Eating in is the new take-out. While you may think that cooking dishes like fried rice at home will be time consuming, let us assure you that this isn’t true. 

Make your own restaurant-style food with fresh ingredients and all the custom fixings you want. This easy fried rice recipe comes together in 15 minutes, which is less time than it takes to wait for take-out to arrive. 

One of the best reasons to make fried rice at home is to season it how you like and add in any ingredients you wish. You can keep this dish vegetarian, add in meat, or make it vegan by omitting the egg and oyster sauce and substituting the butter. 

Below, we’ll show you a basic soy and oyster sauce seasoning for fried rice sauce, but don’t limit your creativity. Add a splash of heat with hot sauce or chili oil, or try adding fragrance with ginger and aromatics like cloves or Szechuan peppercorns. 

Read on for the basics on making restaurant-grade fried rice at home, and then, let your instincts guide you as you create your own house specialty.

Preparation time: 5 minutes

Cooking time: 10 minutes

Total time: 15 minutes

Servings: 6

Ingredients

• 3 tablespoons butter, divided (you can substitute this for margarine or vegetable oil)

• 2 large eggs

• 2 medium carrots, peeled and diced

• 1 small white onion, diced

• ½ cup frozen peas

• 3 cloves garlic, minced

• Salt and black pepper, to taste

• 4 cups of cooked rice (for best results, use day old rice) 

• 3 green onions, thinly sliced

• 3-4 tablespoons soy sauce, plus more to taste (Substitute for tamari or coconut aminos if gluten-free)

• 2 teaspoons oyster sauce

• ½ teaspoon toasted sesame oil

Preparation instructions 

1. If you don’t have pre-cooked rice, prepare according to package instructions. If you start this before prepping your vegetables, the rice (especially if a quick-cooking variety like white rice), should be ready by the time you need to mix it into the recipe. (This is a great opportunity to use leftover rice, too.)

2. In a large non-stick skillet or wok over medium-high heat, melt one-half tablespoon of butter. Crack in the two eggs, and use a fork or spatula to scramble them. Once cooked, remove them from the pan and set aside.  

3. Melt another tablespoon of butter in the pan in which you just cooked the eggs. Then, add in your vegetables. This recipe calls for carrots, onion, peas, and garlic, but feel free to add in other veggies and legumes like chopped bell pepper, broccoli, snow peas, edamame, and cauliflower florets. Add in a pinch of salt and pepper and continue to sauté for five minutes. 

4. After the five minutes, turn the heat up to high and melt the rest of the butter. Stir in the cooked rice, green onions, soy sauce, and oyster sauce. This is a good time to stir in any additional flavorings like hot sauce or chili oil, too. 

5. Sauté the rice for three more minutes. Stir infrequently so that the rice makes lots of contact with the pan and crisps up. Finally, add in the scrambled eggs and sesame oil and stir to combine. Remove your fried rice from the heat and add any seasonings as needed before enjoying. 

Chef’s tip: If you decide to make a more protein-forward version of this dish like chicken fried rice or shrimp fried rice, just be sure to cook the meat or fish products completely before stirring them into the rice. This will help you avoid foodborne illnesses and bacteria.

Recipe adapted from Gimme Some Oven

Arundhati - stock.adobe.com

Nutrition Information

• Calories: 559

• Total Fat: 8.5 grams

• Saturated Fat: 4.4 grams

• Cholesterol: 70 milligrams

• Sodium: 707 milligrams

• Carbohydrates: 105.6 grams

• Dietary Fiber: 3.4 grams

• Total Sugars: 2.7 grams 

• Protein: 12.6 grams

FAQs 

How can I make this recipe gluten free? 

The good news is that rice is naturally gluten-free, so you only have to make small adjustments to remove the allergen from this dish. Traditional soy sauce contains both soy and wheat, so you’ll need to substitute tamari or liquid aminos, which are similar in flavor but don’t contain gluten. Remember that these sauces are saltier than soy sauce, so use a smaller amount and scale up as needed if you choose one of these two options. Oyster sauce isn’t always gluten free either, so double-check the ingredient label before adding it to your dish. The final product will still taste great without it.  

How do you make an Indian fried rice recipe?

Making Indian fried rice is a similar process to the recipe above. The type of rice, flavor profile, and some of the vegetables change. Use basmati rice instead of white or brown rice, and start with a base of sesame oil, garlic, ginger, and star anise instead of only butter. Omit the eggs. Use the carrots and scallions as shown in the recipe above, and add chopped french beans, shredded cabbage, cubed bell peppers, and sliced mushrooms to your sauté. Finally, leave the oyster sauce out of this dish, but add in 1 teaspoon of rice vinegar at the end.

FomaA - stock.adobe.com

What’s the best rice for fried rice?

The basic fried rice recipe shown in this tutorial works well with short-grain white rice, but brown rice brings nutty flavor and texture to the dish. Just keep in mind that making this dish with brown rice will increase cooking time, as brown rice takes around 30-40 minutes to cook through. We recommend basmati rice if you plan to make Indian rice, but jasmine rice also works well. 

Time to create your stir-fry masterpiece? Let Gopuff do the grocery shopping. You can order everything you need in seconds and have it at your door in a matter of minutes. Start dreaming up the perfect mix-ins and seasonings.