How To Make Cauliflower Rice

Learn how to make cauliflower rice from scratch to use in your favorite healthy recipes using riced cauliflower!

Are you on a low-carb or paleo diet and drowning in nostalgia about your favorite rice-based dishes? Maybe you’re just trying to up your cruciferous vegetable intake because you know how good these veggies are for your health. Or maybe you are just wondering what to do with all that cauliflower sitting in your fridge…

If you find yourself in one of these situations, maybe it’s time to learn how to make cauliflower rice on your own. After all it’s always good to learn new things right? Especially, when they come with wonderful benefits.

Making cauliflower rice from a head of cauliflower is extremely easy! All it takes is the vegetable and a grater or if you’ve got one – a food processor!

Moreover, once you’ve made it, you’ll discover that riced cauliflower is super delicious and so versatile – from soups and sides to fried cauliflower rice – it’s easy to make this vegetable taste good.

Does this sound intriguing? If yes, then follow our simple guide and tips and start making cauliflower rice from scratch today!

Why Make Cauliflower Rice?

Before we jump into the step-by-step guide on how to make cauliflower rice, let’s have a look at some good reasons why you should make the effort.

• It’s a great way to use up any cauliflower and offer your family a healthy dish that is still extremely delicious. 
• If you need to watch your carbohydrate intake, then you should certainly avoid rice, especially white rice. But this doesn’t mean that you need to give up your favorite recipe – switching to cauliflower rice will be a painless transition when you know how to prepare it.
• On the other hand, enjoying riced cauliflower means that you will add more vegetables to your menu. And they are always welcome, aren’t they? Especially when you have picky eaters, like the two men in my household, sneaking like I did here is the one way I get them to eat more veggies.
• Cauliflower rice absorbs the flavors of the other ingredients. In the beginning, I was pretty skeptical about cauliflower rice-based dishes, but after I tried it, I started loving it. Chopped thinly, cauliflower basically soaks up the aromas and flavors of whatever you cook it with. It’s not quite like rice, but it is lovely.
• If you are on a weight loss diet, then enjoying cauliflower can certainly help. This vegetable is low in calories and at the same time, high in fiber which slows down digestion and gives you a prolonged feeling of fullness.

How to Make Cauliflower Rice?

Now it’s time to make the cauliflower rice! We’ll be using three slightly different methods: with a food processor, with a grater and by finely chopping the cauliflower.

Making Cauliflower Rice with a Food Processor 

If you have a food processor at home, then you can always use it to make your cauliflower rice. It is so easy, that your rice will be ready in a matter of minutes. Here’s how to do it:

• Firstly, remove the leaves, slice off any stains, and break the cauliflower into florets. 
• Then, wash the cauliflower florets thoroughly under running water to get rid of any dust or debris that may have remained on them.
• Once washed, put the florets into the food processor and pulse once or twice.
• Take out everything that has already turned into “rice” to avoid overprocessing it. This is extremely important, as you don’t want the rice to turn out too tiny. This can ruin the texture and make your rice mushy when cooked.
• Pulse again, take out what’s processed and repeat this process until you have enough or run out of cauliflower.

Making Riced Cauliflower Using a Grater

In case you don’t have a food processor, don’t worry. You can still prepare cauliflower rice using a grater. Here’s what you need to do.

• Firstly, remove the leaves, slice off any stains, and cut the cauliflower into larger chunks. 
• Then, wash them thoroughly under running water to get rid of any dust or debris that may have remained on them.
• After that, take your grater and use the bigger holes to grate the cauliflower. You will soon notice that it looks like rice.

I know it seems as if this will take forever, but it’s actually a pretty quick process.

The best part about this method is that you can’t overprocess your cauliflower and turn it into mush. In fact, I prefer it to the other methods and even use the grater attachment on my food processor, because I like it. It’s way faster and takes almost no effort.

Making Cauliflower Rice by Finely Chopping It

The last method doesn’t require any special equipment except for a sharp knife and a chopping board. Here is how to make cauliflower rice by chopping it finely.

• Firstly, remove the leaves, slice off any stains, and break the cauliflower into florets. 
• Then, wash the cauliflower florets thoroughly under running water to get rid of any dust or debris that may have remained on them.
• After that, grab a floret and start slicing it finely as shown in this video. 
• Continue chopping until you have enough rice for your recipe.

If you’ve got good knife skills and love chopping this is probably the best method for you, as your rice will have nice crunchy texture. Perfect for stir-fries!

How to Store Riced Cauliflower?

If you’ve made more cauliflower rice than you need or just want to prepare more, so that you have it close at hand when needed, you can store it either in the fridge or the freezer. 

• In the fridge. Put the riced vegetable in a Ziploc bag or an airtight container and then store it in the refrigerator about 3-4 days (depending on how fresh your cauliflower is).

• Freezer. Put the veggie rice in a Ziploc bag. Then press gently to remove the air and seal the bag tightly. Alternatively, you may use an airtight container. Label with the date and store in the freezer for as long as a month.

How to Make Cauliflower Rice Taste Delicious?

If you’re still hesitant about making cauliflower rice a part of your weekly menu…these cooking tips will convince you that it can be delicious.

Simple Stir-Fry

You can add some flavor and make the cauliflower taste more delicious by stir-frying it.  Here’s how to do it:

• Firstly, sauté it with some olive oil. 
• Then add salt and pepper to taste.
• Stir in your favorite herbs and spices.

Three Delicious Cauliflower Rice Flavors To Try

Since cauliflower has a very mild to neutral flavor, you may want some more ideas about how to turn it into a tasty and flavorful dish. Here are three ways to season cauliflower rice, so that it tastes amazingly delicious:

1. Fried rice. In a pan heat some olive oil and add the cauliflower rice. Then, stir in 2-3 cloves of minced garlic, grated ginger as well as tamari sauce.  Finally, top with toasted sesame seeds and enjoy!

2. Spicy. If you love spicy dishes, then you can season your rice with garlic, mint or oregano, hot paprika, or crushed red pepper. You can also add some coriander, cumin as well as bell peppers. 

3. Italian Style. Italian cuisine lovers can season the riced vegetable with pesto, garlic, and some tomato sauce. Then top with some grated cheese and enjoy!

Is Cauliflower Rice Better For You Than Rice

I mean, can I be any more obvious here? Of course, it is healthier, there’s just zero doubt about it. But if you’re wondering, here are 3 great reasons cauliflower rice is a better choice for your health than regular rice (white or brown):

• Low In Calories and Rich In Protein And Fiber. I am not kidding here when I say that rice made out of cauliflower packs a ton of protein at the cost of almost no calories. In fact, one cup of riced cauliflower has only 27 calories and provides 2 grams of protein, as well as 2 grams of fiber. Which makes it extremely satisfying. In comparison, a cup of cooked white rice has around 200 calories, 4 grams of protein and 0.6 grams of fiber. Now, of course, a cup of rice has more protein, but it also has around nine times the calories. So, if you’re thinking about switching to riced cauliflower, because you’re wanting to lose fat – it’s definitely the better choice.
• Rich In Essential Vitamins And Minerals. Cauliflower is extremely nutritious, and believe me – grating or chopping it won’t get rid of the variety of vitamins and minerals this healthy vegetable provides. Riced cauliflower is packed with the vitamins C & K, folate, as well as potassium. All of these nutrients are “essential” which means, your body needs enough of them in order to stay healthy and functional, and cauliflower can help with that!
• Prevents Chronic Disease. As a consequence of the last point – enjoying cauliflower regularly can help to prevent chronic diseases like cancer, auto-immune disorders and diabetes. But, there’s more than that. Because other than essential nutrients, you can find powerful non-essential compounds in cauliflower that benefit your health in multiple ways. These compounds are called glucosinolates and are basically like free natural medicine that helps your body heal itself on a daily basis. This way damage done to your body cells cannot compound over time, thus preventing an array of chronic diseases.

How to Use Cauliflower Rice in Recipes?

Basically, you can use cauliflower rice as a substitute in all recipes that call for white rice. You can incorporate it into soups, one-pan dishes, stir-fries, etc. And if you have some picky eaters at home, then add it to rice dishes as a hidden veg. Here are some ideas to get you inspired:

• Pesto Chicken Cauliflower Rice
• Spicy Ground Turkey Cauliflower Rice
• Easy Salmon & Rice
• Vegetable Cauliflower Fried Rice
• Cauliflower Garlic Bread
• Cauliflower Gnocchi

Well, I hope you enjoyed this guide on how to make cauliflower rice at home and I hope I encouraged you to try it yourself!