Vegetables and everything else
Cauliflower on a GLP-1: protein, portions and how to actually eat it
About 2 g of protein per 100 g (3.5 oz), cooked, for around 25 calories. A cup of florets, about 100 g (3.5 oz), gives roughly 2 g of protein for 25 calories.
How cauliflower sits on a GLP-1
Cauliflower is about 2 g of protein per 100 g (3.5 oz), mild, and very low in calories, and it has become the vegetable that stands in for rice, potato and pizza bases. On a GLP-1 that swap can backfire. Cauliflower is a brassica like broccoli and sprouts, so a big serve of it, especially raw or as a mountain of cauliflower rice, brings the same gas and bulk. Cooked soft, mashed or made into a cheese sauce, a small serve is gentle and useful as a base under a real protein.
When your appetite is small
Steam a cup of florets until soft and mash them with butter, milk and 30 g (1 oz) of grated cheddar. That is a soft, savoury base of about 10 g with the cheese, and it goes under fish, a chicken thigh or a spoon of mince in place of potato. Cauliflower cheese in a small ramekin, with extra cheese and an egg stirred into the sauce, is a 15 g dish on its own.
Three ways to prepare it
Mashed with butter, milk and cheddar
Steamed soft, mashed or blended, cheese stirred through while hot. Smoother than potato mash and lighter on a slow stomach.
Cauliflower cheese in a ramekin with an egg in the sauce
A small dish of florets in a cheese sauce with an egg beaten in, baked until set. Soft, warm and about 15 g.
Roasted florets with cumin under a piece of fish
Florets roasted with olive oil and cumin at 200C, about 390F, for 25 minutes, then a fillet of white fish on top. The roasting makes them sweet and soft.
What to eat it with
Cheese, butter, milk, eggs, fish, chicken, cumin, lemon. Cauliflower is a base that carries a cheese sauce or a protein, and the cheese or the protein is where the grams are.
How it compares
| Food | Protein per 100 g | Energy per 100 g | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cauliflower | about 2 g | 25 kcal | this page |
| Broccoli | about 2.8 g | 35 kcal | See the page |
| Potato | about 2 g | 90 kcal | See the page |
| Cheddar | about 25 g | 400 kcal | See the page |
All figures are typical values for the food as eaten, cooked, not laboratory figures for a particular brand.
Australian, US and UK names
Cauliflower in all three countries, cauli in Australia. Cauliflower rice, sold fresh and frozen in all three, is grated raw cauliflower and carries the same protein as the florets, about 2 g per 100 g (3.5 oz). Purple, orange and romanesco varieties are the same vegetable for protein purposes.
Questions people ask
Is cauliflower rice better than rice for protein?
Neither has much: about 2 g per 100 g (3.5 oz) for cauliflower against about 2.6 g for cooked rice. Cauliflower has far fewer calories and, on a slow stomach, far more gas in a large serve. A small serve of either under 100 g of chicken or fish is the sensible plate.
Your number comes first
Knowing what is in a food only helps once you know how much you are aiming for. The target is 1.2 to 1.6 g of protein per kg of your goal weight, not your current weight, which for most people is 90 to 140 g a day.
Work out your protein targetMore on eating well when your appetite is small: high protein foods for a small appetite, how much protein on a GLP-1, and every food we have written up. The whole system in five documents is the Keep Muscle Kit, A$47 / US$29 / £23.
EverStrong provides nutrition and strength coaching and education. It is not medical advice and does not replace your prescribing doctor.