Garlic-Cilantro Cauliflower Rice is a simple but flavorful side dish that goes SO well with Mexican and Thai main dishes. It’s also vegan, gluten free and perfect if you’re following the 21 Day Fix!

Hey guys! It’s officially the end of summer and the beginning of fall, and fall makes me ridiculously happy. So much so that I’ve already been posting lots of classically fall recipes like pumpkin desserts and chili in preparation. Even though today’s recipe (which was supposed to go out last week, but life happened) is not particularly fall in nature, I’m still feelin’ the spirit.

It doesn’t hurt that last weekend we went away with some friends to Denali National Park and it was FULL-ON fall up there and just freaking glorious. Here are a few pics from our trip 🙂

The adorable little house that we rented for the weekend 🙂

Mt. Denali!

Ahhh. The BEST weekend ever. Seriously, where’s a DeLorean when you need one? I bet I could find some plutonium around here somewhere. I’m properly motivated.

I digress… back to the task at hand. I don’t know about you, but I’m always looking for easy, low-carb side dishes to go with our favorite Mexican meals like tacos and enchiladas. It’s tough for me because our go-to’s pre-21 Day Fix were beans, rice and corn cake… delicious, but ALL. THE. CARBS.

21 Day Fix Garlic-Cilantro Cauliflower Rice is an easy, flavorful side that will go perfectly with your favorite Mexican and Thai dishes. Gluten-Free | Vegan | Dairy-Free

Raw.

Anyway, a couple of weeks ago I was throwing together a quick taco dinner and needed the aforementioned unicorn of a low-carb side dish for tacos. After consulting my assistant (the fridge) and finding that I had a head of cauliflower to use up, I thought I’d try out some cauli rice.

You may already know that I LOVE using cauliflower in all the ways – I’ve made cauliflower crust pizza, I’ve used it to thicken some of my favorite soups, like this one and this one and I’ve used it to make my super creamy mac and cheese. However, this was the very first time I’d ever made cauliflower rice and I’m so in love. I really didn’t think I would be that into it, but it was actually really great. I’m also super irritated with myself that I hadn’t tried it sooner… but mostly I’m in love.

A few recipe notes…

I had 2 1/2 pounds of raw cauliflower and it made 7 cups of raw rice. Just so you have a point of reference. I wrote this recipe as only 4 servings, but it would be a simple thing to double or even triple it if necessary. Personally I always appreciate leftovers. Also, even though I made this to go with our fave Mexican dishes, the flavors also work beautifully with Thai dishes too. You could even leave out the cilantro and it would be great with your favorite Indian meal. At the end of this post I listed all of my favorite 21 Day Fix meals to serve this with so scroll down and check ’em out! Enjoy!

If you make this recipe be sure to snap a pic and tag me @thefoodieandthefix or use #thefoodieandthefix on Instagram so I can check it out! It makes me ridiculously happy to see what you guys are making 🙂

Garlic and Cilantro Cauliflower Rice

Name: Garlic and Cilantro Cauliflower Rice
Prep time: 5 min
Cook time: 10 min
Total time: 15 min
Yield: 4 Servings
Ingredients: 2 tsp extra virgin olive oil; 2 cups raw cauliflower, riced - either by grating on a box grater or pulsing in the food processor until you have pieces the size of rice (about a 1 lb head of cauliflower); 2-3 cloves of garlic, minced; 1/8 tsp salt; 1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro

Yield: 4 Servings

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Cook Time: 10 minutes

Total Time: 15 minutes

Ingredients

2 tsp extra virgin olive oil
2 cups raw cauliflower, riced - either by grating on a box grater or pulsing in the food processor until you have pieces the size of rice (about a 1 lb head of cauliflower)
2-3 cloves of garlic, minced
1/8 tsp salt
1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro

Instructions

In a medium saute pan, heat the olive oil to medium heat. Add garlic and cook until translucent, just a few minutes. The longer you cook it, the more mellow it will get, if you want it to have a spicier garlic flavor, only cook it for a minute or so. Add the cauliflower and saute (stirring occasionally) until the rice is soft and cooked through until it has the texture you like (I cook mine until it just has a little bit of a bite left to it).
Stir in the chopped cilantro and serve!