Fried Rice

Name: Fried Rice
Prep time: 5 min
Cook time: 12 min
Total time: 17 min
Cuisine: Asian
Ingredients: 3 cups day-old cooked white rice (cold, straight from the fridge); 3 large eggs, lightly beaten; 1 cup frozen peas and carrots, thawed; 3 green onions, sliced thin (whites and greens separated); 3 cloves garlic, minced; 3 tablespoons soy sauce; 1 tablespoon oyster sauce; 1 teaspoon sesame oil; 2 tablespoons vegetable oil, divided; 1/2 teaspoon white pepper; Salt to taste

Published by Fork Around & Find Out Kitchen — presented in the Lila editorial voice. Editorial standards

Quick Answer

Easy fried rice is made by stir-frying day-old cooked rice in a hot skillet with oil, eggs, soy sauce, sesame oil, and your choice of vegetables or protein. The whole dish takes about 15 minutes from start to finish.

Jump to Recipe

Fresh rice is wonderful for dinner and oddly terrible for fried rice. Straight from the pot, the grains are soft and full of surface moisture, which means they steam, clump, and generally refuse to behave like anything you have ever ordered in a takeout carton. Cold day-old rice is drier and firmer, so it can hit a ripping-hot wok or skillet, separate into grains, and actually fry. That one choice does more for the finished texture than any secret sauce ever will.

From there, the cooking moves fast: green onion and garlic first, peas and carrots next, eggs scrambled just until barely set, then the cold rice spread across the hot pan long enough to pick up a little color. Soy sauce and oyster sauce season the grains, sesame oil goes in only after the heat is off, and white pepper gives the background warmth people recognize from restaurant fried rice. Have everything measured before the pan gets hot; this is not a recipe that politely waits while you search the refrigerator for soy sauce.

Prep5 minutes

Cook12 minutes

Total17 minutes

Serves4 servings

DifficultyEasy

Ingredients

Servings

3 cups day-old cooked white rice (cold, straight from the fridge)
3 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 cup frozen peas and carrots, thawed
3 green onions, sliced thin (whites and greens separated)
3 cloves garlic, minced
3 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon oyster sauce
1 teaspoon sesame oil
2 tablespoons vegetable oil, divided
1/2 teaspoon white pepper
Salt to taste

Instructions

1Break up your cold rice with your hands or a fork before you start so there are no large clumps. Cold rice straight from the fridge works best — do not use freshly cooked rice or your fried rice will turn mushy.
2Heat a large skillet or wok over high heat until it is very hot — about 2 minutes. You want the pan genuinely ripping hot before anything goes in. A drop of water should evaporate immediately on contact.
3Add 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil to the pan. Add the white parts of the green onions and the minced garlic. Stir fry for 30 seconds until fragrant, moving constantly so the garlic doesn't burn.
4Add the thawed peas and carrots. Stir fry for 1 to 2 minutes until heated through and starting to pick up a little color.
5Push the vegetables to one side of the pan. Add the remaining 1 tablespoon of oil to the empty side. Pour in the beaten eggs and let them sit undisturbed for about 15 seconds, then scramble them gently. Pull them off the heat when they are just barely set — they will finish cooking with the rice.
6Add the cold rice to the pan. Use a spatula to press and spread the rice across the hot surface. Let it sit untouched for 30 to 45 seconds to get some color on the bottom, then stir and toss everything together.
7Drizzle the soy sauce and oyster sauce evenly over the rice. Toss well to coat every grain. Let the rice sit again for 20 to 30 seconds, then toss again. Repeat once more. This gives the rice the flavor and slight char you want.
8Remove from heat. Drizzle the sesame oil over the top and toss to combine. Taste and adjust salt and white pepper as needed.
9Serve immediately, topped with the green parts of the sliced green onions.

Nutrition Information

Estimated per serving: 1 of 4 servings.

350Calories

11 gProtein

46 gCarbohydrates

13 gTotal Fat

2 gSaturated Fat

3 gFiber

5 gTotal Sugars

860 mgSodium

165 mgCholesterol

Estimated from the ingredients and quantities in this recipe using standard food-composition values. Brand choices, trimming, cooking loss, optional ingredients, and actual portion size can change the numbers. How we calculate nutrition estimates.

Pro Tips

High heat is not optional. Fried rice cooked on medium heat steams instead of fries, and you end up with something that tastes like disappointment and costs nothing to make. Get that pan genuinely hot.
The sesame oil goes in at the very end, off the heat. It is a finishing oil, not a cooking oil. Add it too early and the flavor burns off completely — I learned this the hard way and I am still a little sad about it.
If you are doubling this recipe, cook it in two separate batches instead of cramming everything into one pan. Overcrowding the pan drops the temperature and turns your stir fry into a braise, which is not what either of you signed up for.

Substitutions

white rice → brown rice, jasmine rice, or cauliflower rice Brown rice works well and adds a nuttier flavor; cauliflower rice cooks faster, so reduce cooking time by about 2 minutes

oyster sauce → hoisin sauce or an extra tablespoon of soy sauce Oyster sauce adds depth and a little sweetness; hoisin is a closer sub than soy alone

vegetable oil → avocado oil or canola oil Use any neutral high-smoke-point oil; avoid olive oil, which burns at the high heat this recipe needs

frozen peas and carrots → any leftover cooked vegetables, corn, edamame, or diced bell pepper This is the easiest way to clean out the fridge — almost anything works here

soy sauce → tamari or coconut aminos Use tamari for gluten-free, coconut aminos for lower sodium — both work well

Storage Instructions

Store leftover fried rice in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 4 days. Reheat in a hot skillet with a splash of water or a tiny bit of oil — do not microwave it if you can help it, because the texture suffers. Do not freeze fried rice if it contains egg; the texture becomes grainy after thawing.

Make Ahead

Cook and refrigerate a large batch of plain rice up to 3 days in advance. Cold rice is actually the ideal starting point for this recipe, so planning ahead works in your favor. Prep your vegetables and whisk your eggs the night before and store them separately in the fridge for a truly fast weeknight assembly.

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