Spinach Lemon Cauliflower Rice Risotto with Spicy Garlic Prawns
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!
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!
How to make cauliflower rice risotto
- Saute some onion then add cauliflower rice and some broth to the pan and simmer until the cauliflower is soft.
- Now take some of that soft cauliflower and pop it into your blender to make the cream sauce.
- The rest of the cauliflower stays in the pan. Add some spinach and pour in the cream sauce you just blended.
- 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.
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.
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.
Popular Cauliflower Rice Recipes
- Curried Chicken Cauliflower Rice Soup
- Spanish Chicken and Cauliflower Rice
- Paleo Cauliflower Fried Rice – vegetarian recipe!
- Sweet Korean Chicken Thighs with Cauliflower Rice
Spinach Lemon Cauliflower Rice Risotto Recipe
If you love this recipe as much as we do, let us know with a 5-star rating!
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
- Ā¼ cup grated parmesan cheese
- 1 teaspoon sea salt
- Juice of 1 lemon
Option #2: Dairy-Free Lemon Cream Sauce
- 1 Ā½ 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)
- Ā½ 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, Ā¼ 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 Ā½ 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, Ā½ 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.
This was absolutely delicious! The spicy shrimp are such a nice compliment to the creamy, mild risotto. I will definitely make this again.
Iām allergic to tree nuts. Can I substitute any seeds for the cream sauce?
Tahini may work!
AMAZING!! I didn’t have milk so I replaced it with a large scoop of greek yogurt and it is still so delicious. Thank you for the recipe!
You’re very welcome!!
Hi there! I havenāt had a chance to make this yet but it looks amazing! Do you have a calorie count perchance?Ā
No we don’t have the nutrition on this one as the recipe can be made in 2 different ways. I suggest using an online nutritional calculator. My Fitness Pal has one. š
I donāt comment much, and normally I wouldnāt rate this because I didnāt follow the recipe properly (laziness, missing ingredients, more laziness).
I used salmon instead of shrimp, hot sauce instead of chili flakes and cayenne, didnāt have enough cauliflower rice so just tossed the milk and cheeses into the pan with the cauliflower and let it mix together there, and guessed on the lemon juice because I cut the recipe down by 2/3.Ā
But even with all that, this is SO GOOD. The flavors!!! Definitely will make it again, and will do it right. Absolutely love it!
So happy that you came back to comment! Thank you!
Just made this tonight and everyone had seconds! I would do 1/2 cup of vegetable broth next time to lessen the liquidity of the risotto. Other than that it was delishĀ
Thank you for letting us know you loved the recipe!
This is my go-to recipe each week. Even my husband who is not doing Keto loves it. Both the dairy and non-dairy versions are amazing. Do you happen to have nutritional info? Trying to put this I to my carb manager before t struggling to re-create the values.Ā
I’m so happy to hear the recipe is a hit! We’re working on updating all our older posts to include the nutritional information. I’ll flag this one so it gets done sooner!
It was absolutely delicious and I didnāt even have to add salt. The lemon juice and cheese made it tasty enough. Healthy and yummy.Ā
So happy to hear it was a hit!
Because I was making my own cauliflower rice, I was able to use the Cuisinart for the other ingredients, so prep went quickly. I also substituted squeezed, grated zucchini for the spinach. I think it looked prettier. Delicious! Thank you
You are very welcome!
Where does the 2 cups of cauliflower come from in the dairy free sauce option? The only cauliflower in the ingredients list is the cauliflower rice.
You remove 2 cups of the cooked cauliflower rice from the pan. š
I used a big bag of frozen rice cauliflower and it was perfect! I just increased the cooking time to boil off the excess water from the freezing process.
I’m so happy you liked the recipe! And thank you for letting us know it works with frozen riced cauliflower!
This was SO good! This is my first time using nutritional yeast and walnuts instead of cheese and I was shocked how delicious this was!!
Yay! I’m so happy to hear that! Even though I’m not vegan, I use nutritional yeast all the time. It’s great sprinkled on salads too!
This is absolutely delicious. I would serve it
To guests-that good.
I’m so happy it was a hit!
Where does the 1 1/2 cup of vegetable broth used in the dairy-free cream come into play in this recipe? I only saw vegetable broth mentioned once and I assumed its the vegetable broth that was listed at the beginning ofthe ingredients.
Thank you for bringing that to my attention and I apologize for the mistake. I’ve corrected it. The 1 1/2 cups of vegetable broth is needed to blend the dairy free cream sauce.
Hello! When the recipe says add 2 cups of the cauliflower for the dairy free sauce do you mean the cauliflower that we cooked in the pan or additional cauliflower rice? Thank you!!!
Sorry for the confusion! Yes, what I meant is to remove 2 cups of the cauliflower that you cooked and add it to the sauce. š
Just made this. I subbed heavy cream for the milk (keto) and added some fresh cracked black pepper. Absolutely delicious and decadent with the lemon cheese sauce. Yummy!!
I’m so happy to hear it was a hit!
Made the vegan version just because I was curious to try nutritional yeast. Delicious!! And easy to make. Thanks. Great side dish (did not make shrimp).
You are so welcome!
Hi Kristen! Sadly, they don’t carry Mann’s at my local IGA (despite the fact that the website says they do). If I make my own cauliflower rice from scratch, how much cauliflower do you reckon it requires? 1 large? Looks like the pieces are a little bigger that typical food processor cauliflower rice so I’ll be judicious about pulsing it. Soooo excited to try this out!
Oh what a shame! One of their bags is roughly 1 large cauliflower. One of the things I like about using Mann’s (other than it’s SO easy) is that the pieces are a little bigger so it has more texture. Maybe I just pulse mine too much!
This was insane! I’ve tried a few other cauliflower rice risottos before but none of them ever hit the mark. The creamy sauce is what made this. I tried the cheese version this time but I think I’ll try the vegan version to see what that is like next time. Thank you thank you thank you!
That seriously makes me so happy to hear. Hooray!!
I made the original dairy free recipe and realized that it would convert to a nice Alfredo sauce with a little garlic. The second batch served the sauce over zoodles to my picky husband without a hint that it was a healthier version. He kept raving about it!
That makes me so happy to hear! Hooray!!
I see vegan adaptable, and I CLICK! This risotto looks to die for and I’ve been missing it so much–it’s been AGES since I’ve last had risotto. It’s delicious!
I’ve been really focusing on being more clear about which recipes can be adapted to different diets. I’m so happy it’s working!
You should totally make this one. So healthy and yet so indulgent. It’s my fav!