I’m sharing my secret to making takeout style egg fried rice! This recipe is super simple but with a few tricks, you’ll have the same flavour at home.
Here you go fried rice lovers, this is literally the first thing we add to the cart when we order chinese takeout at home! It’s always egg fried rice with a side of some chicken and vegetables.
And I’ve been wanting to nail it for a while. And like with a lot of chinese recipes on this site, I need to get it just right. I need it to taste exactly like egg fried rice from my chinese restaurant. I’ve done it before – with chilli chicken, chinese chicken salad, hot and sour soup and crispy fried noodles. And I’ve done it again with this recipe!
Egg fried rice is the best way to use day old leftover rice. You can add any bits and bobs of veggies lying around in your fridge, a few sauces, 2-3 eggs and you’ve got yourself a seriously delicious dish!
Special tips for making egg fried rice
Rice: This is probably the most important thing to remember while making any fried rice recipe. Never use freshly cooked rice. Fresh rice will leave your egg fried rice gluggy and sticky. Its best to use day old leftover rice that’s been in the fridge overnight. The fridge will take away some of the moisture from the rice, leaving you with grains that are drier and separate. If you don’t have leftover rice and want to mimic that texture, cook rice, spread it out on a baking tray and then refrigerate it for at least half an hour.
Wok: I can’t stress it enough. For great testing Chinese food, a wok or a wide kadhai is so important. It helps spread out the heat. A good quality wok made of carbon steel or triple layer stainless steel will retain heat and the wide shape helped stir fry really well. A seasoned wok will also add flavour and smokiness to Chinese food which will give you the same taste as takeout.
Sauces: You’ll notice that we are using sauces sparingly. This fried rice recipe is not going to be deep brown in colour, or taste full of soy sauce. The proportions of sauces are just right to add enough flavour but still keep it tasting fresh, crunchy and healthy.
Variations: You can use this base recipe to do variations. You can turn this into prawn fried rice or chicken fried rice easily or just remove the egg and keep it vegetarian. Add cooked prawns or chicken when you add the veggies. Increase the sauces slightly and build this to your taste.
And that’s it! If you follow these super simple tricks, you’ll always have amazing restaurant style fried rice at home in less than 20 minutes!
More Chinese Takeout Style Recipes
- Chinese Hot and Sour Soup
- Easy Chinese Chilli Chicken
- Crunchy Chinese Chicken Salad
- Crispy Fried Noodles
- Crispy Honey Chilli Potatoes
- Tofu Broccoli Stir Fry
- Schezwan Fried Rice
- Shrimp Chow Mein
Watch how to make Egg Fried Rice Recipe Video
Egg Fried Rice – Same restaurant style taste!
Prep Time: 10 minutes- Cook Time: 10 minutes
- Total Time: 20 minutes
Yield: 4 people 1x
Category: Mains
Method: Stir Frying
Cuisine: Chinese
Print Recipe
Pin RecipeDescription
A few simple tricks and easily available ingredients are all you need to make restaurant style egg fried rice at home!
Ingredients
- 3 tablespoons oil, divided
- 1 teaspoon finely chopped ginger
- 1/2 teaspoon finely chopped garlic
- 1/4 cup finely chopped celery
- 1/4 cup finely chopped spring onions (white pale part)
- 1/2 cup chopped green beans
- 1/2 cup chopped carrots
- 1 cup sliced mushrooms
- 2 1/2 cups leftover cooked white rice (approx 3/4 cup raw rice)
- 1 tablespoon dark soy sauce
- 2 teaspoon rice vinegar
- 1 teaspoon sesame oil
- 1/2 teaspoon white pepper powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 2 eggs
- 1/2 cup chopped spring onions (green part)
Instructions
- Heat a tablespoon of oil in a wok. Whisk the eggs and add them to the wok. Let the egg fry in the oil for 10 seconds and then scramble it, making sure not to brown it. Remove it from the wok.
- In the same wok, heat the remaining oil and add ginger, garlic, celery and the white part of spring onions. Stir fry the aromatics for a minute or two on high heat. Add beans, carrots and mushrooms and stir fry for another two minute, all the time making sure that its on high heat so that the veggies remain crunchy.
- Add cooked rice, soy sauce, rice vinegar, sesame oil, white pepper powder, salt (if using). Stir fry again to make sure everything is mixed well. Don’t worry if the rice sticks a little to the bottom. Just scrape it off – those crunchy bits are yum! Add the scrambled eggs and green part of spring onions. Mix again and turn off the heat. Serve immediately.
Notes
Rice: Any short grain white rice will work well for this recipe. Short grain rice tastes much better than long grained rice in fried rice
Cooking rice for fried rice: Its best to use leftover rice from the previous day for fried rice. This is because, rice that has been in the fridge overnight has less moisture and will make for fluffier, less gluggy or sticky fried rice. If you don’t have leftover rice, cook the rice, spread it out on a baking sheet and refrigerate it for half an hour before cooking.
Veggies: You can use your favourite veggies in this recipe. That’s the beauty of fried rice. I also love using broccoli, cabbage, bok choy in this recipe.
Protein: Chicken, shrimp/ prawns, bacon all taste great in this recipe. Just cook them before and add them along with the veggies in the recipe
Freezing: Egg fried rice can be easily frozen. Let it cool to room temperature and freeze it in freezer friendly containers. This can be frozen for up to 3 months.
Reheating egg fried rice: To reheat this dish, take the container out of the freezer, let it thaw and then microwave in 2 minute spurts.
Cauliflower Fried Rice: To make this healthier, swap the rice for 3 cups cauliflower rice
Good recipe but your video indicates no chopped celery. Your recipe does?
I sometimes use a small quantity of Teriyaki sauce in place of Soy Sauce to give it a bit of a flavour kick. I always use Basmati Rice and it therefore never becomes sticky or clumpy.
Hey there, the video actually has celery, it goes in the wok right after ginger and garlic 🙂 Teriyaki sauce sounds like a great flavour too