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 instead of as a fried rice side dish.
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:
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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!).
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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!)
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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:
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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
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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!
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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).
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Egg – because we all love the fluffy egg bits in fried rice!
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Green onion – for a bit of freshness and colour;
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Chicken – oh yes, because this is a Chicken Fried Rice after all! 😂 (Feel free to sub with other proteins)
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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 enough flavour in itself.
Milder stir fries on the other hand like Beef and Broccoli, Cashew Chicken, Prawn Stir Fry 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 or Chinese Lettuce with Creamy Sesame Dressing!
– Nagi x
Watch how to make it
More fried rice recipes
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Classic Chinese Fried Rice – to serve as a side
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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 (4oz) 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!!
Estela Carr says
Nagi can I use canned vegetables, (canned corn, canned peas and carrots) if so, do they go in at the same time?
Thank you, I absolutely love your recipes!!!! What would I do without you.
Nagi says
Hi Estela, yes cook exactly the same way. N x
Christine Ukich says
Could you not just use Charlie?
Which I love using for stir fries.
Silvana Despotovic says
Very tasty fried rice , loved it !
I made it with chicken luncheon meat and without bacon as that’s all I had and was still fantastic. Next time will follow the recipe in full. Thanks
Lisa says
Would chicken thigh be suitable?
Nagi says
Yes 100% Lisa! N x
Lana says
Extremely delicious. The first time I made this (with 2 cups of cold precooked rice), I found there wasn’t enough sauce , so now I invariably double up on the sauce for 2 cups of rice and it’s perfect. Great flavor. 😋
Cynthia Williamson says
I made this tonight, but used diced ham instead of bacon. ITS DELICIOUS!!
Gabriel says
Oh… Look so yummy… Thank foe your recipe much! I will follow it for my lunch
Nagi says
Enjoy Gabriel! N x
Michelle S says
Amazing recipe! Easy to follow and really delicious
Nagi says
Thanks so much Michelle! N x
Katrina says
Delicious, quick and fun.
Loving all your recipes
❤️❤️
Lauren says
Delish and super easy!
Rimmy says
I made this last night I added smoked ham and shrimp. it was absolutely delicious!!!! Will make it again!
Thank you!!!
TRINA says
Oh my gosh Nagi; after all these years of making fried rice I was doing it wrong wrong wrong. I followed your recipe to a “T” but with an exception of using Prawns instead of chicken. That’s what I had on hand. My 17 year old son said “Yesss mom.” This is definitely going into my rotation and has been Pinned. I will be trying your curry cashew rice next. Thank you so much for a wonderful recipe. You go girl!
Nagi says
I’m so glad you enjoyed it Trina!! N x
Juliet says
Amazing recipe. Truly does taste as close to the Chinese restaurants as it can get. Thank you for this. Especially during quarantine it has satisfied a huge craving in my household.
Since I’m a newbie in the kitchen I decided to cook my chicken in a separate pan prior to tossing it in with the rice and veggies, I simply wanted to make sure my chicken was cooked all the way and didn’t want my veggies to burn.
Joni says
I’m planning on making this tomorrow. You think it will be ok for me to double the recipe? We are big fried rice lovers and eaters. lol I love your recipes!!
Nagi says
Yes of course Joni, I hope you love it! N x
Roger says
This recipe came out perfectly and was so easy to make as long as you prep beforehand. The only things I deviated from was the garlic and veggies as I only had some minced garlic on hand and my veg mix contained peas, carrots, green beans and corn. It still came out super delicious and my child loved it. This rice is a keeper!
Nagi says
That’s great to hear Roger! N x
Fran says
Delicious! Great way to get rid of leftover rice.
Nagi says
Yes 100%!!! N x
ada says
i had chicken tenderloins thawed and didn’t know what to make with them. Looked at this recipe and voila… another family fav and so easy to make. Thanksj for all the great recipes.
Nagi says
Perfect Ada, I’m so happy you loved it! N x
Lorraine woods says
Can I use toasted sesame oil instead of normal thanks
Nigar says
Hi Nagi. I made this with turkey bacon and brown rice. It was very nice, thanks for the recipe! The sauce really makes it special
Nagi says
Sure can! N x
Louis Gauthier says
I like your recepies. send me more
Nagi says
Hi Louis, thanks so much! They’re all yours – feel free to browse on my website! N x
Sue says
Made it without the chicken but added a little grated ginger , some broccoli and red capsicum.
The best fried rice , better than the takeaway variety by far .
Nagi says
Sounds great Sue!! N x