Who doesn’t love a hot fried rice with salty egg, perfectly cooked veggies, and crispy yet tender grains of rice. If you aren’t already drooling, the soy sauce and sesame oil are sure to excite your palate! Whether this is the first time or the 5th time you make this recipe it will be absolutely delicious. It tastes like the real thing for a third of the carbs, what could be better than that?
No More Chinese Take-Out
Let’s put it out there right now – we all miss take-out, especially Chinese food, and that’s okay. So what exactly does take-out entail? You call up a restaurant, place your order, wait anywhere from 35 to 90 minutes, scarf down greasy, over done, and most of the time sub-par food before falling deep into a food coma full of regret. Sound familiar?
With our Cauliflower Fried Rice you can make your “take-out” exactly to your liking and enjoy a delicious meal without feeling any regret! No matter what your skill level, cooking can be made simple and fun to do. This recipe is absolutely delicious and something you should definitely make ASAP, because we know; no matter how much you set aside for later it will still be eaten in minutes.
How to Make Cauliflower Fried Rice
Almost every keto dieter knows a good cauliflower rice is the staple for most low carb dishes, from pizza and burritos, to fried rice and paella. It makes delicious gluten free recipes and cooks super quickly, so you can have cauliflower rice taste like normal rice in half the cook time. No matter what you need cauliflower rice for, it’s important to know how to make it at home. You have a few options to make cauliflower rice at home:
- Grating it– This is a great way to make big rice pieces, but also a way to make pieces that are too small. Make sure whichever size grater you use is big enough to make a large grain rice for this recipe. We don’t want a big pile of super teeny tiny pieces.
- The food processor– This is by far our favorite way to make cauliflower rice at home. It’s super quick and super easy to make, so you can have a ton of rice done in minutes. Pro tip: Don’t put too much cauliflower in the processor at once or you may find the rice on the bottom gets too fine before the stuff on top.
- Buy it pre-made: Pre- made cauliflower rice is becoming more and more popular now a days making it easy to find in almost any grocery store. Walmart, Aldi, and Costco all have great prices on cauliflower rice that makes it easy to whip up fried rice any night of the week
No matter what way you decide to make your cauliflower rice, you’ll surely need this skill for more keto recipes in the future. So whip out the food processor and chop up a big batch, because this homemade cauliflower rice will freeze great for all future recipes too!
Consider reading our Costco Cauliflower Rice Review – you’ll also learn how to prepare it!
What Vegetables go in Fried Rice
Cauliflower is obviously a must when making fried rice, but so are the additional veggies. The vegetables that you add are up to you, but we love peas and carrots. Peas and carrots are higher in carbs than most veggies coming in at 10 net carbs per cup. If you prefer a more keto friendly mix you can try:
- Broccoli Florets- Small bite sized pieces of broccoli do a great job soaking up the sauce in this recipe.
- Bell Peppers- A few colored peppers add a nice crunch and sweetness to the fried rice which balances well with sriracha.
- Green Beans– Frozen green beans will work just as well with this recipe as a quick sub for frozen peas and carrots.
- Celery- This ones a bit weird we know, but adding some celery along with other vegetables can make for a good refreshing crunch in this dish.
The final thing to note is that no matter what vegetable you add, this recipe should still taste delicious. Don’t stress and keep trying new combos to make your perfect keto fried rice.
Tips for Making the Best Cauliflower Fried Rice
Using cauliflower rice can be challenging and skeptical for a lot of low carb dieters. Follow our tips for the perfect gluten free cauliflower fried rice every time!
Make it Crispy
The key to cooking cauliflower rice is making sure it’s crispy, or at least not wet… As cruciferous vegetables like cauliflower cook, they release water. To avoid a soggy gluten free cauliflower rice; make sure you throughly cook the rice to evaporate water. Once it’s crisp; after about 10 minutes you can toss in the garlic, onion and veggies to cook down for another 10 minutes. This keeps the rice crispy and dry so it doesn’t become soggy.
Cracking the Eggs
You may be nervous about adding the eggs, but don’t be! Once you do it you’ll realize how easy it is. You just crack the eggs one at a time in the bottom of the skillet and mix in with the cauliflower rice. Now, just add soy sauce, sesame oil, and combine. Garnish with sesame seeds and/ or green onions and you’ve created low carb Chinese take-out.
Don’t Over Cook the Eggs
Crispy rice, yet juicy moist eggs are the beset way to make cauliflower fried rice. If you make this recipe make sure you add in the eggs and just barely cook them to done before adding in the soy sauce. You are better off having them just slightly undercooked so they finish when the sauces are added into the stir fry.
Pack in Extra Flavor
Cauliflower fried rice is a healthy take on this stir fry style Asian dish. Don’t be afraid to add extra Asian flare with spices and ingredients that elevate the flavor. We love freshly grated ginger, 1/2 tsp fish sauce, and a bit of sriracha.
Can I Use Frozen Cauliflower Rice?
We get asked a lot if this cauliflower fried rice can be made with frozen cauliflower rice. The answer is yes! While a little more expensive, if you want to make cauliflower rice that’s frozen it will work just as well as the homemade stuff without any mess. Both options are keto and gluten free perfect for a stir fry. The only difference is that you will need to cook it a little longer if you use frozen rice because it is has extra water.
More Cauliflower Rice Dishes
If you made that big batch of cauliflower rice and are looking for more recipe ideas, we’ve got you covered. You can use cauliflower rice in a variety of dishes from Asian to Mexican food. Some of our favorite recipes are:
- Our 15 Minute Curried Cauliflower Rice– Enjoy the taste of India right from your own kitchen. Megha is the pro at creating delicious Indian dishes that are still keto friendly!
- Creamy Cauliflower Risotto– Extra creamy risotto made with cheese, butter, and fresh cream for a fine dining keto experience.
- One pan Lemon Sauced Chicken Thighs– This recipe tastes best over a base of sautéd cauliflower rice to absorb all the delicious lemon sauce.
- 3 Ingredient Cauliflower Hash Browns– Looking to make a typical American breakfast healthier? Try bacon, eggs, and keto cauliflower hash browns for the perfect low carb combo.
These are just a few cauliflower rice recipes, but cauliflower rice has many uses and even works great as an everyday side dish. Try out our Chinese fried rice recipe, but don’t forget to try these recipes out next time too!
Soy Sauce vs. Coconut Aminos
This recipe allows you to use both soy sauce or coconut aminos. Technically soy is not keto because it can be inflammatory. However, we often use a gluten free soy sauce like tamari to get that salty umami flavor without the wheat. This recipe can be made with low sodium soy sauce, but know it may have more carbs than tamari.
Coconut aminos on the other hand is made from the sap of a coconut flower and creates a great recipe that is no doubt keto friendly. Make sure you aren’t too heavy handed though as it is a little higher in total carbs from the natural sugars. Both soy sauce and coconut aminos will work for this recipe so just pick whichever you prefer.
Do I Have to Use Sesame Oil?
Both regular fried rice and this fried rice recipe use sesame oil. Sesame oil adds a ton of flavor especially when you buy toasted sesame oil. It’s a unique flavor you can’t get from any other oil which is why we say if you want a great recipe you definitely don’t want to leave it out. If you really don’t have any sesame oil to use in the recipe you can use olive oil, but if you really want to love this recipe you are going to need it!
What to Serve With Cauliflower Fried Rice
This cauliflower fried rice can make a great main or side dish. If you are looking to serve this alongside a keto dinner try pairing this recipe with another main protein. We often pair our fried rice with:
- Keto Kung Pao Chicken– Sweet, spicy, and certainly better than takeout this keto kung pao chicken is sure to knock your socks off!
- Low Carb Orange Chicken– If Panda express orange chicken and fried rice is one of your favorite dishes you’re sure to love these two recipes together.
- Easy Chicken Stir Fry– Everyone loves a flavor packed dinner that’s done in under 30 minutes. This chicken stir fry is made with a few veggies, oil, and chicken for a quick and nutritious meal.
These are all recipes, but that doesn’t mean you can’t just pick a protein to eat along side this fried rice. We will often grill up fish like salmon or tuna crusted with some sesame seeds for a delicious Asian dish. You can also simply bake some chicken thighs or sear steak as another easy option.
How to Make Cauliflower Fried Rice
To prepare this dish you don’t need a fancy wok or hard to pronounce ingredients. Take out any skillet you own, a few veggies and eggs, soy sauce, and sesame oil. That’s it, we promise! Once all your ingredients are together it’s time to start cooking!
Ingredients
You can’t have a cauliflower fried rice recipe without cauliflower! You will need a head of cauliflower turned into rice. You can do this by pulsing a head of cauliflower in the food processor, or by buying pre riced cauliflower. Note: frozen cauliflower rice has more moisture so be careful that it doesn’t become soggy. Then you will need your veggies, we used frozen peas and carrots for that authentic fried rice cauliflower feel.
While not a necessity we do recommend also having some chopped white onion and minced garlic for a depth in flavor. For cooking you will want oil or ghee as well as the two eggs to scramble in. Lastly get out some sesame oil, sesame seeds, and liquid aminos (or soy sauce) for the sauce. Pro Tip: Like a little heat? Add sriracha on top for a kick.
Making Cauliflower Fried Rice
Begin by breaking apart your head of cauliflower and placing the pieces into a food processor. If you don’t have a food processor you can use a grater or blender, but unlike a traditional food processor these methods may make for a very small sized grain.
Once the riced cauliflower is chopped heat a skillet to medium heat and add ghee. Add the cauliflower into the hot pan and flatten so it evenly covers the pan. The medium high heat will allow you to slightly char the riced cauliflower and remove excess moisture.
Allow the cauliflower rice to cook for 10 minutes so it can get brown and crispy. Note: don’t be afraid to turn down the heat in order to cook off all excess moisture.
Now stir the rice again and add the peas and carrots, onion, and garlic, then season with salt and pepper. Cauliflower fried rice will need more seasonings in order to get enough flavor, because it has a veggie base.
Continue to cook the frozen vegetables and cauliflower fried rice on high heat for 5 minutes. Make sure to stir occasionally.
Time for the best part, the eggs! Push the cauliflower rice to one side of the pan and grease the empty half with oil or ghee. Now add the eggs cracking in one at a time, and begin to scramble them. Work the scrambled eggs into the cauliflower rice and allow them to finish cooking together.
Once the eggs are cooked through add soy sauce and sesame oil, mixing well. Turn off the heat and garnish the cauliflower fried rice with sesame seeds and green onions or for heat add some sriracha. If you love fried rice you’re sure to love this quick and easy cauliflower variation.
Kid Friendly Cauliflower Rice
We love this recipe and we know you will too! It’s flavorful, nutritious, and easy to add chicken to for a complete meal. However we also know some kiddos are super picky! If you have a super picky eater try mixing half brown rice and half cauliflower rice in this recipe for them. They get the texture and flavor of regular rice, with the added nutrition of cauliflower. With kids especially there is no need to be perfect, just take baby steps to move them towards a healthier diet.
As we said above, if you’re stressed for time and want an easy dinner option that’s kid friendly try adding some cooked chicken thigh to the dish for a complete meal. You can grill or pan fry the chopped chicken thigh or breast with salt, pepper, garlic, and sesame oil for an easy flavorful protein.
More Asian Recipes
Looking to change up your spices and want some Asian recipe inspiration? Our blog is full of Asian recipes ranging from soups and stir frys to heavier main dishes. Some of our all time favorite Asian dishes are:
- Keto Egg Roll in a Bowl– If you haven’t tried egg roll in a bowl you’re in for a treat. It takes less than 20 minutes to make and is PACKED with flavor.
- Easy Sweet and Sour Pork– Want more take- out style recipes? Try our sweet and sour pork that’s 100% gluten free, sugar free, and keto friendly
- Gluten Free Potstickers– Our keto potstickers are gluten free and made with a fathead dough to keep the wrappers low in carbs. They have pork, sauces, and veggies for the perfect bite.
- Low Carb Sushi– We couldn’t have Asian food without including sushi! Sushi is super customizable and tastes great filled with pretty much anything. We love salmon, tuna, avocado, and cucumber.
For even more Asian recipes check out our blog’s Asian section to find your perfect meal.
Keto Cauliflower Fried Rice
If you’ve made this recipe you know it’s a winner. If you haven’t, we can’t wait for you to try it because you need to make it ASAP! It’s salty and savory with the perfect balance of flavors. Plus it takes practically no time to make, meaning it’s the perfect recipe for busy households with picky eaters that love carbs (where are all my kiddos at!). Prepare this as a side dish or a main soon, because riced cauliflower never tasted so good.
Cauliflower Fried Rice Recipe – Just Like Takeout
Ingredients:
- 1 head cauliflower
- 1/2 cup Frozen Peas/Carrots Use any veggies you like!
- 1 tbsp ghee
- 2 large eggs
- 1 tbsp Sesame Seeds
- 2 tsp Sesame Oil
- 1 tbsp liquid aminos
- 1/2 cup white onion
- 1 tbsp minced garlic
- salt/pepper
Instructions:
- Break cauliflower into small pieces and place in processor.
- Pulse until desired “rice” consistency.
- Heat a skillet over medium-high heat and add ghee.
- Place pulsed “rice” into pan and flatten out over entire surface. Allow to cook through for 10 minutes (cauliflower should brown/get crispy).
- Stir rice and add onion, garlic, peas and carrots, and season with salt and pepper.
- Continue to cook and stir over medium-high heat for 5 minutes.
- Push “rice” to one side of pan, grease the empty half and crack two eggs into pan.
- Combine eggs and “rice” until eggs are cooked through.
- Add soy sauce and sesame oil and combine well.
- Turn off heat and garnish with sesame seeds. Serve warm and enjoy!
Notes
Written by
Matt Gaedke
Matt is a former college basketball player turned computer engineer who discovered his passion for health and nutrition after cutting sugar from his diet in 2016. That year he founded KetoConnect with Megha in order to share their ketogenic lifestyle through recipes, videos, and educational content. Matt is always seeking to grow and try new things, a passion he shares with his wife and two amazing sons.
I love the recipe and have made it many times but can never get the cauliflower crisp. What’s the trick?
Can you substitute butter for the ghee?
Yes!
the whole family love this recipe so much that they never want “rice” ever again. I did saute a diced onion with the carrot though
This is a great recipe! I use it all the time. Sometimes I add 3/4 pound peeled tail-off halved shrimp to the step where you cook the garlic onions and peas . Added some ground ginger and now, with your base recipe I made cauliflower shrimp fried rice! Good stuff
Very tasty.
The recipe is easy to make. I added about 1 oz of cooked pork belly I had to make like a pork fried rice.
My husband was impressed. He’s not doing keto but he thought it looked great. Thank you for your great recipes and hard work .
This recipe was outstanding. I have been low carb/keto for over a year and this was without a doubt the best fried rice I have tried.
Is the nutritional information for the entire dish or per serving?
I have tried quite a few cauliflower fried rice recipes and this one is the best!!!!!!
Agreed! This was really good. I used the rice cauliflower from Sprouts. I probably should have used more but I was cooking just for myself. The Cauliflower didn’t really get crisp, it got soft. I’m going to try again tomorrow night, it was just that good.
Can you explain why you can put any veg into the rice but you cant have any veg on keto. Most root vegetables like carrots which you have in your recipe are higher in carbohydrates.
You can have veggies on the keto diet! Root veggies are higher in carbs, but you can still eat small amounts of them and stay in ketosis. This recipe is under 8g of carbs per serving! It is keto-friendly.
Reply to Olivia…
What makes you think I didn’t? One would hardly make a comment like mine unless one had! Especially to a site from whom so many of the recipes are good ones — their keto sausage-rolls for example, are a beauty! (and far better than any of my attempts thus far). But – I’m sorry – this recipe wasn’t one of them.
For in fact, I did make it — and it was bloody awful! (which is part of why I wondered if the poster had ever tasted the real thing, as properly prepared by a good Asian chef ~ because given their description, and the recipe, I have to assume not. The fact that it stuck together in a serving that appears to be from an ice-cream-scoop just confirms that. Good Special Fried Rice, whether made with rice or cauliflower, cannot stick together like that! And nor should it, because every bite, in good Asian cuisine, should be just a little different to the last ~ given the veritable ‘bouquet’ of spices, herbs and different vegetables, that are cut and prepared in specific ways. Indeed, that feature is what makes GOOD Asian cooking. And that feature is precisely what was lacking in this recipe).
I took a bite – and one was enough! – and found it bland, and completely lacking the subtle and complex aromas and flavours that signify quality Asian cuisine. It was missing EVERYTHING! Worse, it was stodgy and greasy, something quality Asian cuisine should never be; and in short, was like eating a big mac in comparison to a properly-made Beef Wellington from a great chef (and that’s being generous).
So I threw it out, and made a batch to a traditional recipe, substituting only the rice, and it was delightful.
And I cannot overstate the point ~ I’m sure that the poster has only ever tasted a lousy, Americanised fast-food version of Special Fried Rice, that had practically nothing in common with the real thing, for they would never have posted this recipe as an acceptable keto alternative otherwise — let alone actually eat it themselves!
You sound so angry. It’s just a recipe idea you can use OR NOT…
Hi! rdf, I wanted to ask you if you’d post the recipe or a website for the special fried rice you wrote about. It sounds amazing. You’re passionate about your food. Thank you.
OMG!? Sorry, but what a crappy recipe!
Where’s your ginger? Your star anise? Where’s the coriander seed and leaf? The cardamom? The oyster-sauce? The bean-shoots, water-chestnuts, baby-corn, and bamboo-shoots? And no cabbage? No mushrooms? And where’s your celery? Your lard, bacon and/or pork, and peanut-oil? Et cetera. All of which are essential ingredients (or you’re making something other than Chinese).
With 75% of the proper ingredients missing, yours would be *very* bland (bland to the point of being inedible I would think!), and nothing at all like good ‘Emperor’s Palace’ Chinese (that said, from your description it does sound like you’ve never had it properly prepared from a good Chinese restaurant, or you could never think your recipe an acceptable substitute).
And that is NOT how you add egg to Special Fried Rice! It should be prepared separately and added last, just before serving (to preserve its flavour).
So, for your readers:- Your best bet is to make Special Fried ‘Rice’ to the *original* recipe — except the rice; for the rest of the ingredients do not need to be changed for good keto (not even the baby-sweet-corn, which in Chinese cooking uses the whole cob, not just the kernels, with all its fibre intact. And on that, properly made, Special Fried ‘Rice’ has a lot more fibre than this recipe would provide — and a lot more flavour).
If you try it, let us know how you liked it 🙂
Definitely the best fried cauliflower rice I’ve tried!
Hi Matt! Thanks SO much for this recipe – can you freeze left-overs? Cheers
You should be able to!
I’m new to the keto diet and still learning my way. I’m a little confused. You have peas, carrots and cauliflower in this recipe, all are considered starch veggies and I thought therefore not keto approved. Same with sesame oil. Am I wrong?
There is no such thing as keto-approved foods. Ketosis is a state of fat burning by eating low carbs. As long as you keep your carbs low, you will stay in ketosis. This means that any food can really be consumed as long as you are paying attention to the carb count. You can eat smaller amounts of starchy vegetables from time to time, just track your carbs from them 🙂
Love this so much! Just wondering how much soy sauce you guys put in? I can’t seem to find it in the ingredients…You guys rock btw 🙂 Thanks for your hard work!
They used liquid aminos instead, so soy sauce in the same amount
Meant soy sauce
How much do sauce is required? I don’t see it listed in the ingredients list
It is listed as liquid aminos, which is a soy sauce alternative.
I was curious as to how much one saying is. A 1/2 cuo, 1 cup, 1/4 cup?? Any advice would help, I’m a type 1 diabetic so serving size matters. Thanks!!
You could measure how many cups the whole recipe is and them divide it by the servings to get how many cups each serving is.
Ima a keto newbie and can’t wait to try this, I used to make jasmine fried rice like once every week or two so this is a life saver. Fried rice is the way I used to make a quick dinner with leftover protein and a way to use more eggs cuz we always have tons of eggs from our chickens. Thanks and I hope I like the cauliflower rice!!!