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This quick and easy fried rice recipe is better than take out. It’s restaurant style, but created at home with easy ingredients you’ll have on hand. It comes together so fast and it’s so filling.
For an alternative, try our fried cauliflower rice! For some more of your favorite foods from your favorite restaurants, make sure you check out these copycat recipes.
MORE RICE RECIPES:
Dirty Rice | Spanish Rice
Ingredients for Easy Fried Rice
This Chinese-style egg fried rice recipe is packed with great ingredients. I love that it’s so versatile.
You will need:
- 3 cups cooked jasmine rice
- 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
- ¼ large Vidalia onion, chopped
- 2 cloves of minced garlic
- 1 cup frozen peas and carrots
- 2 eggs
- ½ teaspoon sesame oil
- 3 tablespoon soy sauce
- green onions
ingredient Substitutions:
RICE: For this recipe, we’re using jasmine rice. You could also use brown rice. I almost always have both on hand. If you haven’t tried jasmine rice, I highly recommend it. Very delicious!
VEGETABLES: You can pick what vegetables you love. You can use fresh veggies or frozen. Some of my other favorite veggies to include are broccoli, sprouts, sweet corn, water chestnuts, green peppers and bell peppers.
PROTEIN: You can make it with eggs or liquid eggs. You can serve it with meat or without. You can also get creative with the meat and use chicken, beef or pork. I’ve also had it with shrimp. You can’t go wrong!
How to Make Fried Rice
STEP ONE: Prepare your rice according to package directions. Set aside. This is a handy recipe if you happen to have rice leftover from another meal as well.You can even make rice in your Instant Pot.
STEP TWO: In a large skillet or wok, preheat oil over medium heat and add onion and garlic. Cook until onions are soft, about 2-3 minutes. Make sure to stir occasionally to keep the garlic from burning. Add peas and carrots and cook until partially thawed, 1-2 minutes. You’ll need to adjust this time if you use fresh veggies.
STEP THREE: Turn the heat up to medium high and add cooked rice. Cook for another 2-3 minutes until rice is nice and hot and starts to brown.
STEP FOUR: Reduce heat and push rice to the sides of the pan, making a hole for the eggs. Crack the eggs into the middle of the pan and scramble in the center of the pan.
STEP FIVE: Once eggs are cooked, stir them into the rice. Mix soy sauce and sesame oil together and pour over rice. Stir until rice is evenly coated with sauce.
To serve this fried rice, top with chopped green onions. You could even use cilantro as an additional topping. This recipe is fantastic served with Mongolian beef and cheesy pull apart bread on the side.
How to Reheat
It’s very easy to reheat your rice if you know how to do it right. The secret is adding a little liquid! A little liquid goes a long way and helps keep the rice flavorful and at the perfect consistency. Your leftovers will taste fresh and like they were just made by using this trick.
If you’re reheating in the microwave, add a few tablespoons of broth or water for each cup of rice you’re reheating. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap or another bowl to create a steaming effect. Be sure to stir before serving to help distribute the heat evenly.
If you’re reheating on the stove, grab your wok or large skillet again and apply the same principle of adding liquid. Stir often to prevent any burning.
Even on a busy night, this is a simple side dish to get on the table. It’s something everyone in our family loves to eat as well, making it a great choice. I hope you’ll try this easy fried rice soon and enjoy it as much as we do.
More Recipes to serve this fried rice with:
NOODLES: Thai Noodles | Lo Mein
MEATBALLS: Sweet & Sour | Swedish | Grape Jelly
SALAD: Chinese Chicken Salad
Better Than Take Out Fried Rice
Ingredients
- 3 cups cooked jasmine rice
- 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
- ¼ large Vidalia onion chopped
- 2 cloves of minced garlic
- 1 cup frozen peas and carrots
- 2 large eggs
- ½ teaspoon sesame oil
- 3 tablespoon soy sauce
- green onions
- cilantro optional
Instructions
- In a large skillet or wok, preheat oil over medium heat and add onion and garlic. Cook until onions are soft, about 2-3 minutes. Stir occasionally to keep the garlic from burning.
- Add peas and carrots and cook until partially thawed, 1-2 minutes.
- Turn the heat up to medium high and add cooked rice. Cook for another 2-3 minutes until rice is nice and hot and starts to brown. Reduce heat and push rice to the sides of the pan, making a hole for the eggs.
- Crack the eggs into the middle of the pan and scramble. Once eggs are cooked, stir them into the rice.
- Mix soy sauce and sesame oil together and pour over rice. Stir until rice is evenly coated with sauce.
- Top with chopped green onions and/or cilantro (optional).
Can you freeze this recipe?
Yes!
Family Favorite! The recipe was right on! I suggest garlic teriyaki sauce opposed to or in addition to the soy sauce. We love garlic in our house.
I had basic long grain white rice which I used. I did not have sesame oil. However I added a few pats of butter at the end and this dish was fantastic. My family loved this rice. I don’t think I’ll ever be able to order fried rice from our local NYC restaurant!
This is perfect! Better than takeouts and you can make it more healthy by adding other ingredients of your choice. Thanks for sharing you awesome recipe.
hi, so what you mean is topping with the green onions and cilantro is optional? we don’t have to top with anything? Thank you
You don’t have to top with anything if you don’t want to – but the green onions and cilantro were a suggestion if you’d like to add them. Enjoy 🙂
hello, looks yummy! I found some sweet onions, are sweet onions the same as vidalia onions?
They are very similar, so you can use sweet onions in this recipe! Enjoy 🙂
Hi, this recipe mentions jasmine rice…I don’t have that I only have sushi rice. Can I use that instead? Also can I substitute extra virgin olive oil for vegetable oil? Also instead of frozen peas and carrots can I use a mixture of frozen peas and fresh carrots?
Thank you so much.
I haven’t used sushi rice before, so I can’t say for sure how well it will turn out! You can substitute EVOO for the veggie oil. Yes, you can use the mix as well. Enjoy 🙂
Hi, this recipe mentions jasmine rice…I don’t have that I only have sushi rice. Can I use that instead? Also can I substitute extra virgin olive oil for vegetable oil? Also instead of frozen peas and carrots can I use a mixture of frozen peas and fresh carrots?
Thank you!
This fried rice really was better than take out! Highly recommend this. Thanks for the recipe!
How do you add the meat to this recipe? Do you cook separately in another sauce or do you cook in pan with rice?(chicken or beef)
Yes, I cook separately and then add whatever meat we are having in! Enjoy 🙂
This recipe is THE BOMB!!! Not too heavy on the soy sauce and the rest is hard to fault. It was just perfect. One ting I did differently is that I cooked my rice with about 3 cloves of minced garlic in about 2 tbsp. butter. The end result was more garlic, which we love. Next time I might add a touch of fresh ginger. ☺️