Paleo Kimchi-Bacon Fried Cauliflower Rice

Prepare yourself. I'm about to introduce you to your new favorite meal. Or at least mine.

I'm such an unwavering proponent of cauliflower rices. At this point, it's like a compulsion. I make them so often... in every flavor from chorizo to tomato-basil.

Kimchi and bacon and mushrooms really stack the deck on this recipe. It's the umami trifecta (umami = the best flavor of all the flavors). Fermented fish cabbage? Umami. Smoked pork belly? Umami. 'Shrooms? Super umami. 

Kimchi-Bacon Fried Cauliflower Rice

gluten-free, paleo & whole30-approved | serves 4
 

Ingredients

• 1 lb of thick-cut bacon, cut into small pieces
• 3 garlic cloves, sliced thinly
• 1 cup baby bella mushrooms, quartered
• 1.5 cups of kimchi, chopped 
• ~6 cups riced cauliflower (one large head, grated with a food processor)
• 3 scallions, chopped
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1-2 huge handfuls of fresh spinach
• 2 eggs, scrambled
• optional: a sprinkle of gochugaru (Korean red chili flakes)

Instructions

1. Cook the bacon in a large pan. Usually, I make bacon in the oven (less mess), but this is one occasion where it makes more sense to fry it in the pan. Drain bacon and set aside. Pour off some of the bacon grease into a jar and set aside (you'll use this throughout).
2. Add the garlic and mushrooms and sauté on medium-high heat for a few minutes until tender (with a dash of salt and pepper if you like). Remove those and set them aside too.
3. Add some more bacon grease to the pan on medium-high heat and then throw in the riced cauliflower (some salt and pepper too). Cook, stirring frequently, for about 7 minutes. It's good if it gets a little browned but not burned.
4. Once the rice is cooked, add the kimchi, mushrooms, garlic and almost all the scallions (save some for garnish). Stir thoroughly and cook a few more minutes until everything is hot. Taste and adjust seasoning (add gochugaru for extra heat if desired).
5. Stir in the handful of spinach and the scrambled eggs and mix to coat everything. The eggs and spinach will cook in about zero seconds, it's very fast! 
6. Throw the bacon back in the pot and serve. Garnish with the rest of the scallions.

Tips

• Of course, you can also use real rice in this recipe. Anytime I have leftover rice from takeout, I usually make it into some kind of fried rice.
• Black sesame seeds would also make a pretty garnish for this if you have them!
• If you are leaving out the bacon to make this vegetarian-friendly, use olive oil or sesame oil for the frying.

This recipe was originally published in February 2013, but updated in 2017 with some new photos (and some new words).

Let me know how yours turns out!