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Learn the secrets to the best Chinese chicken fried rice recipe! It comes together in 15 minutes and will become a new favourite!
If fried rice is a must-have item when you order Chinese food, you better read on! It’s fun to order Asian takeout once in a while but it can be heavy on the stomach and the budget!
Thankfully fried rice is one of the dishes that could be easily replicated at home with minimal ingredients and no special seasoning. It’s cheap, tasty and better yet, it’s super fast. Let me show you exactly how I make it.
Don’t forget to serve yours with a bit of This is an affiliate link.Chinese chilli oil. What a treat!
Ingredients
While the ingredients may vary from one recipe to another, there are some staples that everyone loves to use in their fried rice. Feel free to adjust to your own taste. After all, fried rice was invented in order to use up leftover rice and veg, so add whatever you have on hand.
Day old long grain rice is a given. I will explain later in the post why old rice is better than freshly made. Scrambled eggs and a veg mix. I love using peas and carrots with some green onions.
However, one of the secret ingredients is water chestnuts. They add unexpected and lovely texture. Try them, I am sure you will love them as much we do.
Finally, I am using chicken breast in this recipe but shrimp or pork will also work. Needless to say, you can omit chicken altogether and keep this recipe vegetarian.
The Seasoning
What seasoning to use in fried rice is a hotly debated question. Many purists believe there shouldn’t be any but I love to add a smidge. Not too much to overpower the rice but just enough to give it more flavour.
Light soy sauce is pretty much it. Once in a while I also sprinkle a bit of sesame oil at the end. Your choice!
Recipe Tips and Notes
- Let me begin by saying that making a restaurant quality fried rice at home is possible and easy! This recipe will require you to cook chicken and eggs in stages and combining everything later but it’s not a difficult or a lengthy process.
- Before you start, make sure you prepare all ingredients including your cooked rice. Ideally, it should be a day old and here is why. Old rice is drier, so it doesn’t clump up and get mushy, so your texture will be perfect. And you will definitely use less oil when working with old rice.
- As much as I love my basmati rice, it is not the best for this recipe. Use long grain rice for best texture.
- Using frozen peas and carrots is absolutely fine. I used fresh carrots because I don’t usually buy them frozen but feel free to substitute. If you do use them frozen, add peas and carrots at the same time in step 3. If using fresh carrots, follow the recipe as written.
- Don’t forget to sprinkle with green onions at the end.
- Finally, do serve with some Chinese chilli oil. This will take your meal to a truly restaurant worthy experience. It’s all about the details!
Serving suggestions
This is a one pot meal so there is no need to serve this dish with anything else. But sometimes you want to add a bit something extra to make the meal a little more special.
In that case, I like to serve this delicious rice with our 10 Minute Honey Garlic Shrimp or Salt and Pepper Shrimp as an appetizer. Or explore our Asian recipe collection for more great ideas.
One thing that is important is to serve the fried rice hot. Letting it cool won’t do it any favours!
More Fried Rice Recipes
Chicken Fried Rice
Ingredients
- 2 tbsp vegetable oil, divided
- 1 chicken breast
- salt
- white pepper, or black pepper
- 400g/3 cups day old cooked long grain rice
- 4-5 canned water chestnuts, diced
- 1 carrot, diced
- 2 eggs
- 85g/2/3 cup frozen peas
- 2 tbsp This is an affiliate link.light soy sauce
- 1 tsp sesame oil , optional
- 2-3 green onions, sliced
- Chinese chilli oil to serve
Instructions
- Prepare the ingredients before starting to cook. Slice the chicken breast in small pieces and season with salt and white pepper. Beat the eggs with salt and pepper in a bowl and set aside. Measure out the peas and dice the carrots and water chestnuts.
- Heat 1 tablespoon of the vegetable oil in a wok or a large pan and cook the chicken and carrots for 5 minutes until cooked all the way through. Remove to a plate.
- Add the eggs to the wok and scramble them into large pieces. Then push to one side of the wok, add another tablespoon of oil and bring in the rice to the wok, stir until it’s heated through. Then add the water chestnuts, frozen peas and the soy sauce, stir fry for a couple of minutes, then bring the chicken and carrots back to the pan, stir fry until everything is hot. Taste and add a touch of soy sauce if needed and the sesame oil, top with sliced green onions. Serve with Chinese chilli oil.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Oh wow! This chicken fried rice looks absolutely delicious and so tasty. My family is sure going to love this recipe. Excited to make this!
I love ordering this, so of course had to make it & it tastes even better at home! I eat this as my main meal, since it has the chicken. It’s filling & delicious!
I agree about this being a main meal, Natalie! So filling and satisfying. Eating fried rice on its own is the original way of serving it.
The perfect way to use up leftover rice! The whole family loved it! I’ve never had fried rice with water chestnuts, but I loved the crunch they add.
I am so glad you enjoyed the water chestnuts, Kara! We love them!