%

Calcium 21mg2%

Vitamin C 24mg29%

Vitamin A 80IU2%

Iron 1mg6%

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.

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