This site contains affiliate links. Please see Policies for more information.

This Instant Pot Cauliflower Potato Salad recipe is a great low carb recipe to make for your next summer BBQ. We added unflavored Greek yogurt for extra protein, but you can stick with mayonnaise if you’d rather. This shareable recipe is perfect for your next BBQ or pot luck.

It’s always good to have a high veggie, low carb potato salad for everyone to enjoy. Whether you’re following a keto diet, looking to get more veggies into your day, or just looking for a change from the traditional potato salad, you’re going to love this faux potato salad recipe. It uses fresh cauliflower in place of potatoes. You get a similar texture without all of the carbs.

close up of a bowl of cauliflower potato salad

Where’s the recipe?

Recipes here at My Crazy Good Life are written so that anyone can make them. If you’re new to the kitchen, read through the post below before heading to the printable recipe. You’ll find lots of ingredient information, recipe tips, and even healthy eating information for several popular diets.

If you feel more comfortable in the kitchen, head straight to the printable recipe at the bottom of the post. You’ll find simple instructions for making this Instant Pot Cauliflower Potato Salad recipe.

Ingredients in Cauliflower Potato Salad

  • Hard boiled eggs I love making these right in my Instant Pot. There’s even a way to make hard boiled eggs without the shells, and it saves a ton of time because you don’t have to peel them.
  • Cauliflower You’ll be chopping this before you use it.
  • Celery I love the crunch that celery adds to any potato salad–this one is no exception.
  • Red onion If you don’t have red onion, any colored onion will do–even green onions.
  • Plain Greek yogurt You definitely want unflavored here. 2% is best, whole will make your salad super thick and non fat will make it thin.
  • White Vinegar
  • Mustard (traditional mustard in a bottle, not dry) You can use regular or dijon mustard here.
  • Pepper

Optional ingredients: If you have a specific memory of a classic potato salad that you’re trying to replicate, you might want to add one or two of these optional ingredients:

  • 1/4 cup chopped dill pickles
  • 1 tbsp fresh dill
  • 1 tbsp chopped fresh parsley
  • 1 tsp garlic powder
bowl of instant pot cauliflower potato salad on a blue flowered napkin

How to make Instant Pot Cauliflower Potato Salad

These directions work for any electric pressure cooker.

  1. Hard boil your eggs using your favorite Instant Pot method. I prefer either the 5, 5, 5 method or using the pot in pot method and cooking the already cracked eggs. I love that I don’t have to spend time peeling the eggs with the pot in pot method! When your eggs are done cooking, set them aside in an ice bath or the fridge to cool.
  2. Chop the fresh cauliflower florets into 1 inch pieces. These are pretty large chunks because we don’t want it to overcook.
  3. Add 1 cup of water to your Instant Pot, then place a trivet or steamer basket down and put the cauliflower on top of it. This helps to keep the cauliflower up above to water so it can steam and not boil.
  4. Place the lid on the Instant Pot and turn the pressure valve to Sealing. Turn your time to 2 minutes and press the Manual button. Stay close to the pot because you’ll want to release the pressure by turning the pressure valve to Venting. There will be a strong spray of steam that comes out of the pot. This is called a manual pressure release or quick release in the Instant Pot world.
  5. Test the feel of your cauliflower by sticking a fork into a piece. If you feel that it could use some more cooking, go ahead and close the lid and let it sit for another minute or two. There is no way to tell you exactly how long your cauliflower will take, because each pot is different and everyone cuts their pieces slightly different.
  6. Carefully lift the cooked cauliflower out of the pot and drain it using a colander. Rinse the cauliflower in cold water to stop the cooking process. Place the cooked and drained cauliflower in a large mixing bowl.
  7. Chop the cooled eggs, celery, and onion. Ensure that all of your ingredients are cooled.
  8. Add the remaining ingredients, including Greek yogurt, white vinegar, mustard, and pepper to the bowl. Mash together using a fork or an electric mixer until desired texture is reached.
collage showing the steps for how to make this salad

How to make this Salad on the Stove Top

If you don’t have an Instant Pot, boil water and a large pinch of salt and add your cauliflower. Cook for 3-4 minutes or until it feels soft enough for your salad. Follow the rest of the directions as written.

Recipe Tips

  • Not overcooking the cauliflower is important for this recipe to have the texture of real potato salad, which is why I recommend cooking it for the lowest amount of time and slowly adding time on. I recommend not using cauliflower rice for this recipe, as it will be too mushy.
  • You can cook eggs in the Instant Pot a few ways. I definitely recommend cracking your eggs first so you can save time like in my egg salad recipe. If you’d rather cook your hard boiled eggs in the shell, you can do that too!

Healthy Eating Plans

This is a healthy and delicious side dish for all of your summer picnics.

21 Day Fix/Portion Fix

  • Container Count for Entire Recipe: 5 green containers (depending on the size of your head of cauliflower), 4 red containers
  • Per 1 cup serving: 1 green container, 1 1/4 red container

Weight Watchers

  • Using fat free Greek yogurt, each 1 cup serving of this Cauliflower Potato Salad is 0 Blue Plan Points | 0 Purple Plan Points | 2 Green Plan Points
  • The points for the new 2022/2023 points plan is 0.

More Low Carb Recipes

bowl of instant pot cauliflower potato salad on a blue flowered napkin
4.80 from 10 ratings
click the stars to rate!

Instant Pot Cauliflower Potato Salad

Created by: Becca Ludlum
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 15 minutes
Chill time 2 hours
Total Time 2 hours 30 minutes
Approximate Serving Size: 1 cup
Servings 5
Instant Pot Cauliflower Potato Salad is an easy summer picnic recipe! Use cauliflower in place of potatoes in this low carb side dish.

Equipment

  • Instant Pot 6 qt
  • Kitchen Knife
  • Cutting Board

Ingredients 

  • 4 eggs hard-boiled
  • 1 head cauliflower
  • 2 stalks celery diced
  • 1/2 red onion diced
  • 1 1/2 cups Greek yogurt (or mayo if you'd rather)
  • 1 tbsp vinegar white
  • 1 tbsp mustard
  • 1/4 tsp pepper

Instructions

  • Hard boil your eggs using your favorite method. When your eggs are done cooking, set them aside in an ice bath or the fridge to cool. 4 eggs
  • Chop the cauliflower into 1 inch pieces. These are pretty large chunks because we don't want it to overcook. 1 head cauliflower
  • Add 1 cup of water to your Instant Pot, then place a trivet or steamer basket down and put the cauliflower on top of it.
  • Place the lid on the Instant Pot and turn the pressure valve to Sealing. Turn your time to 2 minutes and press the Manual button. Stay close to the pot because you'll want to quick release the pressure by turning the pressure valve to Venting.
  • Test the feel of your cauliflower by sticking a fork into a piece. If you feel that it could use some more cooking, go ahead and close the lid and let it sit for another minute or two. There is no way to tell you exactly how long your cauliflower will take, because each pot is different and everyone cuts their pieces slightly different.
  • Carefully lift the cooked cauliflower out of the pot and drain it using a colander. Rinse the cauliflower in cold water to stop the cooking process. Place the cooked and drained cauliflower in a large mixing bowl.
  • Chop the cooled eggs, celery, and onion. Ensure that all of your ingredients are cooled. 2 stalks celery, 1/2 red onion
  • Add the remaining ingredients including Greek yogurt, white vinegar, mustard, and pepper to the bowl. Mash together using a fork or an electric mixer until desired texture is reached. 1 1/2 cups Greek yogurt, 1 tbsp vinegar, 1 tbsp mustard, 1/4 tsp pepper

Notes

Recipe Tips
  • Not overcooking the cauliflower is important for this recipe to have the texture of real potato salad, which is why I recommend cooking it for the lowest amount of time and slowly adding time on. I recommend not using cauliflower rice for this recipe, as it will be too mushy.
  • You can cook eggs in the Instant Pot a few ways. I definitely recommend cracking your eggs first so you can save time like in my egg salad recipe. If you’d rather cook your hard boiled eggs in the shell, you can do that too!
Healthy Eating Plans
This is a healthy and delicious side dish for all of your summer picnics.
21 Day Fix/Portion Fix
  • Container Count for Entire Recipe: 5 green containers (depending on the size of your head of cauliflower), 4 red containers
  • Per 1 cup serving: 1 green container, 1 1/4 red container
Weight Watchers
  • Using fat free Greek yogurt, each 1 cup serving of this Cauliflower Potato Salad is 0 Blue Plan Points | 0 Purple Plan Points | 2 Green Plan Points | 2023 points: 0

Nutrition

Serving: 0g | Calories: 140kcal | Carbohydrates: 10g | Protein: 14g | Fat: 5g | Saturated Fat: 2g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 1g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 135mg | Sodium: 159mg | Potassium: 456mg | Fiber: 3g | Sugar: 6g | Vitamin A: 304IU | Vitamin C: 57mg | Calcium: 136mg | Iron: 1mg

Make This Recipe?

Make sure to follow on Pinterest @bludlum and on Instagram @beccaludlum

Similar Posts

Did you love this recipe?

Make sure to comment below so we can chat about it! Or follow on your favorite social network for even more family recipes.

8 Comments

  1. Tammy McKinney says:

    5 stars
    This is so AWESOME!!! My husband loves potato salad like crazy but said he may like this recipe even more than potato salad. We tried it with and without pickles. We ended up adding 1 pickle to the recipe to make it even more potato salad like.

  2. Sophie Heath says:

    5 stars
    My family’s obsessed with cauliflower, so this was a total hit at my house! A new family favorite!

  3. Erica Schwarz says:

    5 stars
    My friend is doing 21DF and she loves this – great recipe!

  4. Dominique says:

    Do you have any suggestions to substitute for the greek yogurt while on the 21DF. I cant have dairy :(

    1. You can use non-dairy Greek yogurt if you like it. I’d just watch the ingredients and find a low sugar (not artificial sweetener) option.

  5. I brought this dish to a Father’s Day BBQ yesterday and it was a big hit! Most people love healthy substitutions. MY Bro-in-law cannot really eat potatoes anymore, so he was very happy to have this instead. Thank you!

  6. Jacquelyn says:

    5 stars
    Made this for my meal prep group amd it was a HUGE hit!! So delicious!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *