Tex-Mex cauliflower rice

This Tex-Mex cauliflower rice is spicy, cheesy, and chock-full of vegetables – and it’s all made in an Actifry!

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This is definitely one of those recipes where I feel I need to remind you that ugly food is often the tastiest food. This Tex-Mex cauliflower rice isn’t the most attractive dish in the room, but if you look beyond its appearance, you will really come to love it.

(Ever feel like you’ve found your spirit animal? Turns out mine is cauliflower rice)

This Tex-Mex cauliflower rice is cheesy, spicy, full of veg… and it’s pretty healthy too! Plus, I made mine entirely in a Tefal Actifry – couldn’t be easier.

Cauliflower rice in the Actifry

You might remember I used my Tefal Actifry back in October to make my super tasty Madagascan bean stew. If you didn’t see that post, and you’re unfamiliar with the Actifry, it’s basically an air fryer that cooks food with a blast of hot air. The paddle continually spins to ensure food gets cooked evenly.

The Actifry is great for this kind of dish – it ends up tasting just like you cooked it on the stovetop, but it’s much more hands-off (perfect for lazy cooks like me!). The paddle does all the stirring for you, and once you’ve set the timer, the Actifry will beep to tell you it’s finished cooking, so you literally just need to add the raw ingredients, then walk away to let it do its thing.

If you like the sound of hands-off cooking, and you’d like to win your very own Actifry, just keep reading – there’s a giveaway at the bottom of this post where you can enter to win!

Healthy meals in the Actifry

This time, Tefal asked me to put a healthier spin on one of my favourite take aways – Mexican! You guys know how much I adore Mexican food, so this challenge was right up my street. My usual Mexican take away involves big flour tortillas, lots of sauce, and far too much cheese – all delicious stuff, but not exactly the healthiest option (especially considering I usually try to eat a bit more sensibly at the beginning of the year!).

My Tex-Mex cauliflower rice is the answer – it cuts out all those processed carbs, and replaces them with high-fibre cauliflower. Plus, cooking it in the Actifry means you only need one small drizzle of oil, so it’s lower in fat too!

Low-carb cauliflower rice

I’ve made cauliflower rice a few times before – cauliflower is a really versatile ingredient that you can use to make all sorts of healthy meals. It’s pretty bland on its own, so you can flavour it however you choose – in the past I’ve made tikka cauliflower rice, egg fried cauliflower rice, I’ve even used it as an alternative to couscous in a low-carb tabbouleh.

I made a little video showing you how to make this Tex-Mex cauliflower rice, in case you’re a visual learner!

How do you make cauliflower rice?

Cauliflower rice couldn’t be easier to make. To begin with, just remove the leaves from the cauliflower, and stick the florets in a food processor. Blitz them up until they’re finely chopped, and vaguely resemble (you guessed it) rice. That’s all there is to it – it’s literally just chopped cauliflower.

You need to start by just cooking off the cauliflower on its own for a while. This helps to remove any excess moisture from the cauliflower, and gives it a nice toasty flavour – it should be golden brown all over. The constantly rotating paddle of the Actifry will help ensure that it cooks nice and evenly.

Tex-Mex cauliflower rice

Then, add your extras! As I said, you can go for whatever kind of flavour profile you fancy. I can’t believe it took me this long to make Tex-Mex cauliflower rice – Mexican is one of my favourite cuisines ever. Just add some black beans, spring onions, sweetcorn, and some tasty spices, then turn the Actifry on again.

Don’t forget the cheese!

Finally, add a bit of grated cheese, and cook for a few more minutes until the cheese has melted right through the cauliflower rice.

I know an excess of cheese isn’t overly healthy, but you only need to use a little bit here, and it really does lift that cauliflower rice to the next level. If one handful of cheese is all it takes to make a healthy meal irresistible, I’m all for it.

The toppings

Finally, the toppings! I love meals with lots of toppings, and Mexican food is perfect to pile up with extras!

I kept it simple, but there are all sorts of things you could serve with your Tex-Mex cauliflower rice:

– sliced avocado
– chopped spring onions
– fresh coriander (cilantro)
– guacamole
– chopped cherry tomatoes
– salsa
– sour cream
– more grated cheese

… the world is your (vegetarian) oyster. Two or three toppings really do turn this simple dish into something really tasty!

Low-carb meals

By swapping regular rice, or my usual flour tortillas, for the cauliflower rice, this dish is relatively low-carb. I feel I should add that I am certainly not anti-carb. I love carbs, and honestly, I would quite happily live on pasta bake for the rest of my life if I didn’t think I would become horribly malnourished.

But, as with all things, a healthy diet is all about balance, and sometimes that might mean you want to take it easy on the carbs for a day or two. This Tex-Mex cauliflower rice is a great option! It’s not completely low-carb, as the beans still add some carby goodness, but rather than a white, processed carb, they’re a protein- and fibre-rich version.

It’s super tasty, but still feels light, and is chock-full of veggies. Perfect!

Print

5 from 10 votes

Tex-Mex cauliflower rice

This Tex-Mex cauliflower rice is a low-carb meal made entirely in the Tefal Actifry air fryer - healthy and delicious!

Prep Time: 10 mins

Cook Time: 35 mins

Total Time: 45 mins

Servings: 2 people

Ingredients

• 1 medium cauliflower
• 1 tbsp oil
• 400 g tin black beans, drained (240g, or ~ 1 1/4 cups, when drained)
• 100 g (~ 2/3 cup) tinned sweetcorn
• 3 spring onions, sliced
• 1 tsp smoked paprika
• 1/2 tsp ground cumin
• 1/4 tsp hot chilli powder
• Salt
• Black pepper
• 50 g cheddar cheese, grated (~ 1/2 cup when grated)
• Toppings, to serve: your choice of sliced avocado, fresh coriander (cilantro), spring onions, sour cream, salsa, etc.

Instructions

• Remove the leaves from the cauliflower, and cut the cauliflower itself into florets. Place in a food processor, and blitz until it resembles rice.
• Place the cauliflower rice in the Actifry with a drizzle of oil. Cook for 20 minutes, until lightly golden brown.
• Scrape down the sides of the Actifry, and add the black beans, sweetcorn, spring onions, spices, and seasoning. Cook for a further 10 minutes, then add the cheese, and cook for 5 more minutes. Scrape down the sides of the Actifry again, and serve with your choice of toppings.

Course: Main meals

Cuisine: Mexican, Tex-Mex

Author: Becca Heyes

Note: Nutritional information is approximate, and will depend on exactly what ingredients you choose. Information above is for 1/2 of the recipe.

Actifry giveaway!

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