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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Very delicious! I love how healthy and easy this was (I used frozen cauliflower rice). This blog has the most consistently delicious recipes- thank you Jenn!
I have made this a few times now and it is great. This time due to what I have in the fridge I have added an additional 2 stalks of celery, 1 small red fresh pepper and semi-cooked carrots and but used frozen peas without carrots. Unfortunately I didn’t have nuts so I added pumpkin seeds instead. I had roasted chicken so I added this also. Due to additional ingredients I did add more of the seasonings. I have left-over for tomorrow. Happy camper can get more gardening done. Wait I am making my famous baby back ribs, which takes about 9 hours, forget my gardening again but I will add the chicken to only part of this dish so I have the fried rice on the side of the ribs tomorrow. This is great. I do Chinese cooking and know how to adjust a recipe if needed.
Awesome! Delicious turned out great
I made this recipe for my family’s dinner the day before yesterday, adding a bit of leftover roast chicken to it, and we three adults consumed almost the entire recipe! It was quite tasty, and the texture was very much like actual rice. I’m certain this won’t be the last time I serve this wonderful dish, nor the end of my variations on it. Bravo!
I love this delicious recipe. My husband has requested this dish at least once a week. In addition, it has trimmed our waistline. I’ve always added chicken. Other than that, this recipe is great as written.
I love this recipe as I saw it first on 101recipes.com. Tastes fine. Thanks Jenn for these wonderful recipes.
I used 10 oz bags of “cooks in the bag“ frozen riced cauliflower and frozen peas and carrots. Proportions were good and the recipe was delicious! Don’t skip the fresh grated ginger and nuts. I used cashews. Will make this often!
I am trying to follow a low carb diet and am trying recipes to make cauliflower taste good. This was delicious, fast, and easy. I substituted monk fruit for the sugar. This will be my go to recipe and would be great with chicken or pork.
So I made it and it was delicious! Thanks for the tips!
Yolanda
This was amazing!!! I added the peanuts, which was a nice touch!
Hi Jen,
I love ALL of your recipes! So wanna make tonight and have a question. When you say “ready to use” cauliflower do you mean not frozen? I’ve seen some riced cauliflower in the produce section before but wondering if I can make this with frozen or unfrozen cauliflower? Will eventually make with fresh cauliflower.
Thanks!
Hi Yolanda, Frozen is fine; just defrost it first. So glad you like the recipes! 🙂
So, did you use dark soy sauce? Asking because mine turned out really dark with it. Gonna give it a shot tomorrow with a head of cauliflower. Maybe use regular soy sauce meaning Pearl River Light soy sauce or maybe kikkoman low sodium? Any feedback appreciated!
Thanks
Yolanda
Hi Yolanda, I do use dark soy sauce for this, but any soy sauce will do. If you use a low sodium variety, you may need to add a little salt to taste before serving.