Cauliflower Rice Stir Fry tossed with garlic butter chicken and carrots is ready in only 25 minutes! A perfect one-pot, veggie-packed quick and simple stir-fry for a busy weeknight. The whole family will enjoy this sweet and tasty nutrient-loaded cauliflower rice stir-fry.
I love one pot meals! And even more, I love one pot meals that literally take minutes to throw together. Cauliflower Rice Stir Fry is exactly this, plus it gives your family a double dose of veggies. It's a grain-free recipe, so carbs are limited. This makes it a light dinner, great for around those winter holidays loaded with sweet and tasty treats! You'll not only love how this cauliflower rice stir fry tastes, but how it makes you feel.
We love using cauliflower to make a delicious cauliflower soup, healthy cauliflower tacos, air fried roasted cauliflower with herbs and even in cheesy buffalo dip!
I use frozen cauliflower rice in this recipe, which has became a lifesaver for me. I keep a large bag of individual servings in the freezer at all times. I love it because frozen cauliflower rice doesn't need to be defrosted before cooking. You can fry it right from frozen or steam it in the microwave.
MORE DELICIOUS CAULIFLOWER RECIPES
Ingredients
For this cauliflower rice stir fry, you need:
- Frozen cauliflower rice: or grate a full head using a cheese grater.
- Boneless, skinless chicken breasts: diced into small pieces.
- Fresh minced garlic: or use roasted garlic for even more garlicky flavor.
- Carrots: chopped or grated work best.
- Onions: sweet onion, yellow onion or white onion all work great.
- Chicken broth: or vegetable broth.
- Freshly squeezed lemon juice: or use a bottle of lemon juice.
- Grated parmesan cheese: I don't recommend substituting with fresh parmesan cheese because it melts differently.
- Fresh parsley: or use dried parsley and reduce the amount by one third.
Step-By-Step Directions
Cauliflower rice stir fry is made in 4 simple steps.
- In a large pan melt 6 tablespoon butter over high heat. Add the diced chicken breasts, 2 teaspoon paprika, 1 tablespoon Italian seasoning, 2 teaspoon salt and ½ teaspoon black pepper. Turn the heat to medium and saute for 5 minutes, until chicken begins to brown and is no longer pink inside. Add the 8 garlic cloves during the last minute. Remove chicken from pan and set aside.
- Add 2 tablespoon butter to the pan and melt, scraping the brown bits from the bottom. Add the diced onions and carrots and saute for 4 minutes stirring often, until onions begin to caramelize and carrots become tender-crisp.
- Add the frozen cauliflower rice and chicken broth. Saute for 5 minutes, breaking apart the cauliflower with a spatula as it warms. Stir frequently.
- Turn off the heat and add the parsley and Parmesan cheese. Squeeze fresh lemon juice over the stir fry and mix well. Toss with the reserved garlic butter chicken and serve.
Serve with additional fresh parsley if desired.
How To Store
Store your cauliflower and chicken stir fry in the fridge for 2-3 days. It's also freezer-friendly for up to 6 months when stored in freezer safe containers.
Recipe FAQs
Using cauliflower instead of rice can be considered healthier depending on your dietary needs. Since cauliflower is a vegetable, it's lower in carbs than traditional rices like white, brown, or basmati. Cauliflower is also full of vitamins and minerals our body needs to thrive.
Yes! Because it uses cauliflower instead of rice or pasta, this recipe is gluten-free.
Cauliflower will expel some water as it cooks, especially if you're using frozen cauliflower. It won't make this recipe soggy, as it needs the little bit of water to help make the sauce.
Recipe
Cauliflower Rice Stir Fry
Equipment
- frying pan
Ingredients
For the chicken:
- 6 tablespoon butter
- 1 pound boneless skinless chicken breasts diced
- 1 tbsp Italian seasoning
- 2 teaspoon paprika
- 2 teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
- 8 garlic cloves minced
For the cauliflower rice:
- 2 tbsp butter
- 1 cup onions diced
- 2 carrots diced or grated
- 10 oz frozen cauliflower rice *see notes if using fresh cauliflower rice
- ¼ cup chicken broth
- 2 tablespoon fresh parsley
- ½ cup Parmesan cheese
- ½ lemon
Instructions
- In a large pan melt 6 tablespoon butter over high heat. Add the diced chicken breasts, 2 teaspoon paprika, 1 tablespoon Italian seasoning, 2 teaspoon salt and ½ teaspoon black pepper. Turn the heat to medium and saute for 5 minutes, until chicken begins to brown and is no longer pink inside. Add the 8 garlic cloves during the last minute. Remove chicken from pan and set aside.
- Add 2 tablespoon butter to the pan and melt, scraping the brown bits from the bottom. Add the diced onions and carrots and saute for 4 minutes stirring often, until onions begin to caramelize and carrots become tender-crisp.
- Add the cauliflower rice and chicken broth. Saute for 5 minutes, breaking apart the cauliflower with a spatula as it warms. Stir frequently.
- Turn off the heat and add the parsley and Parmesan cheese. Squeeze fresh lemon juice over the stir fry and mix well. Toss with the reserved garlic butter chicken and serve.
Linda
Wow! I loved this! I did the chicken with spices in the crockpot. When the chicken was done , I microwaved the frozen cauliflower and dumped it in with the chicken. Sautéed the onion and carrots and dumped them in. So flavorful!
Kelly
Just finished this for dinner tonight. Everyone loved it and will definitely make this again. I may also try switching out the chicken for shrimp sometime.
Brittany Cecil
I thought this was a great meal, I loved the flavors, although I would have to agree with another post about it being on the salty side. If you did 1 tsp of salt or even 1/2 tsp it would be perfect!
Emily
I don’t tend to leave many recipe reviews but I almost talked myself out of making this due several reviews basically saying it was blander than expected. It seemed inconceivable given the ingredients list so I gave it a try today and I am SO very glad I did, it is delicious!!! I made two small adjustments - I used chicken thighs and omitted the chicken broth. My favorite way to have cauli rice is prepped in a dry pan so all the moisture cooks off and leaves a better taste and texture so thought the addition of moisture at that step was not going to be best for my taste. It is fabulous and will be in our rotation, especially since I typically have all of the ingredients on hand regularly. Thanks for the great recipe!!!
Kristina
Hi Emily- I am glad you tried it too! Thank you for the feedback, and those are good recommendations. This is also one of my favorites to make weekly. Thank you for the feedback.
Fran
It was way too salty for me. Chicken was wonderful, it turned out, juicy, tender, wonderfully flavorful. I’ve used cauliflower rice for a while now, and it didn’t turn out. It turned out brown, not the yellow color I was expecting. I may try it again with a different brand cauliflower rice and less salt.
S
My family and I thought this recipe was very underwhelming. Not sure what it was missing. All of the ingredients seemed like they would be flavorful but to us it was lacking. I made it with both rice and cauliflower rice, separated some of the chicken and sauce after it was done.
Lauren
The sodium was very high and could tell when I was eating it
Good taste but high seasoned taste
B
Made this tonight for my family of 6,oldest 18 and youngest 5 yo. Everyone loved it and cleaned their bowl! Thanks for the great recipe. I am looking for great recipes for cauliflower rice and this will definitely be added to our future menus.
Katie
Unfortunately this recipe did not turn out well 🙁 The cauliflower rice was very mushy and soggy. I'm not sure if the broth was necessary? The flavor also didn't turn out good. Maybe it's just the taste of cauliflower rice? It was my first time cooking with it. I do enjoy cauliflower but this didn't taste good. I'm sorry 🙁 Not sure if I could do something different next time or if this recipe just isn't for me.
Kristina
Sorry to hear you didn't enjoy it! I think cauliflower rice needs some getting used to. Since this was your first time cooking with it, I wouldn't give up on it but maybe try it in a recipe where it's less of a main ingredient. I am thinking maybe as a replacement for rice in stuffed peppers, something like that. If you want to try this again, you can add more seasonings to the chicken (garlic powder, onion powder, maybe even a little cumin if you enjoy it). You may enjoy it with more lemon and parmesan cheese, too. Adding some toasted panko bread crumbs mixed with italian seasoning at the end will give it more of a crunch!