How to Make Cauliflower Rice
It is super-easy to learn how to make cauliflower rice! All you need is a food chopper (I use a small, dinky one), coconut oil, and sea salt, and you’re set! This recipe is a delicious grain-free alternative for countless dishes! {Paleo + Vegan}
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 6 minutes
- Total Time: 26 minutes
- Yield: 2 servings 1x
- Category: Side Dishes
- Method: Sauté
- Diet: Gluten Free
Ingredients
Scale
- 1 head cauliflower
- 5–6 tablespoons coconut oil
- 1/4 teaspoon sea salt
Instructions
- Break a head of cauliflower into small florets and trim off the long stalks. From there, continue to break the florets into even smaller pieces. The florets do not need to be uniform in size, but you may find that the smaller you can break them into pieces by hand, the easier the chopping process will be. Go back and trim off any remaining long stalks that you find.
- Put a handful of florets into a chopper (I just use a small $15 chopper that works just fine), and pulse quickly about 5-6 times or until the florets start to resemble rice granules.
- Melt the coconut oil in a sauté pan, add the sea salt, and pour in the cauliflower rice. Sauté on a medium heat for about 5-6 minutes, stirring frequently. Cook longer for softer cauliflower rice. You may find that the cauliflower cooks unevenly. If it does, cover it with a lid and let it steam for about a minute or so. If it cooks hot and starts to burn before it’s cooked through, add more coconut oil, about a tablespoon or so.
- Serve warm in place of rice, potatoes, or any other grain or starch you’d like. For a garlicky rice, add a few cloves of fresh pressed garlic at the start of cooking.
Notes
- I have found that quick pulses in a chopper work best because the quick motions chop the cauliflower into rice-like granules without going overboard. When the florets are chopped too much, they are more likely to turn mushy during the cooking process. If you have any stubborn florets that refuse to chop, remove them from the current batch and add them to the next round. Do not over-chop an entire batch for a few pieces of cauliflower, as I have done in the past. You’ll likely wind up with a huge mushy mess. I typically have a few stubborn pieces each round, and I either add them to the next batch or set them aside and throw them all in at once for even chopping.
- Add sea salt in about 1/4-teaspoon increments. How much you ultimately add will depend on your palate and the size of the head of cauliflower you are working with.