This Italian Cauliflower Rice is a flavored packed, effortless side dish perfect for your low carb days. So quick and easy with lots of fresh flavor.
In about 12 minutes you can have this side dish ready to eat making weeknight meals a breeze.
Garlic butter, lemon, parsley and Italian seasoning will turn your average cauliflower rice and make it delicious. It truly will make your taste buds sing.
So fresh, clean, yummy and most of all healthy!
This Italian Cauliflower Rice will not disappoint. This is perfect to have with meatballs, chicken dishes, or as a base for a roasted veggie bowl. Anywhere you need to substitute pasta, this would be a fabulous alternative.
I try and watch my carb intake (most days, wink, wink) and look for side dishes that give me the illusion I have having carbs aka “rice”. This fits the bill!
This Italian Cauliflower Rice is perfect for gluten free, Paleo and Keto lifestyles. I have all of you covered with this dish 🙂
We eat this all the time with my Honey Balsamic Chicken, Honey Garlic Chicken, and Chicken Picatta. Pair it with my Steam Green Beans and your dinner will be complete!
I love that cauliflower rice will take on the flavors of whatever you are cooking. If you want an Italian, Chinese, or American recipe, the “rice” will take on that flavor.
My kids will eat this side dish all the time. They taste the yummy flavors and not the fact that they are eating cauliflower! ha!
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Step by step intructions
- Place garlic butter in a skillet on medium to high heat. Place frozen cauliflower rice in the skillet. Cook for 5 minutes, stirring every 2 minutes. We are trying to sear the rice.
- Add lemon zest, lemon juice, salt, pepper, and Italian seasoning to the skillet and stir. Cook another 5-7 minutes until your rice looks nice and toasty.
- Add parsley and stir.
- Serve your Italian Cauliflower Rice hot! I like to sprinkle, parmesan, feta, or goat cheese on top for an extra kick!
Tips for success
- Cauliflower rice can get mushy real easy. Personally I just can’t do it!! It’s a texture thing for me. I buy it frozen from Costco or Trader Joe’s. This is way the pan needs to be hot, it will sear it and put a more firm texture on the rice. Just make sure to watch because we don’t want to burn it.
- We need that moisture to evaporate. If you cook this on low heat, the cauliflower rice will sit in that water and cause you to have a mushy texture. That is not what we are going for with this side dish.
- We also love to put a little feta, parmesan, or crumbled goat cheese down on top!
- If you are using fresh cauliflower rice you can follow the same instructions above. You just need reduce the temperature to medium heat. If you find that the cauliflower rice is producing more liquid then just raise the temperature on your stove to medium/high. Just make sure to watch your dish so it does not burn.
How to store and reheat leftovers
Place leftovers in an air tight container and they will last 3-5 days. Reheat leftovers in a skillet on the stovetop.
I hope you enjoyed this Italian Cauliflower Rice recipe, please leave a comment below if you have tried it.
Please check out a few of my other recipes:
Italian Cauliflower Rice Recipe
Equipment
- Skillet
- Lemon Zester
Ingredients
- 2 cups (heaping) Cauliflower rice frozen
- 2 tablespoons Garlic butter
- 1/4 cup Parsley
- 1 Lemon zested
- 1/2 Lemon juiced
- 1/2 teaspoon Salt
- 1/2 teaspoon Italian seasoning
- 1/4 teaspoon Black pepper
Instructions
- Place 2 tablespoons ghee (butter) in a skillet and put on medium to high heat. Add the frozen cauliflower rice. Mix the butter and "rice" together. Try and make it evenly dispersed throughout the pan. You want to sear the rice to get a good texture on the outside of it. Stir every 2 minutes.
- After 5 minutes, add the lemon zest and lemon juice, salt, pepper, and Italian seasoning. Cook another 5-7 minutes. Your cauliflower rice will be nice and "toasted".
- Add chopped parsley and stir. You can garnish with parmesan, goat, or feta cheese if you would like!
Video
Notes
- Make sure your pan is really hot. Frozen cauliflower rice can get mushy real fast. Personally I just can’t do it!! It’s a texture thing for me.
- The hot pan will sear the “rice” and will have a more firm texture.
- We need that moisture to evaporate.
- Place leftovers in an air tight container and they will last 3-5 days.
Tanya says
I love your recipes! They are always healthy and tasty and this one certainly does not disappoint. Very flavorful ! I can’t wait to try the Instapot chicken thighs next! Keep them coming, Kelly!
Kelly Rodrigue says
Yay!!! Thank you so much! I am so happy you enjoyed it! I hope you love that one too! Let me know…