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 was the first recipe that was a ‘miss’ for me. I’ve been loving so much on this site and this is my first-time making cauliflower rice. Might have been my error…so take this review with a grain of salt 😉
I found the end product very ‘wet’ if you will. Not like a fried rice at all. Lacking any crispiness and I tried to keep cooking to get to that point but it never happened.
Also my ‘rice’ looks way darker than the photo. I went by the recipe and can only assume the soy sauce made it this way.
Anyhow, my first ‘pass’ on recipes on this site. It required quite a bit of prep (which I would be fine with if the end product was fabulous, but, alas, it wasn’t).
Perhaps I need to drain the cauliflower after grating???
Hi Heather, I’m sorry that this one was a miss for you! I don’t think you did anything wrong; the cauliflower really doesn’t crisp up. It’s very reminiscent of fried rice but does have a slightly different texture. And I haven’t needed to drain the cauliflower after grating it, but if you find that there’s excess liquid, I would either drain it or put it in a clean dish towel and squeeze out the moisture. Hope that helps!
Maybe a little bit of a higher heat when you add the cauliflower. The idea is to mimic a wok, so i cooked on medium high heat basically during the whole cook time.
Flavour was really good. Added in ham/bacon as well as capsicum & some left over kaleslaw. Has made a massive batch that will be had for weekday lunches. Used frozen cauli rice that was defrosted. Mine didn’t get crispy so next time I will defrost the cauli rice on kitchen towel & press down firmly to remove excess liquid before frying it all up.
Another win for Jenn! This was fantastic! I loved it and my family ate it without knowing they weren’t eating rice. So yay for smuggling in veggies.
Absolutely amazing!!! When I’ve tried to make my own recipe I always felt like it was missing something, the garlic & ginger combo plus a little sugar was divine.
Outstanding! I added thinly sliced leftover chicken breast. This will be a “regular” in our home. Thank you. 🙂
Hi, How would you make this recipe if you were using frozen cauliflower rice?
Hi Lauren, Just defrost the cauliflower and proceed with the recipe. Hope you enjoy!
This was an amazing recipe for cauliflower fried rice. We served it to guests and we all loved it. I served with seared tuna steaks and arugula and orange salad.
I so appreciate the wonderful recipes I find on Once Upon a Chef. And love the “jump to recipe” feature
Thank you!
This is so GOOD!!! I added some grilled chicken to it at the end. This is going to be a standard around my house!
This was delicious!!! Will definitely put it in the rotation. Thanks for another great recipe. 😊
Can you freeze any leftovers?
Hi Mary, Overall, I think this would freeze nicely, but I’m not certain how the scrambled eggs would do. Please LMK how it is once you thaw it!