Cut the carbs and greasy take-out and still get your chicken fried rice fix with this 25-minute chicken cauliflower fried rice recipe. Cauliflower fried rice is a delicious, easy, and healthy fried rice substitute!
Guys, I’m really excited to share this Chicken Cauliflower Fried Rice recipe with you. Not only is it a sneaky way to add in more veggies into your diet, but it’s also a great way to, well, eat more fried rice.
Because fried rice is pretty awesome, if you ask me.
While you could make your typical fried rice more healthy just by subbing brown rice for white rice, I like taking it another step further on the wild side and turning cauliflower into rice.
I know, I’m quite wild. Watch out.
But I adore cauliflower recipes and this cauliflower fried rice recipe is one of my faves. And, since I didn’t want to make just a delicious side dish, I paired the cauliflower fried rice with chicken and ta-dah - chicken stir fry with cauliflower rice. I am so glad I learned how to make cauliflower rice for this recipe.
You have absolutely no reason to wait for cheat days to enjoy chicken fried rice if you combine the chicken with the low carb fried rice because the chicken and cauliflower rice is clean, healthy, low-calorie, and low carb.
Amazeballs!
So, next time you’re thinking about ordering take out fried rice, try this 25-minute chicken cauliflower fried rice and skip all the unnecessary grease, carbs, and money.
HOW TO MAKE CAULIFLOWER FRIED RICE
If you never made cauliflower rice before, you’re probably wondering how the amazing cauliflower can turn into rice? Or how to make cauliflower fried rice. Well, let me start by telling you the process of making cauliflower fried rice involves only 2 simple steps. Woot! You basically break raw cauliflower into tiny, rice-size pieces and then cook them until tender. Here’s how to make cauliflower rice:
- Grate cauliflower (keep reading for detailed steps about this part);
- Cook the cauliflower rice into a pan with sesame seed oil over medium-high heat.
How long to cook cauliflower rice - until it's tender, approximately 5-8 minutes.
What to do with cauliflower rice – try cauliflower rice recipes with chicken like my chicken cauliflower fried rice. I like to add diced chicken and scrambled egg into this chicken cauliflower fried rice recipe, but you can easily just leave those out if you’re looking to keep it vegan or go vegetarian. Both are good, but I prefer mine with the chicken and egg.
There are a few more options you can try if the cauliflower chicken fried rice is not for you or if you have dietary restrictions that prevent from following my recipe as it is right now.
How to make cauliflower fried rice vegan:
If you’d prefer to make this cauliflower fried rice recipe vegan, you’d just need to leave out the chicken and eggs. You can replace with some tofu, if you’d like.
How to make cauliflower fried rice gluten-free or paleo:
If looking to make this cauliflower fried rice recipe gluten-free, you can replace the soy sauce with coconut aminos. Otherwise, no other substitutions are required!
WHAT IS CAULIFLOWER RICE?
If you’ve never made homemade cauliflower rice before, it’s pretty much a game changer. It totally mimics the look and feel of white rice, but has so much more fiber and nutrients and fewer carbs, too.
As to whether or not cauliflower is better for you than rice, the short answer is YES. Cauliflower is basically a powerhouse of goodness.
Cauliflower is loaded with nutrients including:
- fiber;
- vitamins C;
- vitamin K;
- vitamin B6;
- potassium.
Plus cauliflower has 25 calories per cup versus 218 per cup of cooked brown rice. And cauliflower has 5g carbs per cup versus 46g carbs for a cup of brown rice. And that’s brown rice! Amazing, right?
Calories in cauliflower fried rice? If you make the chicken stir fry with cauliflower rice – only 377 kcal per serving.
HOW TO RICE CAULIFLOWER
To make cauliflower rice, you have a few options, which I’ve listed below:
- Use a kitchen grater and grate the cauliflower by hand into small, rice-size pieces;
- Use a food processor to make quick work of the cauliflower, florets by floret.
The food processor makes quick and easy work of the cauliflower, but it is easier to puree the cauliflower, as compared to using the kitchen grater. If using a grater, keep the cauliflower whole and grate as you would cheese. If using a processor, break the cauliflower into florets – it may be necessary to do this in 2-3 batches.
HOW TO FREEZE CHICKEN CAULIFLOWER RICE
While making cauliflower rice stir fry is extremely easy to do, you might have extra on your hands and need to freeze it for later. Fortunately, the low carb cauliflower fried rice freezes very well — just follow these easy steps:
How to freeze cauliflower rice:
- add the cauliflower rice to a freezer safe bag or storage container;
- place in the freezer.
If using a bag, I recommend either quart or gallon size and then freezing flat first on a baking sheet so it freezes flat.
To reheat healthy cauliflower rice:
You can cook the cauliflower rice straight from the freezer in a covered fry pan.
- If you are reheating frozen cauliflower fried rice, just add the entire contents straight from the freezer into a large fry pan, cover, and cook until heated through.
- Once fully heated through, remove the lid and allow for some of the additional moisture to cook out.
HOW LONG DOES CHICKEN CAULIFLOWER FRIED RICE LAST?
This chicken cauliflower fried rice will last in the fridge for 3-4 days if you store it properly in an airtight container or Ziploc bag.
In the freezer, cauliflower rice, cauliflower fried rice, and chicken cauliflower fried rice last for up to 6 months.
3 MORE HEALTHY CAULIFLOWER RECIPES
Seriously though, let’s take a moment to discuss how crazy awesome cauliflower is. It’s such a sneaky vegetable that can be added to so many recipes. For example, here are some more yummy cauliflower recipes you should try. All of these are great cauliflower recipes that we very much love and have enjoyed a ton of times.
CREAMY PARMESAN CAULIFLOWER MASHED POTATOES
The Creamy Parmesan Cauliflower Mashed Potatoes are a great low-carb, low-calorie, healthy, and yummy alternative to traditional mashed potatoes. Not identical but delicious nonetheless.
The Creamy Parmesan Cauliflower Mashed Potatoes have the perfect creamy texture, can be easily adjusted for paleo and vegan diets, and they are easy to make. Get the recipe.
HOW TO MAKE CAULIFLOWER PIZZA CRUST + MY GO-TO CAULIFLOWER PIZZA RECIPES
Learn How To Make Cauliflower Pizza Crust and try My Go-To Cauliflower Pizza Recipe. Healthier crust = healthier pizza. Which means being able to enjoy pizza any time you want.
The How To Make Cauliflower Pizza Crust My Go-To Cauliflower Pizza Recipe post includes the cauliflower pizza crust recipe, tips for making cauliflower pizza crust, plus a delicious pizza recipe you can use to test the cauliflower crust. Get the recipe.
CAULIFLOWER TORTILLAS (JUST 42 CALORIES!)
Make Cauliflower Tortillas (Just 42 Calories!) and then enjoy all your favorite Mexican foods guilt-free.
Cauliflower tortillas are amazing gluten-free and clean eating approved tortillas you can use to make enchiladas, tacos, burritos, and many other amazing foods. Get the recipe.
25 Minute Chicken Cauliflower Fried Rice
Chicken Cauliflower Fried Rice
Equipment
*This post may contain affiliate links for products I use often and highly recommend.
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoon sesame oil, divided
- 1 lb chicken breasts, boneless skinless
- ½ teaspoon sea salt
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
- 1 large head cauliflower
- 2 carrots, finely diced
- 1 cup (frozen) edamame
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 5 stalks green onion, sliced
- 3 tablespoon low sodium soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon peanut butter
- 1 teaspoon chili paste
- 2 eggs
Instructions
- Heat a large pan over medium-high heat and add some sesame oil.
- Season the boneless, skinless chicken breasts with kosher salt and pepper, then place into the hot oil.
- Cook for 4-6 minutes per side, turning occasionally, or until the chicken is cooked through.
- Once it’s cooked through, remove from the pan, dice into bite-size pieces, and set aside.
- To make the cauliflower rice, grate a head of cauliflower using a kitchen grater (or you can also use a food processor).
- Once you’ve grated all the cauliflower, add to that same pan, adding a little more sesame oil if needed.
- Cook the cauliflower rice over med-high heat until tender. Then, remove from the pan and set aside.
- Add the diced carrots into the empty pan and cook until they’re mostly tender, followed by the low sodium soy sauce, peanut butter, and chili paste and stir to combine.
- Add the frozen edamame, minced garlic, and sliced green onions, and cook until heated through. Return the cauliflower rice and diced chicken back to the pan, and stir to incorporate.
- Push the fried chicken cauliflower rice mixture to one side of the skillet and pour the eggs into the empty side of the pan and then scramble. Once the eggs are mostly scrambled, break up with a spatula and combine with the rice mixture.
- Serve hot, topped with sliced green onions, if desired.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
This post contains affiliate links for products I use regularly and highly recommend.
Ashley
This was extremely tasty. My family is so very picky, and anything that gets replaced by a healthier alternative is instantly rejected. I've learned the hard way to tell them what it is right away instead of trying to pass it off as something else...heh heh.. So needless to say they were very skeptical. (None of us love cauliflower) My 17 year old had two heaping platefuls, and everyone else (somewhat grudgingly I might add) had to admit it was very good. I LOVED it. This will be a new staple recipe. Thank you!!!
Rishi Sharma
Hi
I liked your creativity a lot. I think that we have to boil separately both rice and cauliflower because the texture of each is different. I try it once in my kitchen.
Thanks for sharing your recipe..
Rachel
This was so good. Lower carb, high protein and satisfying. Held up well in the refrigerator for a week. Made the recipe again to freeze.
Thank you!
FARIDA BANU
Wow! The combination of cauliflower, peanut butter, eggs is super.
Lacey Baier
So glad you agree!
patty wentz
How can I replace endamame. We dont like it....
Lacey Baier
You can use peas if those are preferred.
Dustin
This sounds good again 🙂
Lacey Baier
Yea, it really does! Good thing it's easy to make 🙂
Confidence
Hi Lacey,
I am still waiting for your reply for my question posted earlier. What is a great substitute for edamame used in this meal?
Ingrid
I used Fava Beans
Lacey Baier
Great idea, Ingrid!
Lacey Baier
You can use regular peas, fresh or frozen, snap peas, or snow peas for an easy substitute 🙂
Lacey Baier
You can use regular peas, fresh or frozen, snap peas, or snow peas for an easy substitute 🙂 Do you have any of those where you're at?
Confidence
Hi there,
I live in Nigeria and I am currently transitioning to a more healthy lifestyle which includes eating clean, so your blog has been very helpful.
However, I will be asking for subbys a lot of times because some of the ingredients you use can't be found at at local grocery stores in my Nigerian city .
For this recipe, I can find all the ingredients except edamame. What are the possible substitutes?