In 10 minutes, you can have this easy Plain Fried Rice with Minute Rice customized to your needs and tastes to make the perfect side dish for your Chinese dinner.
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A tasty freshly-made Chinese side dish at home. This is a basic plain fried rice recipe without vegetables but easy to add the meats or vegetables you love to make it your own.
No need to plan for leftover rice; uses Minute Rice (instant rice) instead. It uses pantry ingredients you probably already have on hand.
Inspired by Food.com Quick Chinese Fried Rice. I simplified to make a basic recipe, added an expanded explanation, and many optional ingredients.
This makes a great side dish for General Tso Chicken, Chicken Stir Fry, or Cashew Chicken. And if you want plain cooked rice, try How to Cook Rice in the Oven.
🍚Ingredients
- Minute Rice
- Chicken broth
- Egg
- Butter
- Soy sauce
- Peas and carrots—frozen and recommended
- Optional vegetables—pre-cooked bell pepper, broccoli, cauliflower, asparagus, snow peas, cabbage, or bell pepper
- Optional meat—Shrimp, ham, fried pork, or chicken
- Optional ingredients—toasted sesame oil or oyster sauce if used as a seafood side dish
👨‍🍳How to Make Plain Fried Rice
- In boiling chicken broth, add frozen veggies if using, then Minute Rice, remove from the heat, and cover for 5 minutes.
- Add chopped onion and egg to hot butter in a large non-stick fry pan. Cook until the egg is done and the onion starts to clear—about 3 minutes.
- Add the rice to the egg/onion along with soy sauce.
- Add extra optional extra ingredients at this point. "Fry” for 3-4 minutes over medium-high heat. All extras must be precooked and hot.
✔️Tips and Options
- Chicken broth is used instead of water to add some chicken flavor to the rice. Add pre-cooked chicken and a tablespoon of toasted sesame oil for a reasonable chicken fried rice.
- Typically with Minute Rice, the ratio of water to rice is 1:1. This recipe uses 3:4 to make dryer rice which was just what we needed here.
- Peas and carrots are almost mandatory, and the frozen ones cook rapidly in boiling broth. If raw, they should be precooked.
- Additional vegetables and meats can be added but must be cooked and hot before adding since there is no time for them to cook.
- If using with seafood, add oyster sauce.
âť“FAQs
Minute Rice™ is a brand of instant rice that has been precooked and dehydrated to cook more rapidly.
Typically with instant rice, the ratio of water to rice is 1:1. The model recipe was 3:4, making dryer rice which was just what we needed here.
One of the main ingredients, soy sauce, is made with soy and crushed wheat. So it is loaded with gluten.Â
Japanese tamari is a perfect substitute for soy sauce. It is usually made with only fermented soy, but some traditional versions may have a small amount of wheat, so check the label.
Good stored airtight in the refrigerator for about 3-4 days. You may freeze for 2 months, but there may be a texture deterioration.
A microwave is my usual reheating method—a splash of water, cover, and then a short time in the microwave.
You can also reheat rice in a skillet by stir-frying it to rewarm completely.
This recipe is listed in these categories. See them for more similar recipes.
🖼️Step-by-Step Photo Instructions
Simple everyday ingredients. Optional ingredients in the recipe card.
In a saucepan, bring the chicken broth to a boil. If using frozen veggies, add now and get back to boil. Add the Minute Rice™, remove from heat, and cover for 5 minutes.
Chop a small onion while heating 1 tablespoon of butter over medium-high heat in a large nonstick pan. Add the egg, break it up to scramble it, and add the onion. Cook until the egg is done and the onion is clearing—about 3 minutes.
Add the rice to the egg/onion along with soy sauce.
Add any optional ingredients and "Fry" for 3-4 minutes over medium-high heat. The optional additions need to be fully cooked and added hot.
Done in 10 minutes.
Recipe
Plain Fried Rice in 10 Minutes—Customize to Your Taste
Ingredients
- 1 ⅓ cup Minute Rice™
- 1 cup chicken broth
- 1 egg
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 1 onion - small diced
- 3 tablespoons soy sauce
- 1 cup frozen peas and carrots - recommended
Optional additions
- precooked bell pepper, broccoli, cauliflower, asparagus, snow peas, cabbage, or bell pepper - hot
- Shrimp, ham, fried pork, or chicken - hot
- toasted sesame oil
- oyster sauce - if used as a seafood side dish
Instructions
- In a saucepan, bring the chicken broth to a boil. If using frozen veggies, add now and get back to boil. Add the Minute Rice™, remove from heat, and cover for 5 minutes.
- Chop a small onion while heating 1 tablespoon of butter over medium-high heat in a large nonstick pan. Add the egg, break it up to scramble it, and add the onion. Cook until the egg is done and the onion is clearing—about 3 minutes.
- Add the rice to the egg/onion along with soy sauce.
- Add any optional ingredients and "Fry" for 3-4 minutes over medium-high heat. The optional additions need to be fully cooked and added hot.
Your Own Private Notes
Recipe Notes
Â
- Optional vegetables—pre-cooked bell pepper, broccoli, cauliflower, asparagus, snow peas, cabbage, or bell pepper
- Optional meat—Shrimp, ham, fried pork, or chicken
- All optional vegetables and meat must be fully cooked and hot.
- Optional ingredients—toasted sesame oil or oyster sauce if used as a seafood side dish.
Pro Tips
- If your veggies are frozen, add to the broth when boiling, then bring it back to a boil and add the rice.
- One of the main ingredients, soy sauce, is made with soy and crushed wheat. So it is loaded with gluten. Japanese tamari is a perfect substitute for soy sauce. It is usually made with only fermented soy, but some traditional versions may have a small amount of wheat, so check the label.
- All additions need to be fully cooked and added hot. A microwave can be used.
- Good refrigerated for 3-4 days and can be frozen in an airtight container for several months. If frozen, there will be some decrease in the texture of the rice.
- A microwave is my usual reheating method. A splash of water and a short time covered to prevent drying in the microwave. Or add to a pan and "fry" to reheat.
To adjust the recipe size:
You may adjust the number of servings in this recipe card under servings. This does the math for the ingredients for you. BUT it does NOT adjust the text of the instructions. So you need to do that yourself.
Nutrition Estimate
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Editor's Note: Originally Published May 14, 2012. Updated with expanded options, refreshed photos, and a table of contents to help navigation.
Thea
This dish should not be labeled as gluten free on pinterest by the way because it is not. There is wheat in regular soy sauce. Other than that great recipe.
Dan Mikesell AKA DrDan
Hi Thea,
Welcome to the blog. That labeling is entirely on Pinterest and bloggers have nothing to do with it.
As you probably already know, soy sauce is made with soy and crushed wheat—so it is loaded with gluten.
Japanese tamari is a perfect substitute for soy sauce. It is usually made with only fermented soy, but some traditional versions may have a small amount of wheat, so check the label.
I just added this into the recipe post.
Glad you enjoyed it.
Dan
Jerri
This dish has made it into our regular meal rotation. My husband loves it!
Sandi
Could this be made with cauliflower rice or would it be too soggy?
Dan Mikesell AKA DrDan
Hi Sandi,
I see a couple of issues with the cauliflower but I will start by saying I have never used cauliflower rice for anything, this is based on my understanding of what it is.
First, you don't rehydrate it like rice so the first part with the chicken broth is out. So you lost that taste.
Next, I understand that the longer you cook it, the softer it becomes, so the second part where we "fry" the dish to firm up the rice for the texture we want, it would seem to soften cauliflower rice instead.
Just my thoughts but I would say not a good choice.
Dan
Tabitha Surowiec
So easy and so delicious! Will make many many more times! Thank you!!
Hailey
Best fried rice recipe EVER!!!!!
Rich
I really liked this and will certainly be making again. Didn't have broth or veggies on hand so I used water and some minced onion flakes. I used to much soy sauce (~1/4 cup)
and then I added some teriyaki sauce so it was a bit on the salty side. I will probably use low sodium soy sauce next time. It went quite well with fried chicken chunks and sweet Thai chile sauce.
Alisha Ross
Ok, you have just made my day. I was just talking to my husband about wanting to make more things from scratch. This is awesome.
Regards
Ariel
Thank you so much for posting this recipe!! I have crohns and love fried rice but with my diet I can't eat much fried in oil but this is amazing!! It works with my diet and actually doesn't make my stomach hurt thank you!!
Yukti Arora
so tasty rice recipe i loved it, so keep posting.
Lina Di Marco
Our bermese dog passed away not long ago so your dogs are lovely to look at...TY! Must one use minute rice; not a fan but did notice someone used reg rice.
Dan Mikesell AKA DrDan
Hi Lina,
Welcome to the blog.
So sorry to hear about your Bernese. We are a "dog" house and were planning to wait a year or two after our previous golden died. But we couldn't take it more than 6 months and the doubled down with two. But they are cute.
Back to the recipe. I'm sure this recipe will work with some adjustments with regular long-grain rice. Just cook it a little dry and proceed.
Thanks for the note.
Dan
Im
When you say 1 1/2 cups minute rice are you saying 1/2 cup or 1 and 1/2?
Dan Mikesell AKA DrDan
Hi Im,
Welcome to the blog.
This is 1 and 1/3 cup. I just changed the format of the number. I got a new recipe plugins and it has a better font so I update the look a bit.
Dan