Cauliflower Fried Rice is tasty low carb stir fry even your kids will think it is real fried rice. Skip the Chinese takeout and have this healthy dinner ready in 15 minutes!
Thai cauliflower rice and Mexican cauliflower rice are on repeat in this house as well!
Table of Contents
If you’ve been on the hunt for a lighter version of your favorite Chinese takeout, I’m a huge cheerleader for this cauliflower fried rice!
This life-saving way of whipping up a quick and easy weeknight meal has come in handy when I don’t have time to cook or my well-intentioned meal planning goes out the window.
This is one of the easiest cauliflower rice recipes that I get zero complaints about!
Just like with egg roll in a bowl, in just 15 minutes, you’ve got a low carb stir fry meal that entire family loves. My boys thought it was Instant Pot chicken fried rice the first time I made it. So, you know it’s delicious!
No one will know the difference! Most people end up liking this low carb version even better.
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- Convenience. Made in 15 minutes with a bag of store-bought cauliflower rice. It’s cheap too!
- Taste. It’s got all the flavor of traditional fried rice without all the MSG, extra oils, and added calories.
- Mess-free. Not flying bits of cauliflower when you use store-bought cauliflower rice in recipes.
- Healthy. Low carb, tons of veggies, keto-friendly, and flexible enough to mix in all the good things!
Ingredients You Will Need
- Cauliflower rice
- Peas and carrots
- Eggs
- Green onion
- Soy sauce
- Maple syrup or honey
- Oil, I used toasted sesame oil
- Garlic and ginger
How to Make Cauliflower Fried Rice
All stir-fried recipes like teriyaki chicken and cauliflower, for example, move quickly! This cauliflower fried rice is no different, so have all the ingredients ready to go!
1. Saute onion, garlic, ginger, carrot, and peas for 4-5 minutes in a large skillet. The larger skillet, the more “fried” vs. steamed your vegetables will be. This is because there is more room for the pieces to spread apart. Too close and they can become mushy.
2. Push vegetables to the side and add eggs. Cook until eggs are scrambled.
3. Add cauliflower rice and cook until warmed through. The key is not to overcook the cauliflower otherwise it starts to release the water. Since we can eat raw cauliflower anyway, we only need to cook it for 2-3 minutes.
4. Push cauliflower rice to the side and add honey and soy sauce. If using thick honey, a hot skillet is perfect for melting it.
5. Sprinkle with green onion. Serve immediately and enjoy!
Variations of Cauliflower Fried Rice
- Make cauliflower chicken fried rice. Use ground chicken or finely chopped boneless chicken breast and sauté first in the pan before adding the other ingredients. Pork works the same way.
- For shrimp fried rice, cook diced raw shrimp first, transfer to a plate, then follow the recipe as directed. Add back the cooked shrimp at the end to warm through. If you use cooked shrimp, dice it and add it at the end.
- Plant-based protein: Toss in air fryer tofu or here is quick recipe on how to fry tofu.
- Make spicy rice by adding a pinch of red pepper flakes or a few teaspoons of sriracha.
Tips for Best Results
- Buy a few bags of fresh cauliflower rice and freeze. This way you can always make yummy, quick, and, healthy dinners like cauliflower risotto.
- If you have picky eaters, store-bought cauliflower rice has a coarse texture that closely resembles real rice grains because it’s made with only the stems. I throw in a bag at the end when making Instant Pot goulash and nobody ever notices the hidden veggies.
- Avoiding eggshells. If you’re worried about bits of eggshells falling into your skillet, crack the egg into a separate bowl first. Fish out any pieces and then add them to the skillet.
FAQs
Yes! Do not thaw it. If you defrost cauliflower rice before cooking, it will be soggy and make cauliflower stir fry a watery mess. Even for cauliflower pizza crust and cauliflower breadsticks, I never thaw frozen rice first to make “the dough”.
You can, for sure. You can either use store-bought “rice” or here is a quick tutorial on how to make cauliflower rice at home.
More likely it’s overcooked. Just cook cauliflower rice for a maximum of 3 minutes!
If you don’t add chicken like me, then baked chicken breast would be perfect to go with rice. Try grilled salmon or an Asian-inspired crispy honey garlic salmon.
How to Store and Reheat
You can refrigerate leftover cauliflower fried rice for up to 2-3 days. It won’t get soggy as all ingredients are pretty firm. Can also make it ahead for same reason. Perfect for easy lunch!
Freeze this recipe for 2-3 months.
Reheat in a microwave or quickly in a pan. Saute in preheated skillet on high heat for maximum 2 minutes, so it doesn’t get soggy. Kind of stir fry super fast again.
More Recipes with Cauliflower
- Cilantro lime cauliflower rice
- Cheesy cauliflower rice
- Cauliflower mashed potatoes
- Air fryer cauliflower
- Shepherd’s pie with cauliflower
- Cheesy cauliflower steaks
I hope you enjoy this recipe! Also I recommend you browse this popular collection of cauliflower rice recipes.
Cauliflower Fried Rice Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 small onion finely chopped
- 1 garlic clove minced
- 1 tbsp ginger minced
- 1 large carrot diced
- 1 cup peas fresh or frozen
- 2 tbsp toasted sesame oil
- 4 eggs large
- 16 oz bag of cauliflower rice fresh or frozen
- 1 tbsp honey or maple syrup
- 3 tbsp soy sauce
- 3 onion sprigs finely chopped
Instructions
- Preheat large ceramic non-stick skillet on medium-high heat and swirl oil to coat. Add onion, garlic, ginger, carrot, peas and cook for 4-5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Push vegetables to the side and add eggs. Cook until scrambled, stirring constantly.
- Add cauliflower rice, stir and cook until warmed through.
- Push cauliflower rice to the side and add honey and soy sauce, stir well. Sprinkle with green onion and serve.
Video
Notes
- Store: Refrigerate in an airtight container for up to 3 days.
- You can make your own cauliflower rice but I prefer store-bought because it saves time and its coarse texture resembles more real rice than homemade.
- Make cauliflower chicken fried rice. Use ground chicken or finely chopped boneless chicken breast and saute first in a pan before adding other ingredients. Pork works the same way.
- Make shrimp cauliflower fried rice by cooking diced raw shrimp first. Remove it onto a plate, follow the recipe and then add cooked shrimp back. If you use cooked shrimp, dice and add it at the end of cooking the recipe.
- Make spicy cauliflower fried rice by adding a pinch of red pepper flakes or a few teaspoons of sriracha.
Amazing recipes , simple to follow and delicious to taste .
Thank you Olena for the effort you are putting for all of us to have a great meal on the table and make all our life’s easier
Thank you for your positive feedback and kind words Elizabeta!
Loved this recipe!! Delicious.
This was my first attempt to use cauliflower rice! I can’t believe a recipe this good is not written on the package.
Haha. Yay! Awesome to hear. Thank you for your wonderful review, Margaret!
Fantastic & delicious alternative to carb, the family love it
Yay. Glad you liked it.
Super easy recipe. I have made several times. Great as a side dish.
Thank you!!!
Delicious! Even my teenager loves it!
Thank you for your wonderful review, Megan. That’s the best when teenagers love smth lol. I own one right now too.
I look at cauliflower rice every me I’m in produce department. Just didn’t know what to do with it. Thank you for this recipe, we enjoy all the foods listed so the finished dish will be well received.
I so enjoy following your e-mail messages/recipes. I’m not that good a searching the web.
Awe. Happy to help. I have more recipes with cauliflower rice coming!
In my country, rice is part of our Daily menú. With this recipe i can made “rice” more healthy!
Thanks
Yup. I agree. So happy to help.
I just tried this after a failed attempt the previous night. Because I didn’t read the tips and variations before trying to make it, I did thaw the cauliflower rice (steamable bag) and just used a different frozen bag of cauliflower when I saw (finally) saw the tip. Alas, the frozen was a horrible wet sloppy mess. So, I restrategized. I took the thawed cauliflower rice and strained it in a fine mesh strainer (cheesecloth would also work). I re-prepped veggies and put everything in containers in the fridge. Voila. The cauliflower had dried out more and I was ready to go! This time, it was fantastic. Plan on making it again and subbing the soy sauce for liquid aminos. Thanks for the recipe!
Interesting. I do not overcook frozen one and it comes out perfect every time. But glad you made it work.:)
This really does taste like fried rice. I used fried kielbasa and only 2 eggs. My family will not go near cauliflower but I bet they won’t know! Thank you!!!!
You are very welcome, Crystal!