Cauliflower Fried Rice with Shrimp
Yeah, so… I’m back to eating grains.
I lasted about 3 weeks on my “loosely-based” grain-free diet before I was like, “WTF is the point of this?!”
I don’t have a gluten allergy and my stomach problems were not getting any better. But the most important reason of all…
…I’m obsessed with grains.
Like “hire an airplane and write it in the sky” in love. I love rice, bread, corn, quinoa, couscous, barley, wheat berries, oats, etc. I don’t discriminate.
I’m Juliet and English Muffins are my Romeo. I’d rather die than live without them.
Yesterday, I kicked off my morning with my dearly beloved, Ezekiel Sprouted Grain English Muffin.
Reunited and it feels so good.
However, just because I’m not not eating grains, doesn’t mean I’m going to throw out all of the cool grain-free tricks I’ve been using lately.
I still typically choose to eat a grainless lunch like this Mexican Baked Sweet Potato that I had yesterday.
I also try to keep the grains light in the evening, and instead load up on veggies.
Last night’s meal was an incredibly easy creation that took me a mere 10 minutes to make: Cauliflower Fried Rice with Shrimp.
I think Cauliflower “Rice” is pretty much the coolest invention since sliced bread Spaghetti Squash Spaghetti, and it just so happens that fried rice is one of my all time favorite foods.
Back in college, I had a brief stint working at Pei Wei Asian Diner and I would go nuts over the free fried rice.
I remember feeling totally disgusting after eating it, which makes sense now that I’ve learned it’s 490 calories, 20 grams of fat, and about 57% of your daily allotted sodium intake for just one side dish.
Yummy.
With my low-cal, low-carb cauliflower rice, I knew I could do much better than that.
I recently discovered the beauty of Coconut Aminos, a soy sauce like flavor-booster full of amino acids, vitamin C, and minerals, but no gluten.
Coconut Aminos have only 5% of your daily salt intake, much less than soy sauce. They provide the perfect flavor for this dish, without using any actual salt.
This whole bowl is gluten-free, grain-free, low-sodium, low-calorie, pescatarian-approved, high-protein, and contains a balanced amount of healthy fat.
What more could ask for? (maybe an English Muffin on the side)
Cauliflower Fried Rice w/ Shrimp
Ingredients:
1 Head of Cauliflower
1/2 lb. Shrimp
1 Egg & 3 Egg Whites
5 Green Onions
1/2 C. Shredded Carrots
1 T. Minced Garlic or 1/2 T. Garlic Powder
2 T. Coconut Aminos
1/4 Tsp. Stevia (optional)
Cooking Spray (I used coconut oil spray)
Pepper
Directions:
1. Chop up your cauliflower, removing stems and rinse. *You can skip this whole step by buying a bag of pre-cut and washed cauliflower florets.
2. Pulse cauliflower in a food processor until it gets to a rice-like consistency. Mine food processor is small so it took me about 3 rounds to process the whole head.
3. Saute carrots, onions, and garlic in a pan with coconut oil spray for about 3 minutes.
4. Add cauliflower rice and cook for 5 more minutes.
5. Make a hole in the middle of the rice mixture, spray with more coconut oil, and crack eggs and egg whites into the space.
6. After about 2 minutes, scramble the eggs into the mixture.
7. Add coconut aminos and stevia (if you want a hint of sweetness).
8. Sprinkle clean, raw shrimp with salt and pepper and cook in a pan sprayed with the coconut oil over medium high heat until pink, about 3-4 minutes.
9. Top “rice” with shrimp, and enjoy!
Total Calories: about 200, Serves 2
Next time I make this I plan on adding chicken and tofu, but you can use any type of protein you want.
I also suggest doubling the amount of shrimp in this recipe to make it more substantial for dinner.
The BF definitely wanted seconds and sadly there wasn’t any left!
*This post is linked to What I Eat Wednesday over at Peas and Crayons, Real Food Wednesday on Kelly the Kitchen Kop, and Waste Not Want Want Wednesday on Poor and Gluten Free.
Holly @ EatGreatBEGreat says:
Love that this recipe is so simple, but it looks absolutely amazing! I love the idea of making cauliflower into “rice.” I haven’t tried that before, so I look forward to giving this dish a go asap!
Whitney English says:
Let me know what you think!
Jana @ Happy Wife Healthy Life says:
This looks and sounds so good! I am obsessed with mashed cauliflower in place of ashes potatoes from time-to-time, so I can only imagine that I would love cauliflower ‘rice’ too! :)
Whitney English says:
Cauliflower mashed “potatoes” were the first faux cauliflower recipe I tried and I loved them! From there is was pizza, now rice, just wondering what I can use it in next!
Camille @ Challenge Mantra says:
I’ve definitely made cauliflower fried rice before and while it’s definitely not authentic fried rice, it’s not a bad substitute. Lately, I’ve been using cauliflower to make everything including the buffalo sauce bites recipe I have up today…
also, I say if you know you can tolerate grains at least to some extent, then there’s no need to deprive yourself of every single bite :) Have a great Wednesday!
Whitney English says:
Yum those sounds awesome! I’ll def be trying the recipe :)
Davida @ The Healthy Maven says:
I feel the same way about grains. I went through a balanced bites podcast phase where they totally freaked me out about grains but thankfully I snapped out of that pretty quickly. A solid cauliflower rice though is always a nice change too!
Whitney English says:
Yes, everything in moderation. Except English Muffins…I need those in excess :)
Laura @ Sprint 2 the Table says:
I hear you on the sodium! Ever since I cut it out I am hyper-aware of what an overly salty meal does. Love this fried rice. I’m going to have to try it. I’ve never actually cooked shrimp at home, but I love it!
Whitney English says:
What?!?! Shrimp is so easy!! Get on it girl :)
Ashley @ Brocblog says:
I have been so into cauliflower rice lately and you better believe Im making this as soon as I can get my hands on some coconut aminos! I didn’t see it at my local whole foods but there is a bigger one in the next neighborhood (in true LA fashion) so I’ll see if they have it there.
Whitney English says:
Of course! I got mine at Whole Foods fyi.
GiGi Eats Celebrities says:
Your Juliet and GRAINS are your Romeo, just like I am Juliet and SODIUM is my ROMEO! Ah ha ha! I love how sodium HUGS ME the next day too… He’s always there ;)
And uh, we need to have a cook at home lunch date – when we are NOT filming… Because I wanna chow down on this. However, I totally made some cauliflower (recipe next week) yesterday and……………… Lets just say it was kicking my ass like Tybalt in Romeo & Juliet!!
Whitney English says:
Haha great sodium analogy :)
Kristina @ Damn Ten Pounds says:
I’ve riced cauliflower for pizza crust, but I haven’t subbed it for rice. It tasted amazing as crust (mixed with tons of cheese, obv), so I’m sure its a great rice substitute. I have braggs liquid amino’s. Are coconut amino’s similar? Minus all the sodium.
Whitney English says:
I think they are but I’m not an amino expert :)
Miss Polkadot says:
Girl, what kind of questions are you asking? Making me choose just one Romeo?! I’d say I’m almond butter’s Juliet but AB feels somehow female to me (??!). So I’d have to go with something else for my Romeo and say almond butter’s my BFF.
Like you I’d never ever give up grains but I’ll admit that cauliflower’s a lazy girl’s savior when it comes to lunch. Whenever I feel like something could use a ‘grainy’ side last minute – why does brown rice take so long to cook? – I’m adding cauliflower rice, no, couscous. Because isn’t it more like couscous? Delicious whichever way you call it, though :) .
Whitney English says:
Haha, yes almond butter is my mistress too. And it is more like couscous but I don’t think people are as familiar with couscous so I call it rice :)
Brittany @ Barr & Table says:
This looks delicious! I’ve made a cauliflower pizza crust but I haven’t done the rice yet. Gotta try it soon!
zoetcm says:
Thanks for the cauliflower fried rice recipe. Love the step-by-step shots and it looks really yummy! :)
Melissa @ Nourish By Melissa says:
Yummy! I love cauliflower rice! It must taste amazing with stir fried shrimp :)
Kim says:
I’ve never made cauliflower rice and I feel sure that mine wouldn’t look as pretty as yours but i totally want to try it. And, I think I will do a little test and see if my boys can tell the difference!!!
Whitney English says:
Let me know how it goes!!! I did that with my BF the first time I fed him cauliflower rice and he thought it was couscous!
The Vegan 8 says:
That was pretty funny about the grains and Romeo comment! I’m with ya, I LOVE grains and they are not leaving my life! This dish looks and sounds superb! I’ve yet to try cauliflower rice, but that is because I don’t like cauliflower, although I’m sure I would definitely like it in a much different recipe than in it’s natural state like this!
Whitney English says:
Yeah, you probably would! With the coconut aminos, there really isn’t any hint of cauliflower in this :)
Arman @ thebigmansworld says:
Dude I am making this on the weekend for food prep….I tend to eat grain free because it does make me feel better, but the ones which don’t seem to do much harm are ironically, the most processed ones in pizzas or random biscuits…the best of both worlds!
Ha, I bought spaghetti squash last weekend and it burst all over my kitchen.
Whitney English says:
Oh no!!!! How did that happen? I’m sorry to hear your first experience with a spaghetti squash went so awry!
Karen @ Kama Fitness says:
YUMMY! I love cauliflower rice too! This looks really good Whitney !!!
Bethann Wagner says:
Cauliflower rice sounds scrumptious! I am gluten-free and am ALWAYS on the look out for yummy recipes like this. Thanks for sharing!
Claire says:
Never thought to put cauliflower in a food processor like this! Looks very yummy <3
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Hemant says:
Been following a lot of this cauliflower rice, so had a bunch and tried it in the
mixer, WOW. has given me al lot of ideas regarding indian cooking and to lose
weight.
Thanks,
Whitney