Roasted Cauliflower Rice with Pine Nuts

Roasted Cauliflower Rice with Pine Nuts is perfect when you want a low-carb side dish with festive colors and amazing flavors. And this perfect holiday dish also has red bell peppers, green onions, and Parmesan Cheese!

PIN the Roasted Cauliflower Rice to make it later!

Roasted Cauliflower Rice with Pine Nuts is this week’s pick for Friday Favorites. And I love this delicious cauliflower rice side dish that I think is perfect any time of year when you don’t mind using the oven. And I’m a cauliflower rice fan, but this recipe was my first time trying roasted cauliflower rice, and it was definitely a wow for me!

The roasting gives the cauliflower rice a nutty flavor, and the addition of crunchy green onions, chopped red bell peppers (roasted with the cauliflower rice), coarsely-grated Parmesan, and pine nuts puts this recipe over the top. And it’s also festive with red and green colors if you need a wow side dish during the holidays!

I made this Roasted Cauliflower Rice two times to perfect the recipe and both times I ate leftovers for breakfast the next day. Not many people eat cauliflower for breakfast, so you know it has to be really good!

What ingredients do you need for this recipe?

(This is only a list of ingredients; please scroll down for complete printable recipe. Or if you use the JUMP TO RECIPE link at the top of the page, it will take you directly to the complete recipe with ingredient amounts.)

• cauliflower
• red bell peppers, chopped
• Olive Oil (affiliate link)
• Spike Seasoning (affiliate link), or use your favorite all-purpose seasoning blend)
• fresh-ground black pepper to taste
• green onion 
• toasted Pine Nuts (affiliate link)
• coarsely grated Parmesan cheese

Can you use frozen cauliflower rice for the Roasted Cauliflower Rice recipe?

For roasted cauliflower rice, personally I’d prefer to use freshly-chopped raw cauliflower, But if you look in the comments on this post there are some people who have reported good results with frozen cauliflower rice.

What can you use if you don’t have pine nuts?

If you’d like to make the Roasted Cauliflower Rice but you don’t have pine nuts or they aren’t in the budget, I’d use slivered almonds instead, which will also be delicious!

How low in carbs is this Roasted Cauliflower Rice dish?

This tasty side dish recipe only has only 5 net carbs per serving, with 4 grams of protein!

How to make Roasted Cauliflower Rice with Pine Nuts:

(This is only a summary of the steps for the recipe; please scroll down for complete printable recipe. Or if you use the JUMP TO RECIPE link at the top of the page, it will take you directly to the complete recipe.)

1. Preheat oven to 425F/220C.
2. Chop up cauliflower into smallish same-size pieces; then buzz in the food processor (in two batches) to make the “rice.”
3. Cut up a red bell pepper into small pieces.
4. Stir together cauliflower rice, peppers, olive oil, Spike Seasoning, and fresh-ground black pepper.
5. Spray a large baking sheet with non-stick spray or olive oil and spread out the cauliflower rice/pepper mixture.
6. Roast cauliflower and peppers for 20 minutes.
7. Then use a large turner to turn cauliflower rice over, spread out again, and roast 20-25 minutes more, or until it’s starting to look toasted and slightly browned.
8. While the rice cooks, slice up 1-2 cups green onions. (We did use two full cups of green onions and I loved the color and crunch they provided, but if you’re not a huge green onion fan one cup will be enough.)
9. Toast the pine nuts in a dry pan over high heat for about a minute (just until they barely start to look brown.)
10. When rice is done to your liking, put it back into the bowl and toss with sliced green onion, coarsely grated Parmesan, and pine nuts.
11. Season with salt and more fresh-ground pepper as desired, then serve hot or warm and enjoy!
12. This roasted cauliflower rice is good enough that I’ll eat it for breakfast when it’s been in the fridge overnight!

Make it for a Low-Carb Meal:

Here are some low-carb main dishes (that don’t need the oven) you could serve with this roasted cauliflower rice:

• Saffron Chicken with Parsley and Lemon
• Paprika Chicken Recipe
• Easy Garlic and Lemon Shrimp
• Chicken Cutlets with Mustard Sauce
• Grain Free Breaded Pork Chops

Who else loves cauliflower rice?

Check out Cauliflower Rice Casserole Recipes to see more ideas using versatile cauliflower rice.

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Yield: 8 servings

Roasted Cauliflower Rice with Pine Nuts

Prep Time 25 minutes

Cook Time 45 minutes

Total Time 1 hour 10 minutes

Roasted Cauliflower Rice with Pine Nuts is delicious as a side dish when you want something colorful and special. And I'm always a fan of any recipe that has pine nuts!

Ingredients

• 1 medium-sized head cauliflower (about 2 lbs. before cutting)
• 2 red bell peppers, chopped
• 2 T olive oil
• 1 tsp. Spike Seasoning (or use your favorite all-purpose seasoning blend)
• fresh-ground black pepper to taste
• 2 cups sliced green onion (see notes)
• 1/3 cup toasted pine nuts
• 1/3 cup coarsely grated Parmesan cheese

Instructions

Preheat oven to 425F/220C.

Spray a large baking sheet with non-stick spray or olive oil.

Cut the core out of a 2 lb. head of cauliflower and discard.

Cut the cauliflower into smallish same-size pieces.

Then using a food processor (affiliate link) with the steel blade, buzz half the cauliflower at a time until it’s chopped into small pieces (slightly larger than rice.) Don’t overprocess or the cauliflower will start to puree. (You can also grate the cauliflower on the large side of a box grater (affiliate link) if you don’t have a food processor.)

Chop the red bell peppers into pieces about 1/2 inch square.

Put the chopped cauliflower into a bowl and toss with the red peppers,  olive oil,  Spike Seasoning (affiliate link), and black pepper.

Spread the cauliflower mixture out on the baking sheet and roast in the pre-heated oven 20 minutes.

Then use a large turner to turn the cauliflower over, spread it out again, and put back into the oven to roast for 20-25 minutes longer, or until it’s starting to look toasted and is browned to your liking.

While the cauliflower cooks, slice green onions and grate Parmesan cheese. (Coarsely-grated Parmesan in a jar is fine for this, but I wouldn’t use finely grated Parmesan.)

Put a frying pan over a burner on high heat, add the pine nuts, and toast for about a minute, or until they are barely starting to get some color. (They can get too browned rather quickly; remove from the pan as soon as they are barely toasted.)

When the cauliflower is roasted to your liking, put it back into the bowl and toss gently with the sliced green onions, coarsely-grated Parmesan, and toasted pine nuts.

Season to taste with salt and additional fresh-ground black pepper.

Serve the Roasted Cauliflower Rice hot or warm.

Notes

Use more or less green onion depending on how much you like green onion, but use at least 1 cup.

This was still good when it was reheated after being in the fridge overnight, but it’s definitely best freshly made.

Recipe inspired by Roasted Cauliflower Rice at Perry's Plate. 

Nutrition Information

Yield

8

Serving Size

1
Amount Per Serving Calories 118Total Fat 9gSaturated Fat 1gUnsaturated Fat 6gCholesterol 4mgSodium 280mgCarbohydrates 8gFiber 3gSugar 4gProtein 4g

Nutrition information is automatically calculated by the Recipe Plug-In I am using. I am not a nutritionist and cannot guarantee 100% accuracy, since many variables affect those calculations.

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Low-Carb Diet / Low-Glycemic Diet / South Beach Diet Suggestions:
The Roasted Cauliflower Rice side dish is a perfect recipe for low-carb diet plans, even Keto. The recipe is also low-glycemic and would be great for any phase of the original South Beach Diet.

Find More Recipes Like This One:
Use Side Dishes to find more recipes like this one. Use the Diet-Type Index to find recipes for a specific eating plan. You might also like to follow Kalyn’s Kitchen on Pinterest, on Facebook, on Instagram, on TikTok, or on YouTube to see all the good recipes I’m sharing there.

Historical Notes for this Recipe:
This combo of roasted cauliflower rice with peppers, green onions, pine nuts, and Parmesan was posted in 2016. It was last updated with more information in 2025.

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