How To Prepare Mouthwatering Fried Rice

 

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My favorite fried rice dish is this one with Chinese influences. It's quick and simple to make, adaptable with any of your preferred mix-ins, and simply mouthwatering.

Hey, buddies! I'm sharing one of my all-time favorite recipes today by looking back through the blog's archives.

My preferred home-cooked fried rice.

When I was a child, my family and I had a custom of going to the neighborhood's favorite Chinese restaurant for lunch every Saturday. I also always had egg drop soup and fried rice for lunch on Saturdays, two of my personal faves. When it comes to how good fried rice could be, this restaurant early on raised the bar for me. Theirs was usually perfectly al dente, with slightly crunchy edges, and was stuffed with extra vegetables, eggs, and whatever protein seemed nice. It also had a ton of deep, delicious ingredients.

I spent years experimenting with hundreds and dozens of batches of fried rice when our favorite restaurant regretfully closed over ten years ago, trying to reproduce a fried recipe that tasted as delicious as theirs. In my opinion, nothing will ever comes close to the original, but this fried rice dish I came up with is the closest I could get, and it has been my go-to ever since. It comes together surprisingly quickly, is simple to personalize with your own add-ins, and is incredibly flavorful and cozy. Over the years, thousands of our readers have also created and enjoyed it. So I hope you'll like it too if you're seeking for a tasty recipe to try.

Make some homemade fried rice together!

SUGGESTIONS FOR THE BEST FRIED RICE:

Let's begin straight now, then. Here are the key tips for making the best fried rice that I have discovered over the years.

1) Use cold rice: Be prepared and use cooked rice that has been properly chilled. Fresh rice that is warm (or even lukewarm) will not fry properly when it contacts a hot skillet; the outcome will be soggy clumps that are undesirable. So leftover chilled rice is perfect! You may also quickly prepare a new batch of rice if you are in a rush (or have an unexpected hankering for fried rice, which I entirely understand). The rice should then be spread out on a baking sheet or another wide flat pan, covered with a layer of plastic wrap, and placed in the refrigerator for 30 minutes (or the freezer for 10-15 min) to reach the desired level of cooling (not frozen).

2) Employ butter Butter, indeed. I've cooked numerous batches of fried rice in a variety of oils, and I'm now certain there's a reason Japanese steakhouses use that large piece of butter while preparing fried rice. Simply put, it tastes better and also precisely browns everything. (However, in this recipe, we only use 3 tablespoons for a huge amount of rice, in contrast to Japanese steakhouses.)

3) Include vegetables: One of my biggest pet peeves with boring take-out fried rice is that it lacks vegetables. Veggies greatly enhance the flavor and freshness of fried rice in addition to adding some wonderful splashes of color. White and green onions were also frequently added by our neighborhood Chinese restaurant, so I did the same in this dish. However, feel free to update this dish with a few other tasty stir-fried vegetables!

4) Add toasted sesame oil and oyster sauce to your fried rice. If you don't like shellfish, you may omit the oyster sauce and the dish will still be delicious. But a little of this condiment goes a long way and makes a such big difference in good fried rice.So don't be afraid of oyster sauce even if you don't like oysters! Contrarily, sesame oil that has been lightly toasted is a strict no-no. In my cooking, it has the best aroma and tastes fantastic in fried rice. (Remember that sesame oil should be added after the pan has been taken off the heat; it should not be used as a cooking oil.)

5) Use a lot of heat This will aid in properly frying and browning the rice and vegetables and also in preventing the rice from steaming in the pan rather than frying.

6) Allow the rice to brown a little on the bottom: If you like your rice to be a little crispy, like I do, give it a little time to rest between stirrings so that it can do so. Utilizing a non-stick skillet is also very beneficial in preventing rice from sticking to the pan's bottom.

7) Don't be afraid to add more soy sauce at the end: I am aware that everyone reacts to salt in different ways, and that the sodium content of various soy sauce brands varies quite a little. So in the recipe below, I used a little less soy sauce.

However, if you think this tastes delicious, please add extra towards the end. I nearly always add an extra drizzle to my serving because I enjoy it so much.

HOMEMADE INGREDIENTS FOR FRIED RICE:

So let's speak about the ingredients now. You will need the following ingredients to create this fried rice dish (affiliate links included):

• Cooked, chilled rice: You can use any variety of white or brown rice. Before adding it to your hot skillet, make sure it is cooked (I always cook mine in this rice cooker, and it works like a charm), properly chilled, and stored in a sealed container in the refrigerator. Again, using freshly cooked rice in this recipe won't turn out properly.

• Eggs: They are an excellent source of protein, flavor, and texture.

• Peas, carrots, onions, and green onions: These are the standard vegetables I use for fried rice, but feel free to substitute other stir-fry vegetables of your choosing (see ideas below).

• Freshly minced garlic

• Soy sauce: I used low-sodium soy sauce to make this meal. So if you're using regular soy sauce, use less.

• Oyster sauce: This big flavor enhancer for fried rice doesn't actually taste like oysters, so don't worry. You may get it from Amazon or find it in the Asian section of your local grocery store.

• Toasted sesame oil: A crucial component of this recipe's finishing touch. Additionally, you may get it from Amazon or find it in the Asian area of your local grocery shop.

• Butter: My preferred method for stir-frying rice.

FRIED RICE PREPARATION:

To prepare this recipe for homemade fried rice, just:

1. Scramble eggs: In a big sauté pan, scramble some eggs with a little bit of butter, breaking them up as you go. Then move the eggs to a different platter and reserve them.

2. Sauté vegetables and garlic: Re-heat the sauté pan and cook the onions, carrots, peas, and garlic for a few minutes, or until they are tender and cooked through.

3. Stir-fry rice: Next, increase the heat on the stove. Move the vegetables to one side of the pan, then add the cold rice, soy sauce, and oyster sauce to the pan's remaining unmelted butter (if using).

After that, toss to incorporate with the vegetables and continue sautéing the rice for 3 minutes, or until you see a hint of browning developing on the rice and vegetables.

4. Turn off the stove. Add your scrambled eggs, sesame oil, and green onions after that.

5. Season and taste. Taste the rice and adjust the seasoning with salt, pepper, and additional soy sauce or sesame oil as necessary.

6. Serve! After that, dish it out and serve it hot!