Fried Cauliflower (with Bacon and Mushrooms)

This Fried Cauliflower cooks in minutes, and the addition of bacon and mushrooms makes it a seriously delicious way to cook cauliflower! And if you like these ingredients and you’ve never tried frying cauliflower, I bet you’ll love this recipe.

PIN the Fried Cauliflower to try it later.

Easy and delicious Fried Cauliflower cooks quickly on the stove, and this side dish or main dish is loaded with amazing flavors. And maybe some people think of cauliflower as strictly a winter food, but it’s such a great low-carb ingredient that I use it all through the year!

And this extra tasty combination that combines cauliflower, bacon, and mushrooms is something I’d happily eat as a main dish for an easy dinner. And it’s also perfect as a low-carb side dish. If you’ve never heard of frying cauliflower, I hope you will try this recipe!

What ingredients do you need?

(This is only a list of ingredients; please scroll down for complete printable recipe. Or if you use the JUMP TO RECIPE link at the top of the page, it will take you directly to the complete recipe with ingredient amounts.)

• bacon
• butter (or oil of your choice)
• cauliflower
• mushrooms 
• fresh parsley
• salt and pepper

What bacon did I use with the fried cauliflower?

When I first made this recipe I used pre-cooked bacon. For the new photos I started with raw bacon that I cut in strips to fry. I used a little bit of the bacon fat with butter when I cooked the cauliflower and mushrooms, and that added amazing flavor. But you can use olive oil or coconut oil and skip the bacon fat and butter if you prefer.

What mushrooms did I use with the fried cauliflower?

I’m a huge fan of brown Cremini mushrooms, so that’s what I used for this recipe. But if you have regular white mushrooms, they’ll also be delicious!

How low in carbs is this fried cauliflower recipe?

This stir-fry has only 5 net carbs per serving and 10 grams of protein! If you eat this for a main dish it will be about 3 servings with just slightly more carbs.

How to Make Fried Cauliflower (with Bacon and Mushrooms):

(This is only a summary of the steps for the recipe; please scroll down for complete printable recipe. Or if you use the JUMP TO RECIPE link at the top of the page, it will take you directly to the complete recipe.)

1. This is a stir-fry, so prep everything before you start cooking: Slice bacon into thin strips and cut cauliflower into same-size pieces. Wash and dry mushrooms and cut in half and then into thick slices. Chop the parsley. 
2. Cook the bacon in the largest frying pan you have until it’s very crisp.
3. Then remove bacon and drain it on a paper towel, keeping some bacon fat in the pan.
4. Heat the frying pan again over medium-high heat, add 1 tablespoon butter to the bacon fat, and let it melt.
5. Then turn heat to high, add cauliflower and mushrooms, and cook, stirring often. Cook about 5-7 minutes, or until the vegetables are starting to brown and cauliflower is cooked through.
6. Add the chopped parsley and the crisp pieces of bacon and cook 2-3 minutes more.
7. Season fried cauliflower to taste with salt and fresh-ground black pepper and serve hot.
8. Leftovers can be refrigerated and reheated, but this is best when it’s freshly made. And I’m guessing most people won’t have much left over!

Make it for a Low-Carb Meal:

This tasty cauliflower stir-fried with bacon and mushrooms could be a one-dish meal when you want a simple dinner. But when you serve it as a side dish, it would taste great with any of these main dishes:

• Chicken and Green Beans Sheet Pan Meal
• Marinated Grilled Pork Sirloin Chops
• Easy Cheesy Baked Ham and Asparagus
• Janet’s Dijon Mustard Chicken
• Roasted Italian Sausage and Mini Peppers Sheet Pan Meal

Are you a cauliflower fan?

It may be obvious I’m a HUGE cauliflower fan. You can use Cauliflower Recipes to see all the tasty things I’ve made with cauliflower!

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Yield: 4 servings

Fried Cauliflower (with Bacon and Mushrooms)

Prep Time 20 minutes

Cook Time 10 minutes

Total Time 30 minutes

Fried Cauliflower takes just a few minutes to cook, and this cauliflower recipe with bacon and mushrooms is a great idea for a low-carb side dish or an easy dinner with cauliflower!

Ingredients

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• 6 slices bacon (see notes)
• 1 T butter
• 1 head cauliflower, cut into small bite-size pieces
• 8 oz. mushrooms, cut in half, then into thick slices
• 1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley
• salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

1. Prepare all the ingredients before you start to cook, because this cooks pretty quickly.
2. Cut the bacon slices into crosswise strips.
3. Cut cauliflower apart into smallish same-size florets.
4. Wash mushrooms if needed and spin dry or dry with paper towels, then cut mushrooms into half and slice each half into thick slices. (You want mushroom slices that are all relatively the same size.)
5. Chop the parsley.
6. Cook the bacon over medium-high heat in a very large frying pan until it’s very crisp. Use the biggest frying pan you have; I used my 12 inch Green Pan (affiliate link).
7. Then remove bacon to drain on a paper towels and remove all but about 1 tablespoon of the bacon grease. (Or if you prefer to use olive oil or coconut oil, remove all the bacon grease.)
8.  Add the butter (or oil of your choice) to the pan and heat for 1 minute.
9. Then add the chopped cauliflower and sliced mushrooms and cook over very high heat, stirring constantly, for about 5-7 minutes or until all mushroom liquid has evaporated, cauliflower is starting to brown a bit and the cauliflower is getting tender.
10.  Add crisp pieces of bacon and parsley and cook 2-3 minutes more.
11. Season the Fried Cauliflower with salt and fresh-ground black pepper and serve hot.

Notes

You can definitely use less bacon if you prefer, especially if you're making it as a side dish.

If you prefer not to use bacon fat and/or butter, you can replace either with an equal amount of olive oil or coconut oil.

This recipe adapted from Vegetable Love (affiliate link).

Nutrition Information

Yield

4

Serving Size

1
Amount Per Serving Calories 157Total Fat 10gSaturated Fat 4gTrans Fat 0gUnsaturated Fat 5gCholesterol 25mgSodium 414mgCarbohydrates 10gFiber 5gSugar 4gProtein 10g

Nutrition information is automatically calculated by the Recipe Plug-In I am using. I am not a nutritionist and cannot guarantee 100% accuracy, since many variables affect those calculations.

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Low-Carb Diet / Low-Glycemic Diet / South Beach Diet Suggestions:
This Fried Cauliflower recipe is a good side dish for any low-carb or Keto diet plan. You can also eat it as a stir-fried main dish (which make three servings with slightly more carbs.) Bacon and butter are not recommended for the original South Beach Diet but I’d eat this as a personal choice for South Beach. Or make it with turkey bacon and olive oil and it will still be delicious.

Find More Recipes Like This One:
Use Stir-Fry Recipes to see more recipes like this one. Use the Diet Type Index to find recipes suitable for a specific eating plan. You might also like to follow Kalyn’s Kitchen on Pinterest, on Facebook, on Instagram, on TikTok, or on YouTube to see all the good recipes I’m sharing there.

Historical Notes for this Recipe:
This amazing recipe for fried cauliflower cooked with bacon and mushrooms was posted in 2006! Since then I have made it so many times. The photos were greatly improved in 2017 and the recipe was last updated with more information in 2026.