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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!
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.
I love this recipe!!!! It is a keeper. Some modifications I made:
I added 8 onz of cubed ham while sautee onions
4 onz fresh bean sprouts
1/2 lb chicken tenderloins cut in cubes
1/2 lb pork loin cut in cubes
I did not use oyster sauce
This is so good. This recipe made me realize that I have never had good fried rice before! This has a wonderful complexity of flavors and is very forgiving if you make some substitutions or additions. For instance, we didn’t have oyster sauce so I subbed a little fish sauce to get that complexity. Whatever you do – follow the technique. The technique is super important!
A couple things I would add because of some of the comments I have seen. Some people have said they used frozen peas and carrots. Great idea, but the original recipe calls for fresh carrots, so adapt accordingly. You are going to have extra water in the pan because of the frozen carrots. Maybe saute a little longer or on higher heat at the end to get the water off. Also, I don’t think steaming the carrots is necessary. Sauteing them in the pan with the other veggies made them nice and soft.
Another person asked if you ever fry it without the sauce so it will crisp up. It will crisp up with the sauces. The rice will absorb the sauces. Like I said, just follow the recipe.
It’s definitely a keeper. I can’t wait to experiment with this recipe. I am going to try adding ginger, maybe do chicken fried rice some time, and definitely adding sno peas next time. Thank you for a great recipe!
Truly, something just clicked with this recipe. Lived in Asia for a decade, never could get my fried rice flavorful. and balanced. Made this once and my mom, who swears she hates “oriental foods” devoured it. I thought… Yeah, that was pretty good. Will try it again sometime. Well, today is “sometime” and now I’m all out sold. This will be my go to recipe from now on!
I don’t ever comment on recipes I try online but this was fantastic! I didn’t modify a thing and simply added some left over pork loin chops that I diced up for added protein. Tasted better than a restaurant version!! Thank you very much…this one’s a definite keeper. :)
Just made this for an early church night dinner. It’s a hit! I didn’t have oyster sauce, so I used hoisin sauce. Also I added meatless kielbasa, different colored bell peppers, celery and zucchini. (Because we didn’t have carrots and peas, so I just improvised with whatever vegetables I had on hand). Other than that I followed the recipe to a T, and it is delicious!
This is an AMAZING recipe! We made a few tweaks to it but for homemade fried rice we have never had any better. The one thing we did add to it was a fried rice seasoning mix! Thanks for the recipe!
Note to ‘AC’ who commented June 28: I learned my lesson putting frozen peas in a hot stir-fry skillet. They exploded all over my kitchen! Now I partially thaw any veggies ahead of time.
I made this recipe last night & added cabbage & shrimp. It’s the best recipe!!! My boyfriend just kept raving about it & I agree, delicious!!! I only added cabbage because I love it. I’m going to make this again & each time that I do I’m going to use a different type of meat. Thank you so much for sharing this recipe. I will be looking at more of yours!
I just made this & it is DELICIOUS!!!! Easy to follow recipe and comes out perfectly!! I added chopped pork tenderloin & we gobbled it up in no time! Thanks for another great recipe!
was craving panda express so i gave this a try and it turned out absolutely delicious! i’m vegan so i used tofu scramble for the eggs and vegan oyster sauce and it was so good. thank you! will definitely be making this again soon.
Until just now I had never made a good fried rice. I had given up trying when I found your recipe. This was excellent. Thanks for giving me another keeper to add to my list.
Not sure what happened. My rice didn’t fry per se. The dish turned out to be vegetables, white rice with soy sauce. We can’t use oyster sauce and I don’t think I can recall the taste of sesame oil coming through. The rice was chilled well in time. It was made in the afternoon, placed in the refrigerator and then made the following afternoon. What went wrong? I’m opened to all suggestions.
P.S. I even took half the rice out of my wok thinking there was too much for frying. Still no avail.
Delish!! I used up other veggies in mine to use up stuff before it went bad. Celery, broccoli cauliflower onions carrots. pea pods instead of frozen peas.. crazy good
This came out great! We had cauliflower “rice” so used a bag of that and added about half of a cup of regular rice for texture. We were missing some ingredients so no oyster sauce or scallions and we substituted broccoli for the peas. I actually liked it better with broccoli. Will definitely save and use this recipe again
Omg deliciousness thank you so much. One thing I did do differently I added chicken and I put the chicken in baking soda covered it put in fridge for 1/2 hour to make it softer
I have scoured the internet for fried rice recipes and I always come back to this one. I don’t change a thing.
It tastes better than any fried rice I have ever bought from any Asian restaurant. Great Recipe Thanks!
Thank you for this terrific recipe! I’ve made it several times and usually double the recipe because the family loves it so much. I find myself making roast pork for the purpose of having leftovers to make this and I go ahead and make the rice in my Instant Pot at the same time so I’m ready to whip this up the next day.
I used the coconut oi soy Sauce substitute which is amazing bc it has a little bit of sweet flavor to it. I used just a little then the Killman reduced sodium soy sauce. Lillian tastes the best so use it. The sesame seed oil is key jere it will not taste as good without it.
Well balanced and flexible recipe. I used lots of veggies, eggs, and leftover ghee instead of butter. As vegetarians, we skipped the oyster sauce. Tasty!
So apparently Google lets you know how many times and the exact last time you visited a webpage. Who knew. But I’m telling you this because that brought my awareness to just how many times we have made this recipe for fried rice. Since December, 9 times. 9. times. That’s a lotta fried rice. lol
So to say that we love this recipe in our household (one of the members being a very picky teenager) is an understatement. Super simple, quick and packed full of flavor!
We don’t even order fried rice out anymore. It just doesn’t boast flavor like we get with our homemade one. So thank you for that! lol
Made this this evening and it was delicious! The kids have requested that i make this again soon so feel it, will become a regular meal in our household. Thanks for sharing this amazing recipe
This is great. I’ve made it before and about to make it again. I triple the recipe for leftovers. Speaking of which, the advice that it can be saved for three days in the refrigerator is a gross understatement. I understand the possible liability of saying more so it’s a CYA comment, though it can safely be kept considerably longer and the flavor will become even more intense.
Made this tonight and it was AWESOME! The flavors were on point. And, my kids even loved it and went back for seconds — thank you for this great recipe!
This recipe is by far the best I’ve ever had. I have a hard time eating at restaurants now because they don’t take their fried rice seriously ?
Thank you for this amazing recipe!
I made this rice today. It was delicious. I used long grain basmati rice and used it just after I cooked it and it worked great. The only thing I changed was I added more of the soy sauce and sesame oil. I also added some sautéed chicken thighs. I cut the chicken up in bite size pieces and added to rice at the end. Can’t wait to try it again with shrimp.
Yummy fried rice recipe! Super easy to make!
I did everything exactly what the recipe called for,
except I used a drained canned of peas and carrots instead! Delicious! And better than any Asian restaurant around!
I love this recipe!!!! It is a keeper. Some modifications I made:
I added 8 onz of cubed ham while sautee onions
4 onz fresh bean sprouts
1/2 lb chicken tenderloins cut in cubes
1/2 lb pork loin cut in cubes
I did not use oyster sauce
This was delicious. Thanks for this yummy recipe.
good recipe for quick fried rice
This is so good. This recipe made me realize that I have never had good fried rice before! This has a wonderful complexity of flavors and is very forgiving if you make some substitutions or additions. For instance, we didn’t have oyster sauce so I subbed a little fish sauce to get that complexity. Whatever you do – follow the technique. The technique is super important!
A couple things I would add because of some of the comments I have seen. Some people have said they used frozen peas and carrots. Great idea, but the original recipe calls for fresh carrots, so adapt accordingly. You are going to have extra water in the pan because of the frozen carrots. Maybe saute a little longer or on higher heat at the end to get the water off. Also, I don’t think steaming the carrots is necessary. Sauteing them in the pan with the other veggies made them nice and soft.
Another person asked if you ever fry it without the sauce so it will crisp up. It will crisp up with the sauces. The rice will absorb the sauces. Like I said, just follow the recipe.
It’s definitely a keeper. I can’t wait to experiment with this recipe. I am going to try adding ginger, maybe do chicken fried rice some time, and definitely adding sno peas next time. Thank you for a great recipe!
Truly, something just clicked with this recipe. Lived in Asia for a decade, never could get my fried rice flavorful. and balanced. Made this once and my mom, who swears she hates “oriental foods” devoured it. I thought… Yeah, that was pretty good. Will try it again sometime. Well, today is “sometime” and now I’m all out sold. This will be my go to recipe from now on!
I don’t ever comment on recipes I try online but this was fantastic! I didn’t modify a thing and simply added some left over pork loin chops that I diced up for added protein. Tasted better than a restaurant version!! Thank you very much…this one’s a definite keeper. :)
Just made this for an early church night dinner. It’s a hit! I didn’t have oyster sauce, so I used hoisin sauce. Also I added meatless kielbasa, different colored bell peppers, celery and zucchini. (Because we didn’t have carrots and peas, so I just improvised with whatever vegetables I had on hand). Other than that I followed the recipe to a T, and it is delicious!
This recipe is lit. Made twice so far. I love fried rice!!
There is vegan oyster sauce. It can be bought at Asian supermarkets. It’s called mushroom vegetarian oyster flavored sauce or something similar.
This is an AMAZING recipe! We made a few tweaks to it but for homemade fried rice we have never had any better. The one thing we did add to it was a fried rice seasoning mix! Thanks for the recipe!
Delicious!!!!
Fantatic recipe! Made it with shrimp, oh, my! Thank you for sharing this.
Note to ‘AC’ who commented June 28: I learned my lesson putting frozen peas in a hot stir-fry skillet. They exploded all over my kitchen! Now I partially thaw any veggies ahead of time.
I made this recipe last night & added cabbage & shrimp. It’s the best recipe!!! My boyfriend just kept raving about it & I agree, delicious!!! I only added cabbage because I love it. I’m going to make this again & each time that I do I’m going to use a different type of meat. Thank you so much for sharing this recipe. I will be looking at more of yours!
I just made this & it is DELICIOUS!!!! Easy to follow recipe and comes out perfectly!! I added chopped pork tenderloin & we gobbled it up in no time! Thanks for another great recipe!
was craving panda express so i gave this a try and it turned out absolutely delicious! i’m vegan so i used tofu scramble for the eggs and vegan oyster sauce and it was so good. thank you! will definitely be making this again soon.
Until just now I had never made a good fried rice. I had given up trying when I found your recipe. This was excellent. Thanks for giving me another keeper to add to my list.
Not sure what happened. My rice didn’t fry per se. The dish turned out to be vegetables, white rice with soy sauce. We can’t use oyster sauce and I don’t think I can recall the taste of sesame oil coming through. The rice was chilled well in time. It was made in the afternoon, placed in the refrigerator and then made the following afternoon. What went wrong? I’m opened to all suggestions.
P.S. I even took half the rice out of my wok thinking there was too much for frying. Still no avail.
Is it possible to cut the ingredients in half? It’s just me and my hubby and we don’t eat that much…
Would it still come out good?
Delish!! I used up other veggies in mine to use up stuff before it went bad. Celery, broccoli cauliflower onions carrots. pea pods instead of frozen peas.. crazy good
This came out great! We had cauliflower “rice” so used a bag of that and added about half of a cup of regular rice for texture. We were missing some ingredients so no oyster sauce or scallions and we substituted broccoli for the peas. I actually liked it better with broccoli. Will definitely save and use this recipe again
Omg deliciousness thank you so much. One thing I did do differently I added chicken and I put the chicken in baking soda covered it put in fridge for 1/2 hour to make it softer
whats the red pieces in the picture?
I have scoured the internet for fried rice recipes and I always come back to this one. I don’t change a thing.
It tastes better than any fried rice I have ever bought from any Asian restaurant. Great Recipe Thanks!
This was amazing!
I especially love the oyster sauce in this recipe along with butter and toasted sesame seed oil.
Thank you for this terrific recipe! I’ve made it several times and usually double the recipe because the family loves it so much. I find myself making roast pork for the purpose of having leftovers to make this and I go ahead and make the rice in my Instant Pot at the same time so I’m ready to whip this up the next day.
I love this recipe! I use frozen vegetables and add bay shrimp and Chinese sausage (it’s a must!)
Amazing sesame seed oil is key. I forgot the garlic but it still tasted awesome
I used the coconut oi soy Sauce substitute which is amazing bc it has a little bit of sweet flavor to it. I used just a little then the Killman reduced sodium soy sauce. Lillian tastes the best so use it. The sesame seed oil is key jere it will not taste as good without it.
Well balanced and flexible recipe. I used lots of veggies, eggs, and leftover ghee instead of butter. As vegetarians, we skipped the oyster sauce. Tasty!
So apparently Google lets you know how many times and the exact last time you visited a webpage. Who knew. But I’m telling you this because that brought my awareness to just how many times we have made this recipe for fried rice. Since December, 9 times. 9. times. That’s a lotta fried rice. lol
So to say that we love this recipe in our household (one of the members being a very picky teenager) is an understatement. Super simple, quick and packed full of flavor!
We don’t even order fried rice out anymore. It just doesn’t boast flavor like we get with our homemade one. So thank you for that! lol
Just made this ,it is good.Just a suggestion ,you need a wok.Plus a few strips of bacon added to this recipe adds flavor.
Can I use frozen peas and carrots, always have on hand.
Awesome!
Are eggs a must have ingredient?
Not only did mine not look like the photo, it wasn’t even very good. Sorry! Not impressed.
Made this this evening and it was delicious! The kids have requested that i make this again soon so feel it, will become a regular meal in our household. Thanks for sharing this amazing recipe
This turned out absolutely delicious. This is definitely a must if you miss eating in Chinese restaurants. I wouldn’t be able to tell the difference!
Why add salt…when Spy Sauce (even light) and Oyster Sauce are salty enough.
Only 1 word for it AWESOME.!!
This is great. I’ve made it before and about to make it again. I triple the recipe for leftovers. Speaking of which, the advice that it can be saved for three days in the refrigerator is a gross understatement. I understand the possible liability of saying more so it’s a CYA comment, though it can safely be kept considerably longer and the flavor will become even more intense.
Can frozen peas and carrots be used?
This was awesome, I used a bag of frozen peas carrots corn and green beans. Was excellent!
Made this tonight and it was AWESOME! The flavors were on point. And, my kids even loved it and went back for seconds — thank you for this great recipe!
This recipe is by far the best I’ve ever had. I have a hard time eating at restaurants now because they don’t take their fried rice seriously ?
Thank you for this amazing recipe!
I made this rice today. It was delicious. I used long grain basmati rice and used it just after I cooked it and it worked great. The only thing I changed was I added more of the soy sauce and sesame oil. I also added some sautéed chicken thighs. I cut the chicken up in bite size pieces and added to rice at the end. Can’t wait to try it again with shrimp.
Best fried rice I have ever made. It is now a favourite and I add whatever leftover chicken or meat I have. Easy, quick and yummie.
This was perfection!!! The oyster sauce and toasted sesame oil took it to a restaurant quality level.
Yummy fried rice recipe! Super easy to make!
I did everything exactly what the recipe called for,
except I used a drained canned of peas and carrots instead! Delicious! And better than any Asian restaurant around!
My family and I really enjoy this dish! It was very yummy! The tips through out were very helpful . The sesame oil is key!
That was bloody delicious! My husband said it’s the best fried rice he’s ever had! Thank you! ?