{"id":18020,"date":"2017-07-10T05:02:51","date_gmt":"2017-07-10T10:02:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.gimmesomeoven.com\/?p=18020"},"modified":"2025-09-16T11:48:09","modified_gmt":"2025-09-16T16:48:09","slug":"fried-rice-recipe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.gimmesomeoven.com\/fried-rice-recipe\/","title":{"rendered":"Fried Rice"},"content":{"rendered":"

This Chinese-inspired fried rice recipe is my absolute fave. It’s quick and easy to make, customizable with any of your favorite mix-ins, and so irresistibly\u00a0delicious.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

Hey friends! I’m digging back into the blog archives today to share one of my all-time favorite recipes.<\/p>\n

My favorite homemade fried rice. \u2661<\/p>\n

Growing up, our family had a tradition of eating lunch every Saturday at our neighborhood’s favorite local Chinese restaurant. And every single Saturday for lunch, I ordered the same thing — egg drop soup and fried rice, my absolute favorites. This restaurant set the bar high<\/em> for me early when it comes to how amazing fried rice could be. Theirs was always perfectly al dente with slightly crispy edges, full of rich savory flavors, and loaded up with plenty of extra veggies, eggs, and whatever protein sounded good.<\/p>\n

After our favorite restaurant sadly closed over a decade ago, I spent years tinkering around with dozens and dozens of batches of fried rice, attempting to recreate a fried recipe that tasted as good as theirs. And while nothing will ever match the original in my book, this fried rice recipe that I’ve landed on is as close as I’ve come and has been my favorite go-to ever since. It’s surprisingly speedy to make, easy to customize with your favorite add-ins, and SO flavorful and comforting. Thousands of our readers have also made and enjoyed it over the years since. So if you’re looking for a good recipe to try, I hope you’ll enjoy it too.<\/p>\n

Let’s make some homemade fried rice!<\/p>\n

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Fried Rice Recipe | 1-Minute Video<\/h2>\n\n
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Tips For Making The Best Fried Rice<\/h2>\n

Ok, let’s get\u00a0right to it. Here are the important things I have learned over the years about how to make the\u00a0best<\/span>\u00a0fried rice.<\/p>\n

1) Use cold rice: <\/strong>You’ve gotta plan ahead and use\u00a0thoroughly-chilled cooked rice. A fresh batch of warm (or even lukewarm) rice will not fry well when it hits the hot pan, and will result in soggy and sticky clumps — no good. So leftover refrigerated rice is ideal! Or, if you\u00a0are<\/em> in a hurry (or have an impulse craving for fried rice, which I completely understand ?), just cook up a fresh batch of rice. Then spread it out on a baking sheet or another\u00a0large flat pan, drape the rice with a layer of plastic wrap, then pop it in the fridge for 30 minutes (or in the freezer for 10-15 minutes) until it is thoroughly chilled (not frozen).<\/p>\n

2)\u00a0<\/strong>Use butter:\u00a0<\/strong>Yes, butter. I have made many a batch of fried rice using various oils, and I’m now convinced there’s a reason why Japanese steak houses use that big slab of butter when they’re making fried rice. It just tastes so much<\/em> better, and also makes everything brown up perfectly. (Although by contrast to Japanese steak houses, we only use 3 tablespoons for a large batch of rice in this recipe.)<\/p>\n

3) Use veggies:\u00a0<\/strong>This is one of my big pet peeves with lame take-out fried rice — not enough veggies! In addition to adding some nice spots of color, veggies go a long<\/em> way in adding some flavor and freshness to fried rice. Our local Chinese restaurant always added both white and green onions, too, which I included in this recipe. But feel free to modernize this recipe with some other delicious stir-fried veggies as well!<\/p>\n

4)\u00a0<\/strong>\u00a0Use toasted sesame oil and oyster sauce:\u00a0<\/strong>If you do not eat seafood, you can leave out the oyster sauce<\/a> and your fried rice will still be great. But this ingredient makes such<\/em> a difference in good fried rice, and a little goes a long way. So even if you’re not into oysters, don’t be scared of oyster sauce! Toasted sesame oil<\/a>, on the other hand, is 100% non-negotiable. It is my favorite smelling ingredient in my kitchen, and tastes wonderful in fried rice. (Also note that sesame oil\u00a0is meant as a finishing oil, not a cooking oil, so remove the pan from the heat and then<\/em>\u00a0stir it in.)<\/p>\n

5) Use high heat:\u00a0<\/strong>This will help fry and brown the rice and veggies well, and will also help prevent the rice from steaming in the pan instead of frying.<\/p>\n

6) Let the rice brown a bit on the bottom:\u00a0<\/strong>If you’re like me and love your rice to be a bit crispy, let it rest for a bit in between stirs so that it can brown a bit on the bottom. It also helps greatly to use a non-stick skillet so that the rice doesn’t stick to the bottom of the pan.<\/p>\n

7) Don’t be afraid to add in some extra soy sauce at the end: <\/strong>I know that everyone has different sensitivities to salt, and different brands of soy sauce also contain pretty dramatically different levels of sodium. So I went a little light on soy sauce in the recipe below. But\u00a0please<\/em> add more at the end if this tastes good to you. I almost always stir an extra drizzle into my portion and love it.<\/p>\n

\"Homemade<\/p>\n

Homemade Fried Rice Ingredients<\/h2>\n

Alright, so let’s talk ingredients. To make this fried rice recipe, you will need (affiliate links included):<\/p>\n