This People-inspired fried rice recipe is my absolute fave. It’s quick and easy to make, customizable with any of your favorite mix-ins, and so irresistibly delicious.
Hey friends! I’m starting into the blog archives today to share one of my all-time favorite recipes.
My favorite homemade Fried Rice:
Our family had a tradition of eating lunch every Saturday at our neighborhood’s favorite local Chinese restaurant. And every single Saturday for lunch, I ordered the same thing — egg drop soup and fried rice, my absolute favorites.
This restaurant set the bar high for me early when it came to how amazing fried rice could be. Theirs was always perfectly al dente with slightly crispy edges, full of rich savory flavors, and loaded up with plenty of extra veggies, eggs, and whatever protein sounded good.
After our favorite restaurant sadly closed over a decade ago, I spent years tinkering around with dozens and dozens of batches of this recipe, attempting to recreate a recipe that tasted as good as theirs.
And while nothing will ever match the original in my book, this recipe that I’ve landed on is as close as I’ve come and has been my favorite go-to ever since. It’s surprisingly speedy to make, easy to customize with your favorite add-ins, and SO flavorful and comforting.
Thousands of our readers have also made and enjoyed it over the years since. So if you’re looking for a tasty and crispy recipe to try I hope you will enjoy it too.
How to Make Best Fried Rice recipe?
1) Use cold rice you’ve got to plan and use completely stupefied cooked rice.
A fresh batch of warm (or indeed lukewarm) rice won’t fry well when it hits the hot pan and will affect in soppy and sticky clumps — no good. So leftover cooled rice is ideal! Or, if you’re in a hurry ( or have an impulse pining for fried rice, which I fully understand?), just cook up a fresh batch of rice.
Also spread it out on a baking distance or another large flat visage, trim the rice with a sub-caste of a plastic serape, also pop it in the fridge for 30 twinkles( or in the freezer for 10- 15 twinkles) until it’s completely stupefied( not frozen).
2) Use adulation Yes, adulation.
I’ve made numerous a batch of recipe fried rice using colorful canvases, and I’m now induced there’s a reason why Japanese steak houses use that big arbor of adulation when they’re making this recipe.
It just tastes so much better, and also makes everything brown up impeccably. ( Although by discrepancy to Japanese steak houses, we only use 3 table spoons for a large batch of rice in this form.
3) Use veggies
This is one of my big pet peeves with lame take- eschewal recipe — not enough veggies! In addition to adding some nice spots of color, veggies go a long way in adding some flavor and newness to fried rice.
Our original Chinese eatery always added white and green onions, which I included in this form. But feel free to contemporize this form with some other succulent stir-fried veggies!
4) Use heated sesame oil painting oil and oyster sauce
If you do not eat seafood, you can leave out the oyster sauce and your fried rice will still be great. But this element makes such a difference in good fried rice, and a little goes a long way. So indeed if you’re not into oysters, don’t be scarified by oyster sauce!
Heated sesame oil painting oil, on the other hand, is 100 non-negotiable. It’s my favorite smelling element in my kitchen and tastes awful in recipe.
( Also note that sesame oil painting oil is meant as a finishing oil painting oil, not a cookery oil painting oil, so remove the visage from the heat and stir it in.)
5) Use high-temperature heat
this will help shindig and brown the rice and veggies well, and will also help the rice from storming in the visage rather than frying.
6) Let the rice brown a bit on the bottom
If you’re like me and love your rice to be a bit crisp, let it rest for a bit in between stirs to brown a bit on the bottom. It also helps greatly to use an anon-stick skillet so that the rice doesn’t stick to the bottom of the visage.
7) Do not be hysterical to add in some redundant soya at the end
I know that everyone has different perceptivity to swab, and different brands of soy sauce also contain better taste and different situations of sodium.
So I went a little light on soy sauce in the form below. But please add further at the end if this tastes good to you. I nearly always stir a redundant mizzle into my portion and love it.
Ingredients of Fried Rice:
Alright, so let’s talk ingredients. To make this fried rice recipe, you will need (affiliate links included):
- Cooked, chilled rice: Any kind of white or brown rice will do. Just be sure that it is cooked (I always cook mine in this recipe which works like a charm) and thoroughly chilled (in a sealed container in the refrigerator) before adding it to your hot skillet. Again, freshly cooked rice will not work well in this recipe.
- Eggs: Which add great flavor, texture and protein.
- Carrots, onions, green onions, and peas: This is the base mix of veggies that I always use for fried rice, but feel free to add in other stir-fry veggies you love (see ideas below).
- Garlic: Freshly minced.
- Soy sauce: I created this recipe using low-sodium soy sauce. So add less if you’re using traditional soy sauce.
- Oyster sauce: This is a major flavor booster in fried rice and (don’t worry) doesn’t taste like oysters. You can find it in the Asian section of grocery stores.
- Toasted sesame oil: The finishing touch in this recipe, which is a must. You can also find it in the Asian section of grocery stores.
- Butter: My favorite way to stir-fry rice.
HOMEMADE FRIED RICE VARIATIONS:
The a time limit when it comes to homemade fried rice variations, so feel free to get creative and use up other leftover ingredients you may happen to have on hand. That said, here are some classic add-ins:
• Chicken recipe: You can either sauté some chicken in a separate sauté pan while making your fried rice. Then shred or dice and add to your fried rice. Or for a shortcut, I like to shred a rotisserie chicken. Or even better, shred leftovers from my favorite chicken-baked rice recipe.
• Pork recipe: Sauté a boneless pork chop in a separate sauté pan while making your fried rice. Then dice and add to your rice.
• Beef Fried Rice: Sauté steak or brown ground beef in a separate sauté pan while making your fried rice. Then crumble or dice and add to your rice.
• Shrimp Fried Rice: Sauté half a pound of peeled, raw shrimp in a separate sauté pan while making your fried rice. Then add the shrimp to your rice.
• Vegetable Fried Rice: Any stir-fry-friendly veggies would be great in fried rice! Just fry at the same time that you cook the onions, carrots, peas, and garlic. Then stir to combine with the fried rice.
• Kimchi Fried Rice: Fresh kimchi adds a major flavor boost to fried rice. Just chop and stir it in to make kimchi fried rice.
• Pineapple Fried Rice: Fresh pineapple can be traditional in Chinese or Thai fried rice. Just chop and stir it in to combine.
Also, sooner of using traditional white rice in this recipe, feel free to make:
• Fried Brown Rice: For a healthier twist, feel free to use cooked brown rice in this recipe instead of white rice.
Recipe!
EQUIPMENT
Fried Rice Recipe! Homemade Ultimate Guide
Equipment
- pan
- pot
- Dutch oven
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup finely chopped onion
- 2 1/2 tbsp oil
- 1 egg
- 3 drops soy sauce
- 3 drops sesame oil
- 8 ounces cooked lean boneless pork
- 1/2 cup chopped carrot
- 1/2 cup frozen peas thwed
- 4 cup cold cooked rice
- 4 green onion
- 2 cup bean sprouts
- 2 tbsp light soy sauce
Instructions
- Heat 1 tbsp oil in wok; add chopped onions and stir-fry until onions turn a nice brown color, about 8-10 minutes; remove from wok.
- Add 1/2 tbsp oil to wok, swirling to coat surfaces; add egg mixture; working quickly, swirl egg until egg sets against wok; when egg puffs, flip egg and cook other side briefly; remove from wok, and chop into small pieces.
- Heat 1 tbsp oil in wok; add selected meat to wok, along with carrots, peas, and cooked onion; stir-fry for 2 minutes.
- Add 2 tbsp of light soy sauce and chopped egg to rice mixture and fold in; stir-fry for 1 minute more; serve.
- Set out additional soy sauce on the table, if desired.