Love the plain egg fried rice you get from the Chinese takeaway? Wish you could make it at home? Well, now you can! This Easy Peasy Egg Fried Rice takes just 7 minutes to make… and tastes even better than takeaway egg fried rice… Plus there are lots of ways you can jazz it up if you want to!
Homemade Egg Fried Rice… in just 5 minutes!
Love plain egg fried rice from the Chinese takeaway? It only takes 7 minutes to make at home and, in my opinion, homemade egg fried rice is even tastier than takeaway egg fried rice!
All you need to do is stir fry cold rice for 2 minutes in a hot frying pan, then make a hole in the centre of the rice and tip in some beaten eggs. Leave the eggs for 45 seconds and then stir the part-cooked eggs into the rice. Finally, fry for 1 more minute, then add soy sauce and sesame oil. Easy peasy!
A neat cheat
The secret to really good egg fried rice is to use cold rice. (It goes all wrong if you use hot rice!) Now, you could cook up some rice yourself, then rinse it under the cold tap until it’s cold, drain it thoroughly and then continue on with the recipe…
However, there is a much quicker and easier way! My sneaky little cheat is to use plain pre-cooked rice – the kind that is often sold as ‘microwave rice’. I always like to have a couple of packs of this in my store cupboard, so I can whip up homemade egg fried rice whenever I want to!
Easy Adaptations
This recipe is for plain egg fried rice, but there are loads of delicious things you can add to this base recipe to jazz it up! You could add…
- prawns (shrimp) to make Prawn Fried Rice
- cooked chicken to make Chicken Fried Rice
- lamb mince to make Lamb Fried Rice
- cooked pork, beef or lamb
- vegetables, such as peas, sweetcorn, carrots and/or (bell) peppers to make Vegetable Fried Rice
- bacon (fry the bacon up first, before adding the cold rice)
- a mix of any or all of the above to make Special Fried Rice
You can also make egg fried rice using brown rice, wild rice… or even basmati rice!
Egg Fried Rice with Prawns and Peas
What to serve with Egg Fried Rice?
Egg fried rice is a great side dish and goes brilliantly with all your Chinese fakeaway favourites, including:
It also really works well with:
But my absolute favourite combo is to serve egg fried rice with my Easy Peasy Chicken Pad Thai. Don’t ask me why, but this is just an awesome combo… and the two together is one of my all-time favourite easy peasy dinners.
Easy Peasy Chicken Pad Thai
What to drink with Egg Fried Rice?
Egg fried rice is more of a side dish, so you probably want to pick a wine that matches your main. However, in general, lighter Chinese dishes like egg fried rice, go best with aromatic whites, such as Riesling, Gewürztraminer, Pinot Gris or Sauvignon Blanc.
Can you reheat leftover egg fried rice?
I don’t recommend reheating this dish. It is never a good idea to reheat food that has already been reheated once before. In any case, this is a recipe that is much better eaten freshly made. (And it really does only take 7 minutes to make!)
Can you freeze Egg Fried Rice?
No, this recipe is not suitable for freezing.
If you like this recipe…
…you might also like:
Plain Egg Fried Rice (Chinese Takeaway Copycat)
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon oil (see Note 1)
- 250 g cold cooked long grain white rice (I use 1 x 250g / 9oz pack Tesco Microwave Long Grain Rice – see Note 2)
- 2 medium eggs beaten
- 2 tablespoons soy sauce (or to taste)
- 1 tablespoon sesame oil (or to taste)
- 2 small spring onions (scallions) finely sliced (for garnish – optional)
Instructions
- Place the oil in a wok or large frying pan. Heat over a high heat for 1 minute, then add the cold cooked rice. Stir fry for 2 minutes.
- Make a well (hole) in the centre of the rice and tip in the beaten eggs. Leave for 45 seconds and then stir the part-cooked eggs into the rice.
- Fry for 1 more minute, stirring occasionally. (See Note 3.)
- Add the soy sauce and sesame oil and stir through the egg fried rice.
- Serve garnished with spring onions.
Notes
- There are lots of options here – personally I use Tesco Stir Fry Oil, which is a blend of sunflower oil, sesame oil, ginger and garlic. But you can use sunflower oil, rapeseed/canola oil, peanut oil or any other neutral flavour oil. I don’t recommend coconut or olive oil, though.
- The rice must be a) cooked and b) cold. I use a 250g pack of microwave rice to make this recipe really quick and simple, but you can use uncooked rice if you prefer and cook it yourself. You will need approximately 100g uncooked long grain rice for this recipe – however, this does vary depending on the brand, so I recommend you refer to the packet for specific instructions. Cook the rice according to packet instructions / your own preferences and then rinse under cold water until completely cold. Drain thoroughly and use as directed in the recipe above.
- Don’t stir the rice too often at this stage. What you want to happen is that some of the egg fried rice gets a little bit crispy on the bottom of the pan, so you get some delicious brown crispy bits running through your egg fried rice!
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