The holidays are upon us, and with the prospect of big meals for Thanksgiving and Christmas, many people are also facing the prospect of unhealthy eating, overeating, and larger waistlines. As a way to control the damage, some people will look for lower-carb options at the holiday table. Aldi is selling mashed cauliflower as a potential substitute for higher-carb mashed potatoes.
Season’s Choice Mashed Cauliflower cost $2.49 for 12-oz. bag at the time of publication. It comes in plain or Garlic & Herb varieties, and I bought the Garlic & Herb one.
This is an Aldi Find (Special Buy), which means it’s only in stores for a short time, and once it sells out at your local store you can’t order it and will have to wait until next year.
This is sold frozen, is a product of Belgium, and is gluten free.
The package advertises 4 grams of net carbs per serving, with one serving of vegetables per serving. This actually contains 6 grams of total carbs and 2 grams of dietary fiber, which comes out to 4 grams of net carbs. A glance at some Idohoan-brand traditional instant mashed potato packs I have in my pantry indicates this has a lot fewer total carbs, with the mashed potato packs listing 20 grams of total carbs and 1 gram of dietary fiber, which comes out to 19 grams of net carbs.
Here’s the full rundown of nutrition information for the mashed cauliflower: the bag contains about 2.5 half-cup servings, and one serving nets you 80 calories, 6 grams of total fat (8% DV), 4 grams of saturated fat (20% DV), 290 mg of sodium (13% DV), 6 grams of total carbohydrates, 2 grams of dietary fiber, 1 gram of total sugars, 0 grams of added sugars, and 2 grams of protein.
Ingredients are: cauliflower, water, cream, butter, modified food starch, garlic, chives, vegetable stock (salt, maltodextrin, yeast extract, sugar, dried vegetables [onion, tomato], carrot extract, sunflower oil, natural onion flavor), salt, nutmeg, and pepper.
If you’re looking out for allergens, this contains milk.
Nutrition information and ingredients. (Click to enlarge.)
This mashed cauliflower can be prepared on the stove top or in the microwave.
To heat on the stove top, add 4 tablespoons of water or milk to prevent the product from sticking to the pot. Then pour the entire bag into the pot and place on the stove top over medium heat, stirring constantly. Cook for 5-6 minutes.
To heat in the microwave, pour the entire bag into a microwave-safe bowl. Cover and microwave on high for 4 minutes. Mix thoroughly and heat another 3 minutes. Let the dish stand for 1 minute. It will be hot, and watch out for steam.
I prepared this mashed cauliflower on my stove top, which was very easy. I poured it into a saucepan with some milk and slowly heated it. It comes out of the bag in small frozen bricks, which melt down pretty quickly in the heated saucepan.
The mashed cauliflower pours out of the package in small frozen bricks that quickly melt down in a hot saucepan.
As for what my family thought . . . you won’t be fooling anyone into thinking these are traditional mashed potatoes, but we weren’t really expecting these to be. The texture is slightly thinner than mashed potatoes, so I served this in small bowls. If you were to serve it on a plate alongside your turkey and green bean casserole, it might spread around the plate more than you want it to. It did seem like the consistency was slightly thicker when I reheated the leftovers in the microwave the next day.
It tastes how you would expect it to: like cauliflower seasoned with garlic and herbs. Most of my family didn’t really care for this, but I thought it was okay, and it’s good on its own merits if you aren’t expecting it to be an exact substitute for mashed potatoes. If you’re trying to eat a low-carb diet, this might be just the thing for you, and it’s a good way to get your veggies in.
The Verdict:
Season’s Choice Mashed Cauliflower comes in plain or Garlic & Herb flavors. My family tried the Garlic & Herb flavor. This is easy to heat, tastes decent (like seasoned cauliflower), and is a lower-carb substitute for mashed potatoes, but it has a thinner consistency so you’ll probably want to serve it in small bowls.
