Chicken Fried Rice

The House Special is a fabulous, fully loaded Chicken Fried Rice! This fried rice recipe, which includes seasoned chicken, vegetables and a fluffy egg, is so good that it can be served as a main dish instead of a side dish.

Do not be fooled when you see recipes that claim to be “better” than take-out but only use soy sauce as a flavouring. Ask your local Chinese restaurant for authentic chicken fried risotto – it takes more than just soy sauce!!

Chicken Fried Rice

After Monday’s post on How To Cook Rice, which debunked many myths about the process, I would follow up with an easy and quick recipe. Rice, of course. My “House Special” chicken fried rice!!

It’s not my first time sharing fried rice. But I wanted to share a Chicken Fried Rice Recipe which I hadn’t shared before. This is because it’s easier to tell people to “just cook some chicken before you throw in everything else!” when I mention it in my Fried Rice recipe.

The steps are different.

Today I will be sharing with you my thoughts on this topic.

What you need

What you’ll need to make Chicken Fried Rice

Fried Rice Sauce

• You can use either the light or all-purpose soy sauce. DO NOT use dark soy sauce; it’s too intense. You can also use Maggi seasoning, but you will need to reduce the amount (it is saltier!) ).
• You can substitute oyster sauce with fish sauce + hoisin (best!). Hoisin sauce is also good (though it will give you a subtle Chinese Five Spice Flavour).
• The “secret ingredient” of fried rice is Chinese cooking wine, also known as Shaoxing Wine (or dry sherry or Mirin). If you can, I highly recommend you get it (or Mirin or Dry Sherry), as it makes a huge difference in the sauce. It adds complexity and depth that rivals the fried rice at Chinese restaurants. Use chicken or vegetable stock powder/granulated Bouillon instead of an alcoholic substitute – please see the recipe notes.

The Add-Ins are:

• You can use day-old cooked rice that has been refrigerated. The rice will dry out and become crumbly, which you want for your fried rice to be clumpy.
• Bacon is the best choice for fried rice, as it adds flavour and is cheaper than Chinese sausages (pricey in stores that are not Asian) or Chinese BBQ Pork. This is the usual method used by restaurants. Ham is another great option!
• You can use any diced vegetable that is stir-fryable. I use frozen corn, peas and diced carrot (easy, quick classic Chinese).
• Egg – we love fluffy eggs in fried rice.
• Green onion for some colour and freshness;
• Chicken, of course! This is Chicken Fried Rice. Feel free to substitute with other proteins.
• Garlic and onion – a flavour base essential.

How to make it

Chicken Fried Rice is very quick to cook, so be prepared with everything you need chopped up and ready to go into the skillet or wok.

It’s important to note that I remove the egg from the fried rice after it has been cooked and then add it back later. In my classic side dish Fried Rice recipe, the egg is cooked without being removed. This can be done because the fried rice has less “stuff”, making it easier to handle.

Chicken Fried Rice has more “stuff”. If you cook it all at once, it can be a bit much.

What to serve with it

This is a dish I’m happy to serve as a main meal. While one might assume that fried rice contains oodles of carbs, this recipe calls for only 2 cups of rice cooked compared with almost 4 cups of other “stuff”. (Chicken, vegetables, bacon)

You can see in the pictures that it is exactly as it should be – like Chicken Fried Rice with all of its toppings!

This Fried Rice is a great side dish for anything Chinese or Asian, but avoid dishes with strong kapow flavours, such as Thai Red Curry and Kung Pao Chicken, because it has enough flavour by itself.

Milder stir-fries, such as Beef and Broccoli Stir Fry, Cashew Chicken Stir Fry, Prawn Stir Fry and Chop Suey Chicken Stir Fry, would also be fantastic.

Here are some other ideas on how to serve Chicken Fried Rice.

MAKE A MEAL FROM STARTERS

Fried rice can be added to dishes that are normally served as appetizers. Hot and Sour Soups, Chinese Corn Soups, Spring Rolls or Chinese Lettuce wraps (San Choy Bau).

BANQUET!

Enjoy a Yum Cha (Dim Sum style) banquet made at home with Potstickers, Chinese Steamed Pork Buns or Crispy Chinese Pork belly with Chinese Broccoli and Oyster Sauce, or Chinese Lettuce dressed with Creamy Sesame dressing!