Gimme Some Oven

Fried Rice

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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.

The BEST Fried Rice Recipe from Gimme Some Oven

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 Recipe

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 | Sauté onions, carrots and peas

How To Make Fried Rice | Be sure to start with cold rice

How To Make Stir Fried Rice

How To Make Fried Rice:

To make this homemade fried rice recipe, simply:

  1. 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.
  2. Sauté veggies and garlic: Return your sauté pan to the heat, and sauté the onions, carrots, peas and garlic until soft and cooked through.
  3. 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.
  4. Remove pan from heat. And stir in your green onions, sesame oil, and scrambled eggs.
  5. Taste and season. Give the rice a taste, and season with salt and pepper, plus any extra soy sauce or sesame oil if needed.
  6. Serve! Then dish it up and serve nice and warm!

The BEST Fried Rice Recipe | Feel free to add chicken, beef, pork, shrimp or extra vegetables

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.
  • Quinoa Fried Rice: Here is my favorite recipe.

What To Serve With Fried Rice:

Looking for inspiration? Some of my favorite recipes to serve with fried rice include:

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The BEST Fried Rice Recipe from Gimme Some Oven

Fried Rice

5 Stars 4 Stars 3 Stars 2 Stars 1 Star 4.9 from 1309 reviews
  • Prep Time: 5 minutes
  • Cook Time: 10 minutes
  • Total Time: 15 minutes
  • Yield: 4 -6 servings 1x

Description

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)
  • 3 green onions, thinly sliced
  • 34 tablespoons soy sauce, or more to taste
  • 2 teaspoons oyster sauce (optional)
  • 1/2 teaspoons toasted sesame oil

Instructions

  1. 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.
  2. 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.
  3. Serve immediately, or refrigerate in a sealed container for up to 3 days.


Notes

*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.

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2,407 comments on “Fried Rice”

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  1. Your Cooking advice at the beginning was fantastic! I only use Brown Rice, I used Indian Basmati Brown Rice.
    I already knew about only using cold rice. In cooking rice, I use about 6 cups
    of water per cup of rice. then I drain rice, and spread out rice on large plate, and put it in fridge the day before preparing the recipe. It makes perfect fluffy rice every time. I added Water Chestnuts, Red Bell Peppers, 2 TBL Garlic (We love Garlic). I also added Shrimp tossed in Corn Starch, cooked separately.
    It was fantastic! filled with loads of Veggies and extras, not found in, as you stated, ‘Lame Takeout Fried Rice’. The Cooking advice you included will be applied to any Future Recipe . I chuckle when I see a bad review posted alongside a ton of excellent reviews. Math must not be their strong point!
    Not that I can see you getting a bad review. ha ha






  2. Turned out really good and was super easy! Saving this recipe for sure.






  3. I made this meal tonight after finding it on Pinterest and reading all the reviews. Friends, let me tell you, my husband and 2 teenage sons raved about this meal!! I added rotisserie chicken and used pre chopped garlic from the jar. I know fresh is best but I’m a busy working mom and if I can get a meal on the table and everyone to sit together then I have scored!!! This will be a staple in our dinner recipe rotation.






  4. My husband said this is the best fried rice he’s ever had.






  5. Made this for my family….delicious .Kids really enjoyed. it. Has a lot of flavour!!






  6. Used this recipe to make fried rice for the first time ever. It was super easy and it came out so delicious!!! It will now be made regularly in our home!






  7. Girlfriend, this recipe was good. I used all the ingredients plus added some diced chicken thighs I didn’t follow the exact measurements but it turned out awesome. I come from learning how to cook without measuring so we just eyeball and taste. Thanks so much for this and the recommendation to use cold rice. It really makes alot of sense! I love your blog as also tried your pepper steak recipe. My boyfriend said it was the best he’d ever had. May God continue to bless you and your gift to share great food.






  8. The fucking best! I shoveled this rice down my throat!






  9. I made this exactly as the recipe read except I have a commercial grill and I grilled it. YUM!

  10. I absolutely loved it!!! Especially all the hints with using butter – the sesame oil – extra soy sauce. – etc! I added. Extra egg- – so good and so quick!






  11. It was spectacular! I added chicken

  12. It was incredible! So easy! So delicious!! Thanks!






  13. This rice is delicious! And super easy for me to make fast…which is great since I’m a nursing student and have little time. I was wondering what the best way to reheat this is though so it isn’t dried out???






  14. Awesome recipe and easy to follow!

  15. Made this receipe Friday night and is so good I’m making again Tuesday upon special request.

  16. I made this just like the recipe called for, except I added some chicken. Very good and easy. My husband really liked it. He told me “Don’t lose that recipe!”
    Thank you!






  17. I just made this (Chicken for my wife and kids and Shrimp for myself). I will never buy takeout fried Rice again!!!






  18. I made the recipe last night. It was excellent! I did not use the oyster sauce, but I will try it next time.
    I just beat the eggs and added them to the end when frying. Worked great!
    I used leftover smoked beef tenderloin meat in my rice.
    I also served the leftover rice the next day for lunch. Also, great!
    Thanks for the recipe!

  19. Best fried rice EVER!!! Threw some left over pork tenderloin in to make it a meal and everyone licked their plates clean! Thank you so much for sharing this recipe!!! You’re awesome :)






  20. The BEST Fried Rice I’ve ever had!
    I added chicken and shrimp, used the oyster sauce-made huge difference for the better.
    My family , friends and I love it.






  21. Hey! Thanks for sharing, excited to make it this weekend but a really silly question…..do you use salted or unsalted butter?

    Thank you.

    • You’re welcome to use either! I usually use unsalted, then you can control the amount of salt (or soy sauce) that you’d like to add.

  22. Best fried recipe ever!!! Seriously, my kids request this one at least once a week.






  23. I have made lots of fried rice dishes before and they turned me off for a long time cause they never came out as expected, although they were good. But when I delved to try this recipe I was totally pleased! It is just as i anticipated although I opted out for the oyster sauce this time. This will always be my go to recipe from here on cause I simply love it!! Thank you SOOOO much,!!?

  24. I have made many fried rice recipes before and for a long time I never made any until now. They completely turned me off although they were good but they never came out as I expected. But when I tried this one I was completely amazed because it came out exactly as I anticipated. Thank you so very much for giving me my new go to fried rice recipe from here on. Lovely dish!?






  25. I have tried A LOT of different fried rice recipes from different bloggers and cook apps over the years, the results were always so disastrous that I ultimately gave up on trying for a while, thank God for my recent random desire for the old favorite (never eat Chinese takeout) it led me here, needless to say this was the easiest and best tasting fried rice recipe that i have EVER attempted, and believe me, I’ve attempted quite a bit. So easy to follow and understand, and the rice refrigeration method, priceless, always wondered why the mushy rice result, lol. Anyway, thanks soooooo much #newstaple

  26. I don’t usually comment on these but I have to say that I made this tonight and it was delicious! (I eyeballed all the measurements as I’m not keen on that) I added some chicken and a giant blob of homemade kimchi on the side to eat with it. As if the recipe wasn’t already awesome, the kimchi brought it to a whole new level!






  27. I made this recipe and yesterday and I couldn’t keep my hands out of it. The only thing I did differently is i halfed all the ingredients, but i forgot to use half the amount of butter. Weeeelllll, needless to say this dish made my tongue slap my brain out trying to get some more!!!!! I didn’t use the seceme oil becuase I think i have some in the cupboard, but I’m not sure if it is the right kind. I may try it next time. One question though: do you know the caloric intake? If so, can you post it please. I scrolled down a bit but didn’t see it anywhere.






  28. This is our favorite Fried Rice. Usually add chicken, which we love, but, today, I added chunks of fried salmon. Absolutely delicious!

  29. I didn’t even make it the right way and it was still almost as or just about as good as the rice I had while in Beijing this year. Running to the store now to get short grain rice and sesame oil to taste the difference :-D






  30. so delicious! I sadly didn’t have garlic but it was such a great way to use up some leftover produce and take-out brown rice. I’ll have to grab some oyster sauce next time.

  31. I have tried a few recipes for stir fried rice and have been pretty much pleased with each of them… this one however is a keeper. Great flavor and quite easy to prepare. Thanks for sharing!






  32. I love to add cabbage and celery to the veggies since i don’t like peas. I am excited about trying it with butter and oyster sauce

  33. Hello! Planning on making this tomorrow. It looks delicious. How many cups of non-cooked rice do you need to get 4 cups of cooked rice? Thank you

  34. Planning on making this tomorrow. At what point in the recipe would I cook/add chicken?

    • If you’re starting with raw chicken, I would recommend cooking it up beforehand. Then stirring it in at the very end. :) Enjoy!

  35. Best fried rice I’ve ever eaten ! I crumbled some crispy bacon into the butter and increased the amount of oyster sauce. Thanks for sharing this with us amateurs !!






  36. This is the best fried rice recipe ever. I would rather it this than any take out. You did a great job and all your effort was definitely rewarded.






  37. Wow! So much better than take out. I thought I would have lots of leftovers but not a bite left. Thanks for a great recipe.






  38. This reminds me of the curry rice recipes I always enjoy back in India. Thanks for sharing!!






  39. I feel like I cannot overstate how much I love this recipe. I have made it five times now and even with creative variations it still turnes out amazing! I probably annoy my firends with with how often I’m preaching the virtues of the amazing fried rice I found on Pinterest.






  40. This was very good, the best fried rice recipe I’ve tried yet! Thank you! :-)






  41. Best fried rice I’ve ever had!!!!!! Seriously, this tops every restaurant version I’ve had hands-down. Thanks for the awesome recipe!






  42. SO DELICIOUS! Can’t wait to make this one again soon.






  43. This is the easiest end best fried rice recipe ever. Just made it and it’s delicious! Thank you!






  44. Thank you looks like a great recipe.

  45. This was the best fried rice I ever made (and some of the best I’ve eaten)!! I did make a few changes – no white onion, added left over pork chop (which I diced and cooked just slightly again), used frozen peas and carrots and didn’t add the sesame oil at the end. Made long grain white rice and left it in the same pot in the fridge for a day or so. I just ate the leftovers of it and couldn’t stop eating it!

  46. Forgot to add the 5 stars – should be 10 stars anyway,






  47. I’ve made this fried rice several times and each time my husband and I eat the fried rice we are so pleased with the recipe. It is so delicious! We stopped eating fried rice takeout because nothing compares to this fried rice recipe. It truly is THE BEST FRIED RICE! Since making this we were inspied to make our own orange chicken and general tso to go with the rice. All has been fantastic and easy. Thank you for sharing this recipe. You have a great recipe for fried rice.
    Thank you!






  48. This recipe has become a staple in our house. My kids actually prefer it over take out fried rice, as do I. I do not use oyster sauce, but I use everything else. And I like to also add mushrooms towards the end. My choice of protein is shrimp and this is such a fast meal that I can whip together on a weeknight and using rice that otherwise would be thrown out. I honestly think this is my favorite Pinterest recipe find ever. Thanks!!!






  49. This is my go to fried rice recipe. We don’t eat any thing else when we do stir fry, Chinese night, etc. My husband and kids love it and I love how easy/cheap it is to make! As good if not better thanks takeout rice!! Thanks so much, I use this so recipe at least monthly!! Love it!! Having it tonight ?






  50. Ali,
    Do you ever include nutritional info with your recipes?