Whenever fresh cauliflower is on special at the supermarket, I buy a few. I generally process the cauliflower in the food processor to make cauliflower rice and freeze it for future use. This week however, I decided to make Cauliflower Mushroom Risotto. And it was delicious.
I ate this as my main meal, but you could easily use it as a side dish. The mushrooms would pair beautifully with steak or chicken.
I also loved that this cauliflower mushroom risotto was made in one pan – easy to make and easy clean up afterwards!
Making Cauliflower Rice
Cauliflower rice is so simple to make if you have a food processor. Simply place the florets in your food processor and pulse.
The longer you pulse the cauliflower for the smaller the pieces will end up being.
Adjust the pulse time according to your preferences. If you prefer larger cauliflower pieces, pulse for a shorter amount of time. Make sure you don’t add too many florets to your food processor at once. As a general rule, half fill the container.
The secret to keeping the cauliflower mushroom risotto looking like risotto made with rice, is to continuing to cook the mushrooms and cauliflower until the liquid has evaporated.
Mushrooms have a high water content and this will be released during cooking. You want to keep cooking the mushrooms until all of the liquid has evaporated. If you don’t, you will end up with too much liquid and a soupy looking risotto.
I’m a huge believer of using whatever you have on hand when cooking. I had both swiss brown mushrooms and white button mushrooms in the fridge, so I used both of these.
You could use different mushrooms such as Portobello or cremini (which are baby portabello’s – also known as crimino), which would add a richer flavor to this dish. Porcini mushrooms would be another good choice, but are harder to come by fresh.
Portobello and Cremini mushrooms are Italian mushrooms, so the most ideal to use in this Italian style dish!
The whole dish was really quick to make. Leftovers the following day were just as yummy as the night before. You could also freeze this for a simple heat and eat meal, or as part of keto meal prepping.
The serving size was 1.5 cups which was quite a large serving for 4 adults. The net carbs for a 1.5 cup serve are 8.6 grams per serve.
Cauliflower Mushroom Risotto
Equipment
- Large Heavy Based Pan
Ingredients
- 2 tbsp salted butter
- 1 medium onion finely diced
- 1 lb mushrooms (see notes)
- 2 cloves minced garlic
- ½ tbsp dried thyme
- 4 cups riced cauliflower
- ½ cup chicken stock (or bone broth)
- ¾ cup heavy cream
- salt and pepper (to taste)
Instructions
- Using a large pan, melt the butter over medium heat.
- Add the onions and fry for 2-3 minutes until translucent.
- Add the mushrooms to the pan and fry for around 10 minutes. The mushrooms will release liquid – keep browning the mushrooms until all of this liquid has evaporated.
- Add the minced garlic and thyme. Stir to combine.
- Add the cauliflower rice. Stir to combine.
- Add the chicken stock. Simmer for around 5 minutes until the stock has evaporated and the cauliflower is tender.
- Turn the heat down to low, then add the cream and parmesan cheese. Stir to combine and melt the cheese.
- Season with salt and pepper to taste. Enjoy!
