Not really sure why it took me for-freaking-ever to FINALLY get this recipe to you guys. I seriously make it all the time!
I love making this recipe at the end of the week with whatever leftovers I have on hand from meal prepping or other meals during the week. That’s why it’s called “Everything but the kitchen sink” cauliflower fried rice – add whatever you have that you think would taste great together! Aka when you’re lazy AF and can’t think of another dang thing to cook, THIS is your answer! Basically just throw everything in a skillet with some sauce, fry up an egg omelet, and you’re good.
This cauliflower fried rice is a choose-your-own-adventure kind of meal. You have the cauli rice as the base, but you can use whatever vegetable you like in place of zucchini (broccoli is great here, but brussels sprouts would be too!), and whatever leftover protein you have on hand. Grilled chicken, pulled pork, sausage, shrimp, salmon…whatever you feel like! As long as it doesn’t have a super powerful spice blend on it that completely conflicts with these asian flavors, it’ll be great! For example – don’t use a BBQ pulled pork with tons of sauce on it. That might be weird. But a rotisserie chicken, perfect baked chicken thighs, lemongrass ground turkey, perfect roasted salmon, or roasted garlic chicken sausage? Heck yes. You can also use your favorite pre-cooked chicken sausage, like the ones from Trader Joe’s. I’ve even quickly defrosted shrimp and thrown them in the mix for a super quick dinner.
In my bowl today: leftover sizzlefish salmon, zucchini and frozen peppers for the veggies.
The key to making this come together fast is to have all your ingredients measured, chopped, and diced before you start cooking. The cooking itself is very quick! So if you don’t have everything prepped when you start, things will get a little crazy. Like “oh my gosh everything is already cooking where did I put those damn peppers and why haven’t I chopped them yet?!” kind of quick. I’d highly recommend reading through the whole recipe and spreading out the ingredients on your counter in groups of when you’ll add them to the large skillet. Planning for the win!
And don’t worry – if you’re what we like to call “chopsticks challenged” like my little brother, you can totally use a fork to eat this! Or, you know, if you’re a hungry monkey (like me) and sometimes you just need to shovel food into your mouth. It’s fine. We’ve all been there.
Oh, I almost forgot! If you’re lucky enough to be one of those folks hoarding bags of Trader Joe’s frozen cauliflower rice, you can totally substitute 1 bag of that here for the head of fresh cauliflower. It might not take the full 8 minutes to cook through, so keep an eye on it.
- 1 Tbsp ghee(substitute: coconut oil)
- 1 large zucchini*
- ½ large red onion, diced
- 1 Tbsp minced garlic
- 1 medium head cauliflower
- 5 Tbsp coconut aminos
- ½ Tbsp fish sauce
- ½ Tbsp minced ginger
- 2 tsp dehydrated minced onion
- ½ tsp sea salt
- ¼ tsp fresh ground black pepper (AIP: omit)
- 1 lb cooked salmon (sub any leftover protein: shrimp, grilled chicken, ground turkey, sausage)**
- 1 cup frozen, mixed, sliced peppers (I get mine from Trader Joe’s)
- 1 Tbsp bacon fat
- 2 eggs, whisked
- ½ cup chopped scallions
- ¼ cup chopped cilantro
- Hot sauce, optional
- Heat a large sauté pan on medium for 2 minutes. Add the Tbsp of ghee, diced zucchini, onion, and garlic. Allow it to cook for 5 minutes, until fork tender but not cooked through. Stir every few minutes with a wooden spoon.
- Meanwhile, in a small bowl, combine the coconut aminos, fish sauce, ginger, dried onion, sea salt, and pepper, and set aside.
- Stir in the cauliflower rice to the zucchini skillet. (Carefully break up any chunks of frozen cauliflower with your wooden spoon.) Cook until the rice is tender, about 8 minutes.
- Stir in your protein, frozen sliced peppers, and coconut aminos mixture to the zucchini skillet. (If you’re using cooked leftovers or other frozen veggies instead of raw zucchini, now would be the time to add those too.) Allow the flavors to come together for about 5 minutes, until your protein and veggies are warmed and all the ingredients are cooked through.
- Meanwhile, in a separate small skillet, heat 1 Tbsp bacon fat on medium heat, until very hot. Carefully add the 2 whisked eggs. Cook for 2 minutes on the first side, carefully flip with a large spatula, then cook for an additional 1 minute on the second side, until you have a very thin omelet.
- Transfer the omelet to a cutting board and slice into thin strips, then stir into the cauliflower rice.
- Serve with chopped scallions, cilantro, and hot sauce, if you like!
** Use whatever leftover protein you have on hand. I’ve also combined ground turkey + one garlic chicken sausage, which was awesome!
