If you're looking for an easy way to swap out white rice for something healthier, cauliflower rice might be your answer! Packed with nutrients, cauliflower rice is versatile and can be used in all sorts of tasty dishes.
In this post, we'll show you how to quickly make your own at home so that you can enjoy delicious dishes without sacrificing flavor or nutrition.
Jump to:
How to Purchase and Store Cauliflower
When at the grocery store or farmer's market, look for large firm cauliflower with even color. Light brown spots on the outer florets are a sign of decay and mold formation. If you're in the store and see brown, or it looks like the brown areas were cut away (large areas of flat spots), do not purchase.
To store your cauliflower, remove it from its original packaging and place it in a clean, sealed plastic bag. Preferably, you should leave it whole, but it will still be good for about two days if you cut it up.
Organic farm-fresh cauliflower is your best bet. Next, unblemished organic fresh supermarket cauliflower. Frozen cauliflower is always an option, but use fresh vegetables when available for maximum nutrition.
Cauliflower is low in calories and high in fiber (3g per cup)--making it an excellent choice.
3 Ways to Rice Cauliflower
You can easily make cauliflower rice using a food processor. If you don't have one or don't feel like getting yours dirty, use a box grater.
A box grater is an incredibly versatile kitchen tool that can make quick work of turning your fresh or frozen whole cauliflower into fine crumbly pieces.
Here are three different ways to make cauliflower rice.
#1 Use the "S blade" of your food processor
- Remove green leaves and about 1 inch of the stem from the cauliflower and coarsely chop up stems and florets.
- Using your food processor with the "S" blade in place, lightly pulse small batches of cauliflower into pea-size pieces that resemble rice.
- When most of it is in small pieces, pull out any remaining chunks and run them through in the next batch.
#2 Use the shredding disk of your food processor
The shredding disk is a better method of "ricing" the cauliflower. Just attach the disk to your machine (if you still have it) and push the cauliflower through the feeder. The cauliflower is shredded evenly in seconds.
#3 Use a box grater
If you don't want to pull out the food processor, you can grate the cauliflower by hand.
To "rice" cauliflower with a box grater, grate large pieces on the large holes of the grater. Be careful not to cut your fingers. When the pieces get too small to grate, chop them with a knife into tiny pieces.
How To Cook Cauliflower Rice on The Stove
Heat a tablespoon of butter or oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add cauliflower. Stir to coat with the fat and cover the skillet to steam the cauliflower.
After three minutes, lift the cover and stir. Cover and cook another three to five minutes until tender. Remove the pan from the heat and season to taste with salt and pepper.
If You Want Crispy Cauliflower Rice
I like this dish on the crispy side. It will make the "rice" a little darker with a more pronounced taste.
Following the directions above, continue cooking the cauliflower until you see the edges of each piece start to brown. This is how we like to eat it.
I put it in a bowl with some flaked sea salt and sliced avocado for a whole meal.
Serving Suggestions
In place of starchy rice, use cauliflower rice in your favorite recipes.
It can be used as a side dish mixed with butter and salt, in stir-fries, mixed in with scrambled eggs, and fried rice, to name a few.
You can add cauliflower rice to a hot mug of Homemade Bone Broth.
Try this recipe with Lemon Basil Roasted Chicken--it will be great!
Try These Healthy Vegetable Recipes
- Roasted Cauliflower with Garlic
- Roast Cauliflower with Carrots
- Plain Roasted Cauliflower
- Oven Roasted Broccoli
- Roasted Broccoli with Garlic
- Oven Roasted Asparagus
- 17 Best Healthy Cauliflower Rice Recipes
Questions & Answers
Cauliflower rice is really healthy! Full of fiber, B vitamins, and antioxidants, which protect you from disease, cauliflower is always a great choice.
In under a minute, a whole head of cauliflower can be transformed into rice in a food processor.
Yes, cauliflower rice is gluten-free.
To make cauliflower rice taste great, season cauliflower rice with your favorite herbs, spices, and seasonings. You can cook the rice with soy sauce to make fried rice or Italian seasoning to use in place of pasta. to name a few.
When we were kids, my brothers and I loved to eat pastina. Made by Ronzoni, pastina is tiny bits of pasta shaped like stars. It is the smallest pasta they make.
Free from gluten and factory processing, you can make cauliflower rice and mix in milk, butter, and salt and it is the perfect substitution!
Skip the microwave! Heat a skillet with a teaspoon of oil or butter over medium-high heat. Add cauliflower rice and heat, stirring constantly for a minute or so.
"📖 Recipe"
How to Make Cauliflower Rice
Ingredients
- 1 medium head of cauliflower
- 1 tablespoon unsalted butter or olive oil
- ¼ teaspoon salt
Instructions
Grating the Cauliflower with "S" Blade Attachment
- Wash and thoroughly dry the cauliflower. Cut out the core, chop it up, and then break the florets into medium-sized pieces. Place a third of the cauliflower (core and florets) in a food processor with the “S” blade, and pulse slowly until cauliflower is pea-size.
- Any big pieces can be run through in your next batch. It should take about three batches to do one head of cauliflower depending on the size of your food processor and your cauliflower.
Grating the Cauliflower with Shredding Disk
- Attach the shredding disk to your machine and push the cauliflower through the feeder.
How To Steam Cauliflower RIce in a Skillet
- Heat a tablespoon of butter or oil in a 12" skillet over medium heat. Add cauliflower. Stir to coat the cauliflower with oil and cover the skillet. After three minutes, lift cover and stir.
- Cover and cook another three to five minutes until tender. Remove pan from the heat and season to taste with salt and pepper.
How To Roast Cauliflower (no fat method)
- Scatter the cauliflower on a sheet pan without crowding the pan and place in a hot oven (350 or 400 degrees F) for 5 minutes.
Notes
Nutrition
