Wondering what to do with leftover rice? Use it for an absolutely delish easy fried rice recipe. Easy and quick to make with a few ingredients, you wont want to buy takeout rice after this! This easy fried rice recipe is soon to be on the favorites list.
Updated on August 27, 2025
Table of contents
Rice is Life
Have you heard of the saying “Rice is life”? Well, you have now.
I say it all the time. My mother taught me that. I learned growing up that rice was life.
There was not a day that rice was not present in the kitchen. The warm aroma of fragrant jasmine rice, wafting through the kitchen, tickling my tastebuds.
It never got old. Every day was rice day. I love rice.
Rice feeds the world more than potatoes, or bread, or noodles (1).
Rice is a foundation that takes dishes to the next level of becoming a meal that can satisfy.
Simply, even a little butter or salt can make rice a snack. Maybe for some, rice with sauce is lunch.
Seriously, I grew up eating rice for breakfast. I even ate rice with fish for breakfast and some of you can relate…for some it’s quite foreign, but it’s a fact of life. Rice is life.
It’s symbolic for me. When I eat, and see, and smell rice, I think of growing up, people, hunger, and comfort. Rice means a lot of different things to me.
So it brings me to this, I don’t waste rice.
We always cook rice and have constant leftovers of it. So, fried rice is common in my home and if you bring this easy fried rice recipe into yours, you’re going to love it.
Tips and How to Make Fried Rice
Like a lot of things in life, it doesn’t have to be complicated.
A basic recipe of easy fried rice doesn’t need more than a few ingredients. From there, you can add what you wish, but this technique gets it perfect and then creating more versions, becomes easy.
I especially love this version of fried rice because it is so simple and tastes great for breakfast or brunch.
This recipe is also good for using left over veggies and meats in the refrigerator. My kids don’t like peas, and personally, I prefer snow peas, so if you like green then you can easily incorporate that in here too.
- Don’t use fresh made rice because it’s far too moist to “fry” and you’ll end up with a mushy unpleasant dish. It has to be the next days rice. Dry, harder, and ready for the perfect fried rice recipe.
- Long grain rice works very well because it tends have soaked up any moisture from the previous day and so it separates and scatters in the pan very well.
You can also use medium grain like jasmine rice which is common in my household. It’s usually still moist and a little sticky the next day, but nonetheless, it still works for fried rice. I let it heat up a bit then gently press with a silicone spatula to separate the grains more when I’m using a stickier rice.
- Use some butter. This tastes better than neutral oil and coats the morsels of rice with tasty goodness. If you can’t use butter, there are butter alternatives or use your favorite oil. My kids like butter so we are a “butter-full” household, hehe.
- The key to good fried rice is getting your pan hot and the order of ingredients.
- If you are adding eggs, which I recommend unless you can’t eat eggs, is fry the eggs first! I know, I’ve seen, and I’ve tried it where the eggs are mixed with the rice, but making an underdone scrambled egg, then removing it and setting aside, really takes the recipe up a notch.
This way the eggs never burn or turn overcooked which is going to happen if you add the egg while cooking the rice. Then if it’s raw egg, it’s going to coat the rice and be mushy and texturally unappealing.
Ingredients for Easy Fried Rice
- leftover rice
- butter
- garlic
- soy sauce
- oyster sauce
- pepper
- carrots
- onions
- scallions
- eggs
- salt – to taste
Easy Add-ins:
- peas
- small cubes of ham
- tofu – be sure it was frozen tofu
Equipment
- Wok or Non-stick Deep Pan
- Spatula – I prefer a wok spatula or deep spoon silicone spatula
INSTRUCTIONS
- Scramble the egg and cook it separately. Put it in the hot pan with oil, then fold it so it’s still slightly wet and underdone. Remove it and set it aside.
- Now in the same pan, heat your butter and sauté minced garlic and add the onions and carrots.
- Now when these aromatics are almost translucent, but not completely done, add the rice.
- Take your fingers and “sprinkle or crumble” the rice on top of the butter with veggies mix. If the rice doesn’t crumble then just plop it all in the pan. Gently press down with a soft spatula so the rice separates and begins to make a nice and even layer throughout the pan. Then leave it be.
- Don’t move the rice. Let it sit for a few minutes so it “frys” and heats up and begins to get hot.
- Then after a few minutes, mix. Mix and fold. Using the right spatula is going to help you fold this rice, over and over, without breaking or cutting the rice. You’ll want your rice morsels to stay intact.
- Continue to fold and mix the butter and veggies all throughout the rice, every morsel being coated and covered with the other ingredients. Continue to gently press and separate any rice clumps so that every grain of rice is separated and on it’s own.
- Now add the soy sauce and oyster sauce. Fold, mix, over and over until all the sauces are well incorporated. Sprinkle a pinch of ground pepper and taste test first…then, add salt to taste.
- Now once everything is very well mixed, the rice grains are separated, and all is heated up and looking golden brown, add in the scrambled eggs. Use your spatula to chop them up and mix them into the rice, folding gently. They will cook throughly by simply the heat of the rice without being overdone.
- Remove from the heat and use scallions as an all over garnish.
Have a side of chili sauce for the spicy lovers.
In a nutshell, don’t throw away your leftover rice. Make fried rice! It’s the go-to for any day of the week, especially when you’re not sure what to make.
Yes. Use a glass container for fresh leftover storage.
No. However, there are gluten free versions of soy sauce and gluten free oyster sauce. I use both, and it’s equally delicious.
Yes. Store in an airtight container. You can reheat in a pan with some oil, or use the microwave.
Yes, it heats in the microwave well for lunchtime meals.
Easy Fried Rice
Equipment
- wok or non stick pan using a non stick surface is best and a pan with some depth so the rice doesn't come out
- spatula use silicone or wok spatula
Ingredients
- 3 cups leftover rice must be rice precooked and refrigerated overnight
- 1 tbsp oil olive oil or neutral oil is fine
- 2 large eggs scramble
- 3 tbsp salted butter
- 3 cloves garlic fresh
- ¾ cup onion Any kind of onion. Chopped small.
- ½ cup carrots Large and fresh. Chopped really small.
- 2 tbsp Low Sodium Soy Sauce
- 1 tbsp oyster sauce
- ground black pepper to taste
- salt to taste
- scallions garnish and add as you like
Instructions
- For writing purposes I will use the word "pan" for deep pan or wok.
- Heat your pan with some oil on medium high heat.1 tbsp oil
- Scramble the eggs and drop in the pan. Once the egg starts to cook, fold over and remove. The egg should be mostly cooked, but definitely you can see it is still undercooked. Set it aside.2 large eggs
- In the same pan, now add the pats of butter.3 tbsp salted butter
- Drop in the garlic, onions, and carrots. Mix and sauté for one minute. Now adjust to Medium heat. Do not use a high flame.3 cloves garlic, ¾ cup onion, ½ cup carrots
- Drop in the rice. Press the rice down gently to break it apart. Make a nice layer in the pan. Let the rice sit there for one and a half minutes. Do not move the rice.3 cups leftover rice
- Now begin to mix. Take your spatula, and unless you are very good at a wok and can flip the rice round and round in the air, use your spatula to fold the rice around. Mix, fold, mix, fold. Press gently and break up clumps of rice that are sticking together.
- Once the rice is starting to breakup and become separated well, add in the soy sauce and the oyster sauce. Fold and mix, fold and mix. Be gentle so the rice isn't crushed or broken. It should be fluffy and fold and mix without hurting the rice.2 tbsp Low Sodium Soy Sauce, 1 tbsp oyster sauce
- Do this for at least five minutes of fold and mixing often.
- Sprinkle salt and sprinkle pepper. Fold and mix. Repeat the folding and mixing. The rice should be very nicely coated and also the rice morsels separated, even looking, even in color, and not clumpy.salt, ground black pepper
- Add in the eggs and break the eggs up with the spatula. Fold and mix in.
- Immediately remove from the heat and serve right away. If you will not serve it right away, put the rice in a serving platter (or else the heat from the pan is going to keep cooking the rice and eggs)
- Garnish with sliced scallions all over the top.Serve and enjoy!scallions
Notes
- serve with chili oil sauce or sriracha on the side
- add little cubes of ham or add more veggies like peas or edamame
- brown previously frozen tofu and make it tofu fried rice
Nutrition
(1) https://education.nationalgeographic.org/resource/food-staple/
LEAVE A COMMENT