Chicken Fried Rice Recipe

When you think of fried rice, a few variations may come to mind. There's the ever-popular egg fried rice, which boasts an array of vegetables with eggs scrambled right into the mix, and serves as the base for many other types of fried rice. Then there's pineapple fried rice, which takes a sweet approach to an otherwise savory dish, and may even incorporate nuts into the mix. Or, maybe you're a seafood lover, and shrimp fried rice is more your speed. Whichever way you spin it, however, it's pretty hard to find a more satisfying (and nourishing!) dish than fried rice.

Recipe developer Catherine Brookes of Blue Sky Eating knows a thing or two about making dishes that are both nourishing and satisfying, which is probably the basis behind her chicken fried rice recipe. "I love the Asian-inspired flavors in this dish," Brookes explains. "The chicken with this combo of veggies is delicious and it tastes just like take out!" While many of us do tend to only enjoy fried rice when we order take out, that doesn't have to be the case. If you have some leftover rice to use up and less than 30 minutes of time, then you can whip up chicken fried rice that just might give your favorite restaurant a run for its money. 

It doesn't take much to make this chicken fried rice — first and foremost, of course, you'll need cooked rice and diced chicken breasts. Brookes notes that you could easily use leftover rice, but make sure that it hasn't been sitting in your fridge for more than a day. You'll also need olive and sesame oil, a diced bell pepper, a diced onion, crushed garlic, peas, corn, ketchup, beaten eggs, chopped scallions, and some soy sauce. You may also want to have some salt and pepper on hand to season the dish to taste. "If you wanted to, you could easily sub other veg in such as chopped carrot or green beans," Brookes notes of potential ingredient swaps.

With all of your ingredients sorted, you can get started on this recipe by heating up the olive oil in a frying pan. Once the oil is hot, add in the diced chicken and fry until it's cooked through, which should take around 5 minutes. Because the chicken is already diced up, it will cook much more quickly than if the breasts were still whole. Once the chicken is cooked, remove it from the heat and set it aside. 

With the chicken ready to go, you can turn your attention to the vegetables. Add the sesame oil to the same frying pan, then add in the diced onion and pepper, frying for 5 minutes, until they're softened. At this point, add the garlic to the pan, and let it cook for a minute, stirring constantly to avoid burning it. 

Now, in goes the peas, corn, and ketchup — wait, ketchup? "The ketchup adds a subtle tomato flavour and a bit of sweetness that balances out the saltiness of the soy sauce," Brookes explains. So, yes, add in some ketchup along with the peas and corn, give everything a big stir, then let the whole dish cook for another 2-3 minutes.

It's all starting to come together! At this point, with the veggies mostly cooked through, push them all to one side of the pan. Pour the beaten eggs into the empty space and stir them until they begin to scramble. Once they're scrambled, you can mix them right into the vegetables. Add the chicken back into the pan along with the rice and scallions, then let the whole dish cook for a few more minutes. After all, who wants lukewarm fried rice?

After the whole dish has had a few minutes to heat up in the pan, drizzle the soy sauce in along with any salt and pepper, to taste. Now, you're ready to dive right into this chicken fried rice! Since there's a protein, vegetables, and starch in this dish, you don't have to worry about adding any sides to balance it out. You've got a perfectly balanced meal right in your bowl, and you'll relish in the depth of flavor that you accomplished in just 20 minutes of cooking. "You can store leftovers for one day in the fridge," Brookes notes, but be sure to chow down on leftovers quickly to avoid the rice going bad.