Who ever came up with the idea of ricing cauliflower was brilliant! It’s so versatile and healthy and if you’re trying to stay away from carbs it’s a nice substitute. Can I be honest, I like this recipe for cauliflower rice pilaf better than the real deal which you won’t even miss, plus you’ll feel really good about eating it.
Let’s talk about cauliflower rice. In the past when it first became popular I made my own with a large head of fresh cauliflower that I riced in my own food processor, but it was a production, I made a mess and usually had cauliflower all over. Now it seems that you can find it riced and ready to go almost everywhere either fresh or frozen and that makes me very happy.
Can I just tell you in all honesty, I prefer the frozen over the fresh. I love the convenience of having it stashed away in my freezer to use whenever I feel like it, it won’t spoil and the taste and texture is the same. My favorite brand is the one shown above it’s delicious, and I love the consistency in the size of the “rice”.
This cauliflower rice pilaf is a wonderful side dish to have along with fish, chicken or meats. It’s even great for lunch all week just on it’s own and you don’t even need to heat it up, I’ve eaten it straight out of the fridge like a salad. A bowl of this pilaf is very satisfying.
You can combine any veggies you like, but for me I found this combo to be excellent. Along with the cauliflower rice it has mushrooms, butternut squash, curly kale, red and yellow pepper, red onion, garlic, green onions, cranberries and some salty pecans.
I tried to give you approximate amounts so you could get some idea but I always go over, in my opinion the more veggies the better, so don’t be skimpy, enjoy, it’s all good!
Follow me on Instagram to see what else I’m cooking up during the week.
- 12 oz. of fresh or frozen cauliflower rice ( I prefer frozen for convenience)
- 1 small pack of cremini mushrooms, sliced
- 1 small red pepper and yellow pepper, small dice
- 1 small butternut squash, peeled and diced small (you'll have extra)
- 4 thin green onions or 2 larger, cut in small slices
- 1 packed cup of curly kale, cut into thin strips
- ¼ cup of red onion, diced small
- a handful of dried cranberries
- a handful of salted pecans ( you could use unsalted but I prefer the salted)
- 1 large clove, garlic grated on a micro-plane or diced very finely
- a handful of chopped fresh parsley
- salt and pepper to taste
- In two separate pans roast the sliced mushrooms and the small diced butternut squash, both drizzled with a little olive oil, salt and pepper and roasted at 425 until moisture leaves the mushrooms and the squash gets lightly golden. Set aside and let them cool.
- In a large saute pan add the garlic clove, red onion,the kale and both peppers and saute in olive oil for just a couple of seconds to soften slightly, basically until the garlic turns golden, then scoop out and set aside so it can cool down.
- Add the cauliflower rice into the large saute pan with more olive oil, season with salt and pepper and cook it until it's tender, do not overcook it! If it's frozen it just takes a few minutes. Let it cool down.
- Into a bowl add the cooked cauliflower rice, garlic, red onion, peppers and kale, mix well.
- Dump in the cooked mushrooms and also the butternut squash (you probably won't use it all).
- Toss into the bowl your green onions, parsley, cranberries and pecans, incorporating everything, mixing well adding more or less according to your liking.
- Taste for salt and pepper and drizzling more olive oil if necessary.
I’m Marie, a wife, mother, mother-in-law, and gramma of two beautiful girls. My passion is food, clear and simple but especially Italian food, hence the name of my blog, Proud Italian Cook. I want you to feel right at home here so grab a cup of coffee, I’ll get the pastries, take a look around and enjoy your visit! {
This is absolutely delicious. I made this exactly as described and WOW. Gorgeous, colorful and healthy. Thank you!!
Celene, I’m thrilled you liked it!
i cannot tell you how much i loved this recipe! neither of my grocery stores had scallions so I had to leave that out. my green pepper did not fare well so I only had a red pepper. my grocery store does now carry fresh riced cauliflower so i was very happy about that. I posted your website on my blog. even my husband loved it. next to his tater tots. LOL Thank you Marie!
You’re so welcome Christine, and I checked it out on your site and it looks fantastic, so glad you liked it!
A terrific side dish and so very colorful…it sounds great.
Can’t wait to try this. What would you consider a small container of cremini mushrooms? My grocers only carry one size and I prefer to avoid the packaging and buy bulk.
About 12 ounces is the pack I had Suzan
Thanks!
I just came home from the store with 2 bags of the frozen Cauliflower Rice and this is the perfect recipe for it. It is such a gorgeous pilaf.
Perfect Cathy, I think you’ll really like it!
Your pilaf looks beautiful!! What a vision for the eyes. And I’ve seen frozen cauliflower here and there but I’ve never tried it nor have I tried making my own. I’ve got to tell you, I’m always late on the food bandwagon. 🙁 After the holidays, hubby and I are watching our carbs and this would be great. Thank you for reminding me of it. And to think we were just at Trader Joes — we stopped there for my favorite Coconut Body Cream — hubby was in too big of a hurry to finish stocking up our supplies so I didn’t have time to shop. Next time I’ll be sure to have the cooler with us so we can get our frozen goodies 🙂 Have a great weekend.
I’m with you on the watching the carbs Marisa, get a big and experiment when you’re there next time. I even use it for stuffed peppers instead of rice, can’t tell the difference and my hubby loves it!
I’m so glad to learn that tip about frozen cauliflower. I would have thought it would be mushy. I’m going to look for it next time I’m out. Your dish looks spectacularly colorful – as does all your food and photos!
Try it friend, I put it in stuffed peppers too, can’t tell the difference!
Hi Marie! 🙂
I have never seen this.. but I will be trying it soon! 🙂 I know what you mean by messy cauliflower.. I made cauliflower soup last night and it seems that I’m still finding florette pieces around the kitchen! This recipe looks wonderful and totally up my alley!
I have a new blog.. still have the old one, but I share more now on this gf site. Happy New Year!! Hope you are well! xo
Hi Laurie, so nice to hear from you, I will check out your GF site my friend!
I had no idea about the Trader’s frozen cauli rice!
Thank you! On my way……