The BEST Fried Rice Recipe

Few dishes are as versatile as fried rice, filled with chicken, shrimp, steak, or vegetarian with only eggs – everyone has a favorite spin. Our simple fried rice recipe is incredibly tasty, takes less than 20 minutes to make, and is close to (or even better than) your favorite Chinese- American takeout fried rice!

Leftover rice, eggs, a few frozen veggies, Chinese sausage, and a couple of sauces are all you need to whip up a savory and satisfying dish of fried rice. While we wrote this recipe how we love it the most, it’s so versatile that you can customize it with almost anything on hand. We even included a list of easy variations in case you need to substitute any ingredients!

Next time you have leftover rice in the fridge, use this simple guide on how to make fried rice to transform it into a delicious one-dish meal!

How to Make Fried Rice

1. Place a large skillet over high heat. Add 1 tablespoon of sesame oil. Add eggs and scramble in skillet until fully cooked, 1 to 2 minutes.
2. Transfer eggs to a plate and place skillet back over heat.

3. Add an additional 1 tablespoon of oil to the skillet. Add sausage and cook for 2 to 3 minutes.
4. Add garlic and peas and carrot and cook for 30 seconds.

5. Stir in oyster sauce and soy sauce.
6. Add rice and mix around to coat evenly. Continue to cook rice for 3 to 4 minutes until slightly crisp around the edges.

7. Add the egg back to the skillet, along with a pinch of white pepper, and toss together until evenly distributed.

8. Remove from heat and stir in green onion. Serve.

Tips and Tricks for Success

Follow these essential tips for the best, better than take-out fried rice!

Start with cold, leftover rice. Letting rice sit in the refrigerator overnight firms up each rice grain to keep its shape and give you the signature fried rice texture. Freshly cooked rice can lead to mushy fried rice.

Start with a HOT pan. Cooking at high heat helps everything brown and crisp up without overcooking. If the heat is too low, you’ll have to cook everything much longer for the outside to get toasty brown.

Don’t overcrowd the pan. You’ll want to use a large skillet for this dish, but if all you have is something smaller, only add as much sausage, peas, and carrots to fill the bottom of the pan, working in batches if necessary. Overcrowding increases the chances of steaming the ingredients instead of sautéing them, which will prevent giving them the nice sear and crispy bits we all love so much in fried rice!

Add more sauce as needed. Start with the amount of soy sauce in the recipe, but feel free to add more as you taste it. Some people like the salty taste more than others. Two tablespoons of soy sauce is just right for us, but you can customize it to your liking.

Variations

You can mix up most of the ingredients to make this the perfect leftover or clean-out-the-fridge meal. Here are some possible ideas.

Vegetables: Use any combination of frozen peas, carrots, corn, onions, or edamame or fresh sliced mushrooms, broccoli, or bell peppers.

Proteins: Instead of Chinese sausage, you can use diced chicken, steak, pork sausage, salmon, or shrimp.

Rice: We like to use short-grain rice, like Arborio, carnaroli, or Japanese sushi rice. But you can also use long-grain rice, including Jasmine or basmati.

Make Ahead, Reheating and Freezing Instructions

Prep/Make Ahead

Cooking your rice ahead of time makes this meal come together quickly any night of the week. Cook rice up to 3 days ahead and store in the refrigerator until ready to use.

You can also meal prep this entire dish and reheat it when you’re ready to eat. Like Chinese food takeout leftovers, this fried rice is almost better the next day!

Just let your fried rice cool, then store it in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3-4 days.

Freezing

You can freeze your fried rice if you want to store it for longer than a few days. Just portion your completely cooled rice into freezer bags, squeeze out all of the air and store in the refrigerator for up to 3 months.

Reheating

From Refrigerator

The best way is to “re-fry” the rice in a hot skillet. Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in a skillet on the stove and add the rice and a tablespoon of water. Cover the skillet and cook for 1-2 minutes, then remove the cover and cook for another 2-3 minutes until hot.

You can also reheat your fried rice in the microwave, covered with a moist paper towel to help prevent the rice from drying out. Heat for 1-2 minutes until warmed through.

From Freezer

Preferably, let your frozen rice unthaw in the refrigerator and follow either reheating direction above.

If reheating from frozen, cover with a moist paper towel and heat in the microwave, 45-60 seconds at a time, until hot. Or, heat 1 tablespoon of oil in a skillet on the stove and add the rice and 1-2 tablespoons of water. Cover the skillet and cook for 3-4 minutes, then remove the cover and cook for another 4-5 minutes or until hot. Add extra water if the rice dries out.

What to Serve with Our Fried Rice Recipe

While this recipe is perfectly capable of being served as a meal itself, we love serving it along with these favorites:

• Air Fried Crab Rangoon
• Beef and Broccoli
• Shrimp Toast
• Mongolian Beef
• Cashew Chicken
• Orange Chicken
• Bang Bang Shrimp

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