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This chicken fried rice has moist and tender chicken with flavorful peas and carrots and long rice cooked together. Make this unique and your own with this favorite Chinese rice!
So many varieties of fried rice can be made. These better than takeout fried rice recipes are a collage of all my favorites!
Chicken Fried Rice
I mean really. Who doesn’t like fried rice? Ok maybe my six year old doesn’t because of the veggies inside, but I am pretty sure he is the only one out there. 🙂 For my birthday dinner with my family I chose to go to our favorite little chinese restaurant. And it was the bomb. But their fried rice was excellent. But I kept thinking, I can make this just as good at home and I have been craving it ever since!
Since I learned a few awesome tricks on how to get the perfect fried rice in my recipe here, I wanted to make a big old batch for myself for lunch. The baby was craving it that day. But I thought, why don’t I add in some protein and make a meal out of it. You guys. The chicken gave it such amazing flavor! I really couldn’t believe how good it turned out. I promise that you can stay at home and have this better than take out chicken fried rice. You will really be impressed with yourself.
Get Ready to Make Some Rice:
- Vegetable Oil: This helps with cooking the chicken and adding flavoring at the same time.
- Soy Sauce: Chinese favorite sauce that is authentic and brings rich flavoring.
- Chicken: Cut into small pieces and add into the skillet or wok.
- Cooked Rice: It is best to have already cooked rice that has been cooled in a refrigerator.
- Sesame Oil: Brings in a subtle and rich flavoring.
- Onion: Small white onion chopped up.
- Peas and Carrots: Frozen vegetables work best then leave them overnight to be thawed.
- Soy Sauce: More of this delicious sauce!
- Eggs: Lightly beaten and added in the wok.
- Green Onions: Chopped and sprinkle in for added texture, color and flavoring!
Cooking Fried Rice:
- Cook in a skillet: In a large skillet or wok, add vegetable oil and soy sauce. Add in the chicken and cook until lightly brown and cooked throughout. Remove and set aside.
- Add oil and vegetables: Pour sesame oil in the bottom. Add white onion and peas and carrots and fry until tender.
- Pour egg mixture: Slide the onion, peas and carrots to the side, and pour the beaten eggs onto the other side. Using a spatula, scramble the eggs. Once cooked, mix the eggs with the vegetable mix.
- Stir in remaining ingredients: Add the rice and chicken to the veggie and egg mixture. Pour the soy sauce on top. Stir and fry the rice and veggie mixture until heated through and combined. Add chopped green onions if desired.
The Recipe Critic Pro Tip:
I cooked my chicken in this teriyaki sauce recipe here. It added amazing flavor to the chicken and it just shredded apart. Other wise, you can boil your chicken, or even cook it in a medium skillet until no longer pink.
Tips for Making the Best Fried Rice:
Enjoy making the this fried rice using these tips to help accomplish the authentic Chinese taste. It is simple to make and comes together quickly and easily. Once you make it you will be making it over and over again!
- Cold Rice: To make the best rice you have to plan a little bit ahead of time. Chilled cooked rice is the best way to use up left over rice as well as fried rice. Rice that is cooked and still warm does not cook well when making fried rice. It tends to turn out mushy and very sticky.
- Make Cold Rice: If you are on a time crunch and craving fried rice simply place the warm rice on a sheet pan and stick it in the refrigerator for 30 to 45 minutes or until cold. For an even quicker remedy, place the rice in the freezer for 10 to 15 minutes long. Just enough for it to chill but not be frozen.
- High Heat: It is best to cook on high heat to help fry and brown the rice and veggies throughly. Try not to have the rice steam in the pan or stick together too much. Stir frequently.
- Soy Sauce: Add in extra soy sauce towards the end as you are trying the fried rice as you are cooking it. A light soy sauce is what I prefer for flavor.
Variations:
Try new things and mix it up with all these new and fun variations when making the best fried rice recipe. The best part is using up the leftover rice. Find more left overs that can be added into this chicken fried rice recipe to make it easier. Mix and match ingredients and create more delicious flavors of rice.
- Protein: Mix up your protein with ham, shrimp, bacon or enjoy it with vegetables.
- Oil: Instead of adding in all the oils, butter is just as great! Add in butter to create a rich, flavorful taste.
- Rice: It is best to have cold or chilled rice for this recipe. Quinoa or long grain rice are great ways to enjoy a variety.
- Vegetables: Create a combination of a few to several of your favorite vegetables to enhance this recipe. Broccoli, cauliflower, snap peas or water chestnuts are great vegetables to add in.
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Equipment
- Large Skillet or Wok
- Spatula
Ingredients
- 1 Tablespoon vegetable oil
- 1 Tablespoon soy sauce
- 1 pound chicken cut into small pieces
- 3 cups cooked rice *
- 2 Tablespoons sesame oil
- 1 small white onion chopped
- 1 cup frozen peas and carrots thawed
- 2-3 Tablespoons soy sauce more or less to taste
- 2 large eggs lightly beaten
- 2 Tablespoons chopped green onions optional
Instructions
- In a large skillet or wok, add vegetable oil and soy sauce. Add in the chicken and cook until lightly brown and cooked throughout. Remove and set aside.
- Pour sesame oil in the bottom. Add white onion and peas and carrots and fry until tender.
- Slide the onion, peas and carrots to the side, and pour the beaten eggs onto the other side. Using a spatula, scramble the eggs. Once cooked, mix the eggs with the vegetable mix.
- Add the rice and chicken to the veggie and egg mixture. Pour the soy sauce on top. Stir and fry the rice and veggie mixture until heated through and combined. Add chopped green onions if desired.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
My 4yo asked me this morning to pack him chicken fried rice for lunch today. This recipe came up, and literally 20 minutes later I had chicken fried rice to be proud of. So good, I’m making another batch for the family dinner tonight!
Thank you so much for this recipe! I have been trying for years to make the perfect fried rice, and kept screwing it up. I think this is about as close as I will ever get unless I marry a Chinese woman. The only thing I did differently is I used a pound of shrimp instead of chicken. I cheated a little and bought the pre-cooked shrimp which I marinated in a store-bought Sesame Garlic sauce. Absolutely incredible!
This is a great recipe. It is on the “keep” list for my family. My son wants it on the lunch box rotation 🙂
I used leftover rotisserie chicken that I had in fridge. It worked well and used up leftovers 🙂
I’m sure if I make the chicken specifically for fried rice, it will even be better.
Thanks so much for sharing.
This was amazing!!! 5 stars all the way. Made it just as stated on the website. What type of soy sauce is best to use? I used a regular store brand and it turned out more of a dark brown them the light brown as seen in the picture and in the resteraunts. Still tasted yummy, just wondering what the difference is.
We made this last night and let me say my taste buds were in heaven. I buy chicken in bulk when it’s on sale and can it (in pint jars) and it was perfect for this recipe because the chicken shreds so easily. It also cut a lot of the prep work out. It was so fast and easy. It really only took as long as the rice cooker takes to cook the rice. We are definitely going to be making this again.
Making this tonight! I am going to use chicken I marinated over night in Italian dressing and soy sauce!! Sounds weird but it is sooooo good and tender!! I cook it in my cast iron pan ( the chicken that is), and I think it will really compliment this dish!!!!!!
Oh, and I cooked my rice in tumeric…. I have the rice cooling now, it will have cooled four hours…..
hey, can you tell me some kind of measurements you used so i can try this. its sounds delicious .
I had left over chicken I used it. The fried rice was dry and didn’t hsve much flavor. What could I use for more flavor?
wow this looks so good. I WILL MAKE THIS FOR SUPPER TONIGHT!!!
i’m excited. i’ve always bought fried rice. today i will try to make it on my own.
My secret ingredient. On top of the soy sauce, take a pinch or two of chinese 5 spice and put it into the fried rice about the same time you mix in soy sauce.
It is a small extra that makes a huge difference in the end.
made this last night it turned out great. I baked the chicken with garlic and teriyaki sauce, then shredded it. I doubled it and it was barely enough! will definitely make it again.
I can’t wait to try this recipe. I’ve shared w/friends on Facebook. I agree to slow cook the chicken. It come out so tender and juicy.
Do you have an approximate calorie count and/or nutritional values for this dish?
It was great btw! We loved it!
I made this for dinner this week. It was delicious! And so easy to make. I wish I had doubled it because now it’s all gone and I want more.
Thank you so very much for posting this fabulous recipe!!!!!! Everyone in my family loved it. It truly is way better than takeout even my kids said so 🙂
Hi,
Your time for this recipe seems a bit off. If the name of the dish is “chicken fried rice” then the recipe should include the time to make the chicken, right? I notice your suggested method for cooking chicken takes 4-5 hrs in a slow cooker.. so, that is a bit more than the 40 minutes listed on the recipe.
Thanks!
If you excluded the slow cooker method of cooking the rice it really is 40min or less. I used my WOK to cook the chicken pieces but you could even use a cast iron grill on your stovetop or even your outdoor grill (weather permitting). My assumption is that the author used a slow cooker to save time by putting on the chicken before work or while running errands. This makes it easy to just throw the rest together for a quick dinner.
This is my first recipe from this website and my husband was floored at how good it tasted – much better than takeout! I can’t wait to try more of Alyssa’s recipes.