Canned Pineapple Is All You Need To Liven Up Fried Rice

We all love a good bowl of fried rice. While a simple veggie fried rice is delicious all on its own, it certainly doesn't hurt to add in some extra ingredients to make the dish more exciting. One easy way to liven up fried rice is canned pineapple.

There's no need to buy a full pineapple to enjoy the tasty fruit — canned pineapple is more than capable of being incorporated into numerous meals, and fried rice is a perfect place to start. Catherine Brookes, the recipe developer for Tasting Table's pineapple shrimp fried rice, said, "I love the mixture of sweet, tangy, and salty flavors in this fried rice." This recipe specifically calls for a can of pineapple chunks (rather than canned slices), which you can find at just about any grocery store. By sticking to canned pineapple, you save yourself the extra prep time that a fresh pineapple would take up, which means that making this dish won't take longer than about 20 minutes — perfect for a busy weeknight.

Now that we've established that canned pineapple is the perfect way to upgrade simple fried rice, you may be wondering about how to take it even one step further. The answer is to pair it with the perfect protein to complement the pineapple. Tasting Table's pineapple fried rice recipe pairs it with shrimp, but pineapple can also pair well with just about any seafood: scallops, mussels, and so on. If you're feeling fancy and have some extra time on your hands, you can even prepare a seafood medley to go with the pineapple fried rice to make a dish that is sure to impress the guests of any dinner party.

Alternatively, if you're not a seafood person and want a different source of protein, pork is a great option for pairing with pineapple. When going the pork route, you can follow Tasting Table's pork fried rice recipe, which uses ground pork. Or, if you want the pork pieces to be a bit bigger and more noticeable, you can chop up Spam for a different spin on pork fried rice.