Learn how to make riced veggies to use in your favorite healthy recipes! Ricing vegetables is quick and easy to do, and it costs less than buying them at the store!
Well guys and gals, today you’re in for treat. Okay not really a treat, but more of helpful tool. I know, I know, it’s Valentine’s Day and I’m posting about veggies. GASP! But this post just happens to be our our next recipe for our HOW TO series. And this is worth saving! So once you finish your dark chocolate, pull up a chair and let’s talk VEGGIES!
The 411 on riced veggies!
If you make or eat a lot of gluten-free, paleo, Whole30, or low carb recipes, you’ve probably used and/or eaten riced veggies. They’re grain-free, gluten-free, low in calories, and they’re a great replacement for high-carb foods like potatoes and rice.
HOW TO MAKE RICED VEGGIES
What vegetables can be riced?
There are SO many varieties of riced veggies, to list them all would take a long time! Some of the best vegetables for ricing are cruciferous varieties, like cauliflower, broccoli, cabbage, and Brussels sprouts. Potatoes, squash, beets, and carrots are great for ricing, too.
Today, I’ll show you how to make riced veggies using a few of my favorite vegetables. It’s really easy to incorporate riced veggies into recipes, At the bottom of this post, you’ll find instructions on how to store and cook them, too.
NOTES ABOUT FOOD PROCESSOR BLADES –> You can rice vegetables in food processor with the grating blade or cutting/chopping knife blade, both work! I prefer the knife blade which allows you to control more the size of “rice.”
CAULIFLOWER AND BROCCOLI RICE
What You’ll Need: – 1 head of cauliflower and 3-4 small crowns of broccoli (this will yield about 5-6 cups riced)
How to rice cauliflower and broccoli
- Cut the vegetables into small enough chunks that they will fit through the feeder tube of a food processor. BONUS: You can rice the stems, too!
- In small batches, put the cauliflower chunks into a food processor. Process until the cauliflower has the consistency of rice. Repeat with the broccoli florets.
Favorite recipes on Cotter Crunch that use broccoli and cauliflower rice:
- Riced Broccoli Cauliflower Risotto
- Saucy Paleo Mongolian Beef Broccoli Rice Bowls
- Thai Carrot Cauliflower Rice Salad with Avocado Cream Dressing
BEET RICE
What You’ll Need: 2-3 large beets, scrubbed and peeled (peeling optional).
How to rice beets
- Cut the beets into small enough chunks that they will fit through the feeder tube of a food processor.
- In small batches, place the beets into a food processor fitted with the grating or knife blade. Process until the beets have the consistency of rice.
Favorite recipes on Cotter Crunch that would be great beet rice:
- Zingy Marinated Beet and Apple Salad
- Or try making this Gujaratari Style salad with beet rice added to even out the spice!
SWEET POTATO RICE
What You’ll Need: 2 large sweet potatoes, scrubbed and peeled
How to rice sweet potatoes
- Cut the peeled sweet potatoes into small enough chunks that they will fit through the feeder tube of a food processor.
- In small batches, place the potatoes into a food processor fitted with the grating or knife blade. Process until the sweet potatoes have the consistency of rice.
Favorite recipes on Cotter Crunch where you can use riced potatoes:
- Sweet Potato Cauliflower Patties
- Sweet potato Picadillo Bowls (riced instead of chopped)
- Or you could use sweet potato rice instead of chopped sweet potato in this sweet potato chili!
CARROT RICE
What You’ll Need: 3 large carrots, washed, ends trimmed, and peeled (or leave unpeeled)
How to rice carrots
- Cut the carrots into small enough pieces that they will fit through the feeder tube of a food processor.
- In small batches, place the carrots into a food processor fitted with the grating or knife blade. Process until the carrots have the consistency of rice.
Favorite recipes on Cotter Crunch that use carrot rice:
Quick Carrot Rice Breakfast Nasi Goreng {Paleo}
How to store riced veggies
You can store riced vegetables in airtight containers or Ziploc bags. So the texture lasts longer, I lightly toast the rice in a large pan before storing,
Vegetable rice freezes really well, too. Before freezing, make sure that your riced veggies are completely cool first. Then all you have to do is store them in Ziplock bags. Be sure to press out as much air as you can before closing the bags. Lay the bags flat in the freezer and the riced veggies should keep well for about 3-4 months.
How to cook riced veggies
It’s SO easy! Simply cook them as you would any regular veggie. Due to the texture, I am a little more sensitive when cooking them, so if you have a large amount, work in batches.
Riced veggies work really well in a stir fry, as a flour/filling base (like in this falafel), in risotto, soups, etc.
If you simply want to bake and eat, toss the rice with a few teaspoons of olive oil, spread evenly onto a large baking pan, and bake at 350 F for 10-12 minutes
Let’s put it all together in one place for ya!
Riced Veggies Tutorial (Printable)
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How to Make Riced Veggies for Recipes
- Total Time: 20 minutes
- Yield: 2–3 per riced veggie 1x
Description
How to make riced veggies for low carb and/or paleo meals, budget friendly meal prep, and more! Tutorial and cooking tips!
Ingredients
Ingredients to Make Riced Veggies (cups per vegetable listed)
- 1 small to medium head cauliflower (3–4 cups riced)
- 3 large Broccoli Florets (2–3 cups riced)
- 3–4 large carrots (around 2 cups riced)
- 1 large sweet potato or 2 small (around 2 cups riced))
- 3 beets (around 1 ½ to 2 cups riced)
- Other veggies that can be riced – cabbage, zucchinis, butternut squash, parsnips, russet potatoes
For baking/cooking riced veggies you will need
- 2 teaspoon – 1 Tablespoon olive oil or butter
- seasoning of choice (to taste)
Instructions
How to rice cauliflower and broccoli
- Cut the vegetables into small enough chunks that they will fit through the feeder tube of a food processor. BONUS: You can rice the stems, too!
- In small batches, put the cauliflower chunks into a food processor. Process until the cauliflower has the consistency of rice. Repeat with the broccoli florets.
How to rice beets
- Cut the beets into small enough chunks that they will fit through the feeder tube of a food processor.
- In small batches, place the beets into a food processor fitted with the grating blade or cutting/chopping knife blade. Process until the beets have the consistency of rice.
How to rice carrots
- Cut the carrots into small enough pieces that they will fit through the feeder tube of a food processor.
- In small batches, place the carrots into a food processor fitted with the grating blade or cutting/chopping knife blade. Both work!
- Process until the carrots have the consistency of rice.
How to rice sweet potatoes
- Cut the peeled sweet potatoes into small enough chunks that they will fit through the feeder tube of a food processor.
- In small batches, place the potatoes into a food processor fitted with the grating blade or cutting/chopping knife blade.
- . Process until the sweet potatoes have the consistency of rice.
How to Cook with Riced Veggies
- Riced Veggies work really well in a stir fry, as a flour/filling base (like in this falafel), in risotto, soups, etc.
- If you simply want to bake and eat, toss the rice with a few teaspoons of olive oil, spread evenly onto a large baking pan, and bake at 350 F for 10-12 minutes
Several veggie rice recipes listed in the blog post!
Notes
- You can rice vegetables in food processor with the grating blade or cutting/chopping knife blade, both work! I prefer the knife blade for more control over size of “rice.”
- You can store riced vegetables in airtight containers or Ziploc bags. So the texture lasts longer, I recommend lightly toasting the rice in a large pan before storing,
- Vegetable rice freezes really well. Before freezing, make sure that your riced veggies are completely cooled.
- Prep Time: 10
- Cook Time: 10
- Method: food processor
Keywords: riced veggies, paleo, tutorial, healthy, vegetables, low carb, dairy free, gluten free
And finally, my last tip for riced veggies.
BEST WAY TO USE UP ALL YOUR VEGETABLES AT ONCE?!
- Rice them
- Place all on oiled large oven safe pan and season
- Bake
- Make a beautiful veggie rice pilaf!
Have you tried ricing vegetables yet?
If so, let me know your favorite recipe so far! If not, pick one here, try it, and report back. Mmmm k?
Cheers!
LC
Hi! Love this recipe! Do you know how many calories are in this meal? Thank you!
For which vegetable? There’s lots of options. 🙂 But happy to help!
How do you cook riced vegitables?
Hi Don! It depends on which vegetable you rice. The vegetables with higher water concentration do best in oven. For instance, baking cauliflower rice first is the best before you use it in other recipes, like a stir fry or soup. We bake it at 400F for 10-15 minutes until cauliflower is slightly crispy and golden.
For sweet potato rice, you can probably just stir fry the rice in a pan first until tender. Hopefully that makes sense!
In my previous comment I omitted to say I found your nomato sauce recipes very useful
Four stars only because I want to cut energy costs as much as possible. I’m in the UK and energy costs have rocketed, so every corner cut is helpful. Am I correct in thinking an old fashioned grater would do the job? I have one which has four different sized faces, 3 go from very fine through coarse, the fourth slices. I found your site by accident, and I’m really impressed, and intrigued by your revipes.
★★★★
Totally understand that! Thanks for the feedback Kitty and glad you found the nomato sauce too! It’s a fav
Any recipes for sauces to pour on riced vegies or meats?
Yes! We have a cauliflower alfredo sauce, nightshade free nomato sauce, vegan cheese sauce, and lots of other sauces here! https://www.cottercrunch.com/?s=sauces . I also love our red pepper sauce
Clear, complete and accurate. Super. (As everything on the site, btw)
★★★★★
hello, I’m new to this cooking lark.. but coming on in leaps and bounds and enjoying myself! I’ve come across a recipe for ‘veg dipping bread’ that requires riced veg,looked up riced veg and found you! looking forward to trying this for our supper but I only have frozen veg, is it suitable if defrosted? thankyou.
Hi Julie! So glad you found us! I think frozen vegetables would work if they are properly thawed and dried out a little bit. They might be a little mushy, but it’s worth a try. Let me know if you give it a whirl
Why dows each set if instructions say to use the food processor’s grating blade, but each pictures shows the processor with the cutting/chopping knife blade? Which one do you mean?
You can use either! I’ll update that now. Thanks for heads up!
That being said, I prefer the knife blade which allows you to control more the size of “rice.”
Thanks for clarifying, Ms. Cotter. I would think that the grating blade would mainly give you slaw, although you could certainly use it much the way you would use veggie “rice.”
I am so new to all of this but looking forward to teaching my daughters by example how to live a healthier life; what attachment do you use for this? is it a grater or just the blade? is there a ricer blade?
I know it is so basic but all I can find is the manual potato ricer and that honestly turns me off the idea.
I just used regular blade. Super easy!! Pulse to get texture you would like.
do you cook the veggies before you rice them?
I rice them first, then cook. Hope that helps!
Awesome tutorials. How do you go about cooking the rice though? Do you stick it in the oven (and for how long at what temp)? Or do you fry it in a pan, again for how long?
Which rice? I usually toss the “rice” in olive oil (just a touch) and then bake at 375F or so on a baking sheet for 12-18 minutes. The starchier vegetables take longer. Mix and toss half way through cooking.
I love riced veggies–cauliflower, broccoli, zucchini, and carrots are my favorite vegetables to process into fine grain-like pieces! I have yet to try riced sweet potato, but I’m sure it’ll be GENIUS.
I think you’re gonna love! ?
These recipes are so fantastic! Cauliflower rice, zucchini rice, and sweet potato rice would probably become my go-to’s if I decided to make these pre-riced veggies more often, which I definitely will at some point. Making fried rice or serving them on the side with other dishes is another fantastic way to integrate more vegetables into your diet! It’s no trouble for me to consume enough vegetables, but it never hurts to incorporate more of them when you can!
Totally agree! Can never have too much. Fried Veggie Rice is my fav too.
I could look at these pictures all day. So gorgeous.
Veggies for days is what I had. Haha. You should have joined! Miss you
Yes, I LOVED ricing vegetables (especially for a “fried rice” type dish or even “rice” pudding)! It’s truly amazing how many vegetables can be used for this. Thank you for the excellent tutorial and recipe inspiration (as always).
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oh i need this recipe for rice pudding! did you use cauliflower rice? GENIUS!
It’s an older recipe, but I used this:
https://mariamindbodyhealth.com/healthy-rice-pudding/