Mexican Cauliflower Rice
This Mexican Cauliflower Rice is a flavourful side dish that is friendly to vegan, gluten-free, and paleo diets alike. Win, win, win!
MEXICAN CAULIFLOWER RICE
After the success of my first attempt at making rice out of cauliflower, I knew more variations of the dish would be in our future. Welcome, Mexican Cauliflower “Rice”.
Since I love the heat, Mexican spices and salsa were just the thing for this veggie based side dish.
It’s funny, I always see helpful articles or info-graphics on how to sneak more vegetables into our kids, yet not a lot about making it interesting for adults also.
I mean, I am a healthy eater but always getting the recommended amount of veggies can be a challenge. I like to do a green smoothie daily to get those nutrient rich leafies into my system, but after that veggies lose their star power to more glamorous ingredients like avocado or dark chocolate. 😉
The discovery of making the rice like side dish out of cauliflower first came onto my radar when I did the Whole 30 Challenge back in April.
I liked it, Joe liked it and we have enjoyed the Chicken Fried Cauliflower “Rice” a number of times since. Now to head south and give it a Mexican kick. The flavours were perfect with the texture of the riced cauliflower and when you hook yourself up with some avocado to go along with it?
Heaven.
Such a tasty dish and it reheats really well too. I liked that it was entirely vegetable based, yet super filling like you had eaten a plate of grains. We had it alongside some Chili Lime Chicken.
The plate, by the way was a gift from my bestie Julie who brought it back from Mexico with her a few years back when she visiting family.
Makes it more authentic when you serve it on ceramic directly from Mexico, dontcha think? 🙂
LOOKING FOR MORE HEALTHY CAULIFLOWER RECIPES?
Cauliflower Chicken Fried Rice
Creamy Cauliflower Potato Soup
*Originally posted June 24, 2015. April 16, 2019*
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Mexican Cauliflower “Rice” – Vegan, Gluten Free, Paleo
Ingredients
- 1 head cauliflower
- 1 tbsp. olive oil
- 1 small yellow onion diced
- 1/2 red pepper diced
- 2 garlic cloves minced
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1/4 tsp cayenne
- 1/2 cup salsa
- 1/4 cup fresh chopped cilantro
- 1 avocado sliced
Instructions
- Make the cauliflower into rice by pulsing florets in a food processor ( I work in two batches ) until it resembles rice, about 10-15 pulses. Place it in a bowl and set aside
- Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium low heat. Add the diced onion and peppers and sauté until soft, about 5 minutes. Stir in minced garlic and cook for another minute, stirring. Add the cumin, garlic powder and cayenne and stir to combine everything
- Add the cauliflower rice, stir, reduce heat to low and cover the pan. Let cook for 5-8 minutes, checking for desired tenderness
- Stir in the salsa and fresh cilantro and garnish with avocado slices
Delicious! I added garlic salt in lieu of garlic powder, it was perfectly seasoned!
Perfect! So glad you enjoyed it. Thanks Karlea. 🙂
What a cool idea to make cauliflower “rice”. Never tried anything like it before so I am curious to know what it tastes like – looks and sounds so flavoursome though.
It is super absorbent and really takes on the flavours that you add. So good! 🙂 Thanks Thalia.
I love healthy spins on comfort foods! This looks so light but flavorful. 🙂
Hey Sarah! Thanks so much. We really enjoyed this side.