Keto Cauliflower Spam Fried “Rice”

Hi there, I made a thing… keto cauliflower fried rice.

I’ve made it twice now, once without white onions, and once, with. I like it better with both white diced onions and scallions. The regular onions add a bit of zing and texture, I find.

Spam? Really?

Yep. Spam. As a native Minnesotan, we love our Spam (it was born here!). But I can blame my ex (from Hawaii) for craving—of ALL things—Spam fried rice! The Spam is, of course, optional, but I would highly recommend insisting on using the sesame oil, as well as the bacon, OR some other strongly-flavored pork cuts of some kind (leftover low carb barbecued pork or some nicely smoked and salty ham would be great).

Does keto cauliflower fried rice taste like fried rice?

As a low carb-er for years, I avoided recipes that were attempting to put cauliflower into a “rice substitute” box for practically ages, because I know better…and frankly, while I adore cauliflower, some despise the taste, and I understand why.

Using cauliflower, while delicious, is not really meant to replicate the taste or texture of potatoes, pasta, or rice, yet, many insist on using it in those ways on a low carb diet.  Not judging, I think it’s fine to do whatever works for you! But to be sure, as a lover of cauliflower, I enjoy it just steamed or roasted plain, with butter, salt & pepper, and eating cauliflower that way tastes good to me because I’m not trying to force my brain into imagining that it’s rice or potatoes.

How this keto cauliflower fried rice is successful:

I think I was able to successfully make a keto cauliflower fried rice dish that resembles pretty closely the tastes and textures you would get from traditional fried rice, because the combination of strong flavors in the recipe help to lessen the cauliflower’s natural taste.

INGREDIENTS

4 cups riced cauliflower (fresh or frozen)
1 tablespoon soy sauce, Tamari, or coconut aminos
2 slices bacon
1 teaspoon bacon grease
6 ounces Original Spam (or whatever style you like), diced
2 teaspoons pure sesame oil, divided
1 clove garlic, minced
1 small carrot, diced, or cut thin into matchsticks
2 medium mushrooms
2 tablespoons diced onion
1 tablespoon scallions (green and white parts), sliced
4 cups riced cauliflower (fresh or frozen)
1 1/2 teaspoons (1 g) chicken bullion powder, dissolved in 1/4 cup hot water
1 teaspoon soy sauce, Tamari, or coconut aminos
1 large egg

DIRECTIONS

Prepare your cauliflower rice:

This can be done however you like–everyone has their preferred method. If using fresh vs frozen, I put a half of one large or one whole small head of cauliflower (washed and patted dry) into the food processor and pulse until it’s all in crumb-sized bits and then microwave a few minutes in a covered dish (no water in it), or if using frozen cauliflower rice, I zap the bag in the microwave as the package instructs. Then once cooked (with either fresh or frozen cauliflower rice), drain it VERY well. I usually place the mound of cauliflower rice in a towel and squeeze until it’s completely dry. Set aside.

In a large nonstick pan or wok, fry the bacon until crisp, set aside on paper towels to drain, leaving 1 teaspoon bacon grease in the pan.

While the bacon is frying you can chop the carrots, mushrooms, onions, and scallions, and mince the garlic, and set aside. Dice the Spam and set aside.

Next, set the heat to medium, and fry the diced Spam until done to your liking (I like mine crisp on at least one side…it will get a little soggy later, so don’t worry about frying it too crisp, it will still be good). Set the cooked Spam aside along with the bacon, which should now be cool enough to crumble.

Add the sesame oil to the pan and place the carrots, garlic, and mushrooms in, and the riced cauliflower, and stir-fry quickly until cooked through, but tender-crisp. Pour in the hot water & bullion mixture, and the soy sauce. Increase the heat to medium-high and continue to stir-fry to combine, cooking until the liquid is evaporated. The bullion mixture helps to flavor the riced cauliflower to be a bit more like fried rice, and take of the strong cauliflower taste away (at least, I think it does).

Decrease the heat to medium-low and push the cooked veggies to the side. Pour the beaten egg into the empty area of the pan, and scramble as you would regular eggs, until slightly set (still a little wet is OK). Using a silicone spatula or wooden spoon, break up the cooked eggs into bite-sized pieces, then fold them into the riced cauliflower and veggies.

Finally, stir in the cubed fried Spam, crumbled bacon, and sliced scallions/green onion. Serve hot immediately with more soy sauce if you like, and garnish with more green onion, if desired.

Makes 4 servings (I am always tempted to eat two!). But there goes almost all my carbs for the day!

Nutrition data:

Although I do not usually include this information in my recipes, since values for ingredients can vary by brand and user data, I’ve included a screen shot of the facts here, from what I plugged into MyFitnessPal.com to compare.