How to Make Cauliflower Rice 5 Ways
This post will show you how to create Cauliflower Rice 5 Ways. Choose Mexican, Hawaiian, Greek, Indian or Asian flavours to brighten up your low carb side dish! Jump to Recipe
Is cauliflower rice healthy?
In the world of low carb foods, cauliflower is king, which means cauliflower rice must be the queen. In all seriousness, it is a fantastic low carb substitute for traditional rice. Also, cauliflower is packed with nutritional benefits, including:
- low in calories
- full of fiber
- rich in Vitamins C, K, and B6
- high in folate
- a good source of potassium and pantothenic acid (aka, Vitamin B5)
How to make cauliflower rice (step-by-step)
1. Clean
The first step in making riced cauliflower is to clean the cauliflower and remove the stems.
To wash a head of cauliflower, simply use damp paper toweling to wipe away any dirt or debris.
2. Chop
Next, chop the cauliflower into pieces. If you will be using a food processor to make cauliflower rice, chop the cauliflower pieces small enough to move freely through the feeder tube.
3. Process
There are a few different ways to rice cauliflower. The quickest and easiest way is to use a food processor.
How to make cauliflower rice without a food processor
If you don’t have a food processor, don’t worry; you can still make these cauliflower rice recipes!
Here's what you can use instead to get the cauliflower into a fine, rice-like texture:
- Use a box grater or hand-held vegetable grater to grate smaller sections of the cauliflower
- Use a sharp kitchen knife to finely dice the cauliflower into rice
Cooking cauliflower rice
Once you have your cauliflower all diced up and ready to go, you're going to want to cook it! Here's how to do that below:
- Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add cauliflower rice and saute for a couple of minutes until softened.
- Add the spice blend of your choice and continue cooking for 10-12 minutes until softened to your preference.
OTHER OPTION: You can also spread out the cauliflower rice on a sheet pan lined with parchment paper and bake at 400 F for 15 minutes, stirring halfway through. Mix the cauliflower and seasoning of choice together on the sheet pan or in a large bowl before baking.
How much cauliflower rice does 1 head yield?
You'll be looking at about 4 cups of riced cauliflower once you dice up a whole head. You can go ahead and also purchase pre-packaged cauliflower rice in the prepared produce section of your local grocery store. Just be aware of the amount of cauliflower rice you get in a package as the amount of spices in these cauliflower rice recipes are meant for about 4 cups of rice. You don't want to over-season.
5 different kinds of cauliflower rice
By using simple ingredients along with some herbs and spices, you can make delicious versions of cauliflower rice. Depending on what you add to the rice, you can even serve it as a full meal.
Here are 5 flavours of cauliflower rice that you can make with the recipes I am sharing at the bottom of this post. Jump to Recipe or view their pictures below.
Greek cauliflower rice
Indian cauliflower rice
Asian cauliflower rice
Hawaiian cauliflower rice
Mexican cauliflower rice
Can I use frozen cauliflower?
Yes, you can use frozen cauliflower to make cauliflower rice.
However, keep in mind that cauliflower is almost 60 percent water and the percentage is higher in frozen cauliflower. Because of this, I recommend using fresh cauliflower if possible. Otherwise, the rice may be too watery and as a result, it can become mushy when it is cooked.
Adding vegetables to rice
As mentioned above, it is super simple to turn cauliflower rice into a full meal on its own. All that you have to do is mix in some cooked protein and veggies of your choice.
Some of my favourite vegetables to add into rice are peas, diced carrots, and mushrooms. Feel free to use whichever veggies you and your family like the most.
Freezing cauliflower rice
If you plan to freeze the rice to use for your meal prep, it is important that you flash freeze the rice before bagging it.
Flash freezing is very easy to do and it will prevent the rice from freezing into large clumps.
To flash freeze the rice:
- Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Spread the cauliflower rice into an even layer on the pan, and try to avoid crowding. Use more than one pan if you need to, or flash freeze the rice in batches.
- Pop the pan into your freezer and keep it there until the pieces of rice are frozen. This will take about an hour, but you can leave it in the freezer for longer than that if you need or want to.
- Transfer the frozen cauliflower rice into meal prep containers or zip top freezer storage bags.
Frozen cauliflower rice will keep well in the freezer for up to 3 months.
Reheating cauliflower rice
When you are ready to use the rice, remove it from the freezer. Unless you plan to stir fry or make fried rice with it, you don’t even have to allow it to thaw! Just reheat it as you would any other frozen vegetables.
You can microwave it for 3-4 minutes, steam it, or even heat it up in a pan on the stove top for a few minutes.
If reheating cauliflower rice that has been refrigerated, you'll follow this same reheating process but just cook it for less time – usually 1 minute in the microwave will do the trick.
Other low carb cauliflower recipes
When you go shopping for the cauliflower, pick up an extra head or two. This way, you can make these cauliflower recipes too!
Meal prep challenge
If you'd like some more help with meal planning, then you'll love my free 5-day meal prep challenge! It's basically a free course that will teach you how to meal prep and cook healthy meals at home with some PDF bonus materials. Sign up for free below:
Meal prep tools for this recipe
- Grab some glass meal prep bowls if you plan on using the rice in your weekly lunches.
- Freeze this recipe in glass microwave-safe bowls up to 3 months
- A box grater helps get the cauliflower into rice-like texture
- A food processor speeds up the process
Cauliflower Rice 5 Ways
Ingredients
Hawaiian cauliflower rice
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 head cauliflower, riced
- 2 tbsp soy sauce
- 1/4 cup diced deli ham
- 1/4 cup diced pineapple
- 1/2 tsp each salt & pepper
Mexican cauliflower rice
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 head cauliflower, riced
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 tsp chili powder
- 1 tsp paprika
- 1 tsp onion powder
- 1/2 tsp each salt & pepper
Greek cauliflower rice
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 head cauliflower, riced
- 2 tbsp lemon juice
- 1 tsp oregano
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1/2 tsp each salt & pepper
Asian cauliflower rice
- 1 tbsp sesame oil
- 1 head cauliflower, riced
- 2 tbsp soy sauce
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 tbsp ginger, minced
Indian cauliflower rice
- 1 tbsp coconut oil
- 1 head cauliflower, riced
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 tsp curry powder
- 1 tsp turmeric
- 1/2 tsp each salt & pepper
Instructions
- Make cauliflower rice by de-stemming cauliflower and chopping into finely diced pieces either by hand or using a food processor.
- Mix together spice blend of choice in a small bowl. Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add cauliflower rice and saute for 2 minutes until softened.
- Add spice blend and continue cooking for 10-12 minutes until softened to your preference. Serve and enjoy!
- To freeze: bring to room temperature then freeze in individual portions in glass bowls. Reheat for 5-6 minutes in the microwave or in a skillet on the stovetop, stirring midway through.
Video
Nutrition
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