As a result of the popularity of riced cauliflower, or cauliflower rice, in the last few years, it has become a staple in the freezer aisles of nearly all major grocery stores.
The riced cauliflower has become so popular that it is now found in almost every grocery store in the country. The fact that you can buy premade cauliflower rice in frozen bags is very convenient, but you can also make cauliflower rice at home using fresh cauliflower.
Apronese am going to show you how to make cauliflower rice easily from fresh cauliflower. When cauliflower is on sale, you can really save some cash each week on food budget.
What is Riced Cauliflower?
The riced cauliflower side dish can you refer to it as the cauliflower rice or just cauliflower, a soft, meaty, and fluffy, tomato-flavored dish that is made from top-quality raw cauliflower pieces that have been chopped into tiny rice-sized pieces to prove its versatility while being low in carb, making it a great low-carb alternative to rice.
Cauliflower Rice: How to Use It
It is really that easy to prepare cauliflower rice, which simply consists of sautéing it in a skillet with a little bit of oil or butter before you add your choice of seasonings.
This is the easiest way to make cauliflower rice. However, riced cauliflower is not only a great addition to bowl meals but also an excellent addition to rice pilafs to add more veggies to your diet, it is also suitable as an ingredient in stews, casseroles, morning oatmeal, and even smoothies (try my Chocolate Coffee Breakfast Smoothie or Cherry Almond Smoothie if you want to up your vegetable intake).
There are literally hundreds of ways you can use this ingredient once you start to add it to things, and you begin to see all the other things you can do with it once you begin adding it to things.
You Can Freeze Some for Later Use
Making your own riced cauliflower rice has the advantage of being able to store it for a later date so that you may just add a little bit to your soup or stew whenever you feel you need it. You can see how to freeze cauliflower rice in the photos below.
I usually use riced cauliflower straight from the freezer. It cooks through in just a few minutes in a skillet once it thaws.
Is It Necessary to Use a Food Processor?
When it comes to making riced cauliflower, there are several methods you can take advantage of (knife, box grater, etc. ), but I have found using a food processor to be the quickest, easiest, and least messy. This tutorial is going to only show the food processor method since the other methods either require more work or even more cleanup, so I feel that they are not quite worth doing yourself (at least for me). Check out Jessica’s post about How to Make Cauliflower Rice 4 Ways, if you want to see some of the other options.
How to Make Riced Cauliflower – Step by Step Photos
Step 1 – Clean the Cauliflower
In order to make cauliflower rice, you must first remove the cauliflower leaves and stem from the cauliflower.
You will then want to rinse the cauliflower well and drain down all the excess water so that as little moisture as possible remains on the cauliflower rice.
This will guarantee that the cauliflower rice will freeze evenly without becoming clumpy.
Step 2 – Chop Cauliflower
There are several ways you can chop the cauliflower. You can chop it into small pieces of one to two inches.
This will allow the cauliflower to move around more easily in the food processor, and that will result in a more even texture of your cauliflower rice. If you have a smaller food processor, then you’ll want smaller pieces as well.
Step 3 – Fill the Food Processor
In a food processor, place the cauliflower chunks only about halfway full, work in batches if needed, and process them in batches as needed.
This is very important, as you need the cauliflower to be able to move freely within the food processor. Otherwise, you are going to end up with finely minced cauliflower on the bottom and large, unprocessed pieces on top.
Step 4 – Pulse the Cauliflower
If you are going to use the cauliflower in your favorite recipe, pulse the cauliflower until it is minced. If you need to scrape the sides of the processor occasionally, do that if you need to.
It is important to keep in mind that smaller pieces cook a little faster, but they also disappear into your recipes more, so when you decide how small you want your riced cauliflower to be, be aware that the smaller pieces may not cook as quickly as the larger pieces are shown above.
It is best to use it as rice, so you might need to make larger pieces. However, I prefer to use mine in smoothies, so smaller pieces work better.
How to Store Riced Cauliflower
As with any cruciferous vegetable, riced cauliflower does give off gas, so it can get smelly fast in the fridge.
The riced cauliflower can be stored in the fridge for a few days, but if you do so, you will be reminded that it does release gas, so it may smell unpleasant very quickly.
For a quick freezer freeze, simply place the frozen cauliflower in a freezer bag, spread out flat, and then place it in the freezer. The flatter the better, the easier it will be to break up into pieces if it is frozen in a thin layer.
The following picture shows what the cauliflower looks like after it has been frozen, and I have used some of the cauliflower. You can see that some of the cauliflower does freeze in larger chunks, but it is fairly easy to break up into crumbles. Again, the less water on the cauliflower, the easier it is to break apart when frozen.
Riced cauliflower can be kept in the freezer for a period of one to two months after it has been cooked.
It is usually just a matter of quickly defrosting the cauliflower, and then using it directly in my recipe (usually). It will thaw and cook through in just a few minutes. (shown here being prepared for Southwest Cauliflower Rice)
How Much Rice Cauliflower Does it Make?
It is important to note, however, that the quantity yield of cauliflower rice will be determined by the size of the head of cauliflower you are using, but from one medium head of cauliflower I was able to get about six cups.
To give you a better idea of prices, a head of cauliflower currently costs $2.49 at Kroger (or $0.42 per cup), but frozen riced cauliflower costs $3.49 per bag (or $0.93 per cup).
It is up to you whether it is worthwhile to DIY your cauliflower rice. But at least now you have a better understanding of how and you are in a better position to choose.
Share with Apronese and everyone who knows how to cook, write in the comments below.
