Quick and tasty, this vegetable fried rice satisfies your cravings for both fried rice and something fresh! Not soggy, not bland, just awesome. 

THE INGREDIENTS: 

White Rice: Without rice, it’d be a little hard to make fried rice! We use white rice as opposed to brown rice because white rice tends to stay in individual grains, whereas brown rice cooks together and appears to be more “oaty” in texture and taste.

Medium grain white rice is what many folks most likely have in their kitchen and it works great here. However, long grain white rice is another good choice. We’d avoid short/sushi white rice because that rice tends to stick together instead of being separate and fluffy.

Using day-old rice is the key to getting crispy fried rice. As it chills, it loses some moisture and also hardens up a bit. If you forgot to make it ahead of time, at least try to cook the rice in the morning before you make it. You’ll want at least a few hours of fridge time-the more, the better! 

Egg: An egg is a classic ingredient in fried rice, adding flavor and also a bit of protein. Although we stick to one egg in this recipe, you can definitely go for two and still have a successful fried rice. 

Red Bell Pepper: The first of our veggies in this vegetable fried rice! Bell pepper is versatile, pairing well with the flavoring we have going on here. Bell pepper is also crisp, giving a nice bite to our fried rice. We opt for a sweeter bell pepper (red, orange, or yellow), but green also works fine here. 

Water Chestnuts: Bell pepper may be crisp, but water chestnuts are CRUNCHY. This is perfect to add crunch regardless of how much crispiness you got from frying your rice. We know it may seem odd to just use ⅓ of a can, but we use up the water chestnuts either by making 3 servings of this fried rice or by adding the water chestnuts into some cream cheese rangoon filling! 

Edamame: Edamame and soy sauce are a classic combination, and edamame also adds some plant-based protein to keep you full after eating this fried rice! As another vegetable, edamame helps break up any monotony so you don’t feel like you’re eating the same bite over and over again. 

Green Onions: Without using a pungent white onion, green onions add a present, yet more subtle flavor that goes amazingly well in this fried rice. Green onions also add even more freshness! Still, if you don’t have green onions on hand, that’s okay. Reach for about ¼ of a diced fresh onion (avoid red onions), 1.5 tsp of dried minced onion, or ¾ tsp of onion powder. 

Garlic: More flavor, here we come! Add more flavor by adding garlic-and don’t worry, this isn’t too heavy handed of an amount! Everyone has different preferences when it comes to garlic, so you can reduce or increase as desired. 

Ginger: Whether it’s this vegetable fried rice recipe or our eggplant and shishito pepper dumplings, we feel the meal isn’t complete without a taste of ginger! You can use fresh or ground ginger, just go with what you have on hand. For every ¼ teaspoon of ground ginger, you’d want to reach for at least ¾ teaspoon of freshly grated ginger. 

Sugar: Commonly used in dessert, it may seem odd at first to add sugar to this fried rice! However, a little goes a long way in adding depth of flavor. If you have any sweet sauces on hand, such as chili sauce or teriyaki sauce, feel free to add a splash of that instead of the white sugar. 

Seaweed: Seaweed. It seems you either love it or you hate it! This recipe is flavorful enough to do without, so no need to search for any replacements now. However, if you like seaweed, this secret ingredient will take your fried rice over the top. We opt for plain “sea salt” seaweed, but you can use flavored if that is what you have on hand. 

Vegetable Oil: When making homemade fried rice, a lot of people are looking for some crispiness! As important as high heat and day old rice is for crispiness, so is adding enough oil! We use vegetable oil because it has a high smoke point and a neutral flavor. Any other oil that is also neutral and with a high smoke point will make a great substitute in this recipe. We don’t recommend decreasing the oil unless crispiness is not an important quality for you in fried rice. 

Soy Sauce: More flavor, here we come! Soy sauce adds flavor and saltiness to this fried rice. It also gives the rice a darker appearance. If you don’t have soy sauce on hand, a good substitute is worcestershire sauce. You may increase the soy sauce in this recipe, but it may make the fried rice too salty. Know how much salt you can tolerate before adjusting the soy sauce! Do not add extra salt in this recipe because the soy sauce provides plenty, even if you use the lower sodium version as we often do. 

Sesame Oil: Hold on a second, wasn’t vegetable oil already in this recipe? Yes, it was, but oil is for more than just crispiness! In the case of sesame oil, it’s for flavor. Don’t replace the vegetable oil in this recipe for sesame oil because sesame oil has a low smoke point, meaning it can’t handle much heat before it becomes a smoky, fiery disaster. Sesame oil also has a very potent flavor, so we don’t recommend increasing it in this recipe as it can quickly take over the other flavors. In light amounts, though, sesame oil boosts the flavor of this fried rice to make it extra awesome! 

Red Pepper Flakes: We wouldn’t call this vegetable fried rice spicy, but red pepper flakes do add some heat for those that like a little. Increase or decrease this to your own tastes!

KEY INFORMATION: 

How Do You Make Crispy Fried Rice? There are four important characteristics for fried rice: day old rice, high heat, enough oil, and watching your stirring. By cooking your rice in advance, you can give it some refrigerator time before cooking fried rice. As rice chills, it loses some moisture and also hardens up a bit-perfect for crispiness!

The lower the heat, the more you warm ingredients up instead of browning them. So, set your heat to medium-high instead of medium-low. Oil is also the medium that helps to brown fried rice-if you leave it out, even with high heat, the rice just won’t get anywhere near as crispy.

Finally, watch your stirring! Think of fried rice like grilled cheese. If you flip the grilled cheese too early, the bread isn’t toasted enough on one side! So, by stirring the rice, you’re flipping the grains all around and not giving them enough time to toast. Instead, stir occasionally just to ensure that nothing is getting burnt. 

What Order Do You Add The Ingredients For Fried Rice? We recommend: some oil, eggs, aromatics, vegetables, rice and seasoning and sauces, and finally green onions and sesame oil. Some oil is important to cook the egg properly. Next, cooking the egg first gives wonderful bites of egg evenly throughout the fried rice. The aromatics need just a moment exposed to the oil, with only the egg in the way, to get their flavors unlocked. Vegetables need a few minutes to cook to not be raw. From there, add the rice and seasonings! This ensures flavor is coating everything and there is enough time for the rice to get crispy. Seasonings that would get lost during cooking, such as green onions, sesame oil, and fresh herbs are added at the end and cooked from residual heat. 

What Goes With Vegetable Fried Rice? Vegetable Fried Rice is a great main dish or side dish! If having it as a main dish, it goes great when topped with more egg, slices of seaweed, cooked edamame, or raw vegetables like cucumber or avocado. You can even mix in some chicken when cooking the fried rice to turn this into Chicken Fried Rice! Good appetizers that go with this meal are salad with carrot-ginger dressing, tempura, sushi, cream cheese rangoons, egg rolls, or even miso soup! If having vegetable fried rice as your side dish, consider cooking Honey Sesame Chicken or Eggplant and Shishito Pepper Dumplings as your main dish.