This insanely creamy spinach lemon cauliflower rice risotto is all things delicious. It's made with sauteed riced cauliflower and a healthy cauliflower cream sauce (dairy-free or regular, your choice!) and has lots of fresh lemon flavor. Top with some spicy garlic prawns for an easy dinner that everyone will love!

Garlic prawns in a bowl of cauliflower rice risotto.

Calling all risotto fans! We've made us a cauliflower rice risotto that will knock the socks off of any ‘real' risotto lover. #truth

This is all about a super creamy sauce and loads of fresh lemon flavor. It wraps itself around the cauliflower rice just like the creamy starch in a regular risotto. We've thrown some spinach in there too cause a splash of green = awesome.

You want this cauliflower rice risotto because:

  • It's the creamiest risotto this side of Italy.
  • You want to be healthy, but you want to eat delicious food, too. With this recipe, you can have it all.
  • Cauliflower is still going strong as the most adaptable veggie of all times.
  • Also adaptable – this recipe. We love it served with some garlic chili prawns but we've used the same spices on some fried tofu for a delish plant-based meal.
  • Two sauces – one delicious recipe. Feeling like some cheddar cheese? The cheesy sauce is EVERYTHING. Feeling like a super clean recipe? The dairy-free cream sauce is also amazing!
Cauliflower rice risotto on a pan with lemons and spinach.

How to make cauliflower rice risotto

  1. Saute some onion then add cauliflower rice and some broth to the pan and simmer until the cauliflower is soft.
  2. Now take some of that soft cauliflower and pop it into your blender to make the cream sauce.
  3. The rest of the cauliflower stays in the pan. Add some spinach and pour in the cream sauce you just blended.
  4. All that you need to do now is quickly saute some prawns and dinner is ready!

Quick tip: Bags of Mann's Riced Cauliflower is a great way to save time!

Full recipe in the recipe card below.

Creamy cauliflower sauce being poured into cauliflower rice risotto.

That tasty sauce pouring into the pan up there is what makes this cauliflower rice risotto.

You see, when you make a regular risotto it's the starch from the rice that makes it creamy. That's obviously not going to happen with cauliflower rice, so you need to up your game if you want creamy risotto (you ALWAY want creamy risotto.) Making a sauce to add to the pan to mimic the creaminess of a regular risotto.

You have two options here:

1.  A cheesy cauliflower sauce with white cheddar and parmesan. OMG and all the heart-eyed emojis.

2.  A dairy-free cauliflower sauce that gets its creaminess from cashews and its cheese-like flavor from the nutritional yeast.

Chili garlic prawns in a pan with a wooden spoon.

Garlic chili prawns

Those babies are how you turn cauliflower rice risotto into the best meal ever. They're cooked in salty garlic butter with a little paprika and chili flakes. Even though they're super simple to make they're crazy flavorful.

They also go perfectly with the lemony risotto. Lemon + seafood = best combo ever.

Cauliflower rice risotto and prawns in a blue bowl with a fork.

Popular Cauliflower Rice Recipes

Cauliflower rice risotto on a pan with lemons and spinach.

Spinach Lemon Cauliflower Rice Risotto Recipe

This insanely creamy Spinach Lemon Cauliflower Rice Risotto is all things delicious. It's made with sauteed cauliflower and a healthy cauliflower cream sauce (dairy-free or regular, your choice!) and has lots of fresh lemon flavor. Top with some spicy garlic prawns for a simple to make dinner everyone will love!

If you love this recipe as much as we do, let us know with a 5-star rating!

4.98 stars (40 ratings)
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Ingredients

  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 1 medium onion, finely minced
  • 3 12-ounce packages Manns' Cauliflower "Rice"
  • 1 cup vegetable broth
  • 5 ounces baby spinach

Option #1: Cheesy Lemon Cream Sauce

  • 1 cup milk
  • 1 cup white cheddar cheese
  • ¼ cup grated parmesan cheese
  • 1 teaspoon sea salt
  • Juice of 1 lemon

Option #2: Dairy-Free Lemon Cream Sauce

  • 1 ½ cups vegetable broth
  • 1 cup raw cashews or pine nuts
  • 1 tablespoon nutritional yeast
  • 1 teaspoon sea salt
  • Juice of 1 lemon

The Garlic Chili Prawns

  • 1 tablespoon olive oil or butter
  • 2 cloves garlic, very finely minced
  • 1 lb uncooked peeled prawns, (tail on or off, your choice)
  • ½ teaspoon paprika
  • A pinch of chili flakes and sea salt

Instructions 

  • Heat the oil in a large frying pan over medium heat. Add the onion and cook until it is transparent, about 3-4 minutes. Add the cauliflower and broth and bring to a boil. Cook the cauliflower, stirring occasionally, until it is soft, about 8 minutes. Remove the pan from the heat.
    1 tablespoon olive oil, 1 medium onion, 3 12-ounce packages Manns' Cauliflower "Rice", 1 cup vegetable broth
  • If you're using the Cheesy Lemon Cream Sauce:
    Remove 2 cups of cauliflower from the pan and add it to your blender with the milk. Blend on high until smooth. Add the cheddar, parmesan, sea salt, and lemon juice and blend again until the cheese has melted.
    1 cup milk, 1 cup white cheddar cheese, ¼ cup grated parmesan cheese, 1 teaspoon sea salt, Juice of 1 lemon
  • If you're using the Dairy-Free Lemon Cream Sauce:
    Remove 2 cups of cauliflower from the pan and add it to your blender with the vegetable broth, cashews, nutritional yeast, sea salt, and lemon juice and blend on high until smooth.
    1 teaspoon sea salt, 1 ½ cups vegetable broth, 1 cup raw cashews or pine nuts, 1 tablespoon nutritional yeast, Juice of 1 lemon, 1 teaspoon sea salt
  • Add the spinach to the cauliflower rice and put the pan back on the heat. Let the spinach wilt then pour in the sauce you made and let it heat through.
    5 ounces baby spinach
  • Either serve right away or set it aside while you make the garlic chili prawns.

The Garlic Chili Prawns

  • Heat the olive oil or butter in a medium-sized frying pan over medium-high heat. Add the garlic and cook for 1 minute. Add the prawns, paprika, chili flakes, and sea salt to the pan and mix the prawns and spices together.
    1 tablespoon olive oil or butter, 2 cloves garlic, 1 lb uncooked peeled prawns, ½ teaspoon paprika, A pinch of chili flakes and sea salt
  • Cook the prawns for two minutes then turn them over. Cook them for another two minutes, or until they are no longer opaque. Serve the prawns and pan juices over the cauliflower rice risotto.
Serving: 1 serving = ¼ of the cheesy risotto recipe with prawns, Calories: 425kcal, Carbohydrates: 21g, Protein: 40g, Fat: 22g, Saturated Fat: 9g, Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g, Monounsaturated Fat: 9g, Trans Fat: 1g, Cholesterol: 224mg, Sodium: 1355mg, Potassium: 1424mg, Fiber: 6g, Sugar: 10g, Vitamin A: 3904IU, Vitamin C: 136mg, Calcium: 515mg, Iron: 3mg
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