How to Make Better Cauliflower Rice | America's Test Kitchen (2024)

Here are some ways to kick cauliflower rice dishes up several notches.

1. Cook your cauliflower rice in broth and aromatics. When you cook your riced cauliflower, cook some aromatics such as minced shallots or garlic in olive oil and then add your cauliflower rice and ½ cup of chicken or vegetable broth. Cook, covered, for 15 minutes,stirring occasionally. Uncover and cook for 3 more minutes, and you’ll have flavorful and fluffy rice.
2. Season with different spice blends. In addition to seasoning with salt and pepper, using other spice blends in your pantry such as ras el hanoutor garam masala can help take plain rice to the next level.
3. Mix in some mix-ins. Mix in dried fruit, nuts, or herbs into the rice. These could be dried cranberries, almonds, mint, or whatever you’re in the mood for. You can also add some heat with chopped jalapeños, which we use in our Mexican Cauliflower Rice from our book Easy Everyday Keto.
4. Add some acidity. Stirring in fresh lime or lemon juice can add a new dimension to your cauliflower rice. Try adding lime juice and cilantro to make cilantro-lime rice, which works great as a base or a side.
5. Drizzle on sauce. A spoonful of sauce such aschimichurri can mask any cauliflower-iness in the rice.

There’s another reason why cauliflower rice may have that pungent smell. After asking a few more colleagues, I may have found my culprit: frozen cauliflower rice. There’s nothing wrong with frozen prepackaged cauliflower rice, but after talking to some test cooks, I’m convinced that freshly riced cauliflower is the way to go.

Here are a few opinions from ATK’s food experts:

“Prepackaged cauliflower rice can have a bunch of preservatives, which people may have an aversion to. Creating your own rice also allows you to pick the final size of the kernels.” —Dan Zuccarello, executive food editor, Books

“Frozen rice defrosts as it cooks, which causes it to steam. This defrost stage makes it harder to brown, which often leaves you with mushy rice. Fresh rice has a cleaner cauliflower flavor, and since it doesn’t start off wet like frozen it is easier to brown and easier to maintain a bit of its toothsome texture.” —Bryan Roof, editorial director, Cook’s Country

“Frozen never gave us the consistency we liked; it always felt mushier than we preferred and lacked any flavor. However, I think frozen is a great addition if you want to incorporate a vegetable, especially hidden, into something else. I sneak it into things all the time and my kids do not notice (e.g., meatloaf).” —Russell Selander, former senior editor, Books

Fresh, not frozen, cauliflower rice is the best. And it’s hardly more work. Here’s how to make it.

1. Core and cut your head of cauliflower into 1-inch florets. (You can use scissors to cut the cauliflower if you like!)
2. Working in batches, pulse the florets in a food processor until you achieve your desired “grain” size.

It really is that easy!

Photo: Darya Arnautova / Getty Images