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

A few of 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 gained’t pack on the carbs?

Sadly, the reply is not any.  In the event you’re on a non-keto low-carb or commonplace ketogenic weight loss program, you must keep away from rice for optimum outcomes.

That being mentioned, 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 via the world of rice and its keto alternate options by exploring the next matters:

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 range 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 truth, it is going to be practically not possible 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 may 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 full of too many carbs to suit right into a low-carb weight loss program.

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 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 internet carbs (just like conventional flour-based pasta).

Extra particularly, one cup of rice noodles comes full of 44 g of complete carbs and 42.2 g of internet carbs (which is nearly equivalent to the carbs in white rice).

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

Are Rice Truffles Low Carb?

Since they’re produced from puffed rice, rice muffins shall 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 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 are usually not a very good choice for keto since they add empty carbs to your weight loss program and nothing else.

That being mentioned, If you’re craving a rice cake, go for the bottom carb choice and ensure to have some high-fat keto meals with it. For instance, attempt spreading keto Nutella on high or make it into a fast keto pizza.

The 5 Finest Low Carb Rice Substitutes for Keto

In the event you can’t eat rice, what are you able to eat on a low-carb weight loss program as an acceptable various? Listed below are the most effective low-carb substitutes for rice which are 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 full of health-boosting nutritional vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants.

On the whole, ½ cup (85 g) of ready cauliflower rice has 4 grams of complete carbs and a pair of grams of internet carbs, which makes it straightforward to suit right into a strict keto weight loss program 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 straightforward at residence in case you have a cheese grater or meals processor.

Easy methods to Use It:

Riced cauliflower makes a nice keto pizza crust, the right 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 Obligatory

Created from konjac root, miracle rice (and shirataki noodles) solely include hint quantities of internet carbs and are full of 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 referred to as “shirataki rice,” “slim rice,” or “konjac rice” as properly. 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 internet carbs per serving, it’ll be the right rice various for keto.

Easy methods to Use It:

Strive utilizing miracle rice as a rice various in a stir-fry, pilaf, or cauliflower rice recipe. It might additionally work properly as a rice or barley substitute 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 crimson and inexperienced cabbage are keto-friendly choices, with inexperienced cabbage having a barely decrease internet carb rely:

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

Easy methods to 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 properly with spices generally utilized in Indian meals, resembling 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 full of wholesome fats, plant-based protein, and fiber, making them the most effective rice substitute for anybody trying up their consumption of those vitamins whereas retaining carbs low.

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

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

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

Easy methods to 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 properly. Simply ensure that to maintain the carb counts in thoughts as a result of they are going to range relying on the mushroom selection.

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

Easy methods to Use It:

To organize 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 alternate options to change up the flavour and texture of your meals.

Different Much less Widespread Keto Rice Options You Can Strive

In the event you’re seeking to match extra greens into your keto meal plan, these two wholesome low carb alternate options to rice are value a attempt a properly:

Hearts of Palm Rice

Manufacturers like Palmini who initially launched a pasta produced from 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 could 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 internet 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 matches 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 need to use the stems, it’ll allow you to lower down in your meals waste as properly.

Basically, you’ll observe the identical steps as you’ll to show a head of cauliflower into rice. Simply ensure 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 well-liked cooking oil/fats. Toss in some soy sauce for fast and simple keto aspect dishes (which are additionally dairy free)!

That mentioned, you will need to double-check the vitamin details and ensure 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 complete 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 feature is that it’ll be a bit larger 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 complete carbs
• 2.3 g dietary fiber
• 6.3 g internet carbs
• 1.1 g protein

Due to its larger internet carb content material, we suggest 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

In the event you’d want 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’s essential to cook dinner the fish, put together the keto rice, and mix them right into a satisfying meal. Be at liberty to interchange the salmon together with your fish/meat of alternative everytime you wish to throw collectively a fast dish that you understand will come out scrumptious.

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

See the Recipe

Keto Rooster and Rice Casserole

Rooster and rice casserole is far more healthy and extra satisfying with low-carb elements. In truth, this is likely one of 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 rooster. I nearly all the time seize a rotisserie rooster on the grocery retailer. It’s fast, straightforward 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 resembling cauliflower rice and rooster inventory might be produced from scratch or store-bought to cut back time. Non-compulsory toppings for congee embrace 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 Obligatory)

You’ll have already seen that the majority low-carb rice recipes function cauliflower as the first rice various. Whether or not you wish to swap 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 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 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 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.

Decide your most well-liked choice(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 attempt mixing a number of alternate options collectively.

Simply ensure you 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 best choice for sure keto recipes.

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

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

Are There Keto-friendly Rice Noodle Options as Nicely?

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

Of all of the completely 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 may as well spiralize daikon radish, cucumbers, bell pepper, turnips, kohlrabi, onion, and even broccoli stems.
• Eggplant pasta. Minimize 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 may as well use entire 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 produced from the identical elements as Miracle rice.
• Tofu noodles. Much 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.
• Do-it-yourself noodles. Utilizing psyllium husk, almond flour, or a mixture of low-carb flours, you’ll be able to create keto noodles at residence. These are typically essentially the most life like in texture and taste however can add a major quantity of energy to the dish, so you must be aware 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 will not be appropriate for low-carb and keto consuming, whatever the selection you could have

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

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

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

If you’re additionally in search of appropriate substitutes for cauliflower-based rice, listed below are the three finest 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 it’s essential to obtain the outcomes you need.

The simplest solution to ensure you are heading in the right direction is through the use of our keto meal planning app. It’ll offer you a limiteless consuming plan personalised 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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