This is the best Chicken Fried Rice made with leftover rice! It features seasoned fluffy rice fried with juicy chicken, eggs, vegetables, aromatics. This quick and easy fried rice recipe serves well as a main course, side dish for meal prep for the whole family. It'll also save you money from buying Chinese takeout!
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My version of chicken fried rice features jasmine rice, marinated chicken, fluffy eggs, peas, carrots, shallots, garlic tossed in a savory sauce!
It's very similar to the kind that you'll find at the Chinese restaurant and if you own a steel wok, this is to your advantage as it'll create that smoky flavor! But if you don't own one, don't worry, a large pan will work too.
I’m a huge fan of fried rice as it's such a comforting dish that brings a lot of childhood nostalgia for me. Whenever my parents didn’t know what to cook for us on busy weeknights, it would be this because we'd use up any leftover ingredients and it was a fast meal to feed a large family.
Ingredients & Substitutions
Please scroll down to below recipe card for exact measurements.
- Cold Day-old Jasmine Rice: Or substitute with any cooked leftover rice like long grain white rice or brown rice. Day-old rice is the key to making a great fried rice. If you've made fresh rice for this recipe, read below on how to dry it out.
How to dry out hot rice for this recipe?
Lay it out on a sheet pan in a single layer, pop it into the freezer exposed for 60 minutes to dry out the moisture. Then break up the cold rice with clean hands with a bit of neutral oil on them to prevent sticking.
- Boneless skinless chicken thighs: or substitute with chicken breasts.
- Shallot: or substitute with onions
- Garlic
- Carrot
- Frozen Peas
- Eggs
- Neutral oil: like avocado oil, sunflower oil, grapeseed oil, peanut oil, vegetable oil or canola oil. Avoid olive oil or any heavy scented oils.
Chicken marinade
- Regular soy sauce: or substitute with low sodium soy sauce or light soy sauce. If you’re gluten-free, substitute a gluten-free soy sauce of your choice.
- Shaoxing Cooking Wine: or sub with Dry Sherry Wine if you can't find Chinese cooking wine. If you're looking for a non-alcoholic version, feel free to omit completely.
- Cornstarch: this helps lock in the moisture in the chicken.
- Neutral oil: This adds moisture to your chicken and also makes them slippery so when they fall into your hot pan, they won't stick together.
Sauce
- Regular soy sauce
- Dark soy sauce
- Toasted sesame oil: or substitute with sesame seeds. Omit if you're allergic.
- Chicken bouillon powder: it gives extra depth of flavor as it contains some msg.
- White pepper: or sub with black pepper
Expert Tips
Here are some expert tips and tricks to restaurant-quality fried rice:
- Use a carbon steel wok for optional smoky flavor. When you use a steel wok, you can create “wok hei” or in Chinese translation “breathe of wok" which is the smoke you see when the oil hits a hot wok. This smoky taste is the "secret ingredient" in most Chinese takeout. Don't worry a normal pan will work but you just won't get that "smoky" taste but this recipe is just as delicious without it!
- Use cold day-old rice and avoid using hot rice. Day-old cold rice will ensure a fluffier fried rice with separated grains. If you use hot or warm rice, it will create a soggy fried rice due to the excess moisture. I share a hack to drying out freshly-made rice under "Ingredients".
- Break up the rice. This exposes the surface area of each grain allowing it to be seasoned and toasted better in the wok.
- Pour the sauce mixture along the edges of the pan. When the soy sauce mixture hits the hot steel work, it "toasts" the sauce creating extra umami flavor!
- Marinate the chicken. By marinating the chicken you'll have tender chicken that will stay moist.
Instructions
Below are step-by-step instructions on how to make chicken fried rice:
Marinate Chicken
Marinate your sliced chicken with Chicken Marinate ingredients as listed above for 5 minutes. Set aside.
Make Sauce
In a small bowl, pre-mix sauce ingredients as listed. Set aside.
Fry & Remove Chicken
In a hot wok or large skillet on medium-high heat, add 1 teaspoon oil. Once oil is hot, fry chicken until fully cooked. Remove and set aside.
Sauté Aromatics & Vegetables
Add 1 teaspoon of oil and stir fry garlic and shallots for 10 seconds or until softened. Quickly add peas and carrots and fry for another 10 seconds or until softened. Sweep everything to the side of the wok.
Scramble Eggs
Add 1 teaspoon of oil into empty space of wok. Pour in eggs and scramble them into bite-sized pieces before mixing with ingredients in wok. Push everything to the side of the pan.
Toss in Rice & Chicken
Add remaining oil along with cooked rice into empty space. Then toss with ingredients. Toss back in chicken.
Add Sauce & Toss!
Pour sauce around your rice along the edges of the wok (the heat + sauce creates more flavor on the bottom of the pan vs. pouring on top of rice). Mix until all rice granules are colored brown. Remove off heat. Serve and enjoy!
Storage & Reheating
- Leftovers will last up to 4 days stored in an airtight container in the fridge.
- To reheat, microwave for 2-3 minutes or reheat on the stovetop in a pan on medium heat until hot.
- Freezer friendly? I wouldn't recommend freezing chicken fried rice for prolonged periods because the freezer air changes the texture of the rice to become very hard.
FAQ
Yes, feel free to substitute or add any veggies with low water content, such as bell peppers, broccoli, snap or snow peas, cauliflower, or edamame.
I recommend serving chicken fried rice with Chinese takeout dishes such as Mongolian Chicken, Honey Sesame Chicken, Chinese garlic green beans, or Garlic Bok Choy.
This recipe is pretty versatile and you can substitute the chicken with shrimp, pork, beef or even tofu.
Other Fried Rice recipes you may like!
📖 Recipe
Quick & Easy Chinese Chicken Fried Rice
Ingredients
- 4 ½ cups cooked jasmine rice day old, see Notes for amount of uncooked rice
- ½ lb skinless boneless chicken thighs thinly sliced
- 1 shallot finely chopped
- 3 cloves garlic minced
- ¾ cup carrot finely diced
- ½ cup peas frozen
- 3 eggs beaten
- 4 teaspoon vegetable oil or any neutral tasting oil
Chicken marinade:
- 1 teaspoon regular soy sauce
- 1 teaspoon Shaoxing Cooking Wine or sub with Dry Sherry Wine
- 1 teaspoon cornstarch
- 1 teaspoon vegetable oil
Sauce:
- 2 tablespoon regular soy sauce
- ½ tablespoon dark soy sauce
- 2 teaspoon sesame oil
- 1 teaspoon chicken bouillon powder (aka chicken stock powder)
- ⅛ teaspoon white pepper or sub with black pepper
Instructions
- Marinate your sliced chicken with Chicken Marinate ingredients as listed above for 5 minutes. Set aside.
- In a small bowl, pre-mix Sauce ingredients as listed above. Set aside.
- In a hot wok set on medium high heat, add 1 teaspoon oil. Once oil is hot, fry chicken until fully cooked. Remove and set aside.
- Add 1 teaspoon of oil and fry garlic and shallots for 10 seconds or until softened. Quickly add peas and carrots and fry for another 10 seconds or until softened. Push everything to the side of the wok.
- Add 1 teaspoon of oil into empty space of wok. Pour in eggs and scramble before mixing with ingredients in wok.
- Add remaining oil along with rice and toss with ingredients. Toss back in chicken.
- Pour sauce around your rice along the edges of the wok (the heat + sauce creates more flavour vs. pouring on top of rice). Mix until all rice granules are coloured brown. Remove off heat. Serve and enjoy!
Paula Ena
Made it twice….tripled the recipe this time. It is delicious!!!! My family love it. Has a lot more flavor (not salty). Better than restaurant quality. Thank you for sharing this recipe.
christieathome
Thank you so much for making my recipe, Paula! I appreciate your very kind review and so glad it's better than restaurant quality 🙂 Have a wonderful day!
Emy
favorite fried rice recipe!
christieathome
Thank you so much for sharing your kind review with me, Emy! I am so happy to hear it's your favourite fried rice recipe 🙂
Courtney Harris
This is the best! I’ve made it probably 8 times now. Whole family loves it too. It’s so simple but yet there are little touches that make a huge difference. Especially pouring the sauce down the sides to heat up before stirring. Thank you!
christieathome
Thanks so much for making my recipe so many times for your family! I appreciate you for sharing your kind review, Courtney! This is truly music to my ears 🙂
Chris Lewis
Will precooked Ready Rice work for this recipe? or is there a way to make it work - dry it out??
christieathome
To quickly dry out cooked rice: after the rice has cooked, lay it out on a tray and then pop it into the freezer (not fridge) UNCOVERED for 1 hour and this will help dry it out.
Courtney
When I don’t have day old rice I make a fresh batch, spread it thin on a baking sheet uncovered and place in the freezer for 15-20 minutes. Works really well to dry it out a little.
Joan Clarke
Making tonight looking forward to it
christieathome
Thanks so much Joan! I hope you enjoy my version of chicken fried rice! 🙂
Annette Mitchell
What a great recipe. I did add a 1/4 cup of dark brown sugar for just a little sweetness, this rice is amazing and reminds me of the fried rice I grew up on in Massachusetts. I chose to use green onion, carrots and bean sprouts in mine. You can use any vegetables you’d like. Next time, I’m going to change up the protein and use shrimp.
christieathome
Thanks so much for making and sharing your kind review with my Annette! I am so happy it worked out with the dark brown sugar for extra sweetness! Sounds so good. Enjoy it with shrimp! (I also share a shrimp version if you click here).
Jenifer
Oh my goodness this was so good
christieathome
Thanks so much for making my recipe, Jenifer! So happy you enjoyed it 🙂
Shari
This recipe is literally FANTASTIC… I’ve made good fried rice at home before and leftover rice is DEFINITELY key (parboiled rice which doesn’t get sticky even when cooked also helps)… but the recipe itself with marinade & sauce… SPECTACULAR!!!
christieathome
Thank you so much for making my recipe and for the kind review, Shari! So happy you enjoyed it!
Linda Alvarado
Yes. Thank you 😊
christieathome
You're welcome!
Jen G.
Made this tonight using some leftover roasted chicken breast and it came out AMAZING. As others suggested, I made the rice and then spread it out on a pan and refrigerated for a couple of hours, which helped it cook perfectly. All the ingredients and measurements were perfect, although I did double the sauce recipe and added some edamame. It came our perfectly and we all loved it. Thanks for the recipe!
christieathome
Thanks for making my recipe and for leaving this kind review, Jen! Glad it worked out so well! Yes, that's a great tip that I often suggest anytime I want to dry out rice fast. I actually freeze (vs refrigerate) the rice on the baking sheet for 45-60 minutes for efficiency. I'll then break the rice apart with wet or hands that have a bit of vegetable or avocado oil to prevent a sticky mess. Hope this tip helps!
Maeve
I love this recipe! I make it all the time for meal preps. It's really easy to make and absolutely delicious!
christieathome
Thanks for making my recipe, Maeve 🙂 Happy it's a go-to recipe for you and that it works for meal prep!
Emma V
Yooo. I've been making fried rice for years but haven't found the right recipe... Until now!! This is ACTUALLY like takeout, and totally his the spot. Delicious, I'm bookmarking this page.
christieathome
Very happy to read that this mimics takeout exactly! Glad it hit the spot and thanks for your review!
Claudia Johnson
All I can add is WOW, the best ever. Christie a zillion thanks. I took a photo but didn't know how to upload.
christieathome
Thanks so much for making my recipe and for the kind comment, Claudia! Very happy you enjoyed it 🙂 I appreciate your effort to take a photo to post.
Lauren
I do not have dark soy sauce. Just regular. Is that okay?
christieathome
Yes, I would suggest adding more regular soy sauce to taste and do not sub at a 1:1 ratio as regular is saltier than dark.
Paula
Perfect recipe for Chicken Fried rice. We all loved it! The only change I made was to add a touch of Chinese Five Spice seasoning.
christieathome
Thank you so much for making my recipe Paula! I am so glad you all loved it 🙂 A pinch of five spice sounds lovely!
Angela St. Peter
Excellent authentic fried rice recipe. Thanks Christie. I just bought all of the ingredients to make your crab rangoons next. My family can’t wait.
christieathome
Thank you so much for making my recipe, Angela! I am so happy to read that you enjoyed this! I also hope you enjoy my crab rangoons too 🙂 Have a lovely day!