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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 delicious.
Hey friends! I’m digging back into the blog archives today to share one of my all-time favorite recipes.
My favorite homemade fried rice. ♡
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 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.
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.
Let’s make some homemade fried rice!
Fried Rice Recipe | 1-Minute Video
Tips For Making The Best Fried Rice
Ok, let’s get right to it. Here are the important things I have learned over the years about how to make the best fried rice.
1) Use cold rice: You’ve gotta plan ahead and use thoroughly-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 are 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 large 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).
2) Use butter: 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 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.)
3) Use veggies: 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 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!
4) Use toasted sesame oil and oyster sauce: If you do not eat seafood, you can leave out the oyster sauce and your fried rice will still be great. But this ingredient makes such 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, 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 is meant as a finishing oil, not a cooking oil, so remove the pan from the heat and then stir it in.)
5) Use high heat: 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.
6) Let the rice brown a bit on the bottom: 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.
7) Don’t be afraid to add in some extra soy sauce at the end: 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 please add more at the end if this tastes good to you. I almost always stir an extra drizzle into my portion and love it.
Homemade Fried Rice Ingredients
Alright, so let’s talk ingredients. To make this fried rice recipe, you will need (affiliate links included):
Cooked, chilled rice: Any kind of white or brown rice will do. Just be sure that it is cooked (I always cook mine in this rice cooker, which works like a charm) and thoroughly chilled (in a sealed container in the refrigerator) before adding it to your hot skillet. Again, freshly-cooked rice will not work well in this recipe.
Eggs: Which add great flavor, texture and protein.
Carrots, onions, green onions and peas: This is the base mix of veggies that I always use for fried rice, but feel free to add in other stir-fry veggies you love (see ideas below).
Garlic: Freshly-minced.
Soy sauce: I created this recipe using low-sodium soy sauce. So add less if you’re using traditional soy sauce.
Oyster sauce: This is a major flavor booster in fried rice and (don’t worry) doesn’t taste like oysters. You can find it in the Asian section of grocery stores, or order it on Amazon.
Toasted sesame oil: The finishing touch in this recipe, which is a must. You can also find it in the Asian section of grocery stores, or order it on Amazon.
Butter: My favorite way to stir fry rice.
How To Make Fried Rice
To make this homemade fried rice recipe, simply:
Scramble eggs: Using a small pat of butter, scramble some eggs in a large sauté pan, breaking them into small pieces as you go. Then transfer the eggs to a separate plate, and set aside.
Sauté veggies and garlic: Return your sauté pan to the heat, and sauté the onions, carrots, peas and garlic until soft and cooked through.
Stir fry rice: Then turn the burner to high heat. Scooch the veggies over to one side of the pan, melt the remaining butter in the other half, and add the chilled rice, soy sauce, and oyster sauce (if using). Then stir to combine with the veggies and continue sautéing the rice, stirring every 15-20 seconds or so for 3 minutes, or until you notice the rice and veggies starting to brown slightly.
Remove pan from heat. And stir in your green onions, sesame oil, and scrambled eggs.
Taste and season. Give the rice a taste, and season with salt and pepper, plus any extra soy sauce or sesame oil if needed.
Serve! Then dish it up and serve nice and warm!
Easy Fried Rice Variations
The sky’s the limit when it comes to homemade fried rice variations, so feel free to get creative and use up other leftover ingredients you may happen to have on hand. That said, here are some classic add-ins:
Chicken Fried Rice: You can either sauté some chicken in a separate sauté pan while making your fried rice. Then shred or dice and add to your fried rice. Or for a shortcut, I like to shred a rotisserie chicken. Or even better, shred leftovers from my favorite baked chicken breasts recipe.
Pork Fried Rice: Sauté a boneless pork chop in a separate sauté pan while making your fried rice. Then dice and add to your rice.
Beef Fried Rice: Sauté steak or brown ground beef in a separate sauté pan while making your fried rice. Then crumble or dice and add to your rice.
Shrimp Fried Rice: Sauté half a pound of peeled, raw shrimp in separate sauté pan while making your fried rice. Then add the shrimp to your rice.
Vegetable Fried Rice: Any stir-fry friendly veggies would be great in fried rice! Just sauté at the same time that you cook the onions, carrots, peas and garlic. Then stir to combine with the fried rice.
Kimchi Fried Rice: Fresh kimchi adds a major flavor boost to fried rice. Just chop and stir it in to make kimchi fried rice.
Pineapple Fried Rice: Fresh pineapple can be traditional in Chinese or Thai fried rice. Just chop and stir it in to combine.
Also, in lieu of using traditional white rice in this recipe, feel free to make:
Fried Brown Rice: For a healthier twist, feel free to use cooked brown rice in this recipe instead of white rice.
Learn how to make fried rice with this classic recipe. It only takes 15 minutes to make, it’s easy to customize with your favorite add-ins, and it’s SO flavorful and delicious!
Ingredients
Scale
3 tablespoons butter, divided
2 large eggs, whisked
2 medium carrots, peeled and diced
1 small white onion, diced
1/2 cup frozen peas
3 cloves garlic, minced
salt and black pepper
4 cups cooked and chilled rice (I prefer short-grain white rice)
Heat 1/2 tablespoon of butter in a large sauté pan* over medium-high heat until melted. Add egg, and cook until scrambled, stirring occasionally. Remove egg, and transfer to a separate plate.
Add an additional 1 tablespoon butter to the pan and heat until melted. Add carrots, onion, peas and garlic, and season with a generous pinch of salt and pepper. Sauté for about 5 minutes or until the onion and carrots are soft. Increase heat to high, add in the remaining 1 1/2 tablespoons of butter, and stir until melted. Immediately add the rice, green onions, soy sauce and oyster sauce (if using), and stir until combined. Continue sautéing for an additional 3 minutes to fry the rice, stirring occasionally. (I like to let the rice rest for a bit between stirs so that it can crisp up on the bottom.) Then add in the eggs and stir to combine. Remove from heat, and stir in the sesame oil until combined. Taste and season with extra soy sauce, if needed.
Serve immediately, or refrigerate in a sealed container for up to 3 days.
*Sauté pan: If you happen to own a nonstick or cast-iron pan, I would recommend it for this recipe. But that said, any pan that you have can work — you may just have to be a bit more vigilant with stirring so that the rice and eggs don’t stick.
Great recipe! I’ve made a couple different versions of this And they’ve all been hit or miss. This recipe was easy, but the tips given made a big difference. Definitely a keeper.
This is the best fried rice recipe ever! I have made it multiple times for family and they love it. I typically have all the sauces and ingredients, so no extra runs to the store.
Wonderful rice! I did add some stir-fried pork strips and broccoli. My husband always said he didn’t like brown rice but he didn’t notice the difference. We both loved it and will fix again!
This is an extraordinary recipe with all the wonderful flavours I would want to have in a fried rice. I’ve made this recipe several times and each time it gets better and better. I usually add a protein (pork, chicken, shrimp, etc.) and this last time I used mushrooms. It’s a little taste of heaven!!! Thank you for giving us these recipe.
Great recipe!
Thank you so much for sharing.
Perfect just the way it is .
Jordy —
Absolutely amazing. I found the recipe very easy to make and it’s also quick, the result was delicious. I think some ginger would go along well in this dish. Thank you so much, I’m bookmarking thus for future use!
Just made this. SO GOOD!!! Highly recommend. Only thing that was different was I added different vegetables as these were the only ones I had on hand. I used bell pepper and chopped zucchini. I also needed to use up some red snapper, and some mussels. You can add any protein to this dish and it will be amazing. Thank you for sharing
Made close to recipe with 2 day old brown rice, added ginger and some diced celery I had, also 1/2 a red pepper. I never put frozen peas or frozen corn in until the last minute they don’t require cooking.
Nice recipe fried rice is a dump of all your favorite vegetables in: type of meal. I may make shrimp as a side.
Thank you for the inspiration
I never made fries rice before so I googled the recipe and this was the 1st one that popped up.
Hands down, the best fried rice ever and it’s so easy. I followed your recipe to the tee.
Thank you 😊
I made this tonight and it was delicious! I made it exactly as written except added bean sprouts to the stir fry and used most of a partially thawed bag of frozen carrots and peas instead of fresh carrots and frozen peas. I had never used oyster sauce or roasted sesame oil before and I believe that made all the difference. Thank you for the wonderful recipe that I will make again and again!
Love this recipe, one of our favorites! It’s become one of our regular weekday meals. Easy to make, with ingredients we always have. Usually add some shrimp to it, so it’s a complete meal.
Lemon33 —
Great fried rice! First time making fried rice, and this recipe pleasantly surprised me! Thank you for putting together this recipe :D
Used shallot instead of onion, only 2tbsp of soy sauce, added some pan fried mince turkey for extra protein and 3 cups of hot rice straight from the rice cooker and it was perfect. Rice wasn’t soggy at all, it fried just as well as cold rice. I think it’s down to the quality of the rice cooker or amount of water used. Kids love it, will make again and add pineapple next time.
Tried this fried rice recipe and was genuinely impressed, clear instructions and great tips I hadn’t seen elsewhere. You have a favorite variation or secret ingredient?
Thank you sooo much for sharing your recipe. I’m not easily impressed. I frowned upon the butter and the sesame oil, BUT man, was I wrong. This is the best fried rice I’ve ever had!!! I didn’t have oyster sauce, and used fish sauce instead. It’s still a killer!!! It’s easy to make too.
Thanks. Frederick
For the multiple posters who claim oyster sauce doesn’t have any oyster in it, the ingredients list is:
Oyster sauce typically contains oyster extract (made from oysters, water, and salt), sugar, water, salt, and cornstarch (as a thickener). Some brands may also include flavor enhancers like monosodium glutamate (MSG), wheat flour, and caramel color.
I always make a recipe to the letter first time out, I found this was too salty. I made it again with no salt and only 2 tbsp of soy sauce, and for us it was perfect. Thank you for the recipe.
I have been searching for a great homemade recipe of Fried Rice. I had never liked any of them. But this one comes, oh boy this is tasty. I love how you explain the step by step of each item. It’s a keeper.
I tried this recipe tonight and made it while my husband was out to pick up sesame chicken. This dish was easy to make once I had all the ingredients out. I used garlic and onion powders after my pack of peas and carrots steamed in the microwave. It turned out tasting great! Much better than my local grocery store’s take out fried rice. I am glad to have extra servings and am excited to eat the leftovers. You can’t realize what a compliment that is! I rarely eat leftovers b/c the warming up just rarely makes the food as good as when it was freshly made. Kudos to you and your fried rice recipe! I’m going to rave about it to my family!
I have made this recipe several times and it’s always complimented! I have used day old rice and I have used rice I made in the morning then spread out on parchment lined baking pan for the day. Both work well. Thank you for recipe!!
I also grew up spoiled with great tasting fried rice at a local restaurant and have struggled to recreate anything close…. Until I found your recipe!!! Thank you! It is so good!! (Also, it is very rare I have oyster sauce on hand so I used a little hoisin as a substitute and it worked very well !!) thanks again!
This has been my go-to fried rice recipe for a couple of years now, so my apologies for the delayed review. The first few times I followed the recipe as written, but the foundation of the recipe is so solid it allows the cook to venture off by omitting or adding some ingredients as they desire. Japanese style with butter might not be the healthiest, but it’s definitely the tastiest. *When going the healthy route I use brown instead of white rice and advacato oil instead of butter.)
Ma’am!! I’ve gone YEARS making “best fried rice” recipes that just never turned out right. They were either too mushy, too bland, too salty, too complicated, but this recipe has always come out BETTER than I can get at a restaurant. It’s great as is, but I’ve tinkered around a bit for my own taste buds, like using 1-2 day old half/half brown or white rice from a restaurant carton, more butter(basically a whole stick lol), caramelizing the onions and garlic before veggies, more vegetables(typical stir fry veggies, so require more butter), time for the rice to really crisp, lil more garlic/scallion/sesame oil, a teaspoon or so of grated ginger, and some red pepper flakes….either way the base recipe and cooking technique is amazing!! I loved playing around with it to see what I could do to deepen the flavor profile/textures and I’m hooked
It’s true. This is the best! Used this recipe and the tips for my first fried rice and loved it. Most recipes have a long narrative that’s unhelpful, but I found this worth reading to make a really tasty, easy to vary dish.
I’ve made this, and it’s very good. I’ve been looking for the same thing, though…the nutritional information. I’m now diabetic and in need of the information to stay within my set numbers.
Very good dish and even my husband approved.
Great recipe! I’ve made a couple different versions of this And they’ve all been hit or miss. This recipe was easy, but the tips given made a big difference. Definitely a keeper.
Yummy
This is the best fried rice recipe ever! I have made it multiple times for family and they love it. I typically have all the sauces and ingredients, so no extra runs to the store.
Wonderful rice! I did add some stir-fried pork strips and broccoli. My husband always said he didn’t like brown rice but he didn’t notice the difference. We both loved it and will fix again!
I love this recipe. Have come back to it many a times! :)
This is an extraordinary recipe with all the wonderful flavours I would want to have in a fried rice. I’ve made this recipe several times and each time it gets better and better. I usually add a protein (pork, chicken, shrimp, etc.) and this last time I used mushrooms. It’s a little taste of heaven!!! Thank you for giving us these recipe.
Glenn
Great recipe!
Thank you so much for sharing.
Perfect just the way it is .
Absolutely amazing. I found the recipe very easy to make and it’s also quick, the result was delicious. I think some ginger would go along well in this dish. Thank you so much, I’m bookmarking thus for future use!
My first time making fried rice ever and I am a BIG fan of this recipe!!! I will for sure have to make it again. :)
The Vegetable Fried Rice was amazing and full of flavor. The recipe was very easy to follow. I will be making this Fried Rice again. Thank you!
Just made this. SO GOOD!!! Highly recommend. Only thing that was different was I added different vegetables as these were the only ones I had on hand. I used bell pepper and chopped zucchini. I also needed to use up some red snapper, and some mussels. You can add any protein to this dish and it will be amazing. Thank you for sharing
Made close to recipe with 2 day old brown rice, added ginger and some diced celery I had, also 1/2 a red pepper. I never put frozen peas or frozen corn in until the last minute they don’t require cooking.
Nice recipe fried rice is a dump of all your favorite vegetables in: type of meal. I may make shrimp as a side.
Thank you for the inspiration
..
I never made fries rice before so I googled the recipe and this was the 1st one that popped up.
Hands down, the best fried rice ever and it’s so easy. I followed your recipe to the tee.
Thank you 😊
amazing recipe! easy, yummy, and I definitely used butter. I also threw in a frozen bag of carrots and peas veggie mix and extra eggs for protein!
I made this tonight and it was delicious! I made it exactly as written except added bean sprouts to the stir fry and used most of a partially thawed bag of frozen carrots and peas instead of fresh carrots and frozen peas. I had never used oyster sauce or roasted sesame oil before and I believe that made all the difference. Thank you for the wonderful recipe that I will make again and again!
Love this recipe, one of our favorites! It’s become one of our regular weekday meals. Easy to make, with ingredients we always have. Usually add some shrimp to it, so it’s a complete meal.
Great fried rice! First time making fried rice, and this recipe pleasantly surprised me! Thank you for putting together this recipe :D
Wonderful! Easy, too.
Blown away by the simplicity and taste. Excellent!
5 stars. Always a hit.
Luv all your goodness
Oyster sauce has no seafood of any kind in it. I believe that you are a fraud and just used someone else’s recipe.
Used shallot instead of onion, only 2tbsp of soy sauce, added some pan fried mince turkey for extra protein and 3 cups of hot rice straight from the rice cooker and it was perfect. Rice wasn’t soggy at all, it fried just as well as cold rice. I think it’s down to the quality of the rice cooker or amount of water used. Kids love it, will make again and add pineapple next time.
Tried this fried rice recipe and was genuinely impressed, clear instructions and great tips I hadn’t seen elsewhere. You have a favorite variation or secret ingredient?
Thank you sooo much for sharing your recipe. I’m not easily impressed. I frowned upon the butter and the sesame oil, BUT man, was I wrong. This is the best fried rice I’ve ever had!!! I didn’t have oyster sauce, and used fish sauce instead. It’s still a killer!!! It’s easy to make too.
Thanks. Frederick
The BEST fried rice recipe I have found! Thank you for sharing. I used brown rice, and it turned out wonderful!
I made this, followed directions exactly – delicious!
For the multiple posters who claim oyster sauce doesn’t have any oyster in it, the ingredients list is:
Oyster sauce typically contains oyster extract (made from oysters, water, and salt), sugar, water, salt, and cornstarch (as a thickener). Some brands may also include flavor enhancers like monosodium glutamate (MSG), wheat flour, and caramel color.
Oh. My. God! THIS is the fried rice recipe I needed in my life – the sesame oil and oyster sauce made all the difference!
Sooooo easy and delicious – saved it and will definitely be making again!
Soooo delicious! Recipe is so good and easy to follow, love making this fried rice! Highly recommend!
I always make a recipe to the letter first time out, I found this was too salty. I made it again with no salt and only 2 tbsp of soy sauce, and for us it was perfect. Thank you for the recipe.
This was delicious!! My favorite fried rice recipe I’ve tried!! 😋
It was delicious, my husband asked me if I did order from restaurant, kkkk. Thank you!
I have been searching for a great homemade recipe of Fried Rice. I had never liked any of them. But this one comes, oh boy this is tasty. I love how you explain the step by step of each item. It’s a keeper.
I tried this recipe tonight and made it while my husband was out to pick up sesame chicken. This dish was easy to make once I had all the ingredients out. I used garlic and onion powders after my pack of peas and carrots steamed in the microwave. It turned out tasting great! Much better than my local grocery store’s take out fried rice. I am glad to have extra servings and am excited to eat the leftovers. You can’t realize what a compliment that is! I rarely eat leftovers b/c the warming up just rarely makes the food as good as when it was freshly made. Kudos to you and your fried rice recipe! I’m going to rave about it to my family!
I have made this recipe several times and it’s always complimented! I have used day old rice and I have used rice I made in the morning then spread out on parchment lined baking pan for the day. Both work well. Thank you for recipe!!
I also grew up spoiled with great tasting fried rice at a local restaurant and have struggled to recreate anything close…. Until I found your recipe!!! Thank you! It is so good!! (Also, it is very rare I have oyster sauce on hand so I used a little hoisin as a substitute and it worked very well !!) thanks again!
Easy and delish! I added Bean sprouts, cuz why not!
This has been my go-to fried rice recipe for a couple of years now, so my apologies for the delayed review. The first few times I followed the recipe as written, but the foundation of the recipe is so solid it allows the cook to venture off by omitting or adding some ingredients as they desire. Japanese style with butter might not be the healthiest, but it’s definitely the tastiest. *When going the healthy route I use brown instead of white rice and advacato oil instead of butter.)
Ma’am!! I’ve gone YEARS making “best fried rice” recipes that just never turned out right. They were either too mushy, too bland, too salty, too complicated, but this recipe has always come out BETTER than I can get at a restaurant. It’s great as is, but I’ve tinkered around a bit for my own taste buds, like using 1-2 day old half/half brown or white rice from a restaurant carton, more butter(basically a whole stick lol), caramelizing the onions and garlic before veggies, more vegetables(typical stir fry veggies, so require more butter), time for the rice to really crisp, lil more garlic/scallion/sesame oil, a teaspoon or so of grated ginger, and some red pepper flakes….either way the base recipe and cooking technique is amazing!! I loved playing around with it to see what I could do to deepen the flavor profile/textures and I’m hooked
I love the name of your site! Aloha et mahalo.
Mirin? Or Ginger?
It’s true. This is the best! Used this recipe and the tips for my first fried rice and loved it. Most recipes have a long narrative that’s unhelpful, but I found this worth reading to make a really tasty, easy to vary dish.
Delicious and easy! I didn’t have oyster sauce but I had fish sauce and it was great! I added chicken and of course used butter.
What type of soya sauce? Dark or light?
Where can I find the nutritional information?
I’ve made this, and it’s very good. I’ve been looking for the same thing, though…the nutritional information. I’m now diabetic and in need of the information to stay within my set numbers.
This is my go-to recipe for any leftover protein or just by itself. We never get tired of it!
made it and sesame oil made it perfect
Easy to prepare,delicious meal