Gluten Free Low Carb Keto Antipasto Cauliflower Salad
This Keto Low Carb Antipasto Cauliflower Salad is a great side dish for summer because you can easily prep ahead and store until your BBQ!
Cauliflower Antipasto Salad
Who doesn’t love a good antipasto platter in the warm months of the year.
Simple and easy to entertain friends, just loading up a ton of keto friendly good stuff, like dried meats, cheese crips, nuts, cheeses, pickles, artichoke hearts, mini sweet peppers, black olives, green olives, etc.
Summer for me is all about easy entertaining recipes, simple tasty sides and practically no oven cooking if I can get away with it.
That is not the case in this recipe, sorry!
The good news is this keto antipasto salad is out of this world! The bad news is that yes, you do need to roast the cauliflower prior to building this beauty of a keto pasta salad.
BUT my friends, it is so worth it because best part is, you can enjoy it without blood sugar spikes or crash!
Carbs in Traditional Antipasto Pasta Salad
According to the app Cronometer, a pasta salad store bought from Aldi’s has about 22 total grams of carbs for a 1/2 cup serving and 200 calories.
Too high for anyone on a keto diet and will kick you out of ketosis. It might work for someone on a low carb diet who eats 50 grams of carbs or more a day, but it’s not something I’d recommend for anyone looking to lose weight or reduce sugar and refined carb cravings.
Our Keto Antipasto Salad has just 5 grams of total carbs for 1/2 cup serving. All the rest of the nutritional information is listed in the printable recipe card at the bottom of this page.
Can I use Store Bought Frozen Cauliflower Rice?
No I do not recommend using frozen cauliflower rice as it is very bland and holds a lot of water. If you do want to try it, be sure to thaw it and drain it really well before using.
For best results, roasting is my recommended method. Roasting takes cauliflower to a level of tasty that far surpasses any other way of cooking it.
Steaming is ok, but for this you REALLY need to roast it in the olive oil and garlic before adding all the tasty antipasto accompaniments to a large bowl.
You could use store bought raw cauliflower rice and add in some olive oil and garlic to season it and this would certainly save some time, but I prefer the oven roasting method if you have time.
Keto Antipasto Salad
Once prepared, you’ve got this huge, awesome, totally fabulous side dish for any entree, for any weeknight with grilled meats, for any BBQ party with friends! And antipasto turned into a salad that’s hearty and satisfying and an easy way to feed a crowd!
Worth it, worth it every time! Even your friends won’t notice it’s made with cauliflower, they may ask after they’ve eaten their fair share, but they won’t care!
I brought this over for Fathers Day to my Big Italian family, my brother and his Italian In laws and it was a huge hit! No one even asked what it was made of, they all just dived into it.
I barely had any left to take myself home a serving!
If you feel this salad is just too big then cut all the ingredients listed by half and you can enjoy it yourself all week long for easy meal preps lunch! Otherwise serve it up for company, cook out parties and BBQ’s!
Other cauliflower rice recipes you might like:
Low Carb Keto Antipasto Cauliflower Rice Salad
Low Carb Antipasto Cauliflower “Rice” Salad
Ingredients
- 8 cups cauliflower florets or 6 cups riced (see notes above)
- 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 4 ounces fresh mozzarella cheese smoked, chopped
- 4 ounces dried salami chopped
- 6 ounces artichoke hearts in the jar, sliced
- 6 ounces roasted red peppers chopped
- 1 ounce mild banana pepper rings
- 1/2 cup olives pitted, sliced
- 1 cup fresh basil chopped
- 3 tablespoons red wine vinegar or lemon juice
- salt and pepper to taste
- optional: red onion
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
- Place cauliflower florets on two baking pans. Toss florets with olive oil.
- Bake for 1 hour or until tender. Place cooked florets into a food processor and pulse until texture of rice.
- If using cauliflower rice simply saute the rice in a large skillet tossing with the olive oil until warmed through and follow the rest of the recipe.
- Pour into a large serving bowl and allow to cool.
- Once cooled add remaining ingredients into bowl and toss together.
- Taste and adjust salt and pepper to your preference.
- Serve room temperature immediately or Keep refrigerated until ready to serve.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
About Brenda
Brenda Bennett is a certified Nutritional Therapy Practitioner, certified Sugar Detox Coach, certified Keto Coach and certified Life Coach. She has been Sugar Free & Refined carb free for 17 years and has written 2 cookbooks, Sugar-Free Mom, and Naturally Keto and her 3rd book The 30-Day Sugar Elimination Diet, is a four part program to help you detox from sugar, eliminate cravings, balance blood sugar and lose weight all while eating a delicious, nutrient dense whole foods. Meal plan offers two tracks to follow, low carb or keto. She is the founder of the Sugar Free Fresh Start course and Sugar Free Tribe weight loss membership. Learn more.
What is the serving size used for nutritional information?
Right under the title, above ingredients, 12 servings @ 1/2 cup
I made this tonight and it was sooooooo delicious. It is a tangy lovely salad that will be part of my potluck and bbq repertoire from here on out! Thank you so much for this recipe!!
Can I use my homemade riced cauliflower from freezer?
I have done this with raw cauliflower, too and it is very good. Everyone thought they were eating couscous! Great salad for pot lucks!
Mmm! This deliciously healthy rice looks utterly delicious! I am loving all of those herbs and spices in this! Yum! Thanks for sharing! 😀
This looks so good! I haven’t bought cauliflower in AGES! This needs to change!