This Chicken Fried Rice recipe is super easy, perfect for a quick weeknight meal, and a great way to use up any leftover chicken.
Now I’ll warn you in advance, this isn’t one of those super healthy meals. Lot’s of oil and butter going on here to give our Chicken Fried Rice some taste. Feel free to leave out the butter to reduce the fat content.
Cooking Method
I usually make this on my flat top grill, it gives me a larger cooking service to work on, and allows me to have multiple ingredients going at once. Having said that, this Chicken Fried Rice recipe is built for the kitchen, and contains a few additional steps to accommodate the limited cooking surface we’ll be using. For the flat top recipe, you can find that here – Chicken Fried Rice Flat Top Recipe.
I would advise against using a small stove top griddle in the kitchen. It’s too small, and you’re going to make a huge mess once you add the rice. Instead try using an electric griddle or skillet, or at least something that has taller sides to help contain all the ingredients. You’ll thank me.
You’ll also want to cook things in batches, since our cooking surface is more limited. Something like the following:
- Scramble eggs and transfer them to a bowl
- Fry up any vegetables and transfer them to a bowl
- Brown chicken, or warm up left-over chicken and set aside
- Fry the rice, add the other ingredients, and finish frying for a few minutes
Cooking Tips
Cook the rice in advance and give it a chance to cool. It’s easier to work with and will prevent the rice from being too mushy in the final dish.
The chicken… Chicken Fried Rice is the perfect opportunity to use up any leftover chicken. Option 2 is to buy a whole rotisserie chicken, carve it up and use a portion of that in the recipe. Option 3 is to dice up some boneless/skinless chicken breast and fry that up. If you’re not a chicken fan, feel free to use any other protein.
The veggies… It seems traditional Chicken Fried Rice uses peas and carrots. I loathe peas, and pretty much refuse to use them in any recipe I’m making. I’ve resorted to buying a bag of frozen peas & carrots and methodically picked the frozen peas out of the mix to only use the carrots. My favorite though is to use fresh carrots and dice them into small bits. Fry them up with some oil before adding to the Fried Rice, and that’s the bomb. Gives just a bit of crunch and texture to the final dish.
Ingredients
Equipment
Method
- Heat 1 tsp oil in frying pan over medium heat. Add the eggs, season with Essential Blend, and scramble until set. Set aside.
- Clean Pan. Heat 1 tsp oil in frying pan over medium heat and add carrots. Cook for about 5 min and set aside.
- Clean Pan. Heat 1 tsp oil in frying pan over medium head and add chicken. If using left-over or rotisserie chicken cook to warm. If using raw chicken cook throughly.
- While chicken is cooking combine soy sauce, sesame oil, ginger, and garlic in a small bowl and set aside.
- Pre-heat electric skillet to 275 degrees and add 2 tsp oil. Add cooked rice, butter, and remaining oil and continue to flip rice with spatula for 2 – 3 min.
- Add carrots, chicken, eggs, and sauce to the fried rice and continue to flip and cook for 2 – 3 min additional minutes