Chicken Fried Rice:
An Asian inspired favorite that will fill your tummy with absolute goodness. Fried rice is a staple, studded with vegetables, chicken, and eggs.
Serve Chicken Fried Rice as a side or as your main meal for a simple, tasty, nourishing dish. It is great with egg drop soup, and egg rolls.
You don’t have to be an expert in Asian cuisine to make this flavorful chicken fried Rice recipe. All you need is some simple ingredients, a pan or wok, and just a small moment of time and you will have what you need to make a fun, tasty fried rice. This chicken fried rice recipe is a great change from a typical chicken stir fry with rice meal option.
If you’re craving even more Asian inspired recipes that you can make at home, then try my Honey Walnut Shrimp or Baked or Fried Shrimp and Veggie Egg Rolls!
How Do You Make Chicken Fried Rice?
I have enjoyed chicken fried rice for years and then one day I had a light bulb moment. I don’t have to order takeout or go to a Chinese restaurant to have some good fried rice. I can make my own!
The ingredients are not obscure, the time does not have to be extensive, and the process is not complex!
I will explain later in this post with more detail how I specifically make my chicken fried rice recipe, but here is a quick and basic overview of how to make a typical chicken fried rice. Incase you were worried, this will show you how easy it is to make chicken fried rice.
Basic Steps for Chicken Fried Rice
- Cook rice
- Fry onion, carrots, and peas, with desired spices and oil and add garlic
- Section off a side of the pan and add eggs and scramble
- Add cooked egg to mixed veggies
- Add soy sauce to rice and mix in sesame oil
- Mix all ingredients together in pan and continue to heat until desired temperature
Easy Peasy! Now if you are wondering how do I make Chinese fried rice? Basically the same way. I just omit the chicken step.
Is Chicken Fried Rice Good For You?
I love making my own chicken fried rice because it allows me more control of what goes into my body. Whenever you eat out, you risk eating food that can be disguised as healthy, but without proper research may be in fact loaded with sodium and fat.
How healthy chicken fried rice is depends upon you the chef. If you choose to use lots of oil, then although it may taste good, it’s not going to be that healthy. If a lot of sodium is used, then once again it is not going to be as healthy.
Are the core ingredients unhealthy? No, not in my opinion. Chicken, vegetables, eggs, and rice all sound good to me. Now if you are a vegetarian delete the chicken. If you prefer brown or cauliflower rice, then do that.
Can You Lose Weight Eating Fried Rice?
Being healthy is important. That is why moderation in all things, right? Let’s be honest though, one motivating factor for eating healthy is a lot of times is to lose weight.
Can you lose weight eating fried rice? You can probably lose weight eating most things if you exercise portion control and your total caloric intake is still low. However, some foods may be wiser choices when on a diet than others and may make meeting your goals more obtainable.
You CAN lose weight eating chicken fried rice if the portion you eat meets your caloric intake goal, but I don’t necessarily consider chicken fried rice as a “diet food”. When you are on a diet, it feels like every calorie counts and oil can be fattening. If you choose to use a lot of oil, then probably bye bye diet.
However, a mindful portion of chicken fried rice paired with a more diet friendly main dish, can translated into a diet friendly option.
Basically while chicken fried rice may not be deemed a “diet food”, make it at home and it can be a better choice and a lot healthier of an option. There are a lot of healthy and tasty ingredients. Just go easy on the oil and either go easy on the amount of rice per serving or consider swapping out traditional rice for cauliflower rice.
Cauliflower chicken fried rice is a delicious twist to the traditional chicken fried rice recipes.
What is the healthiest Chinese food?
Food can be delicious and healthy too. It’s hard to categorize one Chinese dish as the healthiest though.
Healthy Chinese Food:
- Asian Chicken Lettuce Wraps, depending on the marinade
- Wonton soup with low sodium broth and minimal wontons
- Tofu with roasted veggies
Things to Avoid When Trying to be Healthy:
- Fried
- Heavy marinades or sauces
- High sodium content
How Do You Make Shredded Chicken?
Chicken fried rice is great and some prefer chicken to be shredded. Shredding chicken is an easy technique.
Steps for Shredding Chicken:
- Put chicken in pot over medium heat
- Cover with water and bring to a boil
- Simmer until no pink remains in the chicken
- Allow chicken to cool
- Shred using two forks
Or
After chicken is cooked, put it in a mixer with a paddle attachment and turn on to low.
*Note: For Instant Pot Shredded Chicken, use about 1/2 c water (water will vary depending on chicken), close pressure valve, cook 20 minutes on high, once cooled shred with two forks.
Alternate Tools:
Are you as excited as I am to start making chicken fried rice and more importantly to start eating it? Well, It’s almost time to start cooking. Frying pans will get the job done when making chicken fried rice. However, I prefer using a wok.
Advantages of a Wok:
- Faster cooking time
- Usually less oil needed equaling a healthier finished product
- Woks can minimize splattering of food
If you are considering purchasing a wok, but it’s a first time purchase and you don’t want to make a large initial investment, I suggest T-fal Nonstick Jumbo Wok. It’s a great bank for the buck.
Chicken Fried Rice is a recipe packed with nutrition. Vegetables, chicken, and rice equal a meal packed with nourishment and flavor.
If you are looking for another stir fried rice recipe to add to you dinner rotation, check out Eazy Peazy Mealz Super Easy Shrimp Fried Rice. You won’t be disappointed.
Other Yummy Recipes
- Garlic Parmesan Herb Spread
- Creamy Lemon Chicken
- Chocolate Almond Chia Seed Pudding
- Colcannon
- Steak Fajita Lettuce Wraps
Chicken Fried Rice
Ingredients
Chicken
- 1 Tbs olive oil
- 1.5 lbs chicken breasts
- 2 Tbs soy sauce
- 2 Tbs hoisin
- 1/2 tsp ground ginger
- 1/2 yellow onion finely diced
- 1/2 cup water
Fried Rice
- 1 Tbs olive oil
- 2 eggs
- 3 cups day old rice
- 12 ounces frozen peas and carrots mix
- 1 Tbs soy sauce
- 1 Tbs Hoisin
- Salt and Pepper to taste
Instructions
Instant Pot Chicken
- If cooking your chicken in the instant pot, put oil in the bottom, chicken (frozen is fine), water, onion, ground ginger, hoison, and soy sauce.
- Put lid on, and lock it, turn valve to sealing.
- Press "Manual" and cook for 10 minutes.
- Let pressure naturally release for 5 minutes, then quick release pressure,
- Remove chicken, shred, put back in sauce, then strain.
- Cooking Chicken Stovetop
- Thaw chicken first, then put chicken and all ingredients in a skillet, and cook over medium heat, cover with lid, and let simmer until cooked through, approx 6-7 minutes per side, until internal temp is 165 degrees.
- Remove chicken, shred, toss back in sauce, then strain
Fried Rice
- In a large wok over medium-high heat, heat olive oil, and then crack two eggs into the center, and scramble. Add salt and pepper to taste.
- Once eggs are scrambled, add rice, chicken and onions, package of carrots and peas, soy sauce, Hoison, salt and pepper.
- Stir fry, mixing all ingredients together
- Stir in green onions.
- Taste and adjust seasoning as needed.
- Remove from heat and serve. Enjoy!
Nutrition
Our recipe card software calculates these nutrition facts based on averages for the above ingredients, different brands, and quality of produce/meats may have different nutritional information, always calculate your own based on the specific products you use in order to achieve accurate macros for this recipe.
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Toni says
I loved this! It was a huge hit with my kids!
Jen says
This was so easy to make! I really impressed my family with this one. Thanks!
Kristyn says
I love chicken fried rice! I could eat it anytime! This looks delicious..it’s making me wish I had some right now!
Julie says
Yum! Can’t wait to try it.
Taylor says
This is the perfect weeknight meal! So easy, quick and flavorful!