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 won’t pack on the carbs?

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

That being stated, 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:

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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 differ of their carb content material, even the bottom carb selection isn’t low sufficient to suit right into a low-carb food regimen. In actual fact, it is going to be practically unattainable 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 “healthier” rice choices (which aren’t as low in carbs as you may suppose).

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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 food regimen.

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

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What About Rice Noodles: Are They Low Carb? 

Rice noodles may be considered lengthy strips of web carbs (much like conventional flour-based pasta).

Extra particularly, one cup of rice noodles comes full of 44 g of whole carbs and 42.2 g of web carbs (which is sort of similar to the carbs in white rice).

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

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Are Rice Desserts 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 contemplate what rice muffins lack.

Since they’re virtually 100% web carbs, rice muffins will improve your day by day carb depend with out including any wholesome fat, protein, fiber, or micronutrients to your food regimen. In different phrases, even the bottom carb rice cake merchandise will not be a great choice for keto since they add empty carbs to your food regimen and nothing else.

Rice Cake Product	Whole Carbs (per rice cake)	Web Carbs (per rice cake)
White rice cake	7	7
Brown rice cake	14	13
Kim’s Magic Pop Rice Desserts	2	2

That being stated, In case you are craving a rice cake, go for the bottom carb choice 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.

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The 5 Greatest Low Carb Rice Substitutes for Keto

In case you can’t eat rice, what are you able to eat on a low-carb food regimen as an acceptable different? Listed here are the perfect 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 preferred low-carb rice different since it’s comparatively low-cost, low in carbs, and full of health-boosting nutritional vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants.

Usually, ½ cup (85 g) of ready cauliflower rice has 4 grams of whole carbs and a couple of grams of web carbs, which makes it simple to suit right into a strict keto food regimen 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 residence you probably have a cheese grater or meals processor.

The right way to Use It:

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

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

Produced from konjac root, miracle rice (and shirataki noodles) solely include hint quantities of web 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 web carbs.

Miracle rice is offered in most well being meals shops or on-line. You may additionally see it known as “shirataki rice,” “slim rice,” or “konjac rice” as nicely. There are some which have higher consistencies than others, so store round and take a look at a number of totally 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 different for keto.

The right way to Use It:

Strive utilizing miracle rice as a rice different in a stir-fry, pilaf, or cauliflower rice recipe. It will additionally work nicely 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’d 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 depend:

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

The right way 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 is going to pair exceptionally nicely 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 full of wholesome fats, plant-based protein, and fiber, making them the perfect rice substitute for anybody trying up their consumption of those vitamins whereas maintaining 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 whole carbs
• 3.7g of web carbs

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

The right way 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 nicely. Simply be sure to maintain the carb counts in thoughts as a result of they’ll differ relying on the mushroom selection.

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

Mushroom kind	Whole carbs (g)	Web carbs (g)
Portobella	5.9	3.2
Shiitake	7.4	3.9
White button	4.4	2.5
Cremini	3.0	2.6

The right way 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 can too mix mushroom rice with the opposite low carb rice options to change up the flavour and texture of your meals.

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Different Much less Frequent Keto Rice Options You Can Strive

If 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 nicely:

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 different. It is available in a can so that you merely want to empty, rise, and prepare dinner to your most well-liked consistency. Sometimes it doesn’t take lengthy to prepare dinner and can fulfill the craving you’ve got for rice.

The diet information 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 web carbs
• 2.5 g protein

It may be an amazing vegetable rice different 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 amazing grain different for anybody on a paleo, low carb, or keto food regimen. Since you should utilize the stems, it’s going to allow you to reduce down in your meals waste as nicely.

Primarily, you’ll comply with the identical steps as you’d 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 additional virgin olive oil, coconut oil, or your most well-liked cooking oil/fats. Toss in some soy sauce for fast and simple keto facet dishes (which can be additionally dairy free)!

That stated, you will need to double-check the diet information and ensure you’re staying inside your ketosis carb restrict.  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 web carbs
• 2.4 grams of protein

Rutabaga Rice

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

The diet information 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 web carbs
• 1.1 g protein

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

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

If you’d choose to comply with step-by-step directions, we’ve included a round-up of our favourite rice-based keto recipes under:

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Spicy Cauliflower Rice & Salmon Medley

A scrumptious keto dinner that includes low-carb fried rice, with all of the steps it’s worthwhile to prepare 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 wish to throw collectively a fast dish that you recognize will come out scrumptious.

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

See the Recipe

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Keto Hen and Rice Casserole

Hen and rice casserole is far more healthy and extra satisfying with low-carb substances. In actual fact, this is without doubt 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 hen. I virtually at all times 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 wonderful low carb staple and substitute for rice.

See the Recipe

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Cauliflower Rice Congee

This keto Congee is an Asian-inspired porridge that’s nice for chilly climate or as a zesty dinner appetizer. The substances comparable to cauliflower rice and hen inventory may be produced from scratch or store-bought to cut back time. Elective toppings for congee embody hard-boiled eggs, sliced scallions, and fried garlic. With this recipe, you’ll additionally learn to incorporate low-carb cauliflower rice into your favourite keto soups.

See the Recipe

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

You could have already seen that the majority low-carb rice recipes function cauliflower as the first rice different. Whether or not you want to change it up or 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 different for cauliflower rice (and it’s 100% gluten free). Step-by-step, you’ll learn 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. Change the cauliflower with one other low-carb rice different.

Decide your most well-liked choice(s) from the record under:

• 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 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 in case you need assistance becoming it into your meal plan.

3. Skip the low-carb rice.

Although your meal won’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 options won’t work nicely. On this case, the best 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 may take a step in a very totally different route by making keto bread. Although it doesn’t match the feel of rice, it might nonetheless assist fulfill that longing for starchy goodness.

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Are There Keto-friendly Rice Noodle Options as Nicely?

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 here are a few of finest keto-friendly substitutes for rice noodles:

• Spiralized greens. Whereas zucchini is the most typical in keto recipes, it’s also possible to spiralize daikon radish, cucumbers, bell pepper, turnips, kohlrabi, onion, and even broccoli stems.
• Eggplant pasta. Lower eggplant into strips and prepare 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 it’s also possible to 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 produced from the identical substances 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.
• Do-it-yourself noodles. Utilizing psyllium husk, almond flour, or a mixture of low-carb flours, you may create keto noodles at residence. These are usually probably the most practical 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 different and their keto recipes, take a look at our complete information to keto-friendly noodles and pasta.

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Key Takeaways: Low Carb Rice Options and Recipes for Keto

Rice just isn’t appropriate for low-carb and keto consuming, whatever the selection you’ve got

Nonetheless, there are many low-carb rice substitutes that you would be able to 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 just about 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 here are the three finest choices:

That being stated, even you probably have the bottom carb rice substitute, it’s nonetheless essential to be aware of how a lot fats, protein, and carbs it’s worthwhile to obtain the outcomes you need.

The simplest solution to ensure you are heading in the right direction is by utilizing our keto meal planning app. It is going to offer you a limiteless consuming plan personalised to your targets and preferences, so all you’ll should do is store for the substances, make your meals, and luxuriate in them.

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