Homemade Takeout Chicken Fried Rice (Easy Recipe)
How To Cook The Best Chicken Fried Rice …
Recreate your favorite takeout dish from your local Chinese restaurant with this delicious dinner of Homemade Chicken Fried Rice. It’s full of veggies and buttery-rich savory flavors. It’s a great way to use up leftover rice and leftover chicken from the fridge.
Chicken Fried Rice has been a family favorite in the Coogan household for decades. We wondered, could we make our own comparable version? So we set out to create this easy recipe to confirm that yes we can make a restaurant-worthy dish that is so scrumptious! And so can you!
What is so great about homemade fried rice?
This is a great recipe that’s perfect for the whole family on busy nights. And … for when it just makes sense to use up everything you can from your leftovers and produce drawer. It can be made with leftover chicken, fresh shrimp, thinly sliced steak, ground beef, pork, or make a vegetarian dish with all veggies!
We always make a good amount no matter what protein we use and freeze the extra for another time. To reheat after freezing, just add a little oil and butter to a hot skillet and drop in your frozen serving. Stir constantly to avoid burning your meal to the skillet or pan.
What do you need to make Homemade Chicken Fried Rice?
Here are the simple ingredients you’ll need from the grocery store:
- Eggs, 2 large eggs – beaten
- Unsalted butter, 4 tablespoons butter – divided
- Vegetable oil, 1 tablespoon oil (or canola oil)
- Carrots, 2 medium carrots – peeled and finely diced
- Leeks, 2 large leeks – cut off the green and the root, then chop and use the middle portion
- White onion, 1 small onion – diced
- Red bell pepper, 1 cup chopped bell peppers
- Frozen green peas, 1/2 cup peas
- Fresh garlic, 3 to 4 cloves – minced
- Kosher salt, to taste
- Black pepper or white pepper, to taste
- Sugar, 1 teaspoon sugar
- Cooked chicken, 1 pound cooked chicken – shredded or diced (leftover chicken breast or thighs)
- Cooked rice, (white, brown rice, long grain, or jasmine rice)
- Green onions, 3 whole green onions – thinly sliced
- Soy sauce, 3 tablespoons soy sauce (or substitute low sodium soy sauce)
- Toasted sesame oil, 1/2 teaspoon toasted sesame oil
- Oyster sauce, 2 teaspoons oyster sauce – optional but HIGHLY recommend!
- Five-spice powder, 1/2 teaspoon five-spice powder – optional
Easy Fried Rice: Should you cook the rice before frying it in the pan?
Let’s talk about rice …
Here is the best way we have found to make rice for this easy Homemade Takeout Chicken Fried Rice recipe …
We use a rice cooker to make our rice. And because it usually takes 45 to 55 minutes to cook, we make extra to reheat for other recipes or for easy meal prep. So for this recipe, you will need around 4 cups of rice. If you make a fresh batch of rice for this recipe, be sure to transfer it to a sheet pan, spread it flat within the pan, and then refrigerate for about 30 minutes. Or … just use your cold leftovers from the night before.
What makes a good fried rice recipe the best fried rice recipe?
For the absolute best fried rice remember that cold rice ALWAYS fries up better in butter and oil and tastes so much more like your favorite chicken Chinese food dish. Freshly cooked rice just leaves me disappointed and when you try to fry it when it’s already warm and soft, it seems to soften it even more. And I love a little crunch in my fried rice!
You can really use any type or brand of rice you’d like but if you’re looking to create the most authentic chicken fried rice then short-grain white rice is what you need to use.
How do you make the most delicious fried rice that’s full of amazing flavors?
Scrambled Eggs …
Scramble the beaten eggs in a large skillet (or a hot wok, if you have one) over medium heat in 1 tablespoon of melted butter. Transfer to a small bowl and set aside.
Lots of veggies …
Add an additional tablespoon of butter plus 1 tablespoon of oil to the large nonstick pan or skillet. Stir in the carrots, leeks, white onions, red peppers, and frozen peas. Saute until the veggies have softened; add garlic and stir for another minute. Season with salt, pepper, sugar, and five-spice (optional).
You can always add extra veggies if you’d like!
Tender chicken, rice, and seasonings …
Increase the temperature to high heat and melt 2 additional tablespoons of butter in with the softened veggies. Once the butter has melted, add chicken, cold rice, green onions, soy sauce, and oyster sauce (optional), and combine well.
Stir constantly with a spatula for additional 5 minutes to heat the chicken and fry the rice. While stirring, scrape up the crispy rice from the bottom of the pan and mix in.
Toss in the eggs and reduce heat to low. Cook for an additional minute. Then remove the skillet from the heat and mix in the toasted sesame oil. Toasted sesame oil should always be added off heat as it is more for flavor than for cooking.
Taste test your dish and add additional soy sauce and seasonings if needed.
Serve and enjoy!
This is a quick and easy Homemade Chicken Fried Rice recipe for when you want something simple that tastes better than Chinese takeout food!
What kitchen tools do you need to make this easy dinner recipe?
- Rice cooker
- Large nonstick skillet or a large wok
- Spatula
- Small bowl
Looking for more tasty and easy recipes? Try a few here:
- Italian Chicken and Acorn Squash Couscous
- Chicken & Pork Crostina Pasta
- Creamy Beef and Potatoes
- Wild Rice Chicken Casserole – (Easy Recipe)
- Meat and Potato Timballo Pie
Homemade Takeout Chicken Fried Rice
Equipment
- Wok pan
- Rice cooker
- Spatula
- Small bowl
Ingredients
- 2 large eggs , beaten
- 4 tbsp unsalted butter , divided
- 1 tbsp vegetable oil
- 2 medium carrots , peeled and finely diced
- 2 large leeks , cut off the green and the root – then chop and use the middle portion
- 1 small white onion , diced
- 1 cup chopped red bell pepper
- ½ cup frozen green peas
- 3 – 4 cloves garlic , minced
- kosher salt + black pepper , to taste
- 1 tsp sugar
- 1 lb cooked chicken , white and dark meat – shredded or cubed
- 4 cups white rice , already cooked and cold
- 3 whole green onions , thinly sliced
- 3 tbsp soy sauce
- ½ tsp toasted sesame oil
- 2 tsp oyster sauce , optional
- ½ tsp five-spice powder , optional
Instructions
- Scramble the eggs in a large skillet over medium heat in 1 tablespoon of melted butter. Transfer to a small bowl and set aside.
- Add an additional tablespoon of butter plus 1 tablespoon of oil to the large skillet (or wok). Stir in the carrots, leeks, white onions, bell peppers, and frozen peas. Saute until the veggies have softened; add garlic and stir for another minute. Season with salt, pepper, and five-spice (optional). Add sugar.
- Increase the temperature to high heat and melt 2 additional tablespoons of butter in with the softened veggies. Once the butter has melted, add chicken, cold rice, green onions, soy sauce, and oyster sauce (optional); combine well. Stir constantly with a spatula for an additional 5 minutes to heat the chicken and fry the rice. While stirring, scrape up the crispy rice from the bottom of the pan and mix in.
- Toss in the eggs and reduce heat to low. Cook for another minute. Then remove the skillet from heat and mix in the toasted sesame oil.Taste test and add additional soy sauce and seasonings if needed.
Notes
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