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!
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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.
Wow. This was a game changer- husband approved. Perfect to satisfy that craving for fried rice. I’ll
So glad to hear you loved it!
Thank you for the recipe. It was delicious I made chicken fried rice. My mother is a diabetes& high blood pressure. So I try to be very careful on the sodium& low carbs
So glad you enjoyed the recipe!
I’m Chinese and of course really struggled when I had to swap out rice in my diet and have frozen cauli-rice permanently in my fridge. I typically resort to having it plain with other dishes and this was the first time I attempted a fried rice dish. TBH I was abit dubious with cooking the frozen straight up (since it went into the wok an iceberg) but I was very surprised how it all came out. You heard it here first – it will be a rotation in our household.
As per family recipe though, I omitted the honey and also added dark soy sauce, sesame oil, and white pepper. Almost like the real deal – don’t miss rice at all! Thanks for the recipe.
Thanks Christine for the review, so glad you enjoyed it!
Fantastic recipe, Olena! It was very satisfying, yet not heavy. And just like your kids, my family didn’t guess it was not actual rice! 🙂 I added some corn for half of the peas, which made it even more colorful. It will be a staple recipe with us! 🙂 Thanks!
Right?! So happy to hear your entire family loved it, Irene!
I used mixed veggies and justegg (plant based) instead of real eggs to make it vegan as well as omitting the oil. My family loved it so much there was none left and gone before I could take a picture. =)
I’m so happy your family loved the recipe. Thanks for sharing that with me!
Awesome! I want it to have a bit more kick….do you think 1 more tbsp of soy sauce will do the trick? Plus I can add the red pepper flakes…any other suggestions? It went great with orange chicken!
Red pepper flakes or sriracha will do it.
This recipe was amazing
I am so happy to hear this!!!
This is amazing…absolutely lit…
Yay! So happy to hear!
Took me 30 minutes to cook the carrots. I made the dish again. This time I started with olive oil, garlic,green onions, sweet onions, I added carrots, peas, eggs ,broccoli,1 tsp honey, 2 tbsp soy sauce ,cauliflower was last. It was delicious.
🙂
This can’t be good for me cause it taste amazing. Wow! Thanks
But it is good for you!