Leftover Chicken Fried Rice
Easy Chicken Fried Rice is made with a little leftover chicken and cooked rice, plus plenty of veggies! This 20 minute weeknight dinner idea is just so simple to throw together.
Servings 4 people
Ingredients
- 2.5 tablespoon canola or other high smoke point oil divided
- 1 teaspoon sesame oil
- 6-8 oz broccoli chopped small
- 1 medium carrot peeled and diced
- 1 stalk celery chopped
- 1 tablespoon diced onion
- 4 cloves minced garlic about 2 tsp
- 1 cup frozen green peas or edamame
- ¼ teaspoon crushed red pepper
- ½ teaspoon ground ginger
- 2 tablespoon soy sauce
- 3-4 cups cold cooked rice it’s not an exact science — use what you have!
- 1-1.5 cups cooked chicken chopped
- 2 eggs beaten
- 2 green onions chopped
Instructions
- Chop the vegetables and chicken.
- Heat 2 tablespoon canola oil in a large skillet or wok over medium-high heat. Once shimmering, add the carrot, broccoli, celery, onion, garlic, and sesame oil to the pan.
- Cook over medium-high heat for about two minutes until the veggies begin to soften, stirring occasionally.
- Stir in the peas or edamame, crushed red pepper, and ginger and continue cooking for about a minute.
- Stir in the rice and spread it out across the entire pan, breaking up any large clumps. Let the rice cook undisturbed for two minutes, then stir, spread out again, and cook for another two minutes.
- Stir in the soy sauce and chicken and continue cooking over medium-high heat for another minute.
- Meanwhile, beat the eggs in a small bowl. Push the rice to the edges of the pan to create an open well in the center, then add ½ tablespoon canola oil to the center of the pan.
- Pour the beaten eggs into the center of the pan and cook until scrambled, occasionally pushing the egg to the middle and breaking it up.
- Stir and chop the cooked scrambled eggs into the rice, then stir in the chopped green onions.
- Taste to see if your fried rice needs additional soy sauce, then serve.
Notes
Cold cooked leftover rice works much better for fried rice than freshly cooked, and it’s also important for the final texture to let the rice sit spread out in the pan undisturbed for a while, rather than stirring frequently. (In a real pinch, you can substitute canned chicken for leftover cooked chicken.)