Our healthy Cauliflower Fried Rice looks and tastes just like regular Chinese-style fried rice. But this 20-minute recipe is low-carb, gluten-free and perfect as a side dish, and hearty enough as a main course!
About Cauliflower Rice Stir Fry
Cauliflower Fried Rice is a family favorite side dish and quick dinner! I never thought I would prefer for a healthy fried rice over our traditional take out fried rice.
This easy fried rice recipe starts out with riced cauliflower, which you can pick up in the freezer section of your local grocery, or use Trader Joe’s riced Cauliflower (it’s our favorite) and frozen vegetables.
After sauteing your veggies in a pan and mixing in the cauliflower rice, you are going to season it with soy sauce and add in an egg. Throw in some salt, pepper and garlic and you are good to go.
We sometimes like to add in some protein, like chicken or shrimp, to make it our main dish!
If you love fried rice but are trying to watch your carbs, gluten-free or paleo, you will love this recipe. It is super easy and takes no time at all to make!
Riced Cauliflower Fried Rice Ingredients
- Frozen riced cauliflower or a head of cauliflower
- Sesame oil (substitute option: canola oil)
- Onion
- Frozen peas and carrots
- Broccoli
- Soy sauce
- Salt
- Pepper
- Garlic Salt
- Egg
Fresh Cauliflower Rice vs. Frozen Cauliflower Rice
When I first started making this recipe years ago, there was only one way to rice the cauliflower, by hand. Now there are such great already-riced cauliflower packages out there, please save yourself the step! Our favorite is Trader Joe’s frozen riced cauliflower. We always have some in our freezer.
Fried Cauliflower Rice Substitutions and Additions
- Swap the Oil – Personally, I think the flavor of the toasted sesame oil makes the dish feel more authentic, however, if you do not have sesame oil, you can use canola oil or vegetable oil.
- Add Some Protein – Adding protein can really enhance this dish. Throw in some cubed tofu or shrimp. Got some leftover chicken or steak, throw it in!
- Freshen Up the Veggies – While using frozen veggies saves a lot of time, I love to use fresh vegetables too. Fresh broccoli and carrots are easy to quickly chop up and throw in.
How to Make Cauliflower Fried Recipe
- Either rice your cauliflower (see below instructions) or, even easier, grab frozen pre riced cauliflower. Let the cauliflower and frozen vegetables thaw slightly. (They don’t need to be totally defrosted, just enough so that you can break up the chunks. This will make it easier to cook.)
- Heat oil in a medium skillet over medium high heat. Saute onions until soft and add in the frozen vegetables and cook until soft.
- Add in the cauliflower rice and cook stirring often, until heated. Add the soy sauce and mix well.
- Slide the cauliflower mixture over to one side of the pan and add the eggs on the other side of the pan and scramble. Break the scrambled eggs into small pieces and once cooked, mix with the rest of the mixture and add additional soy sauce.
- Add the salt, pepper, and garlic salt to preference.
- Optional: Top with some chopped green onion or add in your favorite protein like chicken, tofu, steak, or shrimp.
- Serve immediately.
How to rice cauliflower for Cauliflower Fried Rice
If you prefer to use fresh cauliflower here are instructions for how to turn a head of cauliflower into cauliflower rice.
- Trim off the florets off of a head of cauliflower, cut off as much of the stem as possible.
- Put the florets in the food processor and pulse until the cauliflower resembles a grain similar to couscous. (be careful not to over-process it).
- If you do not have a food processor, you can also use a box grater.
What to serve with Cauliflower Rice Stir Fry
Make a cauliflower fried rice stir fry!! I served the cauliflower fried rice with an easy to make beef stir fry and it was a huge hit, even my kids loved it! They didn’t even realize they were eating cauliflower!
I also love to serve this with our Korean Beef Bowl to keep it low-carb or with our Garlic Buttered Steak Bites!
How to store Cauliflower Fried Rice
Store in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.
More Low-Carb Recipes
Chaffle | 2-Ingredient Bagels | Cauliflower Pizza Crust | Roasted Cauliflower Popcorn | Cauliflower Breadsticks| Cauliflower Mac and Cheese | Zucchini Boats | Pickle Chips
Fried Cauliflower Rice
Video
Ingredients
- 1 Bag Bag of frozen Trader Joes Riced Cauliflower or a head of cauliflower chopped up and “riced” in a food processor let it sit on counter for a few minutes so that it is slightly thawed…bang it a little to break up the chunks, you will need about 1½ cups chopped
- 2 Tablespoons sesame oil you can use canola if you don’t have sesame
- 1 Small onion chopped
- 1 Cup frozen peas and carrots thawed
- ¼ cup broccoli chopped
- 3 Tablespoons soy sauce
- Salt and pepper
- Garlic salt optional
- 1 Egg
Instructions
- Heat oil in a large skillet on medium/high heat.
- Saute onions until tender. Add peas, carrots, and broccoli and cook until soft.
- Add frozen cauliflower (or fresh riced cauliflower) to the pan. Mix with vegetables and continue to saute until the cauliflower is no longer frozen.
- Add approximately 2 tablespoons of soy sauce and mix well.
- Slide the rice to one side of the pan and scramble the egg on the other side of the pan.
- Once the egg is cooked, mix in with the rice and add additional soy sauce (to taste preference)
- Add salt, pepper and garlic salt to preference.
- Serve immediately.
Jenn’s Notes
Nutrition Info
Looking for other easy meal ideas… just click on the pictures below:
Originally posted: June 15, 2016
Just tried this–so good! Made crockpot Beef & Broccoli and put over this “rice”. My husband said this is a keeper. Yum!!
Sounds good, but NEVER use canola or any other so-called vegetable oil for anything! They are super UNHEALTHY!
THANK You Jennifer 👏🏼👏🏼👍🏼😊❗️It LOOKS 😋YUMMY ❗️We Actually started Changing UP SOME things W/ Cauliflower , My Hubby DIDNT think He’d Like THAT kind Of Pizza Crust BUT he ♥️s IT❗️And he Eats Salad EVERY Day 👏🏼SO He DOES Eat It on his 🥗. G-d♥️Bless😊
I was feeling lazy so this was a perfect way to try a 12 ounce frozen riced cauliflower, with carrots and peas, from whole Foods (normally I make it). I can’t tell you how delicious this turned out! I sauteed some frozen shrimp (after browning onion, garlic and broccoli). I used two eggs also, to stretch it out for my husband’s and my dinner. I sprinkled ground walnuts on mine and minced green onion. Fabulous! Thanks so much for sharing the recipe. It is something that I am going to make often!
Wow, it’s very delicious.
I don’t see the serving size on the nutritional info.
Why doesn’t this recipe include nutritional info, such as calories etc? I’ve noticed the same for other recipes…unless I am blind 🙂
It does! Look at the bottom of the recipe card
Made it tonight and had to stop myself from eating it all up! It was that good!
I made it yesterday and it was really good. My kids even liked it.