Chicken Fried Rice
Delicious chicken fried rice filled with veggies and scrambled eggs is an easy meal to make at home any night of the week.
This recipe is sponsored by Go Bold with Butter.
I’ve finally unlocked the secret of great homemade fried rice! While it might not be as authentic as fried rice from a Chinese restaurant, this recipe is just as tasty, quick and easy to make, and requires no special equipment. Everyone is sure to love it!
This recipe is very versatile, so feel free to use different or additional veggies, other proteins like shrimp or tofu in place of the chicken, or leave it vegetarian.
Ingredients you’ll need
Let’s get cooking! Here’s everything you’ll need (full recipe is below):
- Salted butter
- Sesame oil
- Boneless chicken breast
- Eggs
- Carrots
- Peas
- Green onions
- Garlic
- Cooked long grain rice
- Soy sauce
- Oyster sauce
- Salt
Why use butter in fried rice?
Butter is a non-traditional, but delicious addition to this chicken fried rice. It lends its distinct rich buttery flavor to the dish, and helps brown the chicken, veggies, and rice.
If you’ve made bland and boring homemade fried rice before, butter should help make sure that doesn’t happen again!
How to make chicken fried rice
There are a lot of little hands-on steps in this recipe, but if you prep everything and have it ready, this dish is very easy to make and done in less than 20 minutes.
1. Brown chicken. Melt butter in a pan over medium high heat and add chicken pieces. Cook until no longer pink, stirring once or twice, then remove from pan and set aside.
2. Cook eggs. Melt more butter and add whisked eggs to the pan. Cook for a few minutes, stirring frequently, until soft scrambled. Remove from pan and set aside also.
3. Cook veggies. Heat a little more butter and the sesame oil in the pan, then add carrots, peas and and the white bottoms of the scallions. Cook for a few minutes until carrots start to soften. Add garlic during the last minute of cooking.
4. Fry rice. Add remaining butter and increase heat just a bit. Add rice and stir constantly, ensuring it’s coated in the butter. If you want crispier rice, let it sit a bit in between stirs. While stirring, scrape up any browned bits on the bottom of the pan (that’s where all the flavor is!). After 1-2 minutes the rice should be heated through.
5. Add sauces. Whisk together soy sauce and oyster sauce and pour over the rice mixture. Stir until it’s evenly incorporated.
6. Add chicken, eggs and scallion tops. Immediately add cooked chicken, scrambled eggs, and the bright green scallion tops and toss for a few minutes to reheat.
Serve immediately, and enjoy!
Tips for making this the best fried rice
- 1 cup of dried rice will yield about 3 cups cooked, which is why I suggest either 3 or 4 cups of cooked rice will work for this recipe. See my post on how to make perfect steamed rice.
- Make rice ahead of time and store in the fridge (this is a great way to use up leftover rice from another meal!). This dries the rice out a bit and reduces clumping. Do not reheat cold rice before adding it to the pan in this recipe.
- Salting the chicken, eggs, and veggies individually as they cook helps ensure that the finished fried rice isn’t bland.
- Use toasted sesame oil (instead of plain sesame oil) for even more flavor.
- If you have a wok, use it! A bigger pan helps heat everything up quickly without overcooking, and gives you plenty of room to stir and toss everything.
- Make it vegetarian by leaving out the chicken. You can also swap the chicken for shrimp, tofu, or another protein if desired.
- If you want to dive even deeper into authentic Chinese fried rice, I recommend this helpful and educational post by Taste Asian Food.
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Chicken Fried Rice
Ingredients
- 3 tablespoons salted butter , divided
- 1 lb boneless skinless chicken breast , chopped in ½-inch pieces
- Salt , as needed
- 2 large eggs , whisked
- 1 tablespoon sesame oil
- 2 medium carrots , chopped in ¼-inch pieces
- ½ cup peas (frozen work fine, do not thaw)
- 3 scallions , sliced and divided
- 3 cloves garlic , minced
- 3-4 cups cooked long-grained rice , cold, remove any clumps with a fork
- 3 tablespoons soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon oyster sauce
Instructions
- Melt 1 tablespoon of butter in a large skillet or wok. Add chicken and season generously with salt. Cook until browned and no longer pink. Remove from pan and set aside.
- Melt ½ tablespoon of butter in the pan and add whisked eggs. Season with salt. Stir frequently until soft scrambled. Remove from pan and set aside.
- Melt ½ tablespoon of butter in pan and add sesame oil. Add carrots, peas and the white and light green bottoms of the scallions. Season with salt. Cook for a few minutes until carrots begin to soften. Add garlic and cook for about 1 minute more.
- Add remaining tablespoon of butter to pan and increase heat. Add cold rice and toss in the butter. Stir almost constantly to ensure it heats up quickly in about 2 minutes. If you like crispier rice, let it rest a bit before stirring.
- Whisk together soy sauce and oyster sauce and pour over rice. Stir until evenly incorporated. Return chicken and scrambled eggs to the pan and stir for a minute until heated through. Stir in the bright green tops of the scallions.
- Serve immediately.
Disclosure: This recipe was created in partnership with Go Bold With Butter. Thank you for supporting partnerships with brands I love and believe in, which make Completely Delicious possible. All opinions are always 100% my own. To learn more about Go Bold With Butter, you can visit their website here. You can also find them on facebook, instagram, and pinterest.
