My quest for a low carb potato replacement continues! Today we have rutabaga-in-disguise. If potatoes and cabbage had a huge stinky-sweet baby, it would be rutabaga.
Jump to Cheesy Fauxtatoes Recipe
Once you start carving up this ginormous root vegetable (a labor of love btw), the aroma will punch you in the face. Hard. And it will linger.
That said, once cooked, the smell vanishes and you’re left with this sweet, buttery potato-y vegetable. Unfortunately, I personally find the taste far too sweet and overpowering. I’ve made 2 different dishes with rutabaga so far and I think it’s well-suited to sweet fried rice or caramelized sides more so than cheesy or savory dishes.
That said (part II), if you’re a fan of sweet potatoes, or sweet anything, and have access to fresh, precut rutabaga, you might enjoy these cheesy fauxtatoes.
Low Carb & Keto Cheesy Fauxtatoes:
Rutabaga Style Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 cups Rutabaga (thin-medium sliced medallions)
- 1 cup Heavy Whipping Cream
- 1 tbsp Unsalted Butter
- 1/2 tsp Salt, or to taste
- 1/4 tsp Garlic Powder (optional)
- 2 oz Sharp Cheddar Cheese, shredded
Directions
1. Prepare rutabaga slices ahead of time. If making from scratch rather than store bought, be sure to peel the entire skin off (it usually has an inedible waxy film). Next – get slicin’. The simplest and quickest method is to chop off a huge chunk and use a mandolin to create even, thin medallions or pieces. The more even the slices, the more evenly they will cook.
Note: I could not find my mandolin so my pieces were irregular in every way. It required cooking some of the thicker pieces a little longer.
2. Heat up a mid-sized pot over medium-high. Once warm, add 1 tsp of the butter to grease the bottom.
3. Add the rutabaga and heavy whipping cream. Once the cream begins to boil, turn the heat down to medium-low and add all desired spices.
4. Allow rutabaga mixture to cook through for about 20-30 minutes, stirring occasionally so it doesn’t boil over or burn on the bottom.
Tip: If you feel like the mixture has reduced too much (likely from too high heat for too long), you can add a bit more heavy cream or milk alternative.
5. Once the rutabaga feels cooked through (not so tough, easy to poke with a fork or knife), stir in the rest of the butter and cheese.
6. Once the cheese has fully melted, turn the heat off and let it sit for about 5-10 minutes before serving.
Makes 4 servings | Serving: 1/2ish cup | Net Carbs: 6.2g | Calories: 310
Disclaimer: Info provided here by entering the ingredients used into Carb Manager. These numbers can change based on the ingredients/brands/etc. you choose to use.
And that’s how the rutabaga rolls. I believe this recipe would do well with the addition of paprika or some smoky and spicy notes to balance the sweetness, but I like to keep initial experiments simple.
Homemade Noms by Cate 