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You are here: Home / Food / Veggie Rice 101

May 21, 2018

Veggie Rice 101

How many vegetables have you eaten today?

Myplate recommends that adults eat at least 1 ½-2 cups of fruit and 2-3 cups of vegetables a day, but according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, only 1 out of 10 adults meet those recommendations. Clearly, it can be challenging to incorporate fruits and vegetables into our diets!

1 in 10 adults meets the recommended servings of fruits and vegetables a day.

Last month, a guest author on our blog wrote about how you can use a spiralizer to turn vegetables into ribbons or noodles for a fun and easy way to eat more vegetables. Another kitchen tool that can make veggies more easy and fun to prepare and eat is a ricer. You can use a ricer on potatoes or sweet potatoes to make mashed potatoes, or on hard veggies like carrots, broccoli, cauliflower, winter squash or beets to create rice that you can use in a pilaf, stir-fry or any other dish that calls for rice.

Don’t have a ricer at home? No worries! Below are three other options for making veggie rice with tools you may already have. Veggie Rice 101: Start with: a veggie ricer, a food processor, a box grater or pre-made veggie rice. Veggies you can rice include cauliflower, broccoli, carrots, beets and winter squash. Use veggie rice for: 1) stir fry- saute veggie rice with chopped or sliced stir-fry veggies. Add protein, such as chicken or shrimp, if desired. 2) Pilaf - saute veggie rice with olive oil and other chopped vegetables, like onion and celery, in a skillet until softened. Season with salt, pepper or other herbs. 3) Add to any dish where you would normally add rice. Just substitute the veggie rice!

  1. Food Processor Veggie Rice: Place florets or chopped vegetables into the food processor and pulse into small, even, rice-sized pieces.
  2. Box Grater Veggie Rice: Grate your vegetable of choice against the medium sized holes on the grater to create small, even rice-sized pieces.
  3. Pre-made Veggie Rice: Look for pre-riced vegetables in the fresh produce section or frozen food aisle of your grocery store.

Need a recipe or some veggie rice serving suggestions to get started? Try this “Simple Cauliflower Rice” recipe adapted from Nutrition Stripped, and visit the recipe page to see suggested flavor variations.

Ingredients

  • 1 head cauliflower, made into “rice” utilizing desired method from above
  • 2 tablespoons oil of choice (olive, vegetable, coconut, etc.)
  • ½ cup sweet onion, diced
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon pepper

 Directions

  1. In a sauté pan, cook the cauliflower with oil and onion for about 5-7 minutes until softened.
  2. Add the salt and pepper and mix.
  3. Serve alone, or substitute for rice in your favorite dish.(As a side, this recipe yields 4-6 servings).

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WRITTEN BY: Lindsay Bean, Dietetic Intern, Marshall University

REVIEWED BY: Jenny Lobb, Family and Consumer Sciences Educator, Ohio State University Extension, Franklin County

SOURCES:

  • Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2017). Only 1 in 10 Adults Get Enough Fruits or Vegetables. https://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2017/p1116-fruit-vegetable-consumption.html
  • University of Nebraska-Lincoln Extension. Make Quick Work of Mashing Sweet Potatoes with a Potato Ricer. https://food.unl.edu/make-quick-work-mashing-sweet-potatoes-potato-ricer
  • USDA ChooseMyPlate.gov (2017). All About the Vegetable Group. choosemyplate.gov/vegetables

Categories: Food
Tags: cauliflower rice, ricer, vegetables

Jennifer Lobb

About Jennifer Lobb

Jenny Lobb, MPH, RD, LD, is the Family and Consumer Sciences Educator for OSU Extension in Franklin County. She specializes in food, nutrition and wellness and likes to teach on topics such as mindfulness, healthy eating and active living. Jenny lives in central Ohio with her husband and son and their two rescue dogs.

Comments

  1. Avatarfitoru fitness says

    June 13, 2020 at 2:11 pm

    Always a great side dish veggie!!I never thought I would find a good recipe that made it so easy! Thank you so much!

    Reply

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