Easy Chicken Fried Rice Recipe - Savory Nothings (2024)

This Easy Chicken Fried Rice is one of our favorites: It’s ready in just 30 minutes, full of healthy vegetables and kid-friendly, too.

Stir fry dinners are some of my absolute favorites when I need dinner on the table STAT: Quick, full of colorful vegetables and my kids love them. A total win!

This is one recipe I make pretty much weekly, with whatever we have on hand. Right now I especially love making it with frozen vegetable blends, I’ve added a few ideas for mixes that work well in the tips below.

Ingredients you’ll need

Here is a visual overview of the ingredients in the recipe. Scroll down to the printable recipe card at the bottom of this post for quantities!

Ingredient notes

Vegetables and Chicken

If you learn how to make fried rice once, you can really make it any way you like: With different vegetables, a different protein – or even with noodles instead of rice!

Frozen vegetables:You can make this recipe with many frozen vegetable blends instead of chopping your own – stir fry mixes, onions and peppers or even basic mixed vegetables!

Rice

I generally findlong grainriceworks best to make fried rice.I’ll usually only have regular long grain rice on hand, but Basmati or Jasmin rice work even better and I use those when my husband overdid the grocery shopping again ?What you should avoid are starchy short grain rice varieties (like risotto rice or sushi rice) – they are too sticky for fried rice.

>> What can you use instead of rice? You can use cooked Ramen noodles, cooked rice noodles, even cooked spaghetti! in place of the rice. I hear Cauliflower rice works, too, but ahem… Not my cup of tea.

Oil

If you’re going forbest, you’ll probably want to usetoasted sesame oil. Now I’m not one to stock up on kitchen products I only use for a single dish, sopeanut oil or any neutral vegetable oilworks perfectly fine, too.

How to make Chicken Fried Rice

1) Brown chicken, then

2) add vegetables and sauté.

3) Stir in cooked rice, then

4) season with soy sauce and brown sugar (or maple syrup).

5) Push rice to side, then

6) pour beaten egg in middle.

7) Once just set, cut into pieces and

8) stir into rice with peas. Heat through.

Recipe tips

Dice everything fairly small:That counts for both the chicken and the vegetables. Not only will they cook faster, but I also prefer having everything bite-sized in fried rice.

Make sure to brown the chicken enough:The more nicely you brown it, the better the flavor of the finished dish will be!

Use cold rice:Either use day-old rice, or cook it fresh, rinse under cold water and then freeze while you’re cooking the rest of the dish.

Fried rice FAQs

Serving suggestions

A stir fry with chicken and vegetables really is a full meal – if you don’t have the time, it’s perfectly acceptable to serve it by itself, at least it is in my house.

If you do want to round out the meal, try spring rolls or fresh fruit (pineapple!) or afruit salad with a light citrus dressing.

More quick dinners

For more easy chicken recipes, check out my collection here: Easy Chicken Recipes

PSIf you try this recipe, please leavea review in the comment section and add a star rating in the recipe card – I appreciate your feedback! Follow along onPinterest,FacebookorInstagram.

Printable recipe