This is the best chinese schezwan fried rice you'll make - loaded with vegetables, spicy and super easy! Made with sichuan sauce, it's the best way to use leftover rice.
Tell me you love fried rice as much as I do. Because I can eat some every day. Especially schezwan fried rice because I love everything extra spicy. And my homemade schezwan sauce just makes things so easy.
Love Fried Rice? Also try my Veg Fried Rice, Egg Fried Rice Recipe, Thai Pineapple Fried Rice and Burnt Garlic Mushroom Fried Rice
We love Asian food, almost as much as we love Indian. For me, it's about how fast Asian food is. A few sauces, seasoning, protein, veggies, a quick stir fry and you are done! Most nights, I just want dinner in 30 minutes. The other day I was testing a Korean Chicken recipe (which is amazeballs), and we needed something to eat with it. Tada - Schezwan Fried Rice to the rescue!
Since the first time I made my homemade schezwan sauce, we end up using it to make schezwan fried rice and schezwan noodles all the time! But just in case you don't have the time to make your own sauce, Chings Secret Schezwan Sauce is just as good. If you haven't tried it, you have to give it a go!
I'm actually a food geek when it comes to making my own fried rice and I can't go away without sharing all the deets with you!
What is Schezwan / Sichuan /Szechuan?
There are many names for the same thing, but Sichuan is basically a region in China and the food that originates from there is spicy and pungent because of all the garlic and chillies used in it - particularly sichuan chilli peppers. I love food trivia, don't you?
What is Schezwan / Sichuan Sauce?
Sichuan sauce is a spicy sauce that's made with garlic, ginger, chillies, ketchup, vinegar and sugars. It has a pungent, sweet and spicy flavor that's perfect for stir fry, noodles, manchurian or even as a dipping sauce. I also love adding celery to my sauce while cooking because that adds another layer of flavor. I love making it at home and here's a recipe, but if you can't, you can buy it here.
Now that you know a little more about schezwan sauce, we also need to help you figure out how to make the best schezwan fried rice at home. It has to have the same restaurant like taste, and the same texture. Nobody likes mushy fried rice which is why you need to be careful about these things:
How can I make the best schezwan fried rice at home?
Not just this recipe, these tips actually work for any kind of fried rice you'd like to make at home. This is your gateway to becoming a fried rice ninja!
- Make sure you use day old rice. Fresh rice is usually quite moist, but since we need every grain in our fried rice, day old rice works best. You can leave the rice in the fridge overnight so that by next morning, its slightly drier and ready for use.
- If you don't have leftover rice, just spread cooked rice on a baking sheet and leave it uncovered for an hour or two. This will help get rid of any extra moisture.
- Try and use a wok. A wok has more surface area and makes it easier for the side to side stir frying motion that you need. This is a great Cast Iron Wok by Lodge, but just in case you don't have one or are using an electric hob, just use a frying pan which works just as well and is probably easier to handle.
- High heat. This is probably THE most important step in chinese cooking. You want any stir fry, noodles or fried rice to be cooked on really high heat. So that the entire cooking process is super fast. High heat ensures that your vegetables are still crunchy and fresh, and there is a nice element of char.
- Which is why you need to keep your prep ready. Any cutting, chopping, sauces, seasoning - keep everything ready before you start. Because like this schezwan fried rice, stir frys usually take less than 10 minutes from start to finish and you don't want to be scrambling for ingredients mid-way and spoil your dish.
I know those are five points, but really if you keep those in mind, life will be easy and you'll always be making the best chinese food at home!
More Fried Rice Recipes You'll Like:
Schezwan Fried Rice from Leftover Rice
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons Vegetable Oil
- 1 teaspoon Garlic chopped
- 2 tablespoons Celery chopped (optional)
- 1 ½ cups Vegetables finely diced (mushroom, beans, carrots, corn, peas etc)
- 3 cups Leftover Rice day old rice is best
- 3 tablespoons Schezwan Sauce
- 1 tablespoon Soy Sauce
- Salt and Pepper to taste
- Diced Green Onions and Sesame Seeds for topping
Instructions
- Heat a wok or frying pan, and once the pan is really hot, add oil, garlic and celery to it. Cook for about 30 seconds and add the vegetables.
- Stir fry the vegetables on high heat for two to three minutes and add schezwan sauce, soy sauce, salt and pepper to the pan. Mix well, and add the rice.
- Toss the rice to coat with the sauce, and stir around for another two minutes. The rice might char at the bottom of the pan which is okay but keep the heat high. Switch off the flame, and serve hot topped with green onions and sesame seeds.
Notes
- Always use rice which is al dente
- I don't recommend using frozen veggies directly for this rice, because it brings the temperature of the pan down, unless you have thawed them completely before using
Tanya says
I just tried this but kinda eyeballed the ingredient quantities. Best fried rice that I've ever made! Didn't plan this out in advance so made the rice just before assembling the dish, by boiling regular rice in less water than I normally would, and letting it sit for about an hour, spread out so that it loses the extra water. The veggies I used were carrots, beans and capsicum. And a bit of garlic, if that counts. I think the most important thing, like you said, was to cook this on as high a flame as possible. And I used Ching's schezwan sauce. Added scrambled egg. Looking forward to making this again! Thanks Richa!
Richa says
Thanks Tanya! Your tip about using rice cooked on the same day will help lots of other people too. Glad you liked it.