by HollyFried Rice is one of my favorite things to order at a Chinese restaurant.
I had no idea how to make fried rice at home but trust me, it’s so easy to recreate you won’t need to purchase takeout anymore!
Homemade fried rice takes about 15 minutes start to finish and is the perfect side dish or main meal!
It’s one of 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 about fried rice is that it’s the perfect place to load up on vegetables!
What Goes into Fried Rice?
Of course any good 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).
If you’re looking to chicken fried rice (or any protein at all) add protein, any cooked meat, including shrimp, chicken or beef would be great additions to this recipe!
The recipe below calls for white rice but you can certainly use brown rice, or quinoa. I even sometimes use cauliflower to create a lower carb Cauliflower Fried Rice!
Making fried rice isn’t difficult but there are a few tips that will help you get amazing results.
How to Make Fried Rice at Home
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 Rice: For the best fried 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 tons of 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: Making sure your pan or wok is nice and hot will give the best results. You’ll add your 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!
Fried rice is now a staple in our menu since it’s easy to make and loaded with veggies and protein.
Serve this recipe on it’s own or along with Easy Mongolian Beef or even drizzle with Homemade Sweet and Sour Sauce!
This is one meal your whole family will agree on!
QUICK & EASY FRIED RICE
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon canola oil
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 2 teaspoons minced ginger
- 2 green onions sliced and separated
- 3/4 cup frozen carrots or diced fresh
- 3/4 cup frozen peas
- 2 eggs cooked and chopped
- 1 cup chopped cooked chicken pork or shrimp (optional)
- 3 tablespoons soy sauce
- 1/2 teaspoon sesame oil
- 3 1/2 cups cold cooked white rice
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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 provided is an estimate and will vary based on cooking methods and brands of ingredients used.)
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P.F. Chang’s Style Mongolian Beef
I plan to use snap peas and carrots from the garden do I need to freeze them first or can I put them in after they’ve been washed and cut.
You do not need to freeze them first. Enjoy!
Just want to say that it’s okay to use fresh cooked rice for fried rice. Still taste great!
When cooking eggs, I assume they are chopped up scrambled eggs?
Yes, cooked and chopped scrambled eggs.
Aw, I love fried rice a lot. Especially, it’s super nice when we can mix many ingredients together.
Tbh, I Just made a big plate yesterday but looking at yours makes me wanna do it again for dinner xD
Let me know how it turns out Natalie!
I am a vegetarian, so this was so easy to make without the meat. I did add some extra soy sauce, and sesame oil, as I really like the flavors! Thanks so much for the recipe!
Love fried rice 1. Can use wild alaskan Pollack don’t have shrimp in the fridge 2. Peas and carrots do have to be frozen
I haven’t tried it but I don’t see why not, almost any protein is great in fried rice! You’ll want to be very gentle when stirring to make sure it doesn’t break apart and add it towareds the end of cooking. :)
This was delicious and quick! I added ground pork and put the frozen peas in after the cooking was done. They thaw but stay firm♡ adding texture.
That sounds yummy! I would love this with ground pork!
Thought maybe you had a different recipe but pretty much just like I make! I would mention to anyone new to cooking with soy sauce, it will burn easily and quickly! I normally don’t add it until I’ve turned off the heat from my pan.
I really like and enjoy looking through the recipes, I will be making several of the dishes, Thank you so much for sharing!
Thank you Tammy! Enjoy!
Want to try this – have some leftover chicken to use up. Just wondered about how much of the chopped chicken to add? Also, do I scramble the egg? And can I use dry ginger or does it have to be fresh? Thank you very much!
I would add about 1 1/2 cups of chicken. I usually just fry the egg flat and chop/slice it. If fresh ginger is available, it is definitely the best choice in this recipe. If using dry ginger you will need to reduce the amount you use.
Love fried rice. You are very true when you said you can use whatever rice or quinoa you want and along with your favorite veggies. It’s easy and quick and filling.
Thanks for sharing your recipe for fried rice with us.
Enjoy Sharleen!
Thank you – looks so good
My wife would love this recipe.
My kind of comfort food :D
I love fried rice and can’t wait to make this! Thanks for sharing!
Enjoy Sam!
YUM! Thanks for the fried rice recipe! Looks amazing and I will have to add it to my recipe list for next week. Thanks!!!
Enjoy Becky!
This looks amazing! Love the flavors and comfort feel to it! :)
I agree, I love anything with garlic and ginger!
I absolutely love fried rice and this looks like a fantastic weeknight meal!
Thank you Rebecca, this is one of our favorite quick weeknight meals!
This recipe will be a hit with my boys. I make a fried rice recipe too but never thought of using day old rice. What a great idea. I will try this soon. Thanks.
Thank you Ali! I hope your boys love it as much as we do!
Looks amazing! And as I told you earlier, I have a fried recipe coming up…thankfully it’s different enough than yours is :)
That’s the great thing about fried rice, there are so many yummy ways to make it!