Italian Cauliflower Salad makes a great summer low carb side dish for any barbecue or gathering. It’s packed with fresh mozzarella, pepperoni, salami, and more all tossed in a simple homemade Italian salad dressing. You’ll want to serve this cold cauliflower salad all summer long!
Lately, I’ve been spending my afternoons in the backyard, floating around our pool.
I can not complain about life this summer. 😉
Being outside in the hot summer sun means that at dinner time I want something fresh and tasty and light. If I can convince the husband to toss some meat on the grill while I whip up a cold salad, even better.
This cauliflower salad is a great side dish to anything off the grill, in my opinion. And it also doubles as a nice lunch since it’s so packed with goodies!
Cauliflower salad recipe:
I like to start this cauliflower salad with fresh cauliflower florets. You can chop a head of cauliflower or you can purchase a bag of florets, but definitely don’t start with frozen cauliflower here.
I chop the cauliflower into bite-sized pieces and pop it into a large microwave-safe bowl. Add in a couple tablespoons of water, cover with plastic wrap, and microwave for 3 minutes.
We’re not fully cooking the cauliflower much here, but I do like to soften it just a touch. You can skip this step if you’d prefer raw cauliflower – it’ll be extra crunchy that way.
Once the cauliflower is softened just a bit, drain the liquid from the bowl and start tossing in the good stuff.
For this cauliflower salad recipe, I’ve added fresh mozzarella balls, chopped spinach, pepperoni, salami, halved grape tomatoes, red onion,, and pepperoncini. You can toss in whatever ingredients sound good to you here, keeping in mind that it’s all going to get tossed in our homemade Italian dressing.
Italian salad dressing recipe:
For the dressing, you’ll start with your favorite olive oil and some lemon juice.
Sprinkle in some dried herbs. I’ve used rosemary, basil, and oregano.
You’ll also add in some freshly minced garlic and then season the dressing with some sea salt.
Whisk the Italian salad dressing together and give it a quick taste. Adjust with more lemon juice, salt, or herbs as desired. I like mine more on the tart side and nearly always add additional lemon juice.
Pour the salad dressing over the cauliflower salad and toss to combine.
I like to let this set in the fridge for a couple of hours before serving to allow the flavors to meld, but it’s fine to serve it straight away too.
What to serve with this cauliflower salad:
Steak Bites – The marinade for this steak recipe is my all time favorite!
Spinach Stuffed Chicken – a true reader favorite! Have you tried this one yet?
Garlic Butter Shrimp – such an easy recipe and how can you say no to garlic butter??
Bacon Wrapped Meatloaf – I’m a sucker for anything wrapped in bacon and the low carb BBQ sauce on top is so good!
More low carb side dishes:
Loaded Cauliflower Casserole – if you’re missing potatoes, this is the closest cauliflower will get! Loaded with bacon and cheese, too. 🙂
Keto Coleslaw – this is my mama’s famous recipe!
Broccoli Salad Recipe – cheese, bacon, ranch, broccoli. You really have to try this one!
Cauliflower ‘Potato’ Salad – another summer favorite in our house!
Hope you guys enjoy this Italian Cauliflower Salad!
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Italian Cauliflower Salad
This cold cauliflower salad is packed with fresh veggies, salami, and pepperoni. The homemade Italian dressing adds so much flavor!
Ingredients
For the salad
- 1 pound cauliflower florets
- 8 ounces mozzarella balls
- 1 cups grape tomatoes
- 1 cup spinach
- 4 ounces salami slices
- 4 ounces pepperoni slices
- 1/4 cup sliced red onion
- 1/4 cup pepperoncini
For the dressing
- 1/2 cup olive oil
- juice of 1 lemon
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon oregano
- 1 teaspoon basil
- 1 teaspoon rosemary
- 1 clove garlic, minced
Instructions
- Chop the cauliflower into bite-sized pieces and place in a large microwave-safe bowl. Add 2 tablespoons of water, cover with plastic wrap, and microwave for 3 minutes or until as tender as you'd like. Drain the liquid from the bowl.
- Slice the grape tomatoes in half. Chop the spinach into small pieces. Cut the pepperoni and salami slices in half.
- Add the tomatoes, spinach, pepperoni, salami, mozzarella, onion, and pepperoncini to the bowl with the cauliflower.
- In a small bowl, whisk together the olive oil, lemon juice, salt, oregano, basil, rosemary, and garlic until well combined. Taste and add additional lemon, herbs, or salt as desired.
- Pour the dressing over the cauliflower salad and toss to coat.
- Cover the bowl and refrigerate for 2 hours to allow the flavors to meld before serving.
Notes
You can adjust these ingredients to suit your tastes. This would be almost impossible to mess up.
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Nutrition Information:
Yield: 8 Serving Size: 1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 357Total Fat: 31gSaturated Fat: 10gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 20gCholesterol: 51mgSodium: 986mgCarbohydrates: 6gNet Carbohydrates: 4gFiber: 2gSugar: 3gProtein: 14g
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Can you make this without cooking cauliflower
Sure, it will just be crunchy and the cauliflower won’t soak up the dressing as much.
How do you think Avocado oil instead on EVOO would be?
It should work fine, though avocado is a neutral flavored oil, so you won’t have the same flavor of the EVOO.
How long will this stay good in the fridge? My husband is the only one eating it and don’t want to make to much and then loose it because it went bad. We love your recipes. Do you have a low carb blue cheese dressing recipe?
Hi Kathleen! This should last in the fridge for 4-5 days, but like most cauliflower recipes it does get a bit stinky. It’s still fine to eat, just doesn’t always smell the best.
So glad you enjoy the recipes! Love to hear that. 🙂 We don’t have a blue cheese recipe yet.
Could cauliflower rice be used?
You could try it! We’ve only made this as directed.
I have made this twice in two weeks. So yummy! Only changes I made were to add olives and to leave the spinach out until I was ready to eat (because I don’t love wilted spinach.) Oh, and I added a little lemon zest to the dressing.
Olives sound like a great addition! So does lemon. 🙂
I made this last night for BBQ today .. tried it out this morning and now I don’t want to bring it ..I want it all to myself ..!!!!!! ITS SO SO SO GOOD !!! I did the Lemon as well instead of the Vinegar!!!
Haha! I was worried for a second there that you didn’t like it! 🙂 So glad it was a hit!
This recipe is amazing!! I have made it for company two different times and got rave reviews! I love it. Thank you so much!
Wondering why you didn’t add vinegar to the dressing? Is the lemon the substitute? Wonderful recipe!
I used the lemon in place of vinegar.
I need olives in there but i love the combo!! Have been missing my Italian pasta salad so this is perfect!!
What are the total carb grams per serving?
Nutrition info is in the recipe card.
How long can you let everything sit in the fridge? I’m making for work party and not sure if I can make ahead and let it sit during the day or put together right before serving? I don’t want it all to be too wilty.
I think this would be fine made the day ahead! Maybe stir the spinach in just before serving, but otherwise it should be good.
I don’t care for cooked cauliflower. Would it be good if I just used raw cauliflower?
I think it’d be fine, if you don’t mind the crunch.
The price of cauliflower has been outrageous around my area lately….so I tried making this with frozen cauliflower. It’s NOT as good…but it worked.
I made this for a 4th of July party … very yummy! I added Chicago Steak Seasoning to add a little heat/spice to it.
What is the serving size? I know it feeds eight but hoe big is a serving? Thanks. And it is yummmmmy.
I didn’t measure individual servings – you’ll just have to divide it into 8 servings after making. 🙂
After you devided it up how much did it measure it out to?
Or if anyone has a measurement for a serving I would appreciate it.
I made this tonight for dinner. It was absolutely amazing! I added chicken so it was the main dish! I was going to make soup with the left over chicken, but it’s hot, so thought of your salad. It was perfect, so satisfying and better then my favorite pasta salad! (I’m struggling with recently being diagnosed with T1 diabetes, so your recipes sure are helping, thanks a bunch!)
Oh, I bet the chicken made a great addition! Really glad you’re finding the recipes helpful! <3