15 Minute Egg Fried Rice Recipe | MasalaHerb.com (2024)

15 Minute Egg Fried Rice Recipe | MasalaHerb.com (1)Helene Dsouza

Egg fried rice is best prepared with leftover rice so that the fried rice doesn't get mushy and sticky. This egg fried rice is ready in less than 15 minutes.

Total Time: 15 minutes minutes

Prep Time: 5 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 10 minutes minutes

2 servings

5 from 8 votes

VIDEO RECIPE

15 Minute Egg Fried Rice Recipe | MasalaHerb.com (2)

Egg fried rice is an unbeatable Friday night weeknight dinner in my house.

The quick and easy fried rice with eggs is flavorful and can be created with common pantry ingredients in your kitchen.

15 Minute Egg Fried Rice Recipe | MasalaHerb.com (3)

This Egg Fried Rice Recipe is a one-pot, quick and easy weeknight dinner meal and it's Vegetarian, Nut-free, Lactose-free, and Meatless.

15 Minute Egg Fried Rice Recipe | MasalaHerb.com (4)

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Jump to:
  • 📕 What is it?
  • 🧅 Ingredients
  • 📜 Variations
  • 🔪 How to make it?
  • 🍴 Serving
  • 🍱 Storing
  • 💭 FAQs
  • 📖 Recipe
  • 💬 Comments

📕 What is it?

Egg fried rice is an almost-effortless Asian classic that surely has the potential to become your new best friend in the kitchen.

Homemade fried rice with scrambled egg is the dinner you deserve after a long day of work.

What is even better is that this recipe helps you reuse any leftover rice that you don’t know what to do with.

When making egg-fried rice, make sure to either use leftover rice that has hardened a bit in the refrigerator or go for slightly undercooked rice.

This helps maintain texture and avoids the rice from getting too soft or mushy.

Inspired by the classic Chinese fried rice, this dish is quick, easy, and can almost certainly be made from everything that is already sitting in your refrigerator.

All it takes is 15 minutes and a zero-waste, sustainable meal is ready to fill you up! And did I mention, delicious?

15 Minute Egg Fried Rice Recipe | MasalaHerb.com (5)

🧅 Ingredients

To cook:

  • oil - such as canola, sunflower, or regular vegetable oil.
  • eggs - normal eggs. Try it with quail eggs for extra nutritious elements!
  • onion- white or purple.
  • ginger - freshly grated or finely chopped.
  • garlic - freshly chopped.
  • cabbage- chopped. You can use regular or Chinese (napa) cabbage.
  • carrot - cut into matchsticks.
  • green bell pepper - thinly sliced. Optionally yellow, orange, or red bell pepper.
  • green peas
  • cooked rice - use al dente (to the bite) cooked rice or use leftover cooked plain rice that was kept in the fridge. The fridge environment is dry and turns the rice kernels nice and crispy. That way your fried rice won't turn out mushy.

Mushrooms, spinach or leek, etc. can also be added depending on what’s available!

For the stir-fry sauce:

  • sugar - white or brown
  • vinegar - rice vinegar is my favorite but you can use regular white distilled vinegar too
  • dark soy sauce - kikkoman style
  • chili sauce or skip and use ketchup for no heat

This recipe is extremely healthy and does not contain any MSG.

You can also skip the extra spice and hold the chili sauce. This egg-fried rice recipe works great even with ketchup!

I added some tabasco sauce to it too in the video. (see Indian variation below for info)

15 Minute Egg Fried Rice Recipe | MasalaHerb.com (6)

📜 Variations

This egg fried rice is inspired by the Chinese traditional version but it's definitely not authentic. It's more like a quick and easy dinner version and it does resemble the Indian egg fried rice version.

Chinese style - add sesame oil or peanut oil over the. For the Sichuan style fried rice add doubanjiang to the stir fry and green onions with purple onions. Or add fried pork to make a Young Chow Fried Rice

Thai style - Add pineapple as in Thai pineapple fried rice. You can also add some shrimp paste during the stir-frying process. Skip the onion and use green onions only.

Japanese style - Like hibachi fried rice. Use only rice vinegar in your stir fry sauce with soy sauce and sugar. Sprinkle some Ra-yu sauce over the rice as a garnish.

Korean style - Add some kimchi to the stir fry.

Indian style - Use ketchup in the stir fry sauce with tabasco sauce. Use ginger and garlic paste instead of fresh ginger and garlic. You can add a pinch of chili pepper flakes or powder. OR you can add a pinch of asafoetida spice to your stir fry.

American style - add bacon pieces but it won't be vegetarian meatless anymore.

🔪 How to make it?

Here’s how to quickly make egg fried rice in one pot (or pan) from scratch to add color to your weeknight:

Step 1

Stir cook cut onion and add ginger + garlic (or use ginger garlic paste as I did)

15 Minute Egg Fried Rice Recipe | MasalaHerb.com (7)

Step 2

Stir-fry the chopped onion, ginger, and garlic, and add your veggies. Prepare the stir-fry sauce separately.

15 Minute Egg Fried Rice Recipe | MasalaHerb.com (8)

Step 3

Break the eggs into the pan and slowly incorporate them into the veggies.

15 Minute Egg Fried Rice Recipe | MasalaHerb.com (9)

Step 4

Add the rice to the pan, pour the sauce over it and mix well.

15 Minute Egg Fried Rice Recipe | MasalaHerb.com (10)

🍴 Serving

The best way to serve this dish is freshly made, in a bowl or shallow plate with chopped fresh green onion stalks as a garnish.

🍱 Storing

You can store leftovers in an airtight container.

These should last 2-3 days in a refrigerator and can be easily reheated in a pan or microwave.

Freezing this dish is not recommended as the rice may get mushy.

This dish is also extremely meal-prep friendly and can be used as lunch on any weekdays after some quick weekend preparation.

💭 FAQs

Why is homemade egg fried rice better?

Trusted ingredients, zero MSG (add umami with pink salt for added taste), less oil, and reusing leftovers make this dish tastier, healthier, and cost-effective.

What oil to use?

Any cooking oil except olive oil (which does not compliment the Asian flavor) will be fine for this dish. Healthier options include safflower oil, canola oil, sunflower oil, soybean oil, etc.

Do I need a wok to make this?

No, you may use a simple frying pan or a large skillet.

Can I add a fried egg over my fried rice instead?

Yes! You can just skip adding and scrambling the egg into the fried rice and instead place a fried egg over your fried rice. But that means you need to cook your egg separately.

Dear reader, what has been your favorite fried rice dish up till now?

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📖 Recipe

15 Minute Egg Fried Rice Recipe | MasalaHerb.com (13)

Easy Egg Fried Rice Recipe

Egg fried rice is best prepared with leftover rice so that the fried rice doesn't get mushy and sticky. This egg fried rice is ready in less than 15 minutes.

5 from 8 votes

Print Pin Rate

Course: Main Course

Cuisine: Asian

Diet: Diabetic, Low Calorie

Prep Time: 5 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 10 minutes minutes

Total Time: 15 minutes minutes

Servings: 2 servings

Calories: 290kcal

Recipe by: Helene Dsouza

Ingredients

To Cook

  • 2 Tablespoon Oil I use Olive Oil
  • 1 Tablespoon Onion chopped
  • 1 Tablespoon Ginger + Garlic *see Notes
  • 1 cup Green Cabbage chopped
  • 1 small Carrot cut into matchsticks
  • 1 ½ Tablespoon Green Bell Pepper cut into thine slice
  • 2 Eggs
  • 1 cup Green Peas
  • 1 cup Cooked Rice *see Note

For the Stir Fry Sauce:

Garnish: (optional)

  • Green Onions cut the stalks

US - Metric

Instructions

  • Keep all ingredients ready. Prep and cut veggies.

  • Heat up the cooking oil in your Wok or large skillet and add your chopped Onion. Stir fry till translucent. Then add the Ginger Garlic and keep on stir-frying over high heat.

  • Stir in cut cabbage, carrot and bell pepper to the pan and stir fry al dente (so that it's cooked, but hard and not soft).

  • While you are frying, prepare your sauce by mixing the sugar, vinegar, soy sauce, chili sauce (ketchup) to a smooth sauce. (This can be done before starting to cook too).

  • Then make some space in your wok where your veggies are cooking, by keeping the veggies to one side of the wok and break in your eggs. So while the pan is on high heat the eggs will cook and you need to just scramble them and stir fry. Slowly incorporate your veggies with the eggs while still stir-frying the content.

  • Add your cold rice and pour the previously prepared sauce over it. Stir fry/mix the whole content over high heat so that everything gets well mixed up.

  • At the end we add the cooked green peas and if you feel it is a bit dry you can add some water too. Stir fry until everything is well mixed up and serve directly hot.

  • You can garnish with chopped green spring onion too if you wish, I didn't have any at hand when i filmed this egg fried rice, so I left that out.

Notes

  1. Use finely chopped ginger and garlic with a ratio of 1:2 or use ginger and garlic paste.
  2. Prepare all your vegetables first and the sauce while stir-frying the vegetables at the side. Be quick and use high heat and less oil.
  3. Use a nonstick pan for best results. Serve hot and you may want to garnish with chopped green spring onion.
  4. Also, you have the option of leaving out the veggies or using slightly different vegetables. You could add mushrooms, spinach, and leek if you wish.
  5. Use rice that was cooked halfway through (al dente) or use rice that was left in the fridge to harden.
  6. If you don't have chili sauce use ketchup + tabasco together.

Nutrition

Nutrition Facts

Easy Egg Fried Rice Recipe

Amount Per Serving

Calories 290Calories from Fat 162

% Daily Value*

Fat 18g28%

Saturated Fat 2g10%

Cholesterol 163mg54%

Sodium 245mg10%

Potassium 404mg12%

Carbohydrates 19g6%

Fiber 5g20%

Sugar 9g10%

Protein 10g20%

Vitamin A 5080IU102%

Vitamin C 51.6mg63%

Calcium 65mg7%

Iron 2mg11%

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.

15 Minute Egg Fried Rice Recipe | MasalaHerb.com (2024)

FAQs

What gives Chinese fried rice its flavour? ›

Signature flavor

There are many ways to do this, like using olive oil, canola oil or even butter to fry your rice for a great base. To give your dish that signature fried rice taste, you'll need to drizzle in sesame oil and soy sauce, but feel free to use as much or as little as you wish.

What is the secret ingredient to restaurant fried rice? ›

Cooking bits of chopped vegetables, seasoning, soy sauce, and oil, seems easy enough. However, when making fried rice at home, there's one ingredient you may be overlooking: Sugar.

Do you add egg or rice first in egg fried rice? ›

Heat 2 tbsp of the oil in a large wok over a high heat, then add the onion and fry until lightly browned, around 5 mins. Add the rice, stir and toast for about 3 mins, then move to the side of the pan. Add the remaining oil, then tip in the egg mixture.

What makes fried rice taste like restaurant? ›

The answer: high heat, expert tosses, and something known as 'wok hei. ' As J. Kenji López-Alt writes for Serious Eats, expert cooking with a wok (and the gas range it requires) is one of the main reasons that fried rice from a Chinese restaurant tastes so much better than what you can make at home.

What oil do restaurants use for fried rice? ›

Sesame oil.

I do not recommend omitting or substituting the sesame oil in this recipe. It is key to the authentic flavor of this dish.

What is the secret of egg fried rice? ›

There are two secrets to egg fried rice. The first is to use cold, leftover rice taken from the fridge. It has a firm, dry texture that freshly-made rice doesn't. The second is to serve the dish ferociously hot – the rice needs to have felt the hot metal of the wok.

What is the difference between fried rice and Chinese fried rice? ›

The usage of rice

But in Chinese rice, it is suggested to use leftover cooked rice to avoid the rice from being sticky. In Fried Rice, most quick-service restaurants (QSRs) use long-grain white rice like Basmati, whereas Jasmine Rice is used in Chinese Rice.

Why add mayo to fried rice? ›

To ensure that your rice is nicely fried, mix a bit of mayo in it before frying. The oil in the mayo will coat the rice so that it does not stick together.

What ingredients does egg fried rice contain? ›

Egg fried rice is the simplest of fried rice variations that you'll find. The basic version is nothing but cooked rice, beaten eggs, spring onions or scallions, oil and soy sauce cooked on high heat in a wok. You'll find many versions of this egg and rice recipe.

What is fried rice syndrome? ›

Fried rice syndrome is caused by a bacterium called Bacillus cereus, which is present in these types of starchy foods prior to cooking. Bacillus cereus is a heat-resistant bacteria, so even recooking foods that have not been appropriately refrigerated can result in food poisoning.

Why is my egg fried rice mushy? ›

The rice should be at least one day old to avoid having too much moisture; too much moisture in the rice will make your fried rice soggy and mushy.

Can you just crack an egg into rice? ›

Serve tamago kake gohan while it's nice and warm. This meal is so customizable that there's a lot of variation in how people prepare it in Japan. Some crack the egg directly into the rice, while others prefer to beat the egg separately before pouring it over the rice.

Why is my egg fried rice so dry? ›

This happens most often if you don't let your rice cool completely after cooking. Fried rice is usually made with leftover rice from the day before. It gives the rice a chance to dry out some and firm up, producing distinct, non-mushy grains.

Should you rinse rice for egg fried rice? ›

Nobody likes clumpy fried rice. If you are cooking your rice from raw in order to make fried rice, make sure to rinse off excess starch first. A quick dunk and shake in a bowl of cold water, or a 30-second rinse under a cold tap while agitating the rice, is plenty.

What spice gives Chinese food its flavor? ›

Ginger: Ginger is a root that offers many Chinese cuisines a hot, spicy flavour. It is frequently used to season marinades, stir-fries, and soups. Ginger is also thought to aid in digestion and reduce motion sickness.

Do Chinese restaurants put MSG in fried rice? ›

Some restaurants add MSG to a number of popular dishes, including fried rice.

What makes Chinese food taste Chinese? ›

When it comes to taste, Chinese cuisine incorporates sweet, sour, spicy, salty, and bitter elements. Many ingredients help to achieve this. For instance, vinegar can add to the dish's sourness, while soy sauce can be used to add a hint of sweetness and more saltiness.

How to get smokey flavor in Chinese fried rice? ›

You can introduce smoky flavours to your rice by considering other methods such as using a flavoured oil to fry your rice with so perhaps a combination of butter and peanut oil in which you fry off smoked bacon first.

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