5 Low Carb & Keto Rice Substitutes [Best Rice Alternatives]

Among the most scrumptious dishes characteristic rice as a key ingredient. Risotto, fried rice, paella, and sushi, for instance, all depend on this starch-filled grain, however are there any rice varieties that gained’t pack on the carbs?

Sadly, the reply is not any.  When you’re on a non-keto low-carb or normal ketogenic weight loss program, it is best to keep away from rice for optimum outcomes.

That being mentioned, you may nonetheless get your rice repair by utilizing low-carb substitutes and keto recipes. Let’s start our journey by way of the world of rice and its keto options by exploring the next subjects:

Why Rice isn’t Good for Low Carb and Keto Diets

Every grain of rice is basically starch that’s packaged in a fibrous protein capsule. From a dietary perspective, rice is sort of a bean however with extra starch and fewer protein and fiber.

Although several types of rice will differ of their carb content material, even the bottom carb selection isn’t low sufficient to suit right into a low-carb weight loss program. In actual fact, will probably be practically not possible to discover a rice selection that’s composed of lower than 75% web carbs.

To present you a greater thought of what I imply, we’ve included a chart with the carb content material of the preferred rice varieties under. On this case, we’ll focus totally on the “more healthy” rice choices (which aren’t as low in carbs as you would possibly suppose).

Is Wild Rice, Black Rice, or Brown Rice Low Carb?

Although brown rice, wild rice, and black rice are all richer in micronutrients, fiber, and protein than white rice, they’re nonetheless filled with too many carbs to suit right into a low-carb weight loss program.

As you may see, wild rice is the bottom carb rice. Nevertheless, with ~32 grams of web carbs in every half-cup, it’ll be difficult to suit it right into a low-carb or keto weight loss program with out slicing out different nutritious keto-friendly meals.

What About Rice Noodles: Are They Low Carb? 

Rice noodles might be regarded as lengthy strips of web carbs (much like conventional flour-based pasta).

Extra particularly, one cup of rice noodles comes filled with 44 g of complete carbs and 42.2 g of web carbs (which is sort of an identical to the carbs in white rice).

Fairly than skipping noodles altogether, there are many keto-friendly alternatives you may strive. We’ll be taught extra about them after we uncover the reality about rice muffins.

Are Rice Desserts Low Carb?

Since they’re made out of puffed rice, rice muffins shall be decrease in carbs than cooked rice. Nevertheless, earlier than we’re tricked by their low carb content material, we should additionally take into account what rice muffins lack.

Since they’re nearly 100% web carbs, rice muffins will improve your every day carb rely with out including any wholesome fat, protein, fiber, or micronutrients to your weight loss program. In different phrases, even the bottom carb rice cake merchandise should not a great possibility for keto since they add empty carbs to your weight loss program and nothing else.

That being mentioned, In case you are craving a rice cake, go for the bottom carb possibility and ensure to have some high-fat keto foods with it. For instance, strive spreading keto Nutella on high or make it into a fast keto pizza.

The 5 Finest Low Carb Rice Substitutes for Keto

When you can’t eat rice, what are you able to eat on a low-carb weight loss program as an appropriate various? Listed below are the perfect low-carb substitutes for rice which might be each wholesome and keto-friendly:

• Riced cauliflower
• Miracle rice (shirataki rice)
• Cabbage rice
• Hemp seeds
• Mushroom rice

1. Riced Cauliflower

That is the preferred low-carb rice various since it’s comparatively low cost, low in carbs, and filled with health-boosting nutritional vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants.

Usually, ½ cup (85 g) of ready cauliflower rice has 4 grams of complete carbs and a pair of grams of web carbs, which makes it simple to suit right into a strict keto weight loss program in addition to non-keto low-carb diets.

Riced cauliflower is offered at your native grocery retailer pre-packaged, however it may be made simply as simple at house in case you have a cheese grater or meals processor.

How one can Use It:

Riced cauliflower makes a great keto pizza crust, the right rice substitute for fried rice, and a tasty low-carb various for sushi rice. Scroll under for extra keto cauliflower rice recipes.

2. Miracle Rice — The Lowest Carb Keto Rice, No Cauliflower Obligatory

Created from konjac root, miracle rice (and shirataki noodles) solely include hint quantities of web carbs and are filled with health-promoting fiber. Extra particularly, a 3 oz. serving (85 g) of miracle rice comes with 10 energy, 3 g of fiber, and fewer than 0.5 g of web carbs.

Miracle rice is offered in most well being meals shops or on-line. You may additionally see it referred to as “shirataki rice,” “slim rice,” or “konjac rice” as effectively. There are some which have higher consistencies than others, so store round and take a look at a couple of completely different manufacturers to see which suit your tastes extra.

So long as the product is listed as having zero web carbs per serving, it’ll be the right rice various for keto.

How one can Use It:

Strive utilizing miracle rice as a rice various in a stir-fry, pilaf, or cauliflower rice recipe. It might additionally work effectively as a rice or barley substitute in a soups and stews.

3. Cabbage Rice

One other nice keto rice substitute is cabbage rice. You’ll be able to put together cabbage rice as you’ll cauliflower rice: in a meals processor or with a cheese grater.

Each purple and inexperienced cabbage are keto-friendly choices, with inexperienced cabbage having a barely decrease web carb rely:

• Pink cabbage — 1 cup,chopped (89 g) has 6.2 grams of complete carbs and three.9g of web carbs
• Inexperienced cabbage — 1 cup, chopped (89 g) has 4.9g of complete carbs and three.2g of web carbs

How one can Use It:

Riced cabbage is nice in stews, as an alternative choice to fried rice, or because the characteristic vegetable in a keto bowl. It can pair exceptionally effectively with spices generally utilized in Indian food, similar to garam masala, cumin, and turmeric.

4. Hemp Seeds

Shelled hemp seeds are nice for mimicking the style and texture of untamed rice and different heartier grains.

They’re additionally filled with wholesome fats, plant-based protein, and fiber, making them the perfect rice substitute for anybody trying up their consumption of those vitamins whereas preserving carbs low.

General, every ½ cup of shelled hemp seeds (also called hemp hearts) gives us with:

• 442 energy
• 39 g of fats
• 25 g of protein
• 6.9 g of complete carbs
• 3.7g of web carbs

Since that is the very best fats rice substitute, ensure to not overdo it. The fats energy can add up surprisingly quick and slow weight loss.

How one can Use It:

Use as a wild rice substitute for wild rice pilaf, or add it to your keto meals to imitate the mouthfeel of couscous or wild rice.

5. Mushroom Rice

With their earthy umami taste, mushrooms are a scrumptious keto-friendly substitute for rice as effectively. Simply ensure to maintain the carb counts in thoughts as a result of they may differ relying on the mushroom selection.

Listed below are the carbs in probably the most generally consumed mushrooms (in each cup, sliced):

How one can Use It:

To arrange mushroom-based keto rice, finely chop a cup or two of mushrooms and saute with some butter and salt. You can too mix mushroom rice with the opposite low carb rice options to modify up the flavour and texture of your meals.

Different Much less Frequent Keto Rice Options You Can Strive

When you’re trying to match extra greens into your keto meal plan, these two wholesome low carb options to rice are value a strive a effectively:

Hearts of Palm Rice

Manufacturers like Palmini who initially launched a pasta made out of hearts of palm have additionally delved into ricing their product to make a keto-friendly rice various. It is available in a can so that you merely want to empty, rise, and cook dinner to your most well-liked consistency. Usually it doesn’t take lengthy to cook dinner and can fulfill the craving you will have for rice.

The vitamin details for 100g of cooked coronary heart of palm are as follows:

• 28 energy
• 0.6 g fats
• 4.6 g complete carbs
• 2.4 g dietary fiber
• 2.2 g web carbs
• 2.5 g protein

It may be an awesome vegetable rice various due to its texture, decrease carb counts, and when cooked al dente actually suits the invoice in a meal.

Broccoli Rice

Riced broccoli makes an awesome grain various for anybody on a paleo, low carb, or keto weight loss program. Since you should use the stems, it is going to allow you to lower down in your meals waste as effectively.

Primarily, you’ll observe the identical steps as you’ll to show a head of cauliflower into rice. Simply be sure to shave off the knobs from the broccoli stem earlier than processing.

Sauté for about 2 to three minutes till tender in additional virgin olive oil, coconut oil, or your most well-liked cooking oil/fat. Toss in some soy sauce for fast and simple keto facet dishes (which might be additionally dairy free)!

That mentioned, you will need to double-check the vitamin details and be sure to’re staying inside your ketosis carb limit.  Right here’s what you’ll get in each 100 grams of riced broccoli:

• 35 energy
• 0.4 grams of fats
• 7.2 grams of complete carbohydrates
• 3.3 grams of dietary fiber
• 3.9 grams of web carbs
• 2.4 grams of protein

Rutabaga Rice

You can too course of rutabaga, as you’ll with broccoli or cauliflower,  to make one other gluten free low carb various for rice. The one draw back to this selection is that it’ll be a bit greater in web carbs than the opposite keto rice substitutes.

The vitamin details for 100 g of cooked rutabaga are as follows:

• 37 energy
• 0.2 g fats
• 8.6 g complete carbs
• 2.3 g dietary fiber
• 6.3 g web carbs
• 1.1 g protein

Due to its greater web carb content material, we advocate solely making rutabaga rice as an occasional facet dish to accompany a few of your low carb meals.

Low Carb, Keto-friendly Rice Recipes: Fried Rice, Sushi, Rice Balls, and Extra

When you’d favor to observe step-by-step directions, we’ve included a round-up of our favourite rice-based keto recipes under:

Spicy Cauliflower Rice & Salmon Medley

A scrumptious keto dinner that includes low-carb fried rice, with all of the steps you might want to cook dinner the fish, put together the keto rice, and mix them right into a satisfying meal. Be happy to exchange the salmon together with your fish/meat of alternative everytime you need to throw collectively a fast dish that you already know will come out scrumptious.

For extra keto-friendly rice-based dinner concepts, take a look at these recipes as effectively:

See the Recipe

Keto Hen and Rice Casserole

Hen and rice casserole is way more healthy and extra satisfying with low-carb elements. In actual fact, this is without doubt one of the greatest methods to sneak a keto-friendly dish right into a household dinner with out anybody noticing. It makes use of a few of my favourite low-carb comfort meals to save lots of on prep time like pre-riced cauliflower and rotisserie hen. I nearly at all times seize a rotisserie hen on the grocery retailer. It’s fast, simple and can be utilized for 1,000,000 completely different dishes. Pre-riced cauliflower might be discovered within the produce part of most shops and is a wonderful low carb staple and substitute for rice.

See the Recipe

Cauliflower Rice Congee

This keto Congee is an Asian-inspired porridge that’s nice for chilly climate or as a zesty dinner appetizer. The elements similar to cauliflower rice and hen inventory might be made out of scratch or store-bought to cut back time. Non-obligatory toppings for congee embody hard-boiled eggs, sliced scallions, and fried garlic. With this recipe, you’ll additionally discover ways to incorporate low-carb cauliflower rice into your favorite keto soups.

See the Recipe

Cauliflower-free Low Carb Rice Recipe Choices (No Cauliflower Obligatory)

You will have already observed that almost all low-carb rice recipes characteristic cauliflower as the first rice various. Whether or not you need to change it up otherwise you’re simply not a fan of cauliflower, listed here are three go-to choices for making low carb rice with out the cauliflower:

1. Keto Mushroom Wild Rice Pilaf

This facet dish is the right keto-friendly various for cauliflower rice (and it’s 100% gluten free). Step-by-step, you’ll discover ways to make it cauliflower-free by utilizing hempseeds and mushrooms because the low-carb rice substitute.

Altogether, this recipe will mimic the style and texture of untamed rice pilaf with out the surplus carbs. Be happy so as to add meat to it for a whole keto meal — or use it as a substitute for cauliflower fried rice.

2. Exchange the cauliflower with one other low-carb rice various.

Choose your most well-liked possibility(s) from the checklist under:

• Miracle rice
• Cabbage
• Hempseeds
• Mushrooms
• Broccoli

These will work splendidly in most keto stir-fry and fried rice recipes. You’ll be able to even strive mixing a number of options collectively.

Simply be sure to are aware of the distinction in your rice substitute’s carb, protein, and fats content material in comparison with cauliflower. Use our macro calculator when you need assistance becoming it into your meal plan.

3. Skip the low-carb rice.

Although your meal gained’t be as filling with out the low-carb rice, this can be the most suitable choice for sure keto recipes.

When making keto sushi, for instance, the opposite low-carb rice options gained’t work effectively. On this case, the most suitable choice is to make it with out the rice or strive one other recipe with comparable flavors and textures (like our keto poke bowl recipe).

Secondarily, you may take a step in a totally completely different route by making keto bread. Although it doesn’t match the feel of rice, it could possibly nonetheless assist fulfill that longing for starchy goodness.

Are There Keto-friendly Rice Noodle Options as Properly?

As with low-carb rice substitutes, there are a number of keto-friendly rice noodle options made out of konjac root and keto vegetables.

Of all of the completely different and distinctive takes on noodles, listed here are a few of greatest keto-friendly substitutes for rice noodles:

• Spiralized greens. Whereas zucchini is the most typical in keto recipes, you too can spiralize daikon radish, cucumbers, bell pepper, turnips, kohlrabi, onion, and even broccoli stems.
• Eggplant pasta. Reduce eggplant into strips and cook dinner as a penne-style pasta, or slice into skinny sheets and use as a layering noodle in lasagna or pasta roll-up recipes.
• Thinly sliced cabbage can work rather well as a noodle, however you too can use complete cabbage leaves as a layer in lasagna and even use it as a wrapper for eggroll sort recipes.
• Miracle noodles. Also referred to as konjac or shirataki noodles, these fibrous noodles are made out of the identical elements as Miracle rice.
• Tofu noodles. Just like shirataki noodles, these are sometimes a mixture of tofu and glucomannan (the fiber present in konjac root). This yields a way more nice, much less crunchy low-carb noodle.
• Home made noodles. Utilizing psyllium husk, almond flour, or a mixture of low-carb flours, you may create keto noodles at house. These are usually probably the most real looking in texture and taste however can add a big quantity of energy to the dish, so it’s a must to be aware of your noodle parts.

To be taught extra about every noodle various and their keto recipes, take a look at our comprehensive guide to keto-friendly noodles and pasta.

Key Takeaways: Low Carb Rice Options and Recipes for Keto

Rice isn’t appropriate for low-carb and keto consuming, whatever the selection you will have

Nevertheless, there are many low-carb rice substitutes that you may make to fulfill your longing for the starch-filled grain. These embody:

• Riced cauliflower
• Miracle rice or shirataki rice
• Cabbage
• Hemp Seeds
• Mushrooms

With the assistance of those keto-friendly choices, you may make nearly any of your favourite rice-based dishes, together with:

In case you are additionally searching for appropriate substitutes for cauliflower-based rice, listed here are the three greatest choices:

That being mentioned, even in case you have the bottom carb rice substitute, it’s nonetheless essential to be aware of how a lot fats, protein, and carbs you might want to achieve the results you need.

The simplest technique to be sure to are heading in the right direction is by utilizing our keto meal planning app. It can give you an infinite consuming plan customized to your objectives and preferences, so all you’ll must do is store for the elements, make your meals, and luxuriate in them.

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