How much do we love fried rice??? More than you can imagine. We’ve got everything here from traditional fried rice recipes to tasty recipes with a fun twist. Choose any of our Best Fried Rice Recipes for a delicious, easy dinner that everyone is sure to love!
What Is The Secret To Good Fried Rice?
Fried rice isn’t hard to make, but there are a few tips and tricks that will make your rice taste more authentic and produce better results.
- Use day old, or cold leftover rice: If you don’t happen to have day old rice in the fridge, cook up your rice the morning of, spread it out on a sheet pan and chill in the refrigerator until dinner time. This helps to dry the rice out and separate the grains so that you don’t end up with mushy fried rice.
- Cook with high heat: Or as high as your stove will allow you to go. This is how you achieve that stir fried flavor when ordering from a restaurant. Almost a charred vibe, smoky and delicious.
- Use the right pan: On that note, you’ll need a pan that can hold up to high heat. A wok, of course, is great, but you don’t have to use a wok. You need a very large, deep skillet or a dutch oven that for one can be used with high temperatures and for two, has enough room for all of the ingredients to stir fry without crowding together.
- Don’t use too much sauce: Sometimes we tend to want to add more sauce than fried rice needs. Add whatever sauce that you’re using a little at a time so that you don’t over saturate the rice and take away all of that delicious, charred flavor and texture.
What Makes Fried Rice Taste So Good From A Restaurant?
All of the above tips are a great way to start. Another reason that fried rice tastes so delicious from a Chinese restaurant is the combination of flavors in their sauces and seasonings.
Our list of Best Fried Rice Recipes has a few that we think are pretty authentic tasting, but still doable for the home cook. You don’t have to run out and grab crazy ingredients, but there are a few staples.
One super easy way to add great flavor to fried rice is by adding a couple of tablespoons of our Homemade Stir Fry Sauce. This sauce is such a staple in our kitchen. It adds tons of flavor to any stir fry recipe in addition to most fried rice recipes.
***BONUS…it only takes 5 minutes to make and will last all week in the fridge!
Staple Ingredients For Making Fried Rice
- Day old or leftover, cold, long grain rice
- Eggs
- Vegetables (see below for ideas!)
- Soy Sauce
- Toasted Sesame Oil
- Oyster Sauce
- Ginger
- Garlic
- Avocado, vegetable, canola oil or butter!
Fried Rice Variations
This list of Best Fried Rice Recipes is going to cover lost of tasty variations of fried rice recipes. Everything from authentic chicken fried rice to a fun twist like Italian Fried Rice with mozzarella cheese.
But in addition to these recipes, you can use a basic fried rice recipe and switch it up with different vegetables, sauces and proteins, too!
- Protein Choices: To keep it vegetarian, small diced firm tofu is a great option. Chicken, ground beef or sliced steak, ham (great use for leftover ham!) shrimp and pork all work wonderfully in fried rice.
- Vegetables: Traditional peas and carrots are always a solid choice. Edamame, broccoli, bok choy, scallions, bell peppers, mushrooms and cauliflower will all work great.
Best Fried Rice Recipes
Everything from traditional, authentic tasting fried rice to fun recipes with a twist! All of these recipes are loved by our family, and they're a great way to use up leftovers!
Shrimp Fried Rice is a classic. Grab small shrimp that are already peeled and deveined to make this recipe even easier to make!
This cheesy, beefy Philly Cheesesteak Fried Rice is sure to be a hit! One of our most favorite ground beef recipes, but you can use leftover steak, too! All the flavors you love in a Philly cheesesteak stir fried with rice.
Not only can you use up leftover corned beef in this Corned Beef and Cabbage Fried Rice...but you can throw your leftover cabbage in here too! Tender, flavorful corned beef makes the most delicious fried rice, just wait until you try it!
Our favorite Chicken Fried Rice Recipe! Probably the version that we make most often. Perfect for using leftover chicken, shredded, diced or even ground chicken!
Similar to our favorite chicken fried rice, but this Chicken Fajita Fried Rice has tons of sweet bell peppers and sweet flavors, more like a Hibachi rice. Give the peppers and onions a slight char when cooking to mimic fajita flavors!
If you're looking to skip the carbs, this Cauliflower Fried Rice is the recipe for you! We prefer our cauliflower rice method for more texture and flavor than just processing cauliflower into small pieces that mimic rice. OUr kids love this, too so definitely give it a try!
One of our most favorite fried rice twists! This Italian Fried Rice has tiny balls of mozzarella combined with sweet peppers, sun dried tomatoes and flavorful Italian sausage.
Love going out for Hibachi? Get those same flavors at home with this Hibachi Pork Fried Rice recipe! We've got some tips and tricks for getting all those same flavors, along with the key flavor ingredients you need!
For some Fall flavor, add diced butternut squash with toasted pumpkin seeds to make this Fall Fried Rice.
We've taken pork fried rice to the next level with this BBQ Pork Fried Rice recipe! Start by making a delicious barbecue pork tenderloin and then with the leftovers you can make this addicting fried rice.
Love fajitas? We can't get enough of them. This Steak Fajita Fried Rice has the most addicting flavors that are guaranteed to make them come running to the dinner table. Charred steak and vegetables make this rice taste just like fajitas from a restaurant!
This Peanut Chicken Fried Rice has unmatched flavors and textures. Ground chicken, crisp vegetables and chopped peanuts lightly tossed with a homemade peanuts sauce. Drizzle that sriracha on top and dig in!
