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Seriously guys, broccoli rice is the low carb rice you’ve been searching for!
It’s packed with flavor and nutrients, it’s low in carbs, and it works as the perfect side for all your low carb meals. Plus, it’s easy to throw together and hard to mess up, so you can focus on making your low carb dinners delicious!
So, grab your food processor and let’s make some keto rice.
Looking for more keto side dishes? Check out my cauliflower fried rice, mashed cauliflower, or my cauliflower mac and cheese.
How to Make Broccoli Rice
You’re going to laugh when you see how easy this recipe is to throw together! Here are a few tips and tricks that’ll make this understated hero of low carb recipes even tastier (and save you some time in the process!):
Use broccoli florets.
I suggest buying a bag of florets to make your keto rice — sure, you can use a head of broccoli, but that’ll take an extra 10 minutes to cut into pieces and will give you the same thing.
Pulse your broccoli rice.
The most important tip to impart here is to “pulse” your broccoli using 1 second intervals. Check your rice often, as it can go from florets to micro-sized grains pretty quickly.
About 6 “pulses” seems to do the trick for this recipe.
Sauté the broccoli rice.
In a large pan, melt your butter, ghee or oil (use oil if sticking to paleo foods!).
Add the rice and stir to soften — you can cook the rice as long as you’d like to get the texture you’re looking for. Taste test in between stirs, and add salt as you see fit.
For crunchier rice, make sure you don’t overcrowd the pan — this means you’ll probably need to cook the rice in batches. For softer rice, add it all in at once. This will essentially “steam” the rice, as all the broccoli required for this recipe is a lot to fit into one pan!
I enjoy soft standard rice, but I like my veggie rice to have a little crunch!
Alternatively, you can skip this step and make broccoli rice microwave style by placing your low carb grains in a large microwave-safe bowl. Place a paper towel over the top and microwave using 30 second intervals, until your rice is as soft as you’d like.
Riced Broccoli Variations
Think of any rice recipe you love, and image it with riced broccoli instead. Let your creativity soar with your keto foods list! Here are some broccoli rice recipe ideas that come to mind:
- Make broccoli and cheese sauce, sort of like my cheesy cauliflower rice.
- Jambalaya
- Combination fried rice
- Risotto
- Spanish rice
- Paella
Reheating This Rice Substitute
I know it’s tempting to use the microwave to reheat this rice substitute, but it’ll taste significantly better if you heat it up in a pan with a little oil or butter. Repeat the last three instructions in the broccoli rice paleo recipe below, and you’ll be good to go!
Does Broccoli Rice Freeze Well?
You can buy broccoli and cauliflower rice in the Trader Joe’s frozen section — but I find frozen rice gets much soggier and loses that scrumptious al dente crunch.
So the answer is yes, you can freeze broccoli rice, but no, (in my opinion) it doesn’t taste as delicious. If you’re reheating this rice from frozen, follow the same reheat instructions as above.
What to Eat With This Keto Rice
This keto rice is one of those low carb side dishes that works perfectly with most paleo dinners / low carb lunches, and trust me, you’ll rarely wonder what to eat with broccoli rice!
I love to make a big batch and low carb meal prep it into individual containers for the work week. Serve it up with whatever protein you made the night before, then top it in low carb nuts, and a delicious low carb salad dressing.
It also makes for tasty low carb breakfasts when mixed into eggs.
Store Bought Broccoli Rice
I wanted to point out that you can buy prepackaged veggie rice at Trader Joe’s, and I’ve seen it at Walmart Grocery Market before as well! Compared to this recipe, the store-bought kind uses more broccoli stems. I like to use both stems and florets in my broccoli rice to take advantage of all the nutrients this veggie has to offer!
Broccoli Rice Recipe Vegetarian
Can’t wait to hear what you think about this rice substitute! Did you try any of the keto rice ideas listed above? Let me know in the comments below. Enjoy!
More Veggie Based Sides
Recipes for low carb rice are one of the requests I receive most often! Broccoli rice is certainly one of my faves, but there are tons of other low carb rice recipes you can choose from…
Get creative with your keto vegetables using the same logic applied here: simply “pulse” them in the food processor until your veggies are grain sized (think of a grain of rice), and sauté your chopped veggies in a large pan with oil or butter.
If you don’t own a food processor, you can sometimes get away with a large cheese grater. Here are some other veggies that make for tasty rice alternatives:
Broccoli Rice
Print Recipe Pin RecipeIngredients
- 12 Ounces Broccoli Florets
- 2 Tablespoons Unsalted Butter can sub for coconut oil, ghee
- 1 Teaspoon Kosher Salt
Instructions
- Dump broccoli florets (12 Ounces) into a food processor.
- “Pulse” using 1 second intervals until you reach your desired broccoli rice grain size — I usually pulse the florets 6 times.
- Melt unsalted butter (2 tablespoons) in a large pan over medium heat. For crunchier rice use a large pan and add your broccoli in batches so you don’t overcrowd it. For softer rice, add everything in at once and essentially “steam” the rice.
- Add broccoli rice and salt (1 teaspoon) to the skillet and stir while softening.
- Cook until the rice is as soft as you’d like — I like my rice to have a little crunch to it, which takes about 5 minutes.
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Lindsey's Tips
- This recipe can also be prepared with a whole head of broccoli, just cut the broccoli into chunks before adding it to the food processor. Using a large stem will make your broccoli rice more similar to store bought products.
