Given white rice is a staple food to many Japanese cuisines, cauliflower rice is a staple food to a lot of our recipes. We’ve experimented quite a bit on different ways to prepare cauliflower rice and thought it’d be helpful to share what we found out along the way!
I will start by saying that no matter how we prepare it, we can’t find a way to exactly replicate the texture of sticky rice. I think the taste of cauliflower rice comes somewhat close, it’s a little sweet and soft like rice, but just missing that sticky profile of white rice.
So if you can get past that, I actually find cauliflower rice quite tasty. My father in law, who was one of the biggest advocates for white rice, now actually prefers cauliflower rice saying he doesn’t feel bloated afterward.
Cauliflower rice is the low-carb/keto substitute for white rice with only 3g net carbs per serving, compared to 45g net carbs found in white rice!! So if there is one thing to cut out from your typical Asian diet, white rice should be high on the priority list.
And the good part of cauliflower rice is that it’s really easy to prepare! The easiest way would be to throw it in a bowl, cover it using a wet paper towel and microwave for 3-4 minutes.
But if you’re looking for a little more flavor, you can use either butter or neutral cooking oil to give it a little more of a crunchy texture like fried rice. You can even add to that by adding some garlic into the mix. You can even make some porridge type dish from cauliflower rice.
Below are all the different ways to prepare cauliflower rice so hopefully one of these will make you adopt this low-carb/keto staple food!
Tasting notes on these will vary depending on which version you are making, but the quick highlights are regular Cauliflower Rice mimics soft white rice.
Butter Cauliflower Rice takes the texture of soft white rice and adds butter flavor.
Fried Cauliflower Rice would present a firmer texture to what you find in fried rice.
Garlic Butter Fried Cauliflower Rice adds garlic butter flavor to the firmer fried rice texture.
And finally, the Cauliflower Porridge with Bonito Flakes would be more of a soupy base perfect for the mornings.
If you plan on making the porridge version, you will need Bonito Flakes, which can be purchased on Amazon or a local Asian supermarket.
Now, let’s get started!
Cooking Time 5MTotal Time 5M
Net Carb/Serv ~3g
Servings 1.5 Cup
Ingredients
Regular Cauliflower Rice
- 1.5 Cup Cauliflower Rice (frozen – do not thaw)
Butter Cauliflower Rice
- 1.5 Cup Cauliflower Rice (frozen – do not thaw)
- 1 tbsp Butter (preferably grass fed)
Fried Cauliflower Rice
- 1.5 Cup Cauliflower Rice (frozen – do not thaw)
- 1 tbsp Neutral Cooking Oil (oil with no taste)
Garlic Butter Fried Cauliflower Rice
- 1.5 Cup Cauliflower Rice (frozen – do not thaw)
- 1 tbsp Neutral Cooking Oil (oil with no taste)
- 1 tbsp Butter (preferably grass fed)
- 1 Garlic Clove
Cauliflower Porridge with Bonito Flakes
- 1.5 Cup Cauliflower Rice (frozen – do not thaw)
- 1 Cup Water
- 1 tbsp Bonito Flakes
- 1/8 tsp Salt
Directions
Regular Cauliflower Rice
1) Gather all the ingredients.
2) In a large Teflon frying pan, place on high heat and bring up to temp (about 1 minute). Add cauliflower rice, stir often and cook for 4-5 minutes or until desired texture is reached.
Quick Method – Place cauliflower rice into a microwaveable safe bowl and place a wet paper towel over the bowl. Microwave on high for 3-4 minutes until heated through.
Butter Cauliflower Rice
1) Gather all the ingredients.
2) In a large Teflon frying pan, melt butter on high heat. Once butter is melted, add cauliflower rice. Stir often and cook for 4-5 minutes or until desired texture is reached.
Fried Cauliflower Rice
1) Gather all the ingredients.
2) In a large Teflon frying pan, add oil on high heat. Once oil starts to lightly smoke, add cauliflower rice, stir often and cook for 2-3 minutes or until desired texture is reached.
Garlic Butter Fried Cauliflower Rice
1) Gather all the ingredients.
2) Grate garlic with a grater and set aside.
3) In a large Teflon frying pan, add oil on high heat. Once the oil starts to lightly smoke, add cauliflower rice, stir often and cook for 3 minutes.
4) After 3 minutes, add grated garlic and butter. Continue to cook for 1-2 more minutes or until desired texture is reached.
Cauliflower Porridge with Bonito Flakes
1) Gather all the ingredients.
2) In a stove top pot, add water and bring water to boil on high. Once boiling, reduce heat to medium and add cauliflower rice, salt and Bonito Flakes. Cook for 4 minutes or until desired ‘soft’ texture is attained and serve with liquid.
Hope you found our ways of cooking low-carb/keto Cauliflower Rice helpful!
If you’re looking for other recipe ideas, be sure to check out our growing Recipe Index full of Asian inspired recipes!
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Cauliflower Rice
Ingredients
Regular Cauliflower Rice
- 1.5 Cup Cauliflower Rice (frozen - do not thaw)
Butter Cauliflower Rice
- 1.5 Cup Cauliflower Rice (frozen - do not thaw)
- 1 tbsp Butter preferably grass fed
Fried Cauliflower Rice
- 1.5 Cup Cauliflower Rice (frozen - do not thaw)
- 1 tbsp Neutral Cooking Oil oil with no taste
Garlic Butter Fried Cauliflower Rice
- 1.5 Cup Cauliflower Rice (frozen - do not thaw)
- 1 tbsp Neutral Cooking Oil oil with no taste
- 1 Clove Garlic
- 1 tbsp Butter preferably grass fed
Cauliflower Porridge with Bonito Flakes
- 1.5 Cup Cauliflower Rice (frozen - do not thaw)
- 1 Cup Water
- 1 tbsp Bonito Flakes
- 1/8 tsp Salt
Instructions
Regular Cauliflower Rice
- Gather all the ingredients.
- In a large Teflon frying pan, place on high heat and bring up to temp (about 2 minutes). Add cauliflower rice, stir often and cook for 4-5 minutes or until desired texture is reached.
Butter Cauliflower Rice
- Gather all the ingredients.
- In a large Teflon frying pan, melt butter on high heat. Once butter is melted, add cauliflower rice. Stir often and cook for 4-5 minutes or until desired texture is reached.
Fried Cauliflower Rice
- Gather all the ingredients.
- In a large Teflon frying pan, add oil on high heat. Once oil starts to lightly smoke, add cauliflower rice, stir often and cook for 4-5 minutes or until desired texture is reached.
Garlic Butter Fried Cauliflower Rice
- Gather all the ingredients.
- Grate garlic with a grater and set aside.
- In a large Teflon frying pan, add oil on high heat. Once the oil starts to lightly smoke, add cauliflower rice, stir often and cook for 3 minutes.
- After three minutes, add grated garlic and butter. Continue to cook for 1-2 more minutes or until desired texture is reached.
Cauliflower Porridge with Bonito Flakes
- Gather all the ingredients.
- In a stove top pot, add water and bring water to boil on high. Once boiling, reduce heat to medium and add cauliflower rice, salt and bonito flakes. Cook for 4 minutes or until desired ‘soft’ texture is attained.
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