Easy Cheesy Cauliflower Rice Recipe (2024)

FAQs

Is it cheaper to make cauliflower rice or buy it? ›

Cheaper: Making riced cauliflower from scratch will save you money in the grocery store. A head of cauliflower is cheaper than buying fresh or frozen riced cauliflower. Tastes Great: Because it's made fresh, it also tastes better. You can use it in any recipe that calls for rice.

One additional step I like is to press any excess moisture from the rice by transferring the cauliflower rice to a large paper towel or absorbent dish towel and squeeze/press to remove any remaining water. This ensures no excess moisture remains, which can make your dish soggy.

If you're looking to incorporate more vegetables in your diet, then riced cauliflower might be the solution you've been looking for. Also called cauliflower rice or cauliflower couscous, it's cauliflower that has been broken down into small pieces resembling grain or pasta and often used as a substitute.

Cauliflower rice is a nutritious alternative to rice that's low in calories and carbs. It may even provide a number of benefits, such as boosting weight loss, fighting inflammation, and even protecting against certain illnesses. What's more, it's simple to make and can be eaten raw or cooked.

However, rice can be high in calories and carbohydrates, meaning it will fill you up without providing you with many additional nutrients. Substituting cauliflower rice for white rice is a great way to get more antioxidants while reducing calories and carbohydrates in order to save room for other nutrient dense foods.

If you're cooking frozen cauliflower rice on the stovetop, cook it in small batches. Cooking too much at once can produce excess moisture and lead to soggy cauliflower rice.

Overcooking It

"When it is riced it's really easy for it to turn mushy from overcooking and then it won't hold up as well in your dishes where you're trying to use it to substitute rice," says Maggie Michalczyk, MS, RD.

The key to a thicker consistency is to drain the steamed cauliflower really well before pureeing or blending it up. Put the puree back into the warm pan and add grated cheese. Stir until the cheese is melted and you should have a nice, thick texture. You can also add a keto thickener like glucomannan or xanthan gum.

There are two really simple techniques that bring out the best in cauliflower: grilling and pickling. Dumping cauliflower florets in a mixture of salt and lemon juice for 45 minutes to an hour turns them into spiky little flavor bombs, delivering high-pitched squeaks in salads, sandwiches or the stew recipe here.

Cauliflower, like all cruciferous vegetables (cabbages, mustard, broccoli, etc.) contains sulfur compounds which will begin to smell when the vegetable is overcooked. Blanching, roasting or steaming just until the cauliflower is fork tender will keep it from smelling up your kitchen.

Why does my cauliflower taste weird? ›

It can also taste bitter from a lack of moisture, uneven watering, waiting too long to harvest, or overcooking.

The fact that it's a vegetable makes cauliflower automatically good for you. Additionally, cauliflower is packed with nutrients that give it unique benefits, such as fiber, vitamin C, vitamin K and choline. These properties give you a good reason to eat it frequently or even daily.

While they are both very nutritious vegetables, broccoli has a higher vitamin content, specifically in vitamin K and C, than cauliflower and is specifically known to be great for eye health. Broccoli florets also provide more minerals and fiber as well as contains vitamin A that isn't in cauliflower.

In recipes like soups or casseroles, where the rice cooks WITH the other ingredients, you have to wait and add the cauliflower rice at the end, so it doesn't get mushy. In recipes like stir fries, burritos, etc. where you use COOKED rice, you can heat your cauli rice and just add it in.

Cauliflower prices are rising due to a lower yield, while demand remains consistent. Quality is fair with good weight and coloring.

Extreme weather conditions such as floods, droughts, frosts, and storms damage cauliflower crops which results in poorer production and quality. These factors contribute to a decrease in the total supply of cauliflower which creates an imbalance between supply and demand and drives up cauliflower prices on the market.

No. Frozen food is just as nutritious as a fresh head of cauliflower. Plus it's a quick and easy alternative to the homemade version, where you either have to use a box grater or a food processor to make cauliflower rice.

An alternative to traditional rice grains, you can either make your own from scratch or pick up a bag from the grocery store. However, there's a decision to make: fresh or frozen. Although your first instinct may be to reach for a package of fresh cauliflower, frozen is actually the better option.