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Home » Side Dishes & Sauces » Peppercorn Sauce… with a healthy makeover

27 October 2014

Peppercorn Sauce… with a healthy makeover

A healthier version of my peppercorn sauce that’s still packed full of flavour.

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Healthy peppercorn sauce - My original peppercorn sauce has had a healthy makeover. This new version keeps all the flavour but has significantly lower calories, fat and saturated fat. There's also hidden veg for some extra goodness.

Another peppercorn sauce recipe?

Yes, I know I only recently posted the recipe for my original peppercorn sauce, but I’ve given it a makeover to create a healthy peppercorn sauce. This new version keeps all of the flavour whilst having significantly lower calories, fat and saturated fat (if you want to see just how much I’ve knocked it down by you’ll have to read on – I’m pretty proud of what I managed). There’s also hidden veg for some extra goodness.

So why give it a makeover?

One of the things I enjoy doing in the kitchen is to attempt to make healthier versions of some of my favourite foods. This is usually trying to reduce calories, fat, salt or sugar, but I’m also happy with anything that makes a recipe more nutritious. Occasionally (OK, quite often) these can be a bit of a disaster, but every now and again I find something that works really well. This peppercorn sauce is one of those times.

When I create recipes for Charlotte’s Lively Kitchen the first step is always to try and create something that I think tastes delicious. It’s only once that’s done that I work out all of the nutritional information, so I can add it to the recipes you read here.

Occasionally that creates the unwanted feeling of finding out that something I thought wasn’t too bad is actually much higher in calories, fat, salt or sugar than I’d expected. I definitely got that feeling with my original peppercorn sauce recipe. It’s not terrible, not terrible at all, at 146 calories and 8g of fat per serving, but if I’m having a bit of a diet day (usually due to too much cake, or hope of future cake) then I don’t think I can afford to get 11% of my daily reference intake of fat just from a sauce!

Ever since I posted my original peppercorn sauce recipe, I’ve been pondering ways to make it healthier. The great thing about calculating the nutritional information myself is that I can see a breakdown of where all of the calories, fat, etc. are coming from and therefore I know where to try and target my efforts.

In the case of my original peppercorn sauce, the vast majority of calories and fat were coming from the flour and butter used in the roux base of the sauce.

Recently I’ve found several recipes that substitute cauliflower for the flour and butter in some roux based sauces to make a healthier version. I thought that idea would be perfect here. So I gave it a try.

I’ve stayed as true to my original recipe as possible in terms of flavours, substituting cauliflower for the flour and butter and adjusting some of the other quantities to ensure that the flavours and consistency are right. The great thing is for non-cauliflower fans, because the sauce has quite a powerful flavour, the cauliflower taste is disguised by it all.

So onto the numbers, what’s the benefit of switching to the cauliflower version?

There are 45 calories in the healthy versions compared to 146 in my original sauce. That’s 69% reduction. Total fat has reduced from 8g to less than 1g.

I think that’s a pretty impressive improvement.

Another benefit is that is also contributes 0.6 portions of vegetables towards your five-a-day.

Ideally I’d also like to reduce the level of salt. However, when I’ve tried, the sauce lacks the necessary flavour. If anyone’s got any suggestions for alternatives to salt I can try then let me know in the comments.

So what did I change to make the difference?

The diagram below summarises the substitutions I made in the recipe.
Cauliflower peppercorn sauce v original ingredients comparison

Now on to the recipe…

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Healthy peppercorn sauce

Peppercorn Sauce… with a healthy makeover

A healthier version of my peppercorn sauce that's still packed full of flavour.
5 from 4 votes
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Active Time: 10 minutes
Total Time: 30 minutes
Servings: 4 servings
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INGREDIENTS

  • 200 g cauliflower - about half a cauliflower
  • 15 ml brandy
  • 100 ml skimmed milk
  • 1 chicken stock cube
  • 15 g 4 tsp black peppercorns - vary this according to how powerful you want your sauce to be
  • Salt

INSTRUCTIONS

  • Chop the cauliflower (200g) into individual florets.
  • Bring a pan of salted water to the boil. Add the cauliflower and cook for approximately 20 minutes, until the cauliflower is soft - you need to cook the cauliflower more that you would if you were serving it to eat whole. It needs to be very soft, otherwise the finished sauce may be lumpy.
  • Once the cauliflower is soft, drain and then purée with a blender or food processor.
  • Crack the black peppercorns (15g) in a pestle and mortar ( if you don't have one, put them in a plastic bag, wrap in a tea towel, and hit a few times with a rolling pin) - you want to make sure that the peppercorns are cracked, but do not over-grind otherwise the sauce will lose its intense peppery flavour.
  • Into a heated saucepan, add the brandy (15ml) and cook for a few seconds.
  • Add the skimmed milk (100ml), chicken stock cube, black peppercorns and puréed cauliflower.
  • Season with salt.
  • Ensure that the sauce is heated through, then serve.

NOTES

Have you tried this recipe? Please leave a comment and rating at the bottom of the page to let others know what you thought.
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NUTRITIONAL INFORMATION

Calories: 45kcal | Carbohydrates: 6g | Protein: 2g | Cholesterol: 2mg | Sodium: 266mg | Potassium: 234mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 2g | Vitamin A: 45IU | Vitamin C: 24.1mg | Calcium: 58mg | Iron: 0.6mg

Any nutritional information provided is the estimated nutritional information per serving. Please refer to my guide to Charlotte’s Lively Kitchen nutritional information if you would like to learn more about how this is calculated.


Course: Sauce

Free From/Suitable For…

The ingredients I used to make this recipe are all free from the following allergens. However, please check any labels carefully for allergens you need to avoid as brands can vary and product recipes can change over time.

  • Egg-Free
  • Tree Nut-Free
  • Peanut-Free
  • Sesame-Free
  • Soya-Free
  • Fish-Free
  • Crustacean-Free
  • Mollusc-Free
  • Celery-Free
  • Mustard-Free
  • Lupin-Free

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Alex says

    July 27, 2021 at 8:26 am

    Great idea with the cauliflower, I’ll be trying it today.

    As for cutting down on the sodium / salt. I usually keep some dried kelp or wakame seaweed in the cupboard and whenever something calls for salt, just blend a small piece of that into it. gives it a salty flavour with the excess sodium.

    Reply
  2. Thomas says

    June 26, 2021 at 11:49 pm

    5 stars
    Absolutely amazing, nobody would of guess that this had collfour in it.

    Reply
  3. Nina says

    March 27, 2021 at 8:13 pm

    How many grams is a serving

    Reply
    • Charlotte Oates says

      March 29, 2021 at 4:48 pm

      I’ve never weighed it so I’m not sure – sorry.

  4. Adrian says

    February 20, 2021 at 12:49 pm

    5 stars
    Tried this last night it was fantastic you will not believe it is cauliflower!!!! Won’t have it any other way at home again , I have never reviewed anything before but this is worth it ,thanks Adrian

    Reply
  5. Rachael says

    January 26, 2020 at 5:47 pm

    5 stars
    This is tasty, it was too thick so l had to add more milk. But it was easy to make and it tasted a thousand times better than processed packaged ones from the coop. Also I used ground pepper (didn’t have whole peppercorns stoked) ) and it was still more peppery than processed ones. Thankyou for your recipe.

    Reply
  6. Lynn says

    August 03, 2019 at 9:27 pm

    5 stars
    To cut down salt content I added a sliced celery stick to cauliflower and blended and cooked together, in microwave rather than boil to death to keep the nutrients in. I substituted 50% of milk with whey liquid a byproduct from making Greek style yogurt in slow cooker. Home made chicken stock replaced salt laden stock cube. The sauce was quite thick after heating so I added more whey liquid then re blended for a few seconds to make smoother.

    Reply
  7. Dorene says

    April 14, 2019 at 2:21 pm

    Can you use frozen cauliflower rice?

    Reply
    • Charlotte Oates says

      April 15, 2019 at 8:08 am

      I’ve not tried it but I can’t see why not.

  8. Jan says

    February 06, 2019 at 1:18 pm

    Hi Just found your Healthy recipe for PEPPERCORN SAUCE… WITH A HEALTHY MAKEOVER. Your ‘not so healthy’ options says it can be made in advance and even frozen. Can this one also be made in advance, heated later or frozen? Thanks

    Reply
    • Charlotte Oates says

      February 07, 2019 at 2:47 pm

      I haven’t tried freezing this one but I expect it would work OK.

  9. Lauren Curley says

    January 30, 2018 at 4:59 pm

    I’ve just made this sauce for tea tonight, holy moly! Absolutely delicious! Tastes even better knowing its healthier! Thank you!

    Reply
    • Charlotte Oates says

      January 30, 2018 at 10:36 pm

      That’s fantastic, I’m so glad you enjoyed it.

  10. Diane Tandy says

    June 02, 2016 at 2:11 pm

    May sound stupid, I can’t stand the smell or taste of any spirit like brandy, whisky ect. Does it definitely need to have any spirit put in it? Thanks Diane

    Reply
    • Charlotte Oates says

      June 02, 2016 at 2:29 pm

      No, I add it in for the flavour but if you’re not keen then simply leave it out.

    • Nina says

      February 06, 2021 at 7:50 pm

      No you won’t taste the brandy. It just adds flavour i wouldn’t recommend to skip it actually

      Sauce is nice though it’s more of a grainy consistency than a normal one
      I would def make it again i m gonna serve it now so be interesting to see what my fiancée says
      Yup realise I m
      Replying to old comments now but hey might be useful to others

  11. Jaime says

    March 03, 2015 at 5:14 pm

    Any substitutions for brandy?

    Reply
    • Charlotte Oates says

      March 03, 2015 at 10:12 pm

      I’ve only ever tried it with brandy or with no alcohol at all (which was nice but the brandy definitely adds another dimension to the flavour). I’ve seen recipes that use port, sherry or apple juice instead of brandy so you could try one of those but I can’t vouch for whether they would be succesful.

  12. Helen @ Fuss Free Flavours says

    January 27, 2015 at 4:50 pm

    I’ve just started experimenting with cauliflower in sauces. A very belated thank you for entering #ExtraVeg

    Reply
    • Charlotte Oates says

      January 28, 2015 at 9:03 pm

      Cauliflowers so versatile isn’t it. I’ve not experimented with it for a while but I really should give it another go. What have you been using it for?

  13. Lucy Parissi says

    November 11, 2014 at 9:38 am

    This sounds like a brilliant idea! I love rich sauces but I do feel guilty whenever I load my plate. This is the perfect compromise. Thanks for linking to #CookBlogShare

    Reply
    • Charlotte Oates says

      November 11, 2014 at 6:50 pm

      I love anything that makes me feel just a little bit less guilty. The problem is that when I’m good I tend to treat myself to something later so I never see the benefits!!

  14. Honest mum says

    November 07, 2014 at 11:20 pm

    Fab healthy version of peppercorn sauce! Thanks for linking up to #tastytuesdays

    Reply
    • Charlotte Oates says

      November 08, 2014 at 8:45 am

      Thanks Vicki

  15. Alison says

    November 04, 2014 at 1:11 pm

    I love peppercorn sauce, love your healthy twist

    Reply
    • Charlotte Oates says

      November 04, 2014 at 2:48 pm

      Thanks Alison

  16. Julie's Family Kitchen says

    November 03, 2014 at 9:39 pm

    What a clever way to much it healthier, great idea.

    Reply
    • Charlotte Oates says

      November 04, 2014 at 9:10 am

      Thanks Julie. The great thing is that it’s so much healthier without losing the flavour.

  17. Mel says

    October 28, 2014 at 10:43 pm

    When I go out, I tend to have steak, and I invariably have it with peppercorn sauce. I am not watching what I eat, but I like your twist in this recipe (big cauliflower fan, here!).

    Reply
    • Charlotte Oates says

      October 29, 2014 at 6:32 pm

      Thanks Mel. I’m starting to realise just how versatile the cauliflower is, I’m adding it to all sorts at the moment and generally it works well.

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Hi, I'm Charlotte Oates. Welcome to my lively kitchen where I share delicious, simple baking recipes, baking tools and calculators, and lots of tips and tricks.

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