Spanish Cauliflower Rice (Quick And Easy)

Portions: servings

Calories: 317kcal

5 from 1 vote

If you want to learn how to make Spanish rice with cauliflower rice that will seriously impress you, you have come to the right place! Inspired by traditional Spanish cuisine, ingredients, and flavors, you can now enjoy them in a lighter, keto, and low-carb version.

By Clara Gonzalez - Last revised Jun 13, 2024. Original Apr, 2023.

Why I ❤️ it Recipe Ingredients Video Preparation

Spanish cauliflower rice.

Why I ❤️ it

You won't accuse this cauliflower dish of lacking in flavor or color; with an impressive combination of classic Spanish ingredients, this flavorful cauliflower rice dish with shrimp, Spanish sausage, herbs, and spices will be a lovely dinner centerpiece.

I make cauliflower rice with fresh cauliflower and tell you how to make it; however, you can also use frozen cauliflower rice, which I occasionally do to save some time.

Spanish cauliflower rice recipe

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This flavorful cauliflower rice dish with shrimp, Spanish sausage, herbs, and spices will be a lovely dinner centerpiece.

Course: Dinner

Inspiration: Mediterranean, Spanish

Category: how to make spanish cauliflower rice, paleo gluten-free Spanish cauliflower rice, spanish style cauliflower rice

Author: Clara Gonzalez

Prep Time10

Cook Time15

Total Time25

Utensils and tools

Ingredients

1 head of cauliflower
1 tablespoon of olive oil
1 pound [450 grams] longaniza pork sausage, cut into slices
1 large white onion, minced
1 red bell pepper, minced
6 garlic cloves, crushed
1 teaspoon of freshly ground black pepper
1½ teaspoon of salt (or more, to taste)
1 teaspoon of pimenton (sweet paprika)
½ teaspoon cumin powder
2 tablespoons tomato paste
½ cup of pitted black olives
2 dozen peeled jumbo shrimp
1 tablespoon of lemon juice (or lime juice)
Some fresh cilantro or parsley leaves to garnish

Video

Preparation

Before you start, make sure you have all the ingredients and utensils ready.

Step 1: Make cauliflower rice

To make by hand: Grate the cauliflower with the coarser side of the box grater, remove the big ungrated pieces.

To make in a food processor: Chop the cauliflower florets with a knife to get very small pieces. Pulse in the food processor until the cauliflower resembles rice.

Step 2: Brown sausage

Heat the oil over medium-high heat, add the sausage, and cook, stirring until the sausage has browned.

Step 3: Sauté vegetables

Lower the heat to medium. Add the onion and bell pepper to the skillet, and sauté until the onion has turned translucent. Add the garlic and cook stirring until the garlic releases its aroma (about 1 minute).

Stir in black pepper, salt, pimenton, cumin, and tomato paste and stir until they are mixed.

Step 4: Cook shrimp and cauli rice

Stir in shrimp and cauliflower and cook until the shrimp turn pink. Season with salt to taste.

Step 5: Serve

Drizzle with the lemon juice and garnish with the parsley leaves and serve.

Top tips

You can make this dish with 3 cups of frozen cauliflower rice (thawed).
If you can't find Spanish (or Dominican) longaniza, you can use mild Italian pork sausage.
To make this dish beforehand, it's best to prepare until before adding the shrimp and cauliflower rice and freeze or store it in the fridge. Freezing cauliflower rice ruins the texture by making it too mushy, and in my opinion, it also changes the texture of cooked shrimp.

Serving suggestions

No side dishes are required for this very complete dish, maybe just a glass of white wine.

Variations

In this recipe, you can use two diced raw chicken breasts instead of sausage.

Nutritional information

More rice recipes

More: cauliflower recipes keto recipes dinner recipes

FAQs

How do you make cauliflower rice not soggy?

The trick to preventing cauliflower rice from becoming soggy is not to overcook it. Cook over high temperature until it still feels a bit al dente, it'll soften some more with the remaining heat in the pot.

How many calories are in Spanish cauliflower rice?

A serving of this Spanish style cauliflower rice dish has 317 calories. and 8 net carbs.

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Tasty and Easy Spanish Cauliflower Rice Recipe

Serving: 4 servings

Ingredients

1 head of cauliflower
1 tablespoon of olive oil
1 pound longaniza pork sausage [450 grams] cut into slices
1 large white onion minced
1 red bell pepper minced
6 garlic cloves crushed
1 teaspoon of freshly ground black pepper
1½ teaspoon of salt (or more, to taste)
1 teaspoon of pimenton (sweet paprika)
½ teaspoon cumin powder
2 tablespoons tomato paste
½ cup of pitted black olives
2 dozen peeled jumbo shrimp
1 tablespoon of lemon juice (or lime juice)
Some fresh cilantro or parsley leaves to garnish

Instructions

Step 1: Make cauliflower rice

To make by hand: Grate the cauliflower with the coarser side of the box grater, remove the big ungrated pieces
To make in a food processor: Chop the cauliflower florets with a knife to get very small pieces. Pulse in the food processor until the cauliflower resembles rice.

Step 2: Brown sausage

Heat the oil over medium-high heat, add the sausage, and cook, stirring until the sausage has browned.

Step 3: Sauté vegetables

Lower the heat to medium. Add the onion and bell pepper to the skillet, and sauté until the onion has turned translucent. Add the garlic and cook stirring until the garlic releases its aroma (about 1 minute).
Stir in black pepper, salt, pimenton, cumin, and tomato paste and stir until they are mixed.