Today we’ll be teaching you how to make Cauliflower Pineapple Fried Rice, served beautifully in a pineapple bowl. This recipe is a fun and healthy dish to cook at home!
Cauliflower Pineapple Fried Rice is a healthy version of Thai Pineapple Fried Rice (khao op sapparot). This dish is prepared by stir frying riced cauliflower, fresh pineapple, garlic, onion, and cashews.
Get ready to impress your loved ones and have some fun in the kitchen with this healthy fried rice! Read on for the recipe.
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Table of Contents
What is Cauliflower Pineapple Fried Rice?
Cauliflower Pineapple Fried Rice is based off of one of Thai cuisine’s many fried rice dishes – khao op sapparot, pineapple fried rice that is served inside a hollowed out pineapple.
This style of fried rice uses eggs, garlic, onion, cashews, and herbs such as basil or cilantro. Common proteins are chicken, crab, pork, and shrimp. It’s often served with fresh slices of lime.
Our recipe is a healthier, low-carb version of khao op sapparot.
We swapped jasmine rice for riced cauliflower and used ingredients including pineapple, cashews, garlic, onion, eggs, and bell pepper. Turmeric gives the rice a beautiful golden hue.
You can easily add or remove ingredients to customize it as your own.
Why make Vegetarian Cauliflower Pineapple Fried Rice at Home
- Easy! This recipe requires only one pan/wok, and uses very simple ingredients. To make things easier, you can skip the pineapple bowl and use pre-cut pineapple pieces for the recipe.
- Healthy! We’ve replaced jasmine rice with cauliflower, which significantly lowers the carbs and calories per serving. This dish can be a great high-volume, low-calorie option for your meal plans.
- Meal prep and freezer friendly! You can cook a lot at once to make easy meal preps. Store in the freezer for up to 2 months.
- Customizable! Whether you’re vegetarian, vegan, or omnivorous, you can swap, remove, or add ingredients to suit your diet preferences. Make this recipe work for you!
- Amazing results! This dish is very pleasing to the eye and makes cauliflower rice taste great – say goodbye to bland cauliflower!
Ingredients
Pineapple Cauliflower Rice
- 1 tbsp butter unsalted
- 1 whole pineapple
- 3 cloves garlic chopped
- ½ cup yellow onion chopped
- ¼ cup raw cashews
- ¼ cup frozen vegetable mix – We used a corn & edamame mix from Trader Joe’s
- ¼ cup red bell pepper chopped
- 3 cups cauliflower rice
- 3 eggs
- 1 tsp turmeric
- 3 tbsp brown sugar
- 1 tsp white pepper
- vegetable oil for the pan
Garnish
- basil chopped
- lime
Suggestions for customization:
- grilled chicken or shrimp
- raisins
- tomatoes
- thai chili pepper
- cilantro
- fish sauce
Recipe
Carve the Pineapple Bowls
- Using a very sharp knife, cut the pineapple completely in half.
- For each pineapple half: Carve the top and bottom borders of the bowl with your knife going straight down. Cut as deep as you can without going through the skin.
- Carve the left and right borders of the bowl, with your knife at a 45 degree angle. Again, do not cut through the skin.
- Cut horizontal and vertical lines, following the same knife angles as before, which divides the pineapple into bite sized pieces.
- Scoop out these pieces and set aside for later. If they are too big, chop them smaller.
- Clean up the pineapple bowl by cutting out excess pineapple. Remove as much as you can without compromising the structure of the “bowl”. Set aside pieces for later.
Stir Fry the Rice
- In a wok or nonstick pan, heat to med-high. Add butter and sauté pineapple pieces 7-10 min.
- Add a small amount of oil. Add garlic and onion, sauté until fragrant.
- Add cashews, frozen vegetables, & red bell pepper. Cook 5 min or until moisture evaporates.
- Add cauliflower rice. Cook until lightly browned.
- Make an empty space in the center of the wok. Add scrambled eggs. Let it cook in the center, breaking up the egg so you get small scrambled egg pieces. Once cooked, mix it in with the rice.
- Add turmeric and mix well.
- Add soy sauce, brown sugar, white pepper. Mix well. Toss and cook for 5 min.
- Fill the pineapple bowl with rice. Serve with chopped basil and lime.
Common Mistakes for Cauliflower Pineapple Fried Rice
- Cutting through the pineapple skin or hollowing out too much pineapple. The structure of the bowl will weaken.
If this happens, and you still would like to serve your rice in the pineapple, we suggest you place it in another bowl or plate for support. - Not using a sharp knife. Having a sharp knife is important and safe for cutting a whole pineapple. Use very firm movements while cutting it in half, and be careful of the pineapple rolling.
- Mixing the eggs and rice too early. This is the classic way to get a weird-looking, mushy fried rice. Let the eggs cook until they’re solid, then scramble it into the rice.
- Adding turmeric along with the other seasonings. From our experience we learned that the golden color loses its vibrance if we added turmeric at the same time as the other seasonings.
Mix turmeric into the rice first, then once well incorporated you can add the other seasonings. This will preserve the color better!
Final Thoughts
It’s true, healthy fried rice can be tasty, low-calorie, and beautifully presented. Use this recipe for the ultimate 3-in-1!
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Cauliflower Pineapple Fried Rice
Ingredients
Pineapple Cauliflower Rice
- 1 tbsp butter unsalted
- 1 whole pineapple
- 3 cloves garlic chopped
- ½ cup yellow onion chopped
- ¼ cup raw cashews
- ¼ cup frozen vegetable mix (ex. corn & edamame mix)
- ¼ cup red bell pepper chopped
- 3 cups cauliflower rice
- 3 eggs
- 1 tsp turmeric
- 3 tbsp brown sugar
- 1 tsp white pepper
- vegetable oil for the pan
Garnish
- basil chopped
- lime
Instructions
Carve the pineapple bowls
- Using a very sharp knife, cut the pineapple completely in half.
- For each pineapple half: Carve the top and bottom borders of the bowl with your knife going straight down. Cut as deep as you can without going through the skin.
- Carve the left and right borders of the bowl, with your knife at a 45 degree angle. Again, do not cut through the skin.
- Cut horizontal and vertical lines, following the same knife angles as before, which divides the pineapple into bite sized pieces.
- Scoop out these pieces and set aside for later. If they are too big, chop them smaller.
- Clean up the pineapple bowl by cutting out excess pineapple. Remove as much as you can without compromising the structure of the "bowl". Set aside pieces for later.
Stir fry the rice
- In a wok or nonstick pan, heat to med-high. Add butter and sauté pineapple pieces 7-10 min.
- Add a small amount of oil. Add garlic and onion, sauté until fragrant.
- Add cashews, frozen vegetables, & red bell pepper. Cook 5 min or until moisture evaporates.
- Add cauliflower rice. Cook until lightly browned.
- Make an empty space in the center of the wok. Add scrambled eggs. Let it cook in the center, breaking up the egg so you get small scrambled egg pieces. Once cooked, mix it in with the rice.
- Add turmeric and mix well.
- Add soy sauce, brown sugar, white pepper. Mix well. Toss and cook for 5 min.
- Fill the pineapple bowl with rice. Serve with chopped basil and lime.
Notes
Suggestions for customization:
- grilled chicken or shrimp
- raisins
- tomatoes
- thai chili pepper
- cilantro
- fish sauce
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