Pork Fried "Turnip" Rice

Pork Fried “Turnip” Rice

Okay, okay I know I just talked about detoxing after Thanksgiving and now I’m posting...

Pork Fried "Turnip" Rice

Okay, okay I know I just talked about detoxing after Thanksgiving and now I’m posting a recipe for – what else – PORK FRIED RICE.

But that’s the beautiful thing about spiralizing – you can still stuff your face with pork fried “rice” and not break the diet bank.

In this Inspiralized version, I’m using turnip rice in place of “regular” rice which not only makes this dish clean-eating friendly, the meal becomes an excellent source of Vitamin C and a fun way to use seasonal produce.

Pork Fried "Turnip" Rice

Two Sundays ago, Lu and I went over to his brother’s apartment in Hoboken to spend some time together and have dinner. Christina (Lu’s sister-in-law and the one who introduced Lu and I!) is about 6 months pregnant and she has the most adorable baby bump! I can’t wait to be an Aunt 🙂

At dinner, we decided to order Chinese food for dinner and in true Lu and Jose fashion (Jose is Lu’s older brother), they ordered pork fried rice and a medley of greasy food.

Pork Fried "Turnip" Rice

The second the food arrived and I caught a whiff of the pork fried rice, I just had to have it. After we were done, I immediately felt sick. Then, it was like a light bulb goes off – SPIRALIZED PORK FRIED RICE!

And now, we’re here.

I got a lot of inspiration for this recipe from the amazing blog The Woks of Life, a group of talented bloggers who have authentic Asian cooking experience – skills I don’t have.

Pork Fried "Turnip" Rice

I picked up this tip from the bloggers: to evenly roast your meats in the oven, set up a baking sheet with tinfoil and then top with a metal rack. Then, place the meat on top. The heat will circulate throughout the oven and because the meat is raised, it will cook mostly evenly on all sides:

Pork Fried "Turnip" Rice

Pork Fried "Turnip" Rice

This recipe is perfect for a Sunday afternoon of meal prep, since it does take over 2 hours to make – but it’s well worth it. You won’t believe you’re not ordering takeout.

If you want to go the extra mile and fool your guests, serve it up in takeout boxes!

What’s your go-to takeout dish you’d like to see Inspiralized?

 

Nutritional Information & Recipe

Inspiralized

Pork Fried “Turnip” Rice

Prep Time 2 hours 15 minutes
Cook Time 1 hour 10 minutes
Total Time 3 hours 25 minutes
Servings 4 -5

Ingredients

  • For the pork:
  • 1 pound pork shoulder/pork butt
  • 1/2 tablespoon honey
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon five spice powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon paprika
  • pinch of white pepper
  • 1/2 tablespoon sherry
  • 1/2 tablespoon soy sauce low-sodium
  • 1/4 teaspoon sesame oil
  • 1 teaspoons hoisin sauce
  • 1 teaspoons tomato paste
  • 1/2 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
  • 2 cloves garlic smashed and then minced
  • 1/2 tablespoon hot water
  • For the rice*:
  • 3 large turnips
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1/2 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
  • 1 small white onion
  • 1 tablespoon low-sodium soy sauce
  • white pepper to taste
  • 1 teaspoon sesame oil
  • 4 scallions

Instructions

  • Whisk all of the ingredients for the marinade in a small bowl, reserve 2 tablespoons and place the rest in a large zip top bag.
  • Cut the pork into 3” long pieces and place in the zip top bag. Shake and place in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours, ideally overnight.
  • While meat is marinating, dice the white onion and scallions. Set aside in the refrigerator for later use.
  • Once the meat is marinated, preheat the oven to 475 degrees. Line a baking tray with tin foil and place a metal rack on top. Pour ¼ cup of water over the tin foil. Place the pork on the metal rack and roast for 25 minutes. After 25 minutes, baste the pork with the juices that collect in the tin foil and brush the pork with half of the reserved marinade. Bake for another 20 minutes and then switch to broil and cook for 1-2 minutes or until outside crisps (be careful not to let burn!)
  • Using the reserved tablespoons of marinade, brush the pork. Let the meat rest for 10 minutes and then cut into ½ inch chunks.
  • While the pork cools, peel and spiralize the turnips, using Blade C. Place the turnip noodles into a food processor and pulse until rice-like. Set aside.
  • Place a large skillet over medium-high heat and coat with cooking spray. Beat the eggs and then scramble. Set aside.
  • Wipe down the skillet used to scramble the eggs and add in the olive oil over medium heat. Once oil heats, add in the onion and cook 2-3 minutes or until translucent. Then, add in the cooked pork and turnip rice. Let cook for 3-5 minutes or until turnip is no longer crunchy and then add in the soy sauce, sesame oil, white pepper, scallions, eggs and cook for 1-2 minutes or until everything is heated through.

Pork Fried "Turnip" Rice

Pork Fried "Turnip" Rice

Pork Fried "Turnip" Rice

with love, Ali

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comments

  • This sounds great! I'd not thought about turnip rice, but why not? I'll be trying this (or something similar) this week. Maybe "special" fried rice! (Pork, shrimp, and chicken?)
  • I love the how to cook meat evenly tip!! Thank You for bloggin Ali, I can't wait for the cookbook in the spring.
  • This might end up being better than the usual cauliflower rice that most low-carbers use! Thx!
  • Looks amazing! Sharing these in my weekly meal plan. Would love for you to link up with us!! http://sassymomsinthecity.com/real-food-recipe-round-up-weekly-meal-plan-december-7th/
  • I've been hesitant about commenting because of the major substitutions I made to this recipe, but it was so successful, I decided to go ahead and post. I used dark meat left over from our Thanksgiving turkey. I mixed the bite-sized pieces of turkey with the marinade and baked at 400 degrees about ten minutes just to heat through. I also only had butternut squash "rice" available so I used that instead of turnip. I realize I completely changed your recipe but after watching my picky 17-yr old devour two helpings, I thought I'd share.
  • Just letting you know that over the weekend I featured this recipe in my monthly Deliciously Healthy Low-Carb Recipes round-up. I hope a lot of my readers will click over and try the recipe! And Happy New Year!
  • Question, I have the Premium Vegetable Spiralizer (the one that looks like a huge pencil sharpener), can I still spiralize turnips?
  • I simply love you!! I just discovered zucchini noodles and fell head over heals in love. Today I discovered this great blog and am just besides myself. I am soo happy for all my food bloggers that have taken all of my unhealthy foods and made them loss your gut friendly while still smaking your lips good! Thanks girl! I will be buying the cookbook!
    • Sukina, thank you SO SO much for the kind words, it means so much! Welcome :)
  • Me and DBF never had a turnip in our lives LOL but I made this dish this week and we LOVED it! Substituted boneless pork chops for the pork butt - I cut them into strips, marinated and cooked in a skillet, cooked the turnip "rice" separately and then put it all together, using slightly less of everything to make 2 servings. I absolutely love my spiralizer (not yours, sorry, but some day although I don't want mine to break just yet ;-) ) and love your recipes! Good luck with everything - I look forward to your newsletters!
  • Hi there. I bought a spiral idea less than a week ago, and have already tried out some recipes from your site! I came across it this week, because I wanted to find ways to use my spiralizer in addition to just making fancy veggie sides. Today for lunch I was inspired by your rice section to make a my own version of veggie fried rice. Instead of rice though , I used Yucca.it cooks sticky...somewhat like rice, that some people might not even notice if you didn't tell them. Next time though I will try turnip like this recipe suggests. For dinner , we had carrot noodle arribiata with chicken. I didn't miss the pasta..and don't feel gross after eating it!
  • in the middle of making this now ... the pork smells delicious, and everything is coming together great! one note, however: it took me WAY LONGER THAN 10 MINUTES to prep the turnips. think closer to 45 minutes to peel, spiralize (which is not super easy), and run through the processor. just a heads up if you're crunched for time – start the turnips basically when you put the pork in the oven!