Can we really call it cauliflower fried rice when there’s no rice in this recipe? Riced cauliflower has become more and more popular recently and is being used as a healthy substitute for rice (and pizza dough!) in lots of recipes. In my house we love us some delicious, straight from the takeout restaurant, fried rice so occasionally I like to swap in this healthier version of cauliflower stir fry rice during the week.

Cauliflower stir fry rice is mostly all vegetables. I like to use the typical veggies you would find in restaurant style fried rice but you could really mix in anything your heart desires. Chop everything nice and small, add soy sauce, a little rice vinegar and an egg and you are done.

If you are feeling very ambitious you can rice the cauliflower yourself. Just cut the florets off the stem and put them in your food processor. Pulse it until the cauliflower is grated nice and small and there are no large pieces left. The other option is to buy the cauliflower already riced. You can pick it up in the frozen vegetable section by the bag. It eliminates the extra step and saves some mess too.

About the Ingredients

Riced Cauliflower – these bags of frozen riced cauliflower are the way to go. Steam them in the bag in the microwave.

Carrots and onion – 2 carrots and 1/2 a large onion diced small.

Peas – 1 cup of frozen peas defrosted.

Egg – 2 eggs whole.

Soy sauce – 1/2 cup of low sodium soy sauce. The full sodium version tends to be much too salty for cauliflower. There’s no starch to absorb and balance it out.

Rice vinegar – for a little sweetness.

Scallions – chopped and used as garnish.

the ingredients needed to make cauliflower stir fry rice

Recipe Substitutions & Variations

Cauliflower stir fry rice is so versatile because you really can’t mess it up. You can stick to the Chinese cuisine theme and add vegetables such as bean sprouts or watercress. Or you could switch it up entirely and go with a Mexican cuisine theme – try using corn, black beans and red bell pepper as your vegetables and swap out the soy sauce and rice vinegar for salsa.

How to Make Cauliflower Stir Fry Rice

Begin by steaming the riced cauliflower in the bag according to the package directions (typically this means microwaving the unopened bag on high for 5 1/2 minutes.)

While the cauliflower cooks, heat a large non-stick pan over high heat. Add a little bit of oil or butter and sauté the onion and carrots until they soften and started to brown a little. Push the vegetables to one side of the pan and crack the eggs into the vacant space. Scramble them as they cook and mix into the vegetables.

Pour the cauliflower over the top of the vegetables and then pour the soy sauce and rice vinegar over that. Mix everything until the cauliflower is completely coated in soy sauce. Stir in the peas and simmer until heated through. Top you cauliflower rice with scallions and serve.

FAQ’s & Recipe Tips

Use a VERY large pan. There is going to be a lot of small vegetables that you stir and they tend to fly out of the pan if you over fill it. Save yourself the mess and use the biggest pan you have.

High heat. Some of the best flavor of restaurant style fried rice comes from the very high heat they use to cook it. That little bit of char on the vegetables adds a nice touch so don’t be shy on the temperature.

Chop the vegetables small. When chopping the carrots and onions keep in mind that you want everything to be a uniform size to keep the integrity of the texture. Try to make everything pea size.

The Recipe for Cauliflower Stir Fry Rice

The recipe is attached below for easy downloading and printing. If you test it out be sure to leave a note in the comments below. I’d love to hear what you thought and if it’s similar enough to the takeout version to crave again. Enjoy!