This is a favorite to order at a Chinese restaurant and we eat it at home every week. Fried rice takes about 15 minutes start to finish (as long as you have leftover cold rice) and is the perfect side dish or main meal!
It’s one of the dishes that everyone loves and it’s the perfect way to use up any leftovers.
My daughter (who is almost 14) could pretty much exist on fried rice alone, it’s her favorite! The great thing is that it’s the perfect place to load up on vegetables!
What Goes into Fried Rice?
Of course, fried rice starts with day old (cold) rice, a bit of oil, and some aromatics like garlic and ginger.
To make a vegetable fried rice, we often add in leftover vegetables we have on hand (corn, mushrooms, green beans, and diced peppers are all great).
You can add in (or any protein at all) add protein, any cooked meat, including shrimp, chicken or beef would be great additions to this recipe!
Tips
Fried rice is so easy to make at home it’s going to become a staple in your menu! Here are a few of my favorite tips to make sure your dish turns out perfectly every single time!
- Use Day Old Cold Rice: You’ll want to use pre-cooked cold rice. Starting with cold rice will help you to get a good crisp on it which adds flavor. Fresh rice has too much moisture and doesn’t crisp up as well (although it does still taste great in a pinch).
- Use a HOT Pan: Make sure your pan or wok is nice and hot. You’ll add oil and you want the rice to crisp & caramelize a little bit to give it flavor.
- Be Prepared: Fried rice is a VERY fast dish to make… you’ll want to make sure all of your ingredients are measured and ready to go.
- Pre-cook your eggs & protein: Once you have cooked your aromatics (garlic, ginger, onion) and vegetables, you want to crisp the rice and basically have everything else ready to go. This makes fried rice the perfect dish to use up leftover meat (beef, pork, shrimp or chicken). Just chop your leftovers and add them in with the eggs.
This easy rice dish is so quick to make and I have no doubt your family is going to love it as much as mine does!
This is one meal your whole family will agree on!
Easy Fried Rice Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon canola oil
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 2 teaspoons ginger minced
- 2 green onions sliced and separated
- ¾ cup frozen carrots or diced fresh
- ¾ cup frozen peas
- 2 eggs cooked and chopped
- 1 cup chopped cooked chicken pork or shrimp (optional)
- 3 tablespoons soy sauce
- ½ teaspoon sesame oil
- 3 ½ cups cold cooked white rice
Instructions
- Heat oil in a wok or nonstick pan over medium-high heat. Add in garlic, ginger and the white portion of the green onions. Cook until fragrant.
- Add carrots & peas, cook until heated and softened.
- Add rice (and protein if using) continue to cook until rice slightly crisped and brown. Don’t stir too much, you do want to get a little bit of caramelization.
- Add in cooked egg, soy sauce & sesame oil.
- Garnish with remaining green onion and sesame seeds if desired.
Nutrition Information
Nutrition information provided is an estimate and will vary based on cooking methods and brands of ingredients used.
Course Side Dish
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Wow, this recipe is easy to understand. I will try to make it at home.
Made this for my wife and I last night, wow what a hit. Thanks for your recipes!!
So happy you enjoyed this recipe, John!
Good and easy. Omitted sesame oil bc I didn’t have any.
Delicious. Everyone loved it. I pretended it was a lot of work ;-)
LOL! Your secret is safe with me ;)
Loved the stir fry recipe. Can’t stop eating it ❤️
My Wife and I love the Fried Rice. It easy and very good. I made this for the 3rd Time. The first two times I did not have sesame oil. This time I put the sesame oil in and it makes a big difference . Thank you for the recipe!
This looks really good! Reading through all the comments, you give 3 different replies to how the egg should be cooked, boiled, scrambled then fried! Traditionally it is always mixed, then fried very thinly, then cut into thin strips.
Sorry for the confusion Lesley. I whisk/scramble the egg and pour it into a frying pan. I cook it and then once cooked, I chop it finely.
Have not tried yet but it looks and sounds delicious
Not so quick if you have to use day old cold rice.
Love the fried rice recipe. Quick, easy, and delicious.
Another great recipe that I have made from your website. I must say each one I try turns out great and tastes delicious! Everytime a friend says wow that tastes great..i simply say: go to spendwithpennies!
Thank you for all your hard work!! Your recipes are perfect!!
Thank you Carrie! So happy you are enjoying the recipes at Spend With Pennies!
Beautiful
Wow! I should really try out your recipe It looks great!
Simple, fast, and delicious!!
I have tried several of your recipes and have loved them all. Today was the first time I have ever made fried rice and OMG how easy your recipe was compared to all the others out there. I look forward to my email each day to see what I will find there from you!! Thank you Holly!!!
Aww, thank you so much Paulette! I’m so glad you loved it!
I never did this before and I will use this recipe for all times Chinese Food is my favorite type of food.
Amazing! I can’t stop eating it hehehe…
5+ Stars
We are right there with you Dewa! So delicious.
My husband loves fried rice
Hope he loves this one too Brenda!
This is my go to fried rice recipe. I mostly follow it but after the veggies are added I just push them to the side and cook the scrambled egg in the same pan. I usually cut down on the white rice to 2.5 cups but add the same amount of soy sauce and sesame oil. Great recipe!
That sounds delicious Kim!
is the eggs scrambled, boiled ? etc I want to try this recipe but want to b sure I am doing this right
Hi Mary, they are scrambled and then chopped.