Sometimes you need a simple, delicious side dish to go with your lunch or dinner. Here is a great flavorful, fast, low carb, vegan, keto, paleo and whole30 option – Spicy Cauliflower Pilaf. Think Chinese fried rice, made healthy with a North African twist.
The best part about this dish is that it’s so easy and versatile. This Spicy Cauliflower Pilaf is packed with tons of veggies and can be served as a side dish, or as a meal of its own. Basically you can add anything you have in your fridge to it. As long as you chop it all small, it will taste delicious.
Secret Ingredient
What makes this Spicy Cauliflower Pilaf different is the special ingredient – Harissa. Harissa is a paste made from chilies, peppers and garlic. Sounds delicious already, right? It’s commonly used in North African cuisine, especially in Morocco. This paste or sauce can be used as a condiment to add on top of food or in sandwiches. Alternatively it is used in cooking to add flavor to food or meats. Its a very versatile sauce and great with everything, especially this Spicy Cauliflower Pilaf.
Cauliflower Rice
You may have heard of cauliflower rice, with the increase in popularity to Keto, Paleo, Low-carb or Whole30 diets. It’s a great substitute for rice, that is purely veggie based and very filling, and a healthier option. I prefer to make my life easy and buy it already riced. I find that the fresh store bought riced cauliflower pieces are slightly bigger in size than when you make it yourself. This helps it keep it’s form and not get mushy, resembling rice more than when you use the frozen type. Alternatively you can make your own with a head of cauliflower and a grater or a food processor, equally delicious and works great for this recipe.
Which every way you make this Spice Cauliflower Pilaf, it’s fast easy and delicious. If you are not a spice lover, then you can skip that harissa sauce and add tomato sauce, or just lemon and cilantro. Make this Spicy Cauliflower Pilaf next time you need a great side dish and enjoy the flavors and ease of making it. Happy Cooking!
If you like this recipe and want more, be sure to check out other recipes on the Kitchen Thyme Blog on my website or click on links below:
Simply Delicious Rosemary Crispy Fries
Recipe – Spicy Cauliflower Pilaf
Spicy Cauliflower Pilaf
Looking for a fast and delicious side dish, look no further with this Spicy Cauliflower Pilaf. It's vegan, low carb, keto and paleo.
Ingredients
- 1 head of cauliflower or 1 bag of cauliflower rice
- 1/2 cup of sliced black olives
- 1 Tbsp. avocado oil
- 1 potato, peeled and diced in small cubes
- 10 asparagus
- 3 green onions
- 1-2 cloves of crushed garlic
- 2 oz. of shitake mushrooms (1/2 a box) chopped
- 2-3 Tbsp. harissa sauce
- Salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- If you are making your own cauliflower rice, wash and dry cauliflower. Cut into large florets and place in food processor. Pulse several times until you get small pieces of cauliflower that resemble rice. Alternatively you can grate cauliflower with a box grater. Otherwise buy a bag of fresh riced cauliflower (it works better than frozen kind)
- Before starting make sure all your veggies are washed and chopped into small pieces. Once we start it will cook very fast and there will not be time to stop and chop.
- Using a large wok, add avocado oil and heat up.
- Add in all chopped veggies, except cauliflower. Allow them to sauté for 1-2 minutes.
- Add in cauliflower and mix well. Let all veggies cook for 5 min and keep mixing.
- Add in the harissa sauce and mix well.
- Season with salt and pepper and serve.
Notes
The best and least cauliflower rice is the fresh on in produce section. If using frozen it may be more mushy.
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Nutrition Information
Yield 4 Serving Size 1Amount Per Serving Calories 206Total Fat 12gSaturated Fat 1gTrans Fat 0gUnsaturated Fat 8gCholesterol 0mgSodium 581mgCarbohydrates 24gFiber 9gSugar 5gProtein 7g
Nutrition calculator is not 100% accurate as it is computer generated.