Cauliflower Fried Rice
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This Chinese-style cauliflower fried rice is a healthy, low-carb dish that’s hearty enough to serve as a main course.
Cauliflower rice — which is just cauliflower grated into rice-like bits — really does taste similar to rice, or at least it behaves similarly by soaking up all the flavor of its seasonings. In this quick and easy cauliflower fried rice recipe, I sauté grated cauliflower with aromatics, vegetables, soy sauce, and eggs, much like Chinese fried rice. It’s a healthy, low-carb dish that’s hearty enough to serve as a main course.
Cauliflower has a mild flavor that makes it an excellent blank canvas for other flavors. In addition to rice, it makes a great substitute for mashed potatoes in my cauliflower purée with thyme recipe. It’s also excellent roasted in my roasted cauliflower recipe.
What You’ll Need To Make Cauliflower Fried Rice
You’ll likely be able to find grated cauliflower in the produce or frozen vegetable section of your supermarket. But if not, it’s simple to make using a food processor (use the grating disc) or hand grater.
How To Make Cauliflower Fried Rice
As with any quick stir-fry, it’s important to have all of your ingredients prepped before you start cooking.
Begin by heating a few teaspoons of oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add the eggs and a pinch of salt and cook over medium heat until scrambled.
Set the eggs aside, then sauté the scallions, ginger, and garlic in oil until softened.
Add the grated cauliflower, soy sauce, red pepper flakes, sugar, and salt. Cook, stirring often, for about 3 minutes.
Add the peas and carrots and continue cooking until the cauliflower “rice” is tender-crisp and the vegetables are warmed through, a few minutes.
Stir in the rice vinegar, sesame oil, dark green scallions, nuts (if using), and scrambled eggs.
Taste and adjust seasoning if necessary. Serve hot and enjoy!
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Cauliflower Fried Rice
This Chinese-style cauliflower fried rice is a healthy, low-carb dish that’s hearty enough to serve as a main course.
Ingredients
- Vegetable oil
- 2 large eggs, beaten
- Salt
- 1 cup chopped scallions, light and green parts separated (you'll need 5-6 scallions)
- 3 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh ginger, from a 1-inch knob (see note)
- One 2-lb head cauliflower (or 2 pounds "ready to cook" cauliflower rice), thawed if frozen
- 4-5 tablespoons soy sauce (use gluten-free if needed)
- ¼ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 1 cup frozen peas and carrots
- 1 teaspoon rice vinegar
- 1 teaspoon Asian/toasted sesame oil
- ¼ cup chopped cashews or peanuts (optional)
Instructions
- Grate the cauliflower in a food processor fitted with the grating disc. Alternatively, grate on the large holes of a box or hand-held grater. Set aside. (Skip this step if using "ready to cook" cauliflower rice.)
- Heat 2 teaspoons of vegetable oil in a large (10 or 12-inch) nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add the eggs and a pinch of salt and scramble until the eggs are cooked. Transfer to a small plate and set aside. Wipe the pan clean.
- Add 3 tablespoons of vegetable oil to the pan and set over medium heat. Add the light scallions, garlic, and ginger and cook, stirring often, until softened but not browned, 3 to 4 minutes. Add the grated cauliflower, 4 tablespoons of the soy sauce, red pepper flakes, sugar, and ¼ teaspoon salt. Cook, stirring often, for about 3 minutes. Add the peas and carrots and continue cooking until the cauliflower "rice" is tender-crisp and the vegetables are warmed through, a few minutes. Stir in the rice vinegar, sesame oil, dark green scallions, nuts (if using) and eggs. Taste and adjust seasoning (adding the remaining tablespoon of soy sauce if necessary). Serve hot.
- Note: Check out easy guidance on how to peel, grate, and chop fresh ginger here.
Nutrition Information
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- Per serving (4 servings)
- Serving size: about 2 cups
- Calories: 273
- Fat: 17 g
- Saturated fat: 2 g
- Carbohydrates: 22 g
- Sugar: 8 g
- Fiber: 7 g
- Protein: 12 g
- Sodium: 1717 mg
- Cholesterol: 93 mg
This website is written and produced for informational purposes only. I am not a certified nutritionist and the nutritional data on this site has not been evaluated or approved by a nutritionist or the Food and Drug Administration. Nutritional information is offered as a courtesy and should not be construed as a guarantee. The data is calculated through an online nutritional calculator, Edamam.com. Although I do my best to provide accurate nutritional information, these figures should be considered estimates only. Varying factors such as product types or brands purchased, natural fluctuations in fresh produce, and the way ingredients are processed change the effective nutritional information in any given recipe. Furthermore, different online calculators provide different results depending on their own nutrition fact sources and algorithms. To obtain the most accurate nutritional information in a given recipe, you should calculate the nutritional information with the actual ingredients used in your recipe, using your preferred nutrition calculator.
Gluten-Free Adaptable Note
To the best of my knowledge, all of the ingredients used in this recipe are gluten-free or widely available in gluten-free versions. There is hidden gluten in many foods; if you're following a gluten-free diet or cooking for someone with gluten allergies, always read the labels of your ingredients to verify that they are gluten-free.
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This is one of our favorite all time recipes! I make a double batch – in one pan I add the cauliflower, and the other I add cooked white rice in lieu of the cauliflower. We find the flavors works great for both the rice and cauliflower versions. I love to pair this with Jen’s Asian BBQ Chicken recipe and quartered oranges for dessert.
Seriously. Every recipe is better than the last. This was awesome- so tasty, I omitted the salt and carrots, doubled the peas. Husband asked for it to make the regular rounds and I am happy to oblige. Kids even gave it a good try.
You are my go-to for all recipes & dinners. All straight-forward, all excellent results!
Thank you!
Hi, My husband and I made this recipe with a Costco bag of chopped cauliflower. It was really great! Easy, delicious and reheated, via frying pan, wonderfully! (I saw the recipe as a video while looking up another one of your recipes) Any chance I can get a signed copy of your cookbook, fingers crossed.
So glad you enjoyed this, Nora! Regarding the cookbook, I will have book signings in a few cities. If I’m not in your area, though, I think we’ll also be offering bookplates, which are stickers that I can sign and mail out so they can be stuck inside the book. Thanks for inquiring. 🙂
Thank you! I live in Montreal, Canada…Not sure you will make it up north ;0 but will be interested in the bookplate.
This is such a good recipe…very tasty! My husband and I enjoy it with shrimp or just as it is. It is even good reheated as a left over meal.
Fabulous! I have found that going the “healthy” cooking most of the time when they say you’ll never know. . . that is not true for me. But with this cauliflower “rice”, you really won’t know the difference! The only change I made was that I didn’t add any nuts. Delicious!
It’s not bad and it’s healthy, but dont expect it to taste like real fried rice. It’s much wetter than fried rice and you taste the fresh ginger. It has a different flavor than fried rice and that may be because lack of meat or the type of fats they use in Chinese cooking. There may be a sauce or spice that is missing as well. Many Chinese cooks use fish sauce and such or dried shrimp that give some of their dishes a distinctive flavor. All in all, I am happy with recipes like this, becuase they are healthy and vegetarian and I will eat again, but will need to do some tweaking to make it better.
I served this last night to a Chinese friend who uses cauliflower a LOT and she did not know it was not rice until I told her. I only used 1 lb of cauliflower instead of 2 and kept all the other ingredients the same so there was a lot of flavor.
Anyone have a keto friendly sub fir sugar? Not sure how much artificial to add
I have to say I have been hemming and hawing over whether to try “Cauliflower Rice” because cauliflower can be such an obtrusive vegetable. People either love it or hate it. Well let me tell you, when I received this recipe today, I said the heck with it, now or never!
Oh my gosh is this fabulous!!!! This recipe is to die for!!!
I have been professionally trained in Culinary and Pastry Arts although I no longer cook professionally.
I must say the preparation is easy and the time to prepare is very reasonable.
I did add chicken to this and I squeezed fresh lime over my plate at dinner. The family loved it too!!
I’m already considering making it with shrimp and maybe using some Nam Pla (fish sauce) and giving it a Thai flair.
Thank you so much for creating this recipe and sharing! YOU COULD BEAT BOBBY FLAY WITH THIS RECIPE!!
This woman is the best!! Every recipe I’ve used from her has been nothing short of spectacular. Please….keep them coming!
PS; when you write your book, let us know.
Phenomenal. I’ve made it twice. The second time I left out the ginger and adding more garlic cloves and garlic powder (I love garlic). I used frozen cauliflower both times for convenience and did not thaw it first and it turned out fine. So good!!! Make it!