This quick and easy egg fried rice uses instant rice (such as Minute Rice), so there’s no need for leftover rice—just the basics for plain fried rice with egg. You can prepare it with or without vegetables or add chicken for chicken fried rice—there are many options for this simple, versatile recipe.
🍚Ingredients
Instant rice—like Minute® Rice
Chicken broth
Egg
Butter
Soy sauce
Peas and carrots—frozen and recommended
Sesame oil—optional or oyster sauce (if used as a seafood side dish)
Optional vegetables—precooked bell pepper, broccoli, cauliflower, asparagus, snow peas, cabbage, or bell pepper. Green onion for serving.
Optional meat—Chicken, shrimp, ham, or fried pork
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Featured Comment by Jerri:
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
"This dish has made it into our regular meal rotation. My husband loves it!""
I often rush to make side dishes because I "forgot to plan," so I make this delicious, freshly cooked fried rice at home for my homemade Chinese dishes. Since I use instant rice cooked with less fluid, there is no need for day-old leftover rice.
I can quickly prepare this basic plain fried rice recipe by frying an egg or two while the instant rice cooks in chicken broth. It all comes together in about 10 minutes. We usually make it without vegetables, but adding the meats or vegetables you love to make it your own is easy.
Perfect to serve with General Tso Chicken, Chinese Boneless Ribs, or Crock Pot Honey Garlic Chicken.
👨🍳How to Make Egg Fried Rice—Step-by-Step Photo Instructions
1. Boil chicken broth and add instant rice. Remove from heat and cover for 5 minutes. Chop a small onion and start the next step during the 5 minutes.
2. Scramble 1 to 2 eggs in butter with the chopped onion—about 3 minutes.
3. Fluff the rice and add the rice to the egg/onion.
4. Add any optional ingredients and "Fry" for 3-4 minutes over medium-high heat.
5. Done in 10 minutes.
For more details, keep reading. See the Recipe Card below for complete instructions and to print.
😊Tips and options to make it perfect every time
Chicken broth is used instead of water to add chicken flavor to the rice. Use the amount in the recipe, not on the box.
For quick and easy chicken fried rice, add 1 cup of precooked chicken (such as rotisserie chicken) and 1 teaspoon of toasted sesame oil.
Typically, with instant rice, the water-to-rice ratio is 1:1. This recipe uses 3:4 to make dryer rice, which was just what we needed here.
Peas and carrots are commonly added, and the frozen ones cook rapidly in boiling broth. Add them to the broth before the rice, and make sure it is back to boiling before adding the rice. If they are raw, they should be precooked.
Sesame oil adds a nice flavor but is optional if you don't have it. If you use this rice in a seafood meal, substitute oyster sauce. Add 1 teaspoon along with the soy sauce.
Additional vegetables and meat can be added, but they must be cooked hot before being added with the soy sauce, as there is no time for them to cook.
🍽️When to serve fried rice
This makes a great side dish for Chicken Stir Fry or Cashew Chicken. If you want to cook long-grain white rice, try Oven Baked Rice.
❄️How to store fried rice?
Good stored inairtight in the refrigerator for about 3-4 days. You may freeze for 2 months, but there may be a texture deterioration.
❓FAQs
Instant rice has been precooked and dehydrated to cook more rapidly. Minute® Rice is a brand of instant rice.
Typically, the ratio of water to rice in instant rice is 1:1. I use a 3:4 ratio of chicken broth to instant rice, which makes 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.
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.
📖 Recipe
Easy Egg Fried Rice in 10 Minutes
Video Slideshow
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Ingredients
- 1 ⅓ cup instant rice (Minute® Rice)
- 1 cup chicken broth
- 1 or 2 eggs
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 1 onion - small diced
- 3 tablespoons soy sauce
Optional and recommended
- 1 cup frozen peas and carrots
- 1 teaspoon sesame oil
- 1 teaspoon oyster sauce - to replace sesame oil if used with seafood
- sliced green onion - for topping
Other optional additions—fully cooked and hot added with the soy sauce
- precooked bell pepper, broccoli, cauliflower, asparagus, snow peas, cabbage, or bell pepper - hot
- Shrimp, ham, fried pork, or chicken - hot
Instructions
- In a saucepan, bring the chicken broth to a boil. If using frozen veggies, add them now and bring the broth back to a boil. Add the instant rice, remove it 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 1 to 2 eggs, breaking up to scramble, and add the chopped onion. Cook until the egg is done and the onion is clearing some—about 3 minutes.
- Add the rice to the egg/onion, soy sauce, and optional sesame oil. Other fully cooked hot options may be added at this point
- Cook for another 3-4 minutes over medium-high heat.
Recipe Notes
Pro Tips
- If your veggies are frozen, add them to the boiling broth, then bring it back to a boil and add the rice.
- All additions need to be fully cooked and added hot. A microwave can be used.
- Good refrigerated for 3-4 days and frozen in an airtight container for several months. If frozen, there will be some decrease in the texture of the rice.
Your Own Private Notes
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
© 101 Cooking for Two, LLC. All content and photographs are copyright protected by us or our vendors. While we appreciate your sharing our recipes, please realize copying, pasting, or duplicating full recipes to any social media, website, or electronic/printed media is strictly prohibited and a violation of our copyrights.
Inspired by Food.com Quick Chinese Fried Rice. I simplified it to make a basic recipe, added an expanded explanation, and added many optional ingredients.
Editor's Note: Originally Published May 14, 2012. Updated with expanded options, refreshed photos, and a table of contents to help navigation.
Ann M. says
Hi,
.
Just came across your recipe for fried rice.
It sounded like a dish my family would enjoy, however, my husband is on a very restricted sodium diet so 3tbs. of soy sauce is out of the question.
I know soy sauce is part of fried rice, but what can I use as a substitute. Probably nothing that would taste like real fried rice, I know. Thanks..
DrDan says
Hi Ann,
Welcome to the blog.
Suggestions to decrease the sodium
1) Use salt free chicken broth
2) unsalted butter
3) low sodium soy sauce and decrease the amount to 2 tablespoons.
Those changes will decrease the sodium by over half and not much change in taste.
Dan
Rachel says
This was super easy and quick. I’ve never seen your site before tonight but will definitely be utilizing it in the future. Hubby is allergic to onions, ( I love onions) so I opted for diced up sweet peppers and minced garlic. I love how tweakable this recipe is, gonna try adding diced up bacon next time! Thanks so much for the starter ideas. Love throwing stuff together from whatever is left in my cupboards!
DrDan says
Hi Rachel,
As you have seen, the core of the recipe is the minute rice, chicken broth and soy sauce. The rest is mix and match what you want.
Thanks for the note.
Dan
Kellie Jo Gillett says
I've made this a few times and even my son that HATES rice, loves this. I've changed it up each time to make it my own. Beef with carrots is delicious and so is chicken with sugar snap Peas! Yummy.
DrDan says
Hi Kellie Jo,
Sorry for the late reply. I love adding some flavor to the rice. Plain white rice is just too boring.
Thanks for the note.
Dan
Jim says
I added a bit of garlic powder (about 1/2 teaspoon per serving) for a more Japanese flavor. Great recipe though.
Theresa Muhvich-Bertuleit says
I made this tonight and it was amazing with the pork roast
Gretchen says
Amazing quick and easy base recipe for a 1st timer making Fried Rice. Loved that I was able to change the serving size. Since I opted for the frozen peas and carrots, prior to adding the eggs I sauteed the onion with an 8 oz. bag of frozen peas and carrots and added a teaspoon of fresh minced garlic. Then added diced ham to the veggies before scrambling the eggs in. Got double thumbs up by the family. Thank you for sharing this recipe!
DrDan says
Hi Gretchen,
It is an easy recipe and it cries for modifications like you noted. A recipe is always "just guidelines" to start creating what you want out of it. I hope you inspire others.
Thanks so much for your note.
Dan
Lauren says
Great recipe! I used leftover brown rice and added some frozen peas and carrots. Kids loved it. Thanks!
Gina says
Yummy. I added leftover diced pork and a handful of frozen peas to the melting butter. Very good, quick, I ate both helpings.
Brad says
Substitute the soy sauce with oyster sauce for a less salty and sweeter flavor. Or use half soy and half oyster to add a sweet flavor kick to the soy sauce.
DrDan says
Thanks for the suggestions.
Dan
Beth says
This is easy and tastes good. I added some shredded carrot and peas in with the onion and sautéed three minutes, made a well then added the egg and scrambled. Once the egg was cooked a bit, I stirred all together. Voila!
Alonah says
It tastes really good!
Autum Clevenger says
I'm pregnant and I was craving fried rice.. I'm not disappointed!! This is really good and simple, which is exactly what I was looking for. Thank you for this recipe! I added peas and corn for a little bit of extra veggies and started the onion while the chicken broth was still boiling, since I like mine cooked a little more.. it's great and I have leftovers for tomorrow :)
Eric says
I googled "quick fried rice" needing to get a dinner together in a hurry and knew I was in luck when something from this site popped up. I made a couple changes, garlic for onion since I didn't have onion and I threw in some frozen peas. I also fried some chicken in peanut oil with some tumeric to move it from 'side' to 'dinner.' The recipie worked great, pretty much as good as fried rice from regularly cooked (and refridgerated overnight) rice and it doesn't require leftovers. Will definitely be playing with this for a little while.
DrDan says
All recipes are just guidelines. This is a great one to play with.
Thanks for the note
Dan
DrDan says
Thanks for the note. I think it is very tasty for an easy side
DrDan
Alicia Clinton says
Thank you so much, this has been a wonderful addition to our monthly rotation to sausage, asian vegetables and instant brown rice. We, of course, must nearly double the recipe to feed a family, but it's great. Try the reduced sodium soy sauce plus we sort of fry our onions too. Thanks again!
Melissa McKinney says
This is a great and easy recipe and turned out great! I also added chicken and cooked frozen veggies