This cauliflower fried rice tastes just like the real thing (maybe better!) but it’s much healthier and easy to make at home. Loaded with flavor, protein, veggies and healthy fats, it makes a great weeknight meal that everyone will love. Paleo, Whole30 compliant, low carb, kid approved!
We’re diving in to some good-for-you “take out” once again – this time in the form of Whole30 and Paleo Cauliflower Fried “Rice” with chicken and pork. And by pork, I’m talking thick-cut-sugar-free BACON.
I’m not saying the bacon is mandatory (or am I?!) but rather just a little something extra to make this cauliflower fried rice rock your Paleo/Whole30 world to the absolute max. You can definitely sub in some seasoned ground pork for a similar effect. And now, I’m way, way ahead of myself. Let’s take a step back, shall we?
Back to the beginning. This is the second recipe in a (very unofficial) series of paleo and Whole30 friendly copycat Chinese takeout recipes. The first was this beef & broccoli easy stir fry, and next, well, next is a surprise!
I’m hoping for about 5 total in this “series”, which means I’ll happily take request for the final two in the comments – what are your favorites?! I’m thinking/dreaming about sweet and sour..er..something, and possibly some sweet potato noodle lo-mein. Nothing official yet, so ideas are quite welcome.
For now I’ll go back to focusing on my fried rice. In truth, you need to know that I’m not a cauliflower rice lover. I tried it way back, when I was new to paleo, and I wasn’t all that impressed. Although in hindsight, I think I was steaming it rather than frying and probably not adding enough flavor. Flavor and texture is everything with cauliflower rice in my opinion, especially if you’re trying to get kids, husbands, and any other picky table mates hanging around on board as well.
That’s where all the fun add-ins come in with this fried rice. You have chicken – which you can season to your preference, and pork (bacon or ground pork) carrots, green onion, fresh ginger, garlic, and kale. Yes, KALE snuck in here and nobody questioned it at all. In fairness I’m a die-hard kale lover to the very end and sneak it into many recipes. As long as it’s sautéed or roasted – I’m just not a huge fan of raw kale.
So we have the veggies, the protein, the deliciously smoky bacon, garlic & ginger, but now we need to make it taste authentically take-out. That’s where the magical combination of coconut aminos and sesame oil comes in.
If you haven’t dabbled in coconut aminos yet, you must try it – it’s a coconut-based equivalent of soy sauce and it’s totally Whole30 compliant – the only ingredients are organic coconut tree sap and sea salt. Beautiful! Add in some sesame oil, and somehow that magical combination takes me straight back to scooping heaping spoonfuls of fried rice out those white cardboard containers onto my plate into my mouth. Try it, it does not disappoint!
As with any stir fry, it’s essential to have your ingredients prepped and ready to go prior to turning on the stove. For those of you meal-preppers, this recipe is perfect for you and the actual cook time is fast – just about 10 minutes, including the time needed to fry the bacon.
One note on the cauliflower rice itself – I “cheated” and purchased pre-riced cauliflower, which was in the cut-veggie section of my regular, nothing-fancy grocery store. I’m amazed they now have pre-riced cauliflower and veggie noodles available all over the place now!
That said, “ricing” cauliflower is super easy – simply pulse the florets in a food processor until they resemble the consistency of rice – all of several seconds :). In the recipe, you’ll see I gave measurements both ways – just under 4 cups of rice, or one head of cauliflower, riced. You can’t go wrong even if your measurement is a bit off, this is a very forgiving recipe! I hope you’re hungry and ready to cook – let’s go!
Cauliflower Fried Rice with Chicken & Pork {Paleo & Whole30}
Cauliflower Fried Rice with Chicken & Pork {Paleo & Whole30}
Ingredients
- 1 head cauliflower riced, or 12 oz (came out just shy of 4 cups)
- 4 slices thick sliced paleo bacon chopped into small bite size pieces OR 1/2 lb ground pork*
- 2-3 tbsp rendered bacon fat or other cooking fat of choice (coconut oil or ghee)
- 2 eggs whisked
- 4 scallions white and green parts separated - thinly sliced
- 1 large carrot peeled and chopped small about 1 cup
- 1 large handful kale chopped
- 1 inch chunk fresh ginger peeled and grated (about 2 tsp)
- 3 cloves garlic minced
- 1 lb boneless skinless chicken breasts or thighs precooked (or any precooked chicken you have on hand) and chopped into bite size pieces
- 6 Tbsp coconut aminos this is a paleo and Whole30 friendly equivalent of soy sauce
- 2 Tbsp pure sesame oil
- sea salt to taste
Instructions
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Have all ingredients chopped and ready to go before beginning.
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Heat a wok or large non-stick skillet over med-hi heat, add the chopped bacon or ground pork*. Cook, stirring, until browned (2-3 mins), then remove to a plate using a slotted spoon, turn off heat.
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Pour the rendered fat into a glass bowl for later use. Reserve 2 tsp fat to scramble the eggs. Return heat to medium high and add the eggs, scramble, chop into pieces and remove to a plate (with the bacon is fine)
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Keeping the heat on med-med/hi, Add another 1-2 tbsp cooking fat to the pan, then add the chopped kale and carrots and a bit of sea salt, stir to coat and cook, stirring, about 5 minutes to soften.
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Once the carrots are fork tender, add the white and light green part of the scallions, garlic and ginger and cook another 2-3 minutes, stirring.
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Add the riced cauliflower and stir to coat with the cooked veggies. Add all the coconut aminos and sesame oil and stir to coat, continue to cook another 3 minutes or so, then stir in the chopped chicken, scrambled eggs, and bacon or ground pork, stir and cook another minute, remove from heat.
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Sprinkle with a bit more sea salt or coconut aminos to taste, then garnish with thinly sliced scallions (green parts) and serve! Store leftovers in the refrigerator for up to 4 days - it reheats well to bring leftovers to work!
Recipe Notes
*If using ground pork, I highly recommend seasoning with sea salt, pepper and any other desired seasonings.
Nutrition
What I Used To Make My Cauliflower Fried Rice with Chicken & Pork:
Want More Whole30 Meal Ideas? Try One of These!
One-Pan Crispy Bacon Wrapped Chicken
Slow Cooker White Chicken Chili with Sweet Potatoes
Tell Me!
Have you seen veggie noodles and cauliflower rice pre-made at your local store?
Which copycat Chinese take-out recipes would you like to see?
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Linda H says
August 27, 2017 at 10:54 amThis looks great. For someone who can’t have pork, would you recommend ground beef or adding ground chicken as a replacement.
Thanks in advance.
Michele says
September 1, 2017 at 12:37 pmYou can do turkey bacon or simply omit and add a bit more chopped chicken 🙂
Mel_OutRunCF says
August 27, 2017 at 7:48 pmIt looks delicious! I love this copycat Chinese takeout recipes theme! My local store now carries zucchini, sweet potatoes and butternut squash noodles but I do find they are overpriced. But I don’t mind paying extra money for cubed butternut squash lol I do buy bags of cauliflower rice and I really like it in curry recipes.
Michele says
September 1, 2017 at 12:36 pmYup, definitely overpriced considering the cost of a good sprializer isn’t much. The cauliflower rice is worth it though for less mess 🙂
Judi says
September 3, 2017 at 9:07 amWhich sprializer do you suggest….
Melanie says
August 28, 2017 at 5:35 pmI miss orange chicken! This may sound crazy,but we went to a Chinese restaurant a while back, and they serve strawberry chicken. It’s one of their signature dishes, so I tried it, and it was delicious!
Michele says
September 1, 2017 at 12:31 pmWow that’s an interesting one!
Pam says
August 28, 2017 at 7:02 pmLOVE this series! I’m new to your blog, and apparently I came at the right time :). How about a copycat recipe for Kung Pao Chicken? The basic ingredients are a no-brainer, but I would love to learn to make the sauce in a healthy version.
Michele says
September 1, 2017 at 12:31 pmOoh will definitely take those into consideration! And welcome to the blog 🙂
Mey says
August 28, 2017 at 8:44 pmDelicious! Eating it as I type this. I really miss rice and the graininess of the cauliflower almost makes up for it. I was amazed at how great it looked while I was cooking it and prayed that the taste lived up its look and it does! Thanks so much for sharing your recipe!
Michele says
September 1, 2017 at 12:30 pmSo happy you liked it!!
Lauren says
August 30, 2017 at 10:38 pmThis is really good! I made it last night. Used bacon and pre-cooked free range chicken and it worked a treat. Thanks for helping me to embrace cauliflower rice 🙂 ps the health food shop was out of coconut aminos sadly, so I used regular soy sauce, but am so keen to try the aminos next time!
Michele says
September 1, 2017 at 12:15 pmSo happy you liked it!
Julie says
August 31, 2017 at 8:31 amI am excited to try this recipe out for dinner tonight. It looks delicious! Do your kids like cauliflower rice too?
Michele says
September 1, 2017 at 12:14 pmTypically they don’t but they liked this!
Julie says
August 31, 2017 at 10:03 pmThis was amazing! Will definitely add this to my cooking rotation. It was super easy and everyone loved it. Thank you!
Michele says
September 1, 2017 at 11:39 amSo thrilled you all liked it!
Pam says
September 2, 2017 at 8:24 pmOh. My. Goodness. This was AWESOME!!!
Ashley says
September 3, 2017 at 5:14 pmIs there a substitute for coconut aminos? I can’t have coconut and it’s in so many whole 30 recipes! 🙁
Michele says
September 3, 2017 at 5:57 pmUnfortunately I don’t know of anything similar that’s also Whole30 compliant. Gluten-free soy sauce is fine for flavor though if you don’t need it to be Whole30 compliant.
Cathy says
January 10, 2019 at 12:50 amI’ve used molasses as a sub before – a little goes a very long way. It’s not a perfect sub but a good replacement if you can’t have soy or coconut.
Walter says
September 4, 2017 at 9:06 amWhat a tasty looking recipe … it’ll make my meal plan next week for sure!
Carrah O'Riley says
September 6, 2017 at 11:49 amDoes this recipe save well? I’m prepping meals in advance these days!
Our local store has prepped veggies and noodles ready to go- super awesome when in a time crunch.
Michele says
September 6, 2017 at 12:19 pmYes it does, you can keep in the refrigerator for up to about 4 days I’d say, it reheats well 🙂
Jamie says
September 7, 2017 at 12:26 amI made this dish tonight with chicken and bacon and it was so declicious! Lots of flavor with the bacon added to it. Thank you for posting this recipe!
Michele says
September 10, 2017 at 8:42 amI’m so happy it worked out 🙂
Brent Neufelder says
October 28, 2017 at 7:44 pmUsed low sodium soy sauce as a substitution, was very good.
Michele says
October 30, 2017 at 6:30 pmGlad you liked it!
Laura says
December 4, 2017 at 3:06 pmThis was delicious! Chinese takeout is my weak spot in terms of food triggers so I was looking for a healthier alternative and this definitely will be my go-to moving forward! I actually didn’t use the bacon or pork at all and I don’t think it hurt the recipe. Also, I ended up using frozen riced cauliflower from whole foods and instead of kale, I threw in some chopped spinach at the end and that also worked out! My family loves this!
Cindy says
February 26, 2018 at 9:09 pmI made this tonight with all chicken (no pork) and it was FANTASTIC!! My husband and kids LOVED it! Thank you for sharing a recipe full of veggies that tasted like our favorite Chinese take out, without the bloated feeling afterwards!
Michele says
March 4, 2018 at 5:24 pmSo happy you guys enjoyed it!
Sarah B. says
March 4, 2018 at 12:33 pmThis recipe is incredible! I just recently found your website while completing my yearly whole30 diet. I was feeling in a rut and needed something other than chicken and sweet potatoes. Your website is EXACTLY what I needed! Last week I made the cauliflower rice (which I had never had before in my life) burrito bowls and loved them! This week I tried this recipe and I was a bit nervous while making it and nervous to try but it did not disappoint! It tastes just like the real thing! Thank you so much for taking the time to make and share recipes that are nutritious and yummy! Your website will help me throughout the year not gain those pesky 15 pounds back each fall!
Thank you!
June says
June 21, 2018 at 12:42 amI had a hard time enjoying cauliflower rice while on Whole30… until this recipe. Seriously, this was super tasty — probably the best Whole30 recipe I made the entire month! Highly recommend.
Lina says
August 28, 2018 at 11:24 pmI love this recipe! This was my first time ever making cauliflower rice, so I was looking online for a recipe. I didn’t have time to go to the store so I used lamb because that was the only type of meat in the fridge and broccoli since I didn’t have kale. It turned out great, and I’m excited to try this with the chicken and bacon next time I do it.
Peg says
September 11, 2018 at 6:43 pmEXCELLENT! Easy to follow recipe!