Freezing Cauliflower Cheese | Ask Nigella.com (2024)

Our answer

Nigella's Red Leicester Cauliflower Cheese can be made with Red Leicester cheese or a regular cheddar cheese (or in the US you can use red cheddar). It can be made up to 3 days in advance and stored in the fridge until ready to cook. It is possible to freeze cauliflower cheese but unfortunately the sauce can sometimes turn thin and sligtly watery on defrosting, so we prefer not to freeze the dish if at all possible. If the cauliflower cheese is cooked from chilled then you will need to bake it for 40-50 minutes (depending on the size of the dish used) and make sure that it is piping hot all of the way through before serving.

The amount of cheese - 300 grams (3 cups, grated) - is correct. A handful of the cheese (around 30g or 1/3 cup) should be reserved to sprinkle on the top of the dish before baking, but the rest is added to the sauce. As the sauce is made with 500ml (2 cups) of milk you need this amount of cheese to add flavour and richness to the sauce. You could reduce the amount of cheese slightly if you prefer, but you may need to add extra seasoning to the sauce.