Chicken Fried Rice

Chicken Fried Rice has never been easier or tastier! You’ll be done in 20 minutes and will want to ditch takeout after making it at home.

This dish is packed with loads of veggies, and chicken and bursting with flavor from the simple sauce.

My kids love fried rice, and I never realized how simple it was until a friend said that fried rice was her favorite meal because it was so easy. Mind blown, because friends it is, oh, so easy.

What is great, is that you can really use any of the vegetables you have on hand to mix in. You just need a few simple base ingredients to get started and you’re set.

What are the ingredients in Chicken Fried Rice?

Here is what you need to make this fried rice recipe.

• Cooked chicken – you can really use anything that you have on hand, boiled, grilled, or rotisserie. The only thing I would stick away from is canned chicken.
• Teriyaki sauce – this is used to marinate the chicken in, you can leave this out if you wish.
• Butter – I prefer salted butter, but you can use unsalted as well. I use this in place of oil.
• Cooked rice – I mean kind of the base of the entire recipe.
• Garlic – you can use garlic paste or fresh garlic, minced – both just add to the flavor of the dish. Either will work just fine.
• Carrots – you can use anything you have on hand, I mention in the recipe card baby carrots because I think they are a tad bit sweeter and I prefer them. Also, I always have them on hand for snacks and lunches.
• Yellow onion – you can use shallots or purple onion as well, I just love yellow onion as I feel it doesn’t overpower any of the other flavors.
• Frozen peas – I have never used anything else, if I don’t have these on hand I will sub asparagus or snap peas. Do not use anything canned, so no canned peas, they will become too soggy and overpower the rest of the dish with their flavor.
• Eggs – my kids love the eggs in this dish and I always add 1-2 more than my typical recipe requires if my son Madden is home, he loves eggs.
• Soy sauce – I love this sauce, you can easily use low sodium soy sauce as well. The soy sauce also gives the rice it’s coloring that fried rice is known for.
• Toasted sesame oil – my husband loves sesame oil, so I always add a smidge of a drizzle more over his serving and he loves it.
• Green onions – just for garnish, but we love the light crunch it adds to the dish as well.

Can I Substitute Different Vegetables?

Yes, you can easily sub any sort of vegetable you have on hand. That is what is great about this recipe, are you can use the staples that you have on hand.

Here are a few other vegetables we will add or substitute in our fried rice:
Peppers – bells peppers work great, in any color but I love the mini-peppers, they are a bit sweet and tangy, adding to the flavor of the dish.

Asparagus – this is my husband’s favorite veggie, so if we have it on hand, this is a great substitute for those peas, a vegetable which he also hates.

Fresh corn – I will fresh corn, if I have anything leftover from the night before, I will just toss it in at the end to warm it up, as I don’t want to overcook it.

Tips for Making Chicken Fried Rice at home!

Note that fried rice makes incredible leftovers, just refrigerate in a sealed container for up to 3 days. My kids love this in their lunches.

Remember to scramble the eggs first, before assembling the rest of your recipe! These really just sit off to the side until the end.

Don’t overcook those veggies, be sure to saute them until tender, once you stir in the rest of the ingredients they will continue to cook.

Measure out all of your ingredients beforehand, this makes for easy and quick assembly and not letting anything overcook or burn.

If you have a wok, use it! So easy and simple. Otherwise, any large saute pan will do too, if you don’t have a large saute pan, just cook the recipe in 2 separate batches.

Check out these other “take-out” inspired meals.

Orange Chicken
Baked Shrimp Wontons
Crispy Honey Chicken

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