Cauliflower is a veggie with a very mild flavor and it lends itself well to many dishes. With no special tools needed, it’s really easy to make cauliflower rice for a healthy and delicious rice substitution! This can be prepped ahead of time and refrigerated or frozen so it’s ready when you are!
While we’ve all had cauliflower covered in cheese or cauliflower soup, did you know that it can be an amazing stand-in for rice in many recipes?
Ricing cauliflower is easy to do and doesn’t require any special tools. You can use either a food processor or a hand grater with equally delicious results! I personally prefer to use a hand grater with larger holes for a bit of a larger “grain”.
Riced cauliflower keeps well in the fridge or freezer so I often rice a couple of heads of cauliflower to enjoy throughout the week, add to soups or use in recipes like cabbage roll casserole or stuffed peppers!
What is Cauliflower Rice?
While cauliflower rice isn’t exactly rice, it is fresh cauliflower prepared in a way that it takes on the texture of grains of rice. It can be used raw in salads or cooked and added to any dish that uses rice.
Why Use Riced Cauliflower?
First off, cauliflower rice is actually really delicious!!
Regardless of what your eating plans or goals are, we all know getting more veggies is a good idea! This is perfect to add to any dish that already contains rice either as a partial or complete substitute. The kids will be getting their veggies and never even know it’s in there!
I personally use riced cauliflower in place of white rice to cut calories and carbs while still keeping a similar texture in my dish. 1 cup of cooked white rice contains about 205 calories and 45g carbohydrates whereas 1 cup of riced cauliflower contains only about 27 calories and 5 grams of carbohydrates. Cauliflower rice is Weight Watchers friendly, paleo and 21 day fix approved. And it’s DELICIOUS!!
Items You’ll Need For This Recipe
* Hand Grater or Food Processor * Non-Stick Pan * Olive Oil *
How to Make Cauliflower Rice
Ingredients
- 1 large head cauliflower
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- salt & pepper to taste
Instructions
- Rinse and shake cauliflower dry.
- Cut into quarters removing any outer leaves or tough stems.
- Coarsely grate cauliflower in a large bowl or pulse in a food processor in small batches until cauliflower is the size of grains of rice.
- Heat olive oil in a large non-stick pan and cook riced cauliflower about 5 minutes or just softened.
Notes
Nutrition Information
Nutrition information provided is an estimate and will vary based on cooking methods and brands of ingredients used.
Course Side Dish
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How much cauliflower rice is used in place of regular rice in recipes?
Hi Tracy, for most recipes you can use it as a 1:1 substitute.
I love cauliflower rice, so healthy and keto-friendly. I loved your recipe for it. Thanks for sharing.
Glad you enjoy it Jeremy!
they all look so good and easy to make…..can’t wait to try some
I hope you love it Connie!
Tried the “rice” in stuffed cabbage rolls, I used some roasted eggplant, with spicy v8 juice and made it without any meat.
They were awesome, very filling and not overly heavy.
I’m so glad you loved it! I bet the eggplant added such a nice savory flavor, I’ll have to try it!
Can this be frozen? I usually buy the bagged riced cauliflower and steam it to use, so it’d be nice to make my own.
Yes, this can be frozen (I don’t precook when freezing)
Thank you so much for posting this recipe! I have wanted to try cauliflower rice for a long time, but all the recipes I saw used a food processor. I live in a small apartment and have no room for a food processor and was about to give up on making my own cauliflower rice! I am so relieved to find a recipe that is easy and healthy that I can make with a small kitchen tool!! YAY!
So glad this is going to work for you!
Do you cook the cauliflower before putting it in the cabbage role recipe?
I don’t precook it.
Do you freeze the cauliflower before cooking or raw?
It’s raw before cooking.
I think cooking first would work best, eliminating some of the liquid will reduce the freezer’s effect.
Love the cauliflower rice idea! I have not used it as rice… only to make pizza crust. Thanks for the recipe!
You’re welcome! Enjoy!
Cauliflower mashed potatoes are great also and simple cook the cauliflower until fills soft then drain as much of the water out as possible let sit in strainer for about 10 to 20 mins while you cook somethings else them put in bowl and lowfat better seasalt and pepper to taste then mash it all together
If u add in roasted garlic it’s amazing.