Cauliflower Fried Rice

Cauliflower fried rice is a tasty vegetarian and gluten-free main dish. Cauliflower rice is grain-free, making it one of our best loved paleo recipes (sans edamame)!

At the turn of each year, without fail come January 1 suddenly everyone is talking about healthy eating. It’s like a switch is flipped and everyone is ogling over bowls of vegetables instead of towers of cookies. Of course Alex and I love it, since this website is devoted to eating more vegetables. However, we know the interest in veggies is fleeting. By the time February rolls around, we all settle back in to our old “normal”. Here’s more about a new normal, and this cauliflower fried rice recipe.

Love fried rice? Also try our Fried Rice (Takeout Style!) and Shrimp Fried Rice.

A new normal: a sustainable approach

But what if bowls of vegetables became our normal? Over the holiday we watched Michael Pollan’s new documentary In Defense of Food, and wanted to pump our fists in the air every other second (you can watch it too!). Instead of sensationalizing an elimination diet, it urges us to focus on eating whole, non-processed foods in sensible quantities. Let’s eat mostly vegetables, but not feel like we have to deprive ourselves of meat in entirety (unless we want to). Let’s eat food, not too much, mostly plants.

Why is it that a moderate, balanced approach isn’t sexy? Elimination diets are great for a short-term change. But for a healthy approach to eating in the long term, instead of a crash and burn diet cycle (because we’ve all been there!), we’re focusing on small, approachable steps.

It’s been nearly 8 years since Alex and I started eating whole foods and mostly vegetables, and I can wholeheartedly say that our lives have never been more delicious, more joy-filled, or more abundant. A bowl-full of cauliflower fried rice has never looked so good. Yes, we’re swayed by brownies and chocolates and cookies every now and again, but fresh, seasonal veggies highlighted with intriguing herbs and spices is what we crave.

Our home town of Indianapolis has changed right along with us in those 8 years. It’s undergone a transformation from a Midwestern fast food town to a mecca of culinary life, budding with urban farms, neighborhood farmer’s markets, and trendy new restaurants. Fresh eating in our town has never been better. And we’re excited to keep bringing you recipes for healthy eating in your town, too! It’s an honor to be part of your kitchen and table.

How to make cauliflower fried rice

And now for the recipe, cauliflower fried rice. Or really, cauliflower rice, made to taste like fried rice. What’s cauliflower rice? Some friends of ours recommended trying out cauliflower rice: chopping cauliflower into small bits that mimic grains of rice. For their recipe, they fried it in coconut oil, creating a Chinese-style cauliflower fried rice. Cauliflower rice is intended for grain-free and paleo diets, but we were more interested in it for the novelty of it all. (See the note on paleo recipes below.)

The verdict? The version we created of cauliflower fried rice turned out to be a fabulous taste treat. The cauliflower soaks up the aromatic ginger and garlic even more than rice would, and the bowl of piping hot vegetables was comfort food at its finest. To bring additional protein to the dish, we filled it with egg, edamame, and cashews. It was filling enough for a main dish dinner for the two of us. However, you may want to double the recipe if you have seriously hungry eaters. Enjoy, and cheers to a new year!

Looking for grain-free or paleo recipes?

We follow a 90% vegetarian diet, full of legumes and whole grains, so this website does not contain many paleo recipes. However, this cauliflower fried rice recipe is one of the handful of paleo recipes you’ll find here! A few other paleo recipes we’d recommend: Creamy Vegan Tomato Soup (without star toasts),  Grilled Shrimp and Vegetable Skewers, and Raw Falafel Buddha Bowls (omit the maple syrup in the dressing).

This recipe is…

This cauliflower fried rice recipe is vegetarian, gluten-free, dairy-free, and paleo (using coconut aminos and without the edamame).

**For vegan cauliflower fried rice, you could try without the egg. However, we found it to be a nice binder and have not tested this version. Let us know in the comments below whether you try it without egg.

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