Loaded cauliflower salad is just like potato salad, but without the carbs

If you follow a low-carb or keto diet, or if you just like to cut some carbs out now and then, you know there are three foods that make that pretty hard — bread, pasta and potatoes.

While bread and pasta are always hard to avoid, potatoes are even tougher to skip in the summer. After all, who doesn’t want to stop for a quick burger and fries after an outdoor adventure? And that barbecue you want to attend is bound to have a giant bowl of that delicious seasonal staple, potato salad.

While I’m not strict about carbs, seeing a big bowl of potato salad at a summer gathering still makes me think twice. So when I discovered you can use cauliflower as a guilt-free potato substitute and still feel like you’re eating potato salad, you better believe I made it instantly.

There are dozens of potato salad recipes with substitutions. But if you like cheese and bacon on your potato salad, this version from That Low Carb Life will do the trick. Just like regular potato salad, you’ll still use mayonnaise, onion, eggs and spices — it will just have fewer carbs since you’re subbing cauliflower for potatoes. And it adds grated cheddar and crispy bacon to the mix.

It all comes together in about 15 minutes, so it’s perfect if you need a quick dish to take to a cookout. You can find the full recipe at That Low Carb Life.

If you’re vegetarian, you probably want to skip the bacon. You could leave it out, or you could make this low-carb potato salad recipe from Skinnytaste, which is the first cauliflower “potato” salad I tried.

This one also uses cauliflower in place of potatoes, with traditional add-ons such as red onion and mayo. This version also includes a few different extra toppings, like chopped hard-boiled eggs, pickles and dill.

Since it uses dill and pickle juice, this version will be heavier on the pickle flavor than the recipe from That Low Carb Life. But, I can confirm it is delicious, and you won’t miss the potatoes at all.

Plus, the recipe suggests you can refrigerate this salad for three to four days. So if you’re throwing a barbecue and want to make a yummy side dish, you can whip this up the day before and it’ll be ready to eat once the party rolls around!

Will you be trying a mock potato salad using cauliflower for your next outdoor party?