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The BEST Healthy & Easy Cauliflower Fried Rice

This is the BEST healthy & easy cauliflower fried rice recipe! Especially because you can get away with using so many frozen veggies, this is a super quick prep meal. It has so much flavor and nutrition packed into every bite!

The BEST Healthy & Easy Cauliflower Fried Rice Recipe

This absolutely delicious cauliflower fried rice recipe has become one of our family favorites. 

The BEST Healthy & Easy Cauliflower Fried Rice Recipe

Here’s why you’ll LOVE this cauliflower fried rice recipe:

  • It is SO easy to make. No need for a food processor to make your own cauliflower rice. No need for getting your kitchen counter super messy with bits of cauliflower florets as you try to chop like a mad woman to get them all fine. 
  • This can be one of your go-to “kitchen staple” meals. (You know, the kinds that you rely on when you need to make something tasty & hopefully healthy for supper, but you’ve run out of your planned meals for the week and don’t have time to go to the grocery store for another day or two?) 
  • It’s a great way to use up veggies from your fridge. I’ll be the first person to tell you – you don’t have to follow this recipe to a T in order for it to turn out AMAZINGLY DELICIOUS. You can easily mix & match vegetables if you have some that have been hanging ’round a little too long in your fridge. Have a green or red pepper? Snow peas? Green onions that are wilting? Get out any veggies on their last leg and use them up in this recipe! 
  • It’s also a great way to use up leftover meat. While this recipe doesn’t call for meat, you can easily throw leftover chicken or ground beef in here. You know, when you only have like one cooked chicken breast left from supper last night or half a pound of ground meat from tacos the other night and you don’t know what to do with either? Add ’em to this! I’ve done both, and I think I’ve also used up leftover skillet porkchops and shredded pork in here, too. SO VERSATILE! 
  • It’s naturally dairy-free and gluten-free (as long as you use gluten-free soy sauce), so it’s perfect for feeding folks with dietary restrictions. I love me some cheese & pasta, but it’s so nice to have some recipes like this in my arsenal that I can whip up and know it’ll be a crowd-pleaser for anyone!
  • It makes GREAT leftovers. 

Here’s the bottom line: It’s easy, it’s healthy, it’s absolutely delicious, and it’s about to become one of your family’s favorite quick dinner recipes!

The BEST Healthy & Easy Cauliflower Fried Rice Recipe

Ingredients you’ll need:

(Detailed recipe at the bottom of the post!)

  • Small onion (yellow/sweet/white onion – any one is fine)
  • Sesame oil (you can use olive oil if you don’t have sesame)
  • 2 bags frozen riced cauliflower (total of 24 oz) – you can use raw cauliflower if you’d prefer (use about 6 cups of fresh cauliflower rice if you do), but the frozen is perfectly fine!!
  • fresh matchstick carrots
  • frozen broccoli (small florets) – you can use fresh here, too, but frozen works fine!
  • frozen edamame beans (without shells)
  • frozen green peas
  • diced pineapple (frozen is fine – I almost always use frozen!)
  • Spices: ground ginger, garlic powder, onion powder, salt
  • From the pantry: soy sauce, rice vinegar, cashews
  • Eggs

Let me walk you through the easy steps for throwing this tasty meal together!

How to make the BEST Healthy & Easy Cauliflower Fried Rice

Step 1: Saute the diced onion & cook the cauliflower rice

In a large skillet, saute onions in sesame oil over medium heat to medium-high heat in large skillet until soft – about 5-8 minutes. 

Step 2: Cook frozen riced cauliflower

Add frozen cauliflower – cook about 10 min, stirring occasionally with a spatula or wooden spoon. 

Step 3: Add in carrots & frozen broccoli

The BEST Healthy & Easy Cauliflower Fried Rice Recipe

Cook 5-7 more min, stirring regularly.

Step 4: Add peas, edamame beans, and pineapple chunks

The BEST Healthy & Easy Cauliflower Fried Rice Recipe

You can use fresh pineapple, but I almost always use frozen unless I already have fresh on hand, which isn’t often. When I do use frozen, I chop up the chunks into small pieces. But, if you’re in a hurry, you can totally get away with just leaving them in the larger chunks!

Cook with the peas, edamame, and pineapple in the skillet for about 5 minutes. 

Step 5: Stir in spices, soy sauce, and vinegar

The BEST Healthy & Easy Cauliflower Fried Rice Recipe

Stir everything around for a couple more minutes, just to let all the flavors soak into the veggies. MMM-MMM.

If you want an even more garlic-y flavor, you can throw in some minced fresh garlic cloves, but since this is one of my “no-brainer” recipes, I just stick with garlic powder. It tastes great!

Note: one time we were out of soy sauce when I made this, so I decided to try to sub in fish sauce, and IT. WAS. GOOD. I think I still prefer the soy sauce, but you can totally sub in fish sauce if you need to!

Step 6: Add the eggs

The BEST Healthy & Easy Cauliflower Fried Rice Recipe

Still with your skillet over medium-high heat, make a well in the middle of the pan for the eggs, and then add the eggs to it and use a spatula to scramble them. Mix them in with the rest of the ingredients. 

The BEST Healthy & Easy Cauliflower Fried Rice Recipe

I don’t wait for the eggs to fully scramble in the middle before I start mixing them with everything else. I like them to coat all of the veggies. It won’t take more than 2-3 minutes for the eggs to fully cook as you stir them around with everything. 

Step 7: Top it off with cashews and ENJOY!

The BEST Healthy & Easy Cauliflower Fried Rice Recipe

That’s it, friend! A bit of stirring on the stovetop, but with hardly any chopping or prep work, this dish goes down in my book as a favorite last-minute dinner. 

The best part about it: not only is it easy, it’s healthy AND good!

The BEST Healthy & Easy Cauliflower Fried Rice Recipe

A healthy (but super flavorful!) spin on traditional Chinese fried rice. 

Extra tips for this healthy cauliflower fried rice recipe:

  • While we always eat this as a main dish, you can absolutely serve this as a side dish to any Asian-inspired meal. If you do serve it as a side, I think it’ll easily feed 8 people (instead of 4-6). 
  • Store leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge, and they’ll make your taste buds and your belly so happy the next day! (Or the day after that or the day after that!) It really does make such great leftovers. You can keep this in the fridge for at least a few days and expect that it’ll still taste good. (But I bet you won’t even let it last that long!)
  • If you have leftover rice or leftover cauliflower from a meal you made earlier in the week, you can throw those in here, too. This really is a recipe where you can throw in a little bit of this and a little bit of that, and you won’t mess it up! If you do add more rice or cauliflower, I’d add a touch more soy sauce and seasonings. 
  • If you have a large-enough skillet or large wok, you can easily double the recipe if you’re feeding a crowd or if you just want to have extras for lunches or dinners later in the week. 
  • Beef it up with some extra proteins if you want! While it’s perfectly good without meat, if you want to add in some extra meat, as I mentioned before, you can add in leftover shredded or chopped chicken, ground meat, shredded pork, etc. Whatever you have on hand! (Maybe even bacon?!)

Such an easy recipe your entire family will LOVE!

The BEST Healthy & Easy Cauliflower Fried Rice Recipe

The BEST Healthy & Easy Cauliflower Fried Rice Recipe

The BEST Easy & Healthy Cauliflower Fried Rice

5 from 8 votes
Print Pin Rate
Servings: 4 -6 servings
Author: TheAmericanPatriette

Ingredients

  • Small onion yellow/sweet/white onion - any one is fine, diced
  • 3 tbsp sesame oil
  • 2 bags frozen riced cauliflower total of 24 oz
  • 1 c matchstick carrots
  • 1-2 c frozen broccoli small florets
  • 1 c edamame beans without shells
  • 1 c frozen peas
  • 1 c diced pineapple frozen is fine - I almost always use frozen
  • ½ tsp ground ginger
  • ½ tsp garlic powder
  • ½ tsp onion powder
  • 4 tbsp soy sauce
  • 2 tbsp rice or white wine vinegar
  • Salt to taste
  • 2 eggs
  • Lightly chopped cashews for topping

Instructions

  • Saute onions in sesame oil over med to med-high heat in large skillet until soft - about 5-8 min.
  • Add frozen cauliflower - cook 10 min, stirring occasionally.
  • Add carrots & frozen broccoli florets - cook 5-7 more min, stirring regularly
  • Add peas & edamame & pineapple chunks (I usually make these a little smaller before adding them, but if you're in a hurry, you don't have to) - cook 5 more min, stirring regularly.
  • Stir in spices, soy sauce, and vinegar & cook for a couple more minutes.
  • Make a well in the middle of the pan for the eggs; add eggs and use the spatula to scramble them. Mix them in with the rest of the ingredients and cook for about 2-3 minutes, or until eggs are fully cooked.
  • Stir in cashews.
  • Remove from heat and serve into bowls! ENJOY!

Notes

I suggest that the serving size of this recipe is 4-6, but that's if you're making it as the main (and only) dish. If you're serving something alongside this, it could easily stretch to 8 servings.
You can add in leftover chicken, ground beef, or any other leftover meat you need to use up. I think we've even used leftover porkchops and shredded pork in this before!
This makes DELICIOUS leftovers. You can easily double the recipe to feed a crowd or to make more to reheat for lunch/dinner the next day.

 

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