Homemade Cauliflower Rice Recipe (2024)

Ingredient Notes

• Cauliflower: You’ll need a whole head of cauliflower. Remove the green leaves and core and chop into chunks.
• Garlic: You’ll need one clove minced.
• Extra-virgin Olive Oil: You could also use butter or a neutral cooking oil. Better yet try roasted garlic oil for a boost of delicious garlic flavor.
• Broth: This is key to getting that clumpy rice-like texture! You can use a veggie broth to make this recipe vegan.
• Salt and Pepper: To season.

How To Make Cauliflower Rice Taste Good (Optional Ingredients)

• Celery: Celery is one of the optional ingredients that I add to my cauliflower rice to elevate the flavor and make it taste less like cauliflower and give it a homestyle flavor.
• Scallions or Green Onion: Scallion is optional, but I encourage you to add it because the taste of the allium mixed with the cooked riced cauliflower can help to cut any sulfurous flavors.
• Rosemary: I love the way rosemary tastes in cauliflower rice, but feel free to omit it depending on what you are pairing your cauli rice with. You can also sub in dried herbs in small amounts.

How to make Cauliflower Rice

Step 1: Rice The Cauliflower

To rice the cauliflower, cut it into chunks. Then pulse it in the food processor (right photo) in two to three batches (depending on the size of your head of cauliflower.) If the food processor is too full, you may end up with a few large pieces that remain intact. Simply, pull them out, dump the granulated “rice” into a bowl, and reprocess the large chunks.

Alternatively, you can rice the cauliflower by hand on a box grater (left photo.) Take caution not to get your fingers too close to the cutting surface. Using a protective glove can help!

Step 2: Saute Veggies and Aromatics

Heat the oil (or butter if using) in the skillet and add in the garlic to cook it in the oil before adding the riced cauliflower. If using the optional ingredients add in scallion whites, celery and rosemary. Saute until the garlic is fragrant, the scallion whites are translucent and the celery is starting to soften.

Step 3: Add Riced Cauliflower and Cook

Add the cauliflower, salt and pepper coating with the scallion mixture. Cook, stirring often until you start to notice browned cauliflower when you stir along the edges of the skillet, 3 to 4 minutes.

Add broth, stir to combine and increase heat to high. Cook stirring often until the cauliflower is cooked but not mushy, 3 to 4 minutes. Stir in scallion greens. Remove from the heat and serve.

Leftovers and Meal Prep

Storage: We love using cauliflower rice for meal prep and to reheat leftovers. Transfer the cooked and cooled cauliflower rice to glass storage containers and refrigerate up to 5 days.

Reheat: Reheat until steaming hot in the microwave for about 90 seconds on high per serving. Alternatively reheat on the stovetop in a saucepan with a little broth, stirring often over medium heat.

To Freeze

You can freeze this side dish after it is cooked but we think it is even better to rice the cauliflower, freeze it and then cook it from frozen.

To freeze it: Lay a sheet of parchment on a large, rimmed baking sheet. Spread the riced cauliflower out on the parchment and transfer the baking sheet to the freezer. Once frozen, break up large chunks and transfer the cauliflower rice to a resealable plastic freezer bag and freeze up to 1 month. Cook from frozen in step 3, adding a few additional minutes of timing to thaw it out.

What To Serve with Cauliflower Rice

Try it with lighter comfort foods like Chicken a la King, Chicken Paprika. I use it instead of rice to serve with stir-fried veggies and curries, and Chicken and Veggie Stir-fry. Use it in place of quinoa in these Chicken and Quinoa Bowls. If you skip the optional ingredients it is pretty neutral in flavor, and really a blank canvas for whatever you want to pair with it or add to it.

Why is my cauliflower rice mushy?

This can happen if there is too much moisture in the pan and the cauliflower cooks through before the liquid evaporates. Make sure you are using a large skillet and try not to double the recipe.

Does cauliflower rice get soggy in soup?

We love adding cauliflower rice to soup but it can get soggy if it is overcooked. Add the raw riced cauliflower into the soup. Time it so that it is only cooking for the last three minutes. This will prevent it from getting soggy or mushy.

Why is my cauliflower rice brown?

Just like heads of whole cauliflower that browns in storage, the same can happen with riced cauliflower. Store bought riced cauliflower in bags can get brown as it oxidizes. To prevent this, check your expiration dates before purchasing and use within a few days. Or follow our tips in this recipe to make rice your own cauliflower.

How do you thicken cauliflower rice?

This is counterintuitive but to make cooked cauliflower rice have a thicker clumpy texture like cooked regular rice you should actually cut it more finely. I like the food processor for this. If you cut the cauliflower into more coarse grains they will not stick together. Also, it is key to use just a little liquid with the freshly chopped riced cauliflower to get it to clump up and thicken. This softens the cauliflower. Note that it is hard to thicken frozen cauliflower rice as it is usually larger “grains” so it is important not to add too much excess moisture to it.

Is cauliflower rice good for you?

Yes! Cauliflower is low in calories and high in vitamins and nutrients. This cauliflower rice recipe has only about a third of the calories of the same volume of white rice. Consider swapping out lower-calorie sides that fill up your plate and belly with fiber and volume.

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