Cauliflower Mock 'Potato' Salad Recipe (2024)

FAQs

Is cauliflower a good substitute for potatoes? ›

Cauliflower is probably the most common substitute for potatoes. Many people singing the praises of cauliflower mash and even cauliflower rice. It's easy to fry and roast cauliflower or throw into soups and stews.

What if I put too much apple cider vinegar in my potato salad? I have heard that lemon zest will calm the taste. If that doesn't work, I would boil a few more potatoes and double the recipe (without adding any more vinegar).

Nutritionally, cauliflower is lighter in calories and carbs than potatoes and is more nutrient-dense. That's why it's popular among the low carb and weight loss communities.

Find the best low-carb potato substitutes including cauliflower, turnips, kohlrabi, rutabaga, celery root, radishes, butternut squash, and zucchini.

Rinsing washes off some of the starch from the potatoes so that the potato chunks are more defined and easily coated with the dressing. Rinsing the potatoes in cold water also stops the cooking process so you know exactly what texture your potatoes will be and won't risk over-cooking.

But the truth is, mayonnaise isn't your main concern when it comes to spoilage. The actual culprit is the potatoes. Yes, it's true! The humble, reliable potato is a hotbed for bacterial growth if improperly stored after cooking.

To keep your salad from falling apart into mush, it's important to use the best potatoes for potato salad. Skip the russet potatoes and use a waxy variety instead, like Yukon gold, red potatoes or fingerlings.

If it's a potato salad, be sure to let the potatoes cool (the starch cells close up) before adding any dressing or salad mixture. Warm potatoes will soak up the liquids. Taste an hour after mixing and see if the spices need tweaking. Mashed potatoes do the same thing if you add in the garlic or cheddar cheese too soon.

You've got two options. The first option is to cook more potatoes and make more potato salad, adding more of every ingredient except mustard. Doing so will get the mustard content in equilibrium with the rest of the flavors in the salad. Your other option is to adjust the seasonings to compliment the…

Why does my potato salad taste like vinegar? ›

Considering there are usually only four main components in the dish — mayonnaise, mustard, vinegar, and potatoes — the ratio of them is all the more important. If you add too much of one ingredient or not enough of the other, your potato salad can end up tasting funky.

“Cauliflower is another vegetable that's low in carbs, but also very high in vitamins and phytochemicals,” Fear says. Add chopped cauliflower to your salads, or top with paprika and garlic powder and roast in the oven. Riced cauliflower also makes a great low-carb replacement for traditional rice.

Cauliflower is a great low-carb vegetable with endless versatility, says Bess Berger, a registered dietitian and owner of Nutrition by Bess in Teaneck, New Jersey. Cauliflower contains fiber, vitamin C, vitamin K and magnesium, says Berger. It also has anti-inflammatory properties, she notes.

Compared to potatoes, cauliflower has less than half the calories per the same 100 gram serving. (source) Cauliflower has only 3 grams of “net carbs” per 100 gram serving, while potatoes have 14 grams of net carbs.

That being said, any small potato will work in a recipe that calls for new potatoes, but red and fingerlings share the most similar characteristics with new ones. They become creamy if you boil them and are delicious when drizzled with an herb-infused olive oil.

The jicama root comes from the nightshade family and is the closest vegetable to a potato, per San Francisco Gate. Jicamas are brown, large, and can weigh up to 50 pounds. It has a thin skin and a starchy texture with a flavor that is said to be close to that of apples without being sweet, per Web MD.