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

Among the most scrumptious dishes function 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 received’t pack on the carbs?

Sadly, the reply is not any.  For those who’re on a non-keto low-carb or customary ketogenic eating regimen, it’s best to keep away from rice for optimum outcomes.

That being stated, you’ll be able to nonetheless get your rice repair through the use of low-carb substitutes and keto recipes. Let’s start our journey by 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 actually 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 fluctuate of their carb content material, even the bottom carb selection isn’t low sufficient to suit right into a low-carb eating regimen. In reality, it will likely be practically inconceivable to discover a rice selection that’s composed of lower than 75% internet carbs.

To present you a greater thought of what I imply, we’ve included a chart with the carb content material of the most well-liked rice varieties beneath. 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 eating regimen.

As you’ll be able to see, wild rice is the bottom carb rice. Nonetheless, with ~32 grams of internet carbs in every half-cup, it’ll be difficult to suit it right into a low-carb or keto eating regimen with out slicing out different nutritious keto-friendly meals.

What About Rice Noodles: Are They Low Carb? 

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

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

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

Are Rice Muffins Low Carb?

Since they’re made out of puffed rice, rice muffins will probably be decrease in carbs than cooked rice. Nonetheless, 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% internet carbs, rice muffins will enhance your day by day carb rely with out including any wholesome fat, protein, fiber, or micronutrients to your eating regimen. In different phrases, even the bottom carb rice cake merchandise will not be an excellent possibility for keto since they add empty carbs to your eating regimen and nothing else.

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

The 5 Finest Low Carb Rice Substitutes for Keto

For those who can’t eat rice, what are you able to eat on a low-carb eating regimen as an acceptable various? Listed here are one of the best low-carb substitutes for rice which can be each wholesome and keto-friendly:

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

1. Riced Cauliflower

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

Basically, ½ cup (85 g) of ready cauliflower rice has 4 grams of whole carbs and a pair of grams of internet carbs, which makes it simple to suit right into a strict keto eating regimen in addition to non-keto low-carb diets.

Riced cauliflower is accessible at your native grocery retailer pre-packaged, however it may be made simply as simple at house when you’ve got a cheese grater or meals processor.

How one can Use It:

Riced cauliflower makes an excellent keto pizza crust, the proper rice substitute for fried rice, and a tasty low-carb various for sushi rice. Scroll beneath for extra keto cauliflower rice recipes.

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

Constructed from konjac root, miracle rice (and shirataki noodles) solely comprise hint quantities of internet 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 internet carbs.

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

So long as the product is listed as having zero internet carbs per serving, it’ll be the proper 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 alternative in a soups and stews.

3. Cabbage Rice

One other nice keto rice substitute is cabbage rice. You may 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 internet carb rely:

• Crimson cabbage — 1 cup,chopped (89 g) has 6.2 grams of whole carbs and three.9g of internet carbs
• Inexperienced cabbage — 1 cup, chopped (89 g) has 4.9g of whole carbs and three.2g of internet carbs

How one can Use It:

Riced cabbage is nice in stews, as an alternative choice to fried rice, or because the function vegetable in a keto bowl. It’ll pair exceptionally effectively with spices generally utilized in Indian meals, comparable 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 one of the best rice substitute for anybody trying up their consumption of those vitamins whereas holding carbs low.

General, every ½ cup of shelled hemp seeds (often known as hemp hearts) supplies us with:

• 442 energy
• 39 g of fats
• 25 g of protein
• 6.9 g of whole carbs
• 3.7g of internet carbs

Since that is the best fats rice substitute, make sure that to not overdo it. The fats energy can add up surprisingly quick and sluggish weight reduction.

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 make sure that to maintain the carb counts in thoughts as a result of they’ll fluctuate relying on the mushroom selection.

Listed here 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 too can 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

For those who’re trying to match extra greens into your keto meal plan, these two wholesome low carb options to rice are price 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 popular consistency. Sometimes it doesn’t take lengthy to cook dinner and can fulfill the craving you have got 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 whole carbs
• 2.4 g dietary fiber
• 2.2 g internet carbs
• 2.5 g protein

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

Broccoli Rice

Riced broccoli makes an excellent grain various for anybody on a paleo, low carb, or keto eating regimen. Since you should utilize the stems, it’ll 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 you shave off the knobs from the broccoli stem earlier than processing.

Sauté for about 2 to three minutes till tender in further virgin olive oil, coconut oil, or your most popular cooking oil/fats. Toss in some soy sauce for fast and simple keto aspect dishes (which can be additionally dairy free)!

That stated, you will need to double-check the vitamin details and be sure you’re staying inside your ketosis carb restrict.  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 whole carbohydrates
• 3.3 grams of dietary fiber
• 3.9 grams of internet carbs
• 2.4 grams of protein

Rutabaga Rice

You too can 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 increased in internet 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 whole carbs
• 2.3 g dietary fiber
• 6.3 g internet carbs
• 1.1 g protein

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

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

For those who’d desire to observe step-by-step directions, we’ve included a round-up of our favourite rice-based keto recipes beneath:

Spicy Cauliflower Rice & Salmon Medley

A scrumptious keto dinner that includes low-carb fried rice, with all of the steps it is advisable cook dinner the fish, put together the keto rice, and mix them right into a satisfying meal. Be at liberty to switch 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 far more healthy and extra satisfying with low-carb elements. In reality, this is among the finest 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 avoid wasting on prep time like pre-riced cauliflower and rotisserie hen. I nearly all the time seize a rotisserie hen on the grocery retailer. It’s fast, simple and can be utilized for 1,000,000 totally different dishes. Pre-riced cauliflower may be discovered within the produce part of most shops and is a superb 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 comparable to cauliflower rice and hen inventory may be made out of scratch or store-bought to cut back time. Non-compulsory 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 favourite keto soups.

See the Recipe

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

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

1. Keto Mushroom Wild Rice Pilaf

This aspect dish is the proper keto-friendly various for cauliflower rice (and it’s 100% gluten free). Step-by-step, you’ll discover ways to make it cauliflower-free through the use of 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 at liberty so as to add meat to it for an entire keto meal — or use it as a alternative for cauliflower fried rice.

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

Choose your most popular possibility(s) from the checklist beneath:

• Miracle rice
• Cabbage
• Hempseeds
• Mushrooms
• Broccoli

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

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

3. Skip the low-carb rice.

Although your meal received’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 received’t work effectively. On this case, the most suitable choice is to make it with out the rice or strive one other recipe with related flavors and textures (like our keto poke bowl recipe).

Secondarily, you’ll be able to take a step in a very totally different course by making keto bread. Although it doesn’t match the feel of rice, it will probably nonetheless assist fulfill that longing for starchy goodness.

Are There Keto-friendly Rice Noodle Options as Effectively?

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

Of all of the totally different and distinctive takes on noodles, listed below are a few of finest keto-friendly substitutes for rice noodles:

• Spiralized greens. Whereas zucchini is the most typical in keto recipes, you can even 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 can even use complete cabbage leaves as a layer in lasagna and even use it as a wrapper for eggroll kind 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. Much like shirataki noodles, these are sometimes a mix of tofu and glucomannan (the fiber present in konjac root). This yields a way more nice, much less crunchy low-carb noodle.
• Selfmade noodles. Utilizing psyllium husk, almond flour, or a mix of low-carb flours, you’ll be able to create keto noodles at house. These are usually probably the most sensible in texture and taste however can add a major quantity of energy to the dish, so it’s a must to be conscious of your noodle parts.

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

Key Takeaways: Low Carb Rice Options and Recipes for Keto

Rice shouldn’t be appropriate for low-carb and keto consuming, whatever the selection you have got

Nonetheless, there are many low-carb rice substitutes that you could 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 on the lookout for appropriate substitutes for cauliflower-based rice, listed below are the three finest choices:

That being stated, even when you’ve got the bottom carb rice substitute, it’s nonetheless essential to be conscious of how a lot fats, protein, and carbs it is advisable obtain the outcomes you need.

The simplest technique to be sure you are heading in the right direction is through the use of our keto meal planning app. It’ll give you a vast consuming plan customized to your targets and preferences, so all you’ll should do is store for the elements, make your meals, and revel in them.

Sources