Chicken Fried Rice is the most amazing Chinese style stir-fry rice with loads of colorful vegetables, chicken, and egg. It is one of the utterly comforting gluten-free, one-pot meals. What I love most about fried rice is it gets ready in less than 30 minutes. And probably one of the best ways to use leftover rice and vegetables in the fridge.
About Fried Rice
Fried Rice is the ultimate definition of comfort food. It has – rice, protein, vegetables, and eggs. You can make a takeaway style meal by serving it with a variety of chicken/vegetarian gravy cum sauce.
It is one of the best meal-prep recipes that is so easy to cook and reheat.
Whether you are a novice cook with limited resources or a busy homemaker with hungry goblins hanging around, all you need is a stir-fry pan (wok), leftover cooked rice, and chicken, to make the BEST chicken fried rice in 30 minutes.
What You Need
Boiled/Cooked Rice: The leftover cold white rice straight out of the fridge is best for making fried rice. It is best if the rice is al dente or slightly under-cooked. Use the long to medium grain rice for stir-frying.
Vegetables: From fresh peas, bell peppers, cabbage, carrot, endame, snow peas to any other vegetables with a crunch is perfect for stir-frying with the rice. Make sure to finely chop all the vegetables.
Chicken: The tender, boneless chicken breast or thigh is best for any kind of stir-frying. Cut all the chicken pieces to small bite-size so that they cook easily in no time. You can marinate the chicken in soy sauce, teriyaki sauce, salt, and pepper for the EXTRA FLAVOR.
Eggs: There are two methods to add eggs in fried rice – either you can add whisked eggs while stir-frying the chicken to get spongy clouds of scrambled eggs in your rice. Or you can top it with half-fried egg before serving. I am always in favor of second option!
Cooking Oil: I use only sesame oil for Asian style cooking. The nutty taste and aroma give an extra kick to the chicken fried rice. Instead of sesame oil, you can use peanut oil or any other vegetable oil.
Herbs & Seasoning: Ginger, Garlic, and Spring Onion are the soul of delicious fried rice. Apart from that, you need a good quality soy sauce, white vinegar, salt, and black pepper to make awesome stir-fried rice.
Stir-Fry Pan/Wok: A Chinese wok or the stir-fry pan is the most important accessory for stir-fry cooking. You cannot get those crispy bits of rice in any other cooking utensil.
High Heat: Stir-Fry Cooking is all about high heat and fast cooking. You cannot make a takeaway style fried rice on low heat. Hence, keep the stovetop heat at HIGH while stir-frying the chicken, vegetables, and rice.
Cooking Fried Rice:
Full recipe with detailed steps in the recipe card at the end of this post.
Step 1) Heat wok over high heat. Add sesame oil. Once the oil is hot, add ginger, garlic, and chopped onion. Stir fry over high heat.
Step 2) Add marinated chicken pieces. Stir fry till chicken turns pale white in color and fully cooked. Add chopped vegetables, vinegar, salt, pepper, and sauce. Stir fry for a minute (images 1 & 2).
Step 3) Pour whisked eggs and scramble them. Mix all the ingredients nicely.
Step 4) Add cooked rice and mix. Make sure rice, vegetables, chicken, and eggs are combined nicely without any lumps. let the rice sizzle on the hot wok for a minute to get fried (images 3 & 4).
My Tried & True Tips
Stay away from warm, mushy, starchy, and over-cooked rice if you thinking stir-frying.
Marinated chicken adds a lot of flavor to the fried rice.
The fried rice is a quick and fast meal. So prep beforehand all the vegetables, herbs, sauce, seasoning, and place them next to your cooking stove within the reach of your hands.
Use a wide wok or stir-fry pan to freely stir and mix the rice, vegetables, chicken while frying. And always cook it on HIGH HEAT.
Fried Rice Recipe Variation
Fried Rice is a highly customizable dish.
- substitute chicken with shrimps, prawns, bacon or pork
- for add-ons, you can use mung bean sprouts, roasted peanuts, chopped kimchi, or canned bamboo shoots
- replace rice with quinoa, cauliflower rice, bulgar wheat, or brown rice
Serving Suggestion
If you are in a mood to make an elaborate takeaway style meal at home, here are few of my family favorite main-course dish suggestions to accompany fried rice:
Vegetable in Hot Garlic Sauce – vegan & one-pot
Chilli Mushroom Sauce – vegan, spicy, one-pot gravy
Veg Manchurian Gravy – Indian-Chinese takeaway style vegan meatballs
Dry Chilli Chicken – takeaway style saucy fried chicken
FAQ’s Related To Chicken Fried Rice
How to cook rice in an instant pot for fried rice?
Wash and soak long-grain rice in water for 15 – 2o minutes. The ratio of 1:2 (rice to water) works perfectly for me. Transfer the rice to the inner pot of IP. Add only 2 cups of soaked rice water. Close the lid. Cook for 3 minutes. Allow the steam to release naturally. Fluff the cooked rice using a fork.
What kind of chicken is best for fried rice?
Tender boneless chicken breast or thigh is the best for fried rice. The chicken breast and thigh are easy to cook and eat along with the rice when shredded into small pieces.
What type of rice is used for fried rice?
Long-grain white rice is perfect for making fried rice. Long-grain rice has less starch. Hence, it does not stick and each grain is fluffy. I prefer using Indian basmati rice for stir-frying. Many people prefer using Thai Jasmine Rice for stir-frying because of its aroma and sweet flavor.
Can I make fried rice in advance?
Fried Rice is a perfect meal-prep and microwave friendly meal. You can make a large batch in advance and store it in the fridge for a week. Do not leave cooked rice at room temperature for more than an hour. Bacteria develop very fast in cooked rice.
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Chicken Fried Rice Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 Cup long-grain cooked rice
- 1 Cup boneless, skinless chicken pieces (breast or thigh)
- 1/2 Cup finely chopped onion (spring onion or white onion)
- 2 eggs
- 1 tablespoon finely chopped garlic
- 1 tablespoon finely chopped ginger
- 1/4 Cup finely chopped carrot
- 1/4 Cup finely chopped capsicum or bell pepper or green peas
- 1/4 Cup finely chopped green beans
- Salt to taste
- 1 teaspoon black pepper
- 4 tablespoon sesame oil or vegetable oil
- 1 tablespoon dark soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon white vinegar
Ingredients For Garnish:
- 1/4 Cup chopped spring onion
Instructions
Prep Work For Fried Rice:
- Chop all the vegetables. Whisk eggs in a bowl with a pinch of salt. Cut the chicken into bite-size pieces. Marinate chicken pieces with a teaspoon of soy sauce, one teaspoon teriyaki sauce, salt, and black pepper. Place all these ingredients next to the cooking stovetop.
Cook Fried Rice:
- Heat wok over high heat. Add sesame oil.
- Once the oil is hot, add ginger, garlic, and chopped onion. Stir fry over high heat for 2 – 3 minutes. The aroma of the garlic and ginger will start releasing. No need to brown the garlic or onion.
- Add marinated chicken pieces. Stir fry till chicken turns pale white in color and fully cooked.
- Add chopped vegetables, vinegar, salt, pepper, and sauce. Stir fry for a minute.
- Next, shift vegetables, and chicken to the one side of the pan. On the other empty side, pour whisked eggs and scramble them. Mix all the ingredients nicely.
- Add cooked rice and mix. Make sure rice, vegetables, chicken, and eggs are combined nicely without any lumps. let the rice sizzle on the hot wok for a minute to get fried. Do not mash the rice while stir-frying. Turn off the heat.
- Garnish chicken fried rice with spring onion and a teaspoon of sesame oil.
- Serve chicken fried rice warm.
Recipe Notes:
- The leftover chilled white rice straight out of the fridge is best for making fried rice. Use the best available long to medium grain rice for stir-frying.
- The tender, boneless chicken breast or thigh is best for any kind of stir-frying. Cut all the chicken pieces to small bite-size so that they cook easily in no time.
- You can marinate the chicken in – 1 teaspoon soy sauce, 1 teaspoon teriyaki sauce, salt, and pepper. Keep it in the fridge until required to make fried rice.Â
- A Chinese wok or the stir-fry pan is the most important accessory for stir-fry cooking.
- Keep the stovetop heat at HIGH while stir-frying the chicken, vegetables, and rice.
- Prep beforehand all the vegetables, herbs, sauce, seasoning, and place them next to your cooking stove while making fried rice.Â
- Fried Rice is a perfect meal-prep and microwave friendly meal. You can make a large batch in advance and store it in the fridge for a week
Nutrition
5 comments
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