Easy Fried Rice Recipe

If you love eating fried rice at Chinese restaurants and want to try making it at home, you're in luck — it's super easy to do and you only need a couple of ingredients. The great thing about cooking your own fried rice is that you get to control the quality of ingredients you use. And the best part? You can sneak in lots of vegetables, so even the pickiest eaters in your house will get a serving of veg with their rice!

This easy veggie fried rice recipe, from Alexandra Shytsman of the recipe blog, The New Baguette, features fluffy white rice studded with chopped veggies and frozen peas. Bits of scrambled egg flavored with soy sauce are key to replicating this restaurant favorite. Once you master the technique, you'll be making it constantly. And, while this recipe keeps things vegetarian, there's nothing stopping you from adding in your favorite meat of choice, or pairing this rice with some orange chicken or sesame beef.

To make this easy fried rice recipe, you'll need pre-cooked white rice, diced onions and carrots, chopped broccoli, frozen peas, sesame oil, soy sauce, and an egg. Some other vegetables you can toss in are green beans, cauliflower, frozen corn, and/or bean sprouts.

For this recipe, you'll need to start with pre-cooked rice that's been chilling in the fridge. Chilled rice is a little dry, meaning it won't get mushy when you fry it, which is ideal for fried rice. This is also a great way to use up leftover takeout rice! If you don't have enough advance notice, cook your rice, spread it on a sheet pan, and chill it in the fridge for at least 30 minutes to dry it out a bit before making fried rice.

Heat some canola oil in a large non-stick skillet (or a wok, if you have one), and add the carrots, onions, and broccoli. Cook them just until the onion is translucent, about 5 minutes.

Next, add the rice and sesame oil. Stir to combine, and cook until the rice is warmed through and starting to crisp up on the bottom. Resist the urge to stir the rice too much, since prolonged contact with the hot pan will result in those signature crispy pieces.

While the rice is crisping up, beat the egg with a tablespoon of soy sauce. Push the contents of the skillet to one side and pour the egg mixture into the empty space. Immediately start stirring the egg with a spatula until small curdles form. This technique allows the egg bits to brown and stay separate from the rice.

Lastly, stir in the peas and more soy sauce into the mixture and cook for another minute or so, until the peas are bright green. Garnish with scallions before serving, if you'd like. If you want to keep things vegetarian, you could pair this fried rice with tofu, or you could venture out and add in chicken, beef, shrimp — the possibilities are endless!