Fried Cauliflower with Bacon and Mushrooms

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Fried Cauliflower with Bacon and Mushrooms cooks in minutes, and this is a seriously delicious low-carb stir-fry with fried cauliflower! And if you like cauliflower and you’ve never tried frying it before; I bet you’ll make this over and over.

PIN the Fried Cauliflower to try it later.

Fried Cauliflower with Bacon and Mushrooms close-up shot of cauliflower on plate

Fried Cauliflower with Bacon and Mushrooms cooks quickly on top of the stove, and this cauliflower 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 love to use it all through the year!

And this very tasty combination with cauliflower, bacon, and mushrooms is something I’d love for an easy dinner (with BACON) if you wanted to serve it as a main dish. If you’ve never heard of frying cauliflower, I bet you’re going to love this recipe; I hope you try it!

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 kind of bacon did I use with the fried cauliflower?

When I first made this recipe I used pre-cooked bacon. This time I started with raw bacon that I cut in strips to fry, and I used a little bit of the bacon fat with butter when I cooked the cauliflower and mushrooms. If you don’t mind a bit more fat it would also be amazing with thick-cut bacon. Frying it in a touch of bacon fat added even more flavor to the cauliflower, but you can definitely 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 will also be delicious!

How low in carbs is this fried cauliflower recipe?

This amazing way to cook cauliflower as a stir-fry with bacon and mushrooms makes a dish with only 5 net carbs per serving and 10 grams of protein! If you eat it as a main dish it will be about 3 servings with slightly higher carbs, but still quite low in 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.)

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

Make it a Low-Carb Meal:

I think this tasty cauliflower that’s stir-fried with bacon and mushrooms could be served as one-dish meal on a night you just want a simple dinner. But if you want to serve it as a side dish, it would taste great with any of these low-carb main dishes:

Are you a cauliflower fan?

I’m such a huge cauliflower fan that I’m always making new recipes with cauliflower or cauliflower rice. Check out Keto Cauliflower Casserole Recipes or Roasted Cauliflower Recipes for more ideas with this favorite vegetable. Or you can use Cauliflower Recipes to see all the tasty things I’ve made with cauliflower!

Ingredients

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

Prepare all the ingredients before you start to cook, because this cooks pretty quickly.
Cut the bacon slices into crosswise strips.
Cut cauliflower apart into smallish same-size florets.
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.)
Chop the parsley.
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).
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.)
Add the butter (or oil of your choice) to the pan and heat for 1 minute.
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.
Add crisp pieces of bacon and parsley and cook 2-3 minutes more.
Season with salt and fresh-ground black pepper and serve hot.

Notes

You can definitely use less bacon if you prefer. 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

Serving Size

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.

Low-Carb Diet / Low-Glycemic Diet / South Beach Diet Suggestions:
This Fried Cauliflower is a good side dish for any low-carb or Keto diet, or you could also eat it as a stir-fried main dish (which would change the nutritional information if you had fewer than four servings.) Bacon and butter both are not recommended for the original South Beach Diet but personally I’d eat this as a personal choice for South Beach, or make it with turkey bacon and olive oil if you prefer 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 Fried Cauliflower recipe was first posted in 2006! The photos were greatly improved in 2017 and the recipe was last updated with more information in 2025.

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