Air Fryer Fried Cauliflower Rice

Whether you need to get an easy side dish cooking while you work on your main course or simply want to avoid dirtying a pan, making fried cauliflower rice in an air fryer is the way to go. In this post I’ll show you how to make air fryer fried cauliflower rice with all frozen ingredients and zero dirty dishes. You can easily customize the recipe with your favorite fried rice ingredients, and there’s even a one-ingredient version. Let’s get frying!

How to Make Air Fryer Fried Cauliflower Rice

A few important notes before we get rolling:

• I used an Instant Pot Duo Crisp for air frying. Different sizes/models of air fryers may require slight modifications to cook time.
• This version calls for frozen ingredients, but you can use thawed or fresh ingredients by reducing the time in the air fryer.
• Feel free to customize the ingredients. Just substitute similar amounts and weights of ingredients for best results.

Fried Cauliflower Rice Ingredients

Here’s everything you’ll need:

• frozen cauliflower rice
• frozen peas and carrots
• frozen corn
• toasted sesame oil and soy sauce
• garlic powder and ground ginger (optional)

You may be able to find these things already together in one bag like the Trader Joe’s riced cauliflower stir fry (more on that in a second). But I wanted to give you the piecemeal version in case your grocery store has a limited selection.

There’s also the option of using a blend of cauliflower rice and jasmine or basmati rice. My ground chicken fried rice recipe uses a 1:1 ratio of frozen jasmine rice, cauliflower rice, and mixed veggies.

Step 1: Air fry frozen cauliflower rice in a foil lined air fryer basket for 10 minutes at 400ºF.

Feel free to use an air fryer safe dish if you have one, but I promised a zero clean up recipe so foil gets the job done just fine. Pro tip: don’t skimp around the edges so you have plenty of room to stir things together.

Step 2: Add toasted sesame oil, soy sauce, garlic powder, and ground ginger to the cauliflower rice. Stir everything together before adding frozen peas and carrots.

Most of the flavor will come from the toasted sesame oil and soy sauce so try not to leave those ingredients out. And be sure to use toasted sesame oil, not regular sesame oil. If you’re a fellow spice lover, a little chili oil is a nice touch.

And for an elevated air fryer fried cauliflower rice, add some fresh garlic and ginger instead of the granulated versions.

Step 3: Air fry an additional 10-15 minutes, stirring halfway through until crispy golden brown. 

Like I mentioned above, not every air fryer is created equally. Be sure to check on your fried rice early and often if you’re using another air fryer for the first time. Also, some frozen veggies may have more liquid and require a bit more stirring at intervals to cook it off.

And that’s a wrap. Salt and pepper to taste and top with freshly sliced scallions and toasted sesame seeds.

The Easy Version: Air fry Trader Joe’s riced cauliflower stir fry for 20-25 minutes at 400ºF, stirring occasionally. 

If you have access to a Trader Joe’s, you can air fry their riced cauliflower stir fry straight out of the bag. For a non-TJ’s option, it looks like Green Giant and Bird’s Eye both make a frozen cauliflower rice stir fry.

The Trader Joe’s version is a bit more souped up with ingredients like sesame oil. So you may want to add some toasted sesame oil and soy sauce to the other options.

What to Serve with Your Cauliflower Fried Rice

I’ve tried just about every imaginable way to air fry eggs, but I’m not a fan. If you wanted to add egg to your air fryer fried rice, I’d cook a couple in a pan to chop up and add.

Other protein options might include baked General Tso chicken, firecracker ground chicken or spicy sesame ground beef, or sweet and spicy pork tenderloin strips.

Adding Chicken to Your Air Fried Cauliflower Rice

And while I’ve not tested it, I’m betting you could season and air fry chicken straight in with your stir fry. Using my air fryer chicken and potatoes as an example, about 10-12 minutes should do the trick. I’d add the chicken with the other veggies at the end of air frying. For seasoning the chicken, you could use some chili oil, garlic, ginger, and black pepper like in my chili garlic chicken fried cauliflower rice recipe.

Let me know what you end up doing with your air fryer cauliflower rice, even if it’s simply eating a big ol’ bowl of it on its own. If you have any additional recipe questions, feel free to leave them in the comments at the bottom of this post. Otherwise, enjoy!