The House Special – a fully loaded, fabulous Chicken Fried Rice!! With seasoned chicken, vegetables, fluffy egg and pops of salty bacon, this fried rice recipe is one that’s worthy of serving as a meal.
Don’t be fooled by recipes claiming to be “better than take out” that call for nothing more than soy sauce for flavour. It takes more than that for an authentic chicken fried rice – just ask your friendly local Chinese restaurant!!
Chicken Fried Rice
After Monday’s simple yet-myth-busting How To Cook Rice post, I thought I’d follow up with a quick ‘n easy recipe today. Using rice of course. My “House Special” chicken fried rice!! 😂
I know going with fried rice is an obvious option, and not the first I’ve shared at that. But I wanted to share a Chicken Fried Rice recipe which I haven’t done before specifically because while it’s very easy to say to people “oh, just cook up some chook before you toss in everything else!” in the notes of my everyday Fried Rice recipe, it’s just cleaner to have a recipe dedicated to Chicken Fried Rice.
And actually, the steps are a little different. 🙂
So that’s what I’m sharing today!
What you need
Here’s what you need for Chicken Fried Rice.
For the Fried Rice Sauce:
- Soy sauce – either light or all purposes is fine here. DO NOT use dark soy sauce, it’s too intense. Maggie seasoning would also work but reduce the quantity a bit (it’s saltier!).
- Oyster sauce can be substituted with either fish sauce + hoisin sauce (best!) or just hoisin sauce (though you will get a slight Chinese Five Spice Flavour which is lovely!)
- Chinese cooking wine (Shaoxing Wine) (or Mirin or dry sherry) is the “secret ingredient” in fried rice. I really encourage you to get your hands on it if you can (or Mirin or dry sherry) because it really makes all the difference, adding complexity and depth to the sauce to make it stack up to Chinese restaurant fried rice! No alcoholic sub – see recipe notes, use chicken or vegetable stock powder / granulated bouillon.
And for the Add-Ins:
- Day old cooked rice that’s been refrigerated – because the rice dries out and becomes crumbly which is what you need so your fried rice isn’t clumpy and mushy
- Bacon – because it adds a load of flavour into fried rice and is the next best option to Chinese sausage (bit pricey in non Asian stores) or Chinese BBQ Pork (never have leftovers!) which is what restaurants typically use. Ham is also ideal!
- Diced veg – go with what you want here, anything that’s dice-able and stir-fry-able. I typically use diced carrot, frozen corn and frozen peas (easy, quick, classic Chinese).
- Egg – because we all love the fluffy egg bits in fried rice!
- Green onion – for a bit of freshness and colour;
- Chicken – oh yes, because this is a Chicken Fried Rice after all! 😂 (Feel free to sub with other proteins)
- Onion and garlic – essential flavour base.
How to make it
As with all stir fries, once you start cooking, Chicken Fried Rice comes together very quickly so have everything chopped and ready to throw into the wok – or skillet!
The only thing worth noting is that I cook the egg first, then take it out and add it back in later. In my classic side-dish Fried Rice recipe, I cook the egg without taking it out – which you can get away with doing because there’s less “stuff” in the fried rice so it’s easy enough to handle.
With Chicken Fried Rice, there’s more “stuff” in it and if you try to cook it all up in one go, it gets a little much.
What to serve with Chicken Fried Rice
I happily serve this as a meal because while one ordinarily assumes fried rice is carb heavy, in actual fact this recipe only calls for 2 cups of cooked rice compared to almost 4 cups of other “stuff” (chicken, veg, bacon).
It sounds out of whack, but you can see from the photos that it looks just as it should – like a fully loaded Chicken Fried Rice!
And it is of course suitable for serving as a side with anything Chinese or Asian for that matter, but I’d avoid things with very strong kapow flavours, like Thai Red Curry or Kung Pao Chicken because this Fried Rice has decent flavour in itself.
But usual stir fries like Beef and Broccoli, Cashew Chicken and Chop Suey Chicken Stir Fry would be fabulous.
Also, some more ideas for how to serve Chicken Fried Rice:
MAKE A MEAL OUT OF STARTERS
Make a meal out of dishes ordinarily served as starters by adding a side of Fried Rice. Things such Hot and Sour Soup, Chinese Corn Soup, Spring Rolls, Chinese Lettuce Wraps (San Choy Bau) or Egg Foo Young.
BANQUET!
Indulge in a homemade Yum Cha (Dim Sum) style banquet with dishes such as Potstickers, Char Siu (Chinese BBQ Pork), Chinese Steamed Pork Buns, or Crispy Chinese Pork Belly with a side of Chinese Broccoli with Oyster Sauce.
– Nagi x
Watch how to make it
More fried rice recipes
- Classic Chinese Fried Rice – to serve as a side
- Thai Fried Rice
- Nasi Goreng (Indonesian Fried Rice)
- Chinese Fried Rice with Shrimp / Prawns
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Chicken Fried Rice
Ingredients
- 2 tbsp oil , peanut, vegetable or canola
- 2 eggs , lightly whisked
- 150g / 5oz chicken breast , finely sliced into small pieces
- 2 garlic cloves , minced
- 1/2 onion , finely chopped
- 120g/4 oz bacon , excess fat trimmed, chopped (Note 1)
- 1 small carrot* , peeled and diced 0.75cm / 1/3"
- 1/2 cup frozen corn* (or can or fresh)
- 1/2 cup frozen peas*
- 2 cups (packed) cooked white rice , day old (Note 2)
- 3/4 cup green onions , finely sliced
SAUCE:
- 2.5 tbsp Chinese cooking wine or Mirin (Note 3)
- 1 tbsp oyster sauce (Note 4)
- 3 tbsp light soy sauce (Note 5)
- 1/2 tsp sesame oil , optional
- 1/4 tsp white pepper , optional
Instructions
- Sauce & chicken: Mix Sauce in a bowl. Pour 2 tsp over chicken, toss to coat, then set aside for 10 minutes.
- Egg: Heat 1 tbsp oil in a wok or skillet over medium heat. Add egg and scramble until just cooked (still a touch wet) then remove.
- Fried Rice: Turn heat up to high, add remaining 1/2 tbsp oil and bacon into same skillet. Cook for 1 minute or so until fat starts to melt, then add onion and garlic.
- Cook until bacon is light golden - about 1 1/2 minutes.
- Add vegetables (still frozen is fine). Cook for 1 minute.
- Add chicken and cook until it changes from pink to white - about 1 1/2 minutes.
- Add rice and Sauce ingredients. Cook for 1 1/2 minutes, stirring consantly.
- Add egg and green onion, toss through to disperse then remove from heat.
- Serve immediately!
Recipe Notes:
Nutrition Information:
Life of Dozer
Pho, fried rice, salad….. doesn’t matter what I’m serving up, he always eyes it off like this!!
Quite possibly the tastiest chicken fried rice I’ve ever tasted. I didn’t use bacon but added more chicken and it was just beautiful. Thank you for another amazing recipe😊
That’s great, thanks so much Lynn!
Made twice this week….took ages the first time but easy Peasy the second because I prepped everything first and knew the sequence of the ingredients. Very tasty. I don’t like bacon so increased the quantity of chicken. Yummy and will make again
Sounds perfect Rita!
Thanks Nagi for another great recipe. I had some day old rice on hand so was a breeze to prepare. We had it as a main and it was really really nice.
Perfect Maureen!
Hi Nagi
Thank you for all your wonderful recipies many of which I have made and enjoyed.
I appreciate the level of detail and reason behind what you do so that we can learn new things and become better cooks instead of just replicating recipes.
My question regarding the fried rice… the rice is essentially being heated three times (assuming left overs) one to boil the rice, then to fry, then to reheat. Is this ok to do? I do feel health and safety has gone a bit mad and we are advised here in the UK (NHS) to reheat only once.
Thanks again
Hi Tracy, I’ve done it numerous times and been perfectly fine!
Made this recipe tonight. It took longer to prep than 20 minutes- I used all fresh veggies except for peas. I can’t stand bacon so doubled the chicken…I used precooked brown rice in a bag I bought at Aldi. Worked like a treat amd it was a tasty dinner. It comes together quickly. Will definitely cook this again.
I’m so glad you enjoyed it Rita!
Hi Nagi
Thank you for all your wonderful recipies many of which I have made and enjoyed.
I appreciate the level of detail and reason behind what you do so that we can learn new things and become better cooks instead of just replicating recipes.
My question regarding the fried rice… the rice is essentially being heated three times (assuming left overs) one to boil the rice, then to fry, then to reheat. Is this ok to do? I do feel health and safety has gone a bit mad and we are advised here in the UK (NHS) to reheat only once.
Thanks again
You have Chinese cooking wine in a lot of your recipes. It says Mirin or Sake or dry sherry,
Which do you use or what would be your first recommendation when you list that ingredient?
Hi Angela, I always use Chinese cooking wine – the flavour can’t be replicated and it’s well worth hunting it down. If you can’t find it – dry sherry or sake would be the next best thing 🙂
Hey Nagi can you give me info on starting my own Recipe Tin? I’m hitting the heart button with my many favourites but not sure how to start one. Cheers x
Hi Sue, if you click the button next to the heart, you’ll go to your saved favourites 🙂
Made this tonight for my family’s school /work lunches …. they went crazy and wanted to eat it for dinner! Thanks Nagi. Another “keeper” recipe that everyone loves.
Ummmmm….YUM!!! I made this tonight, and it was AMAZING! The whole family was obsessed…no leftovers for once- thank you, Nagi!
That’s the best Kirsty!!!
Wow, really tasty. Fried rice for me is always what ever veggies you have in the frig, but that sauce takes fried rice to the next level, and an excuse to add bacon is always a bonus. Chopped cabbage and celery go really well in fried rice IMHO.
Yes it’s totally adaptable to whatever veggies you have on hand!
Hi Naggi
Thanks for the great Chinese recipes. I have done the ChowMein and Chop Suey. Lush. My question is, what ratio Fish Sc & Hoisin Sc.
Thanks
Graham
Hi Graham, I’m so glad you loved them! I’m not sure what you mean re the fish and hoisin sauce – N x
Made this with your chow mein (which was great) but the fried rice stoled the show
Also did air fried sweet and sour pork which was ok
Next time just making fried rice and chow mein
Wahoo! That’s great to hear Jodi!
This dish was amazing
Served it with air fried sweet and sour pork along with your Chinese fried rice
My husband the chef noted that Jesse our Portuguese Water Dog spent every second in kitchen
Love that there was so much veg hidden within both dishes
Today was my first time trying this recipe and it’s so delicious. It has a lot of flavor. I’m planning to make this for a breakfast potluck at the office on Friday and I expect it to be a hit.