Chicken Fried Rice: Better Than Take Out!

This Chicken Fried Rice Recipe is Amazing!

After living in Southeast Asia for eight years, our family has come to love and think of chicken fried rice as an essential to life.

And yes, this recipe is better than take-out chicken fried rice!

Since life is busy as a WAHM of six kiddos, I love to find ways to make our family favorite meals with some time-saving hacks here and there.

And chicken fried rice?

It’s an easy-peasy, time-saving recipe!

And here’s 15 MORE timesaving recipes you can check out too!

If you’ve ever tried making fried rice at home and failed, I have a secret to share with you.

Why am I sharing these top-secret secrets?

Because your family deserves an awesome bowl of chicken fried rice, without having to run to the closest Asian restaurant to grab one!

Ready for the biggest fried rice secret most home cooks don’t know?

Do not use freshly cooked rice for your fried rice recipe. 

If you do, you’ll end up with a mushy concoction that appears to be chicken fried rice, but it’s really chicken, veggie, rice mush.

That was pretty heartless, I know.

But, I’m trying to save you the frustration I repeatedly faced my first two years in Cambodia.

Don’t make the same yucky food mistakes I did!

Tips for making Better than Take Out Chicken Fried Rice

Use Day Old Rice.

Most of the time our family uses Jasmine rice.

Several of my Cambodian friends prefer to put their rice in the fridge uncovered to give it a crunchier texture.

However, I can’t stand anything uncovered, so I put my rice in the fridge for one day.

Add oil and seasoning gradually.

When you first start cooking fried rice, there’s a natural tendency to want to put too many spices and oil into your rice.

Go easy on the oil and add oil and spices as you go to get the perfect consistency.

Use Fresh Veggies

Fresh veggies, garlic, and onion give this recipe a powerful flavor boost!

Crumble Up Rice Before Cooking

When you start tossing your rice in the wok or skillet, make sure you crumble the rice up with your hands or a spatula before you start cooking.

Breaking apart the rice will give you the texture you love!

Make With or Without Meat.

A money-saving option to to forego the chicken or beef.

You can even add cashews or another nut if you wanted added protein without the meat.

Ingredients Needed for Chicken Fried Rice

• 3 cups Jasmine rice (or brown rice if you want to change things up a bit)
• 4 tablespoons cooking oil
• 3 garlic cloves minced
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon chicken bouillon
• 3 teaspoons soy sauce
• 1 beaten egg
• 1 1/2 cups cooked chicken, diced
• 1 large yellow onion peeled and diced
• 1/2 cup diced carrots
• 1/2 cup broccoli florets diced
• 1 spring onion diced
• green peas (totally optional. I deplore green peas, but we’ll add them to a few plates for others!)

How to Make Chicken Fried Rice

• Heat wok or large skillet to medium-high heat.
• Saute onions and veggies until veggies are crisp tender.
• Add garlic cloves and salute until tender.
• Stir in all seasonings, sauces and beaten egg, except the spring onion.
• Stir fried rice mixture with spatula continuously.
• Once flavors are all combined, and egg is scrambled, remove from heat and stir in spring onion.
• Optional: If you want to be wild and crazy, add a few dashes of hot sauce at the very end to spice things up!

Ready to dig in?

Grab the recipe below!

More Chicken Recipes

Chicken Salad

Chicken Chili

Italian Chicken Skillet

Supreme Chicken Casserole

Tortilla Chicken Pot Pie

Chicken Alfredo