Cauliflower rice is certainly making headlines these days. You’ll see recipes for it all over the place.
It may sound a bit exotic or difficult to make, but it’s really not at all.
So what is it?
What is Cauliflower Rice?
Of course, cauliflower rice isn’t rice at all, not even closely related. It’s simply cauliflower that has been chopped into such tiny pieces that it looks a lot like rice.
Making cauliflower rice is not only delicious. It’s a great way to lower calories and carbohydrates in your diet and still enjoy a flavorful side dish. And it’s so quick to cook.
If you are looking for keto recipes or low carb recipes in general, this is for you. You will use riced cauliflower over and over and over again.
You can make almost anything with it. Pretty much anything you can serve with rice, you can serve with this cauliflower rice recipe.
Cauliflower is such a versatile vegetable and goes with so many flavors and foods. When you rice it (and I’ll show you how in just a second) there are even more ways to serve it.
Riced cauliflower can be served in many of the same ways as rice. Serve a bed of riced cauliflower under a wonderful stir fry or a tasty curry.
Use it to make faux fried rice by sauteeing it with onions, vegetables and a bit of scrambled egg, just like you would see in your Chinese food takeout order.
Of course cauliflower rice recipes don’t taste exactly like real rice. It tastes pretty much like cauliflower, which is still pretty good.
The beauty of it though is that it is very low in carbohydrates. So for people who are following various low carb diets, like a keto diet or one for diabetes, it’s a perfect food. It acts as a tasty stand in for a food like rice that is much higher in carbs and sometimes a no go on a somewhat restricted diet.
How to Make Cauliflower Rice
Cauliflower rice is so easy to make. You just need to use some kind of utensil to cut the cauliflower flowerets into very tiny pieces.
First of all, wash and dry your cauliflower.
There are three methods of cutting your cauliflower into “rice”. You can use a knife, a grater or a food processor.
Whatever method you choose, this is what it looks like when it’s chopped:
Food Processor:
If you have a food processor at home, even a small one, use it. It’s the best way to chop the cauliflower pieces into rice sized bits quickly.
Cut the cauliflower into small flowerets. Then put them into the food processor and pulse until the cauliflower has been chopped into small, rice sized pieces. You may have to do this in smaller batches, but it doesn’t take more than a few minutes to get a bowl full of cauliflower rice ready to go. Just make sure that the pieces are a similar size.
Food Grater:
You can use a food grater, or cheese grater to grate the rice into small pieces or “rice”. In this case, don’t cut the cauliflower into small pieces. Cut it in half and grate the half into rice sized pieces using the largest hole in your grater (not the slicer if you are using a box grater – the largest of the grating holes). Be careful of your fingers with this one. It’s easy to get your fingers too close to the grater, especially when the piece of cauliflower gets smaller.
Knife Method:
This is my least favorite method of grating the cauliflower into rice size pieces, but I actually use it a lot if I am in a hurry and don’t want the bother of the other two methods. So if a knife is the only appropriate piece of equipment you have, go for it. It will be fine. It may just take you a bit longer.
When using a knife to rice the cauliflower, wash and dry the cauliflower as above. Chop it into small flowerets, then keep chopping until the pieces are small and fairly even in size.
Whatever way you rice your cauliflower, once you get used to the versatility of cauliflower rice, you will use it as your go to side dish often.
Important Tip:
Remember that you have just cut the cauliflower into VERY small pieces so they don’t need much time to cook at all. A minute or two if you are boiling, just a few minutes more if you are sautéeing it. That’s it.
Enjoy!
Cauliflower Rice Recipe with Lemon and Parsley
Ingredients
- 1 cauliflower, cut into florets
- 1 tablespoon oil
- 1 onion, small, diced
- 1 clove garlic, chopped
- 1/2 lemon, large, juice and zest
- 1/4 cup parsley, chopped
- salt & pepper to your taste
Instructions
- Rice the cauliflower by grating it on the larger hole of a grater or putting the pieces through a food processor. (See directions above).
- Heat the oil in a large pan to medium heat. Add the onion and garlic and sauté for a few minutes until the onion is just becoming translucent.
- Add the cauliflower and salt and pepper it to your taste. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the cauliflower rice is tender and just slightly golden brown. This will take about 7 or 8 minutes.
- Add the lemon juice, lemon zest and parsley into the cauliflower rice. Stir to mix everything together well and serve.
Notes
1/4 cup cilantro, chopped The cilantro will really zip up the flavor.
Nutrition
Serves 4.
If you like this cauliflower rice recipe, try this fantastic roasted cauliflower salad.
Try serving this cauliflower rice recipe with our amazing ginger and orange chicken. It’s really easy too.
You will find all of our keto and low carb recipes listed here.
Sign up here and be the first to get new recipes and tips.
If you like this recipe, I would really appreciate it if you share it on your favorite social media and add a comment below. Thanks. Save us on Pinterest here:
