How To Make The Best Chicken Fried Rice At Home

Last Updated on September 8, 2021 by Tracy

This Chicken Fried Rice recipe absolutely delicious and better than what you would get at the restaurants! Make this chicken fried rice at home today. While this post is sponsored by Produce for Kids and Shuman Farms RealSweet Vidalia Onions, all opinions and this easy dinner recipe are my own.

Better Than Take-Out Chicken Fried Rice

Chicken Fried Rice is a family favorite. We would order it all the time at one of our favorite local restaurants but since we are eating at home a bit more lately, the kids have been requesting it about once a week. Thankfully homemade Chicken Fried Rice is fairly easy to make.

I make at least 6 servings when I make Chicken Fried Rice because everyone goes back for a 2nd bowl. Now, that is a lot of rice, so make sure you have a big (yes, big) skillet pan or wok. We actually have a wok, but 9xs out of 10 I forget about it until I have already started cooking. So, if you don’t have a wok, don’t worry, a large skillet will work fine as well.

We have a rice cooker, and my husband claims that it’s the best thing ever when it comes to cooking rice, but you can cook it in a pot 🙂 You will need to make your rice a few hours ahead of time, in fact, the night or even a day before will work as well. If you make fried rice at home with just prepared sticky, warm rice, your fried rice will turn out soggy. Once you cook the rice allow it to cool and refrigerate it until ready to use. Making the rice ahead of time allows the grains to dry out enough so that your fried rice has good texture.

Once your rice is ready, you can get started on making your chicken fried rice.

I start with three different pans on the stove, one for fresh vegetables, one for the chicken and then one for the rice. By the time I am done, everything will be in the pan with the rice, so again, make sure you have a pan big enough to hold everything.

To make Chicken Fried Rice at home you will need:

Chicken
RealSweet® Vidalia® Onion
Squash
Mini Sweet Peppers
Rice
Butter
Soy Sauce
Eggs
All Purpose Seasoning – I use DUST by VooDoo Chef
Red Pepper Flakes
Yum Yum Sauce if desired – I use Saucy Everything by Saucy Queen

As you can see, you really don’t need too many ingredients to make this restaurant favorite dish at home.

I use RealSweet Vidalia onions in my homemade fried rice because they are sweet and their versatile flavor makes them perfect for this dish, well any dish really. Vidalia onions also have a longer shelf life than many other items in the produce department, so they are almost always in my house. Be sure to check out these storage and prep tips for Vidalia onions.

Ok, so let’s get cooking that Chicken Fried Rice, shall we?

In one large skillet you will add a tab of butter and the cubed chicken. Once the chicken starts to cook, you will add in 2 tablespoons of low sodium soy sauce. Cook the chicken throughout, drain any juices and allow it to sit in the pan on low until you are ready to add it to the fried rice.

In a medium skillet you will add a tab of butter and once that melts, add in the diced Vidalia onion. Once the onions are translucent you will add in the diced mini sweet peppers and diced squash. Saute the vegetables until tender and sprinkle on a little all purpose seasoning. Put on low or off until ready to add to the rice.

In the large skillet, melt a tablespoon of butter then add in your cooked rice. You will add another tablespoon of butter to the top of the rice, but break it into pieces so that it is scattered around the pan, then sprinkle on seasoning and red pepper flakes. Then don’t touch it! Allow the rice to “fry” in the pan for about 5 – 6 minutes, then flip the rice, I use a big turner (grab the one you use to flip pancakes with). Now you will drizzle soy sauce over the rice and let it cook for another 5 minutes or so then flip it again and drizzle on additional soy sauce.

Now it’s time to get your arm workout in, you will start to mix around the rice so that the soy sauce is evenly distributed. Then you will dump in your delicious vegetables and mix them around so that they are evenly distributed. Next add in the cooked chicken and you guessed it, mix that around until it’s evenly mixed throughout. Sprinkle on additional seasoning and red pepper flakes and mix again. See what I mean about that arm workout?

Now, push the fried rice to the edges of the pan so that you made a small vacant spot in the center of the pan, you want at least 4 inches or so. Crack your eggs into that spot and scramble them. Once they are loosely scrambled mix them throughout your chicken fried rice.

Then it’s time to enjoy! My husband can eat his with chopsticks, and the kids try it now and again…me, I have never mastered that art of using chopsticks, so I eat mine the boring way…with a fork.

If you have ordered fried rice at a hibachi-style restaurant they typically serve yum yum sauce with it, they do sell it at grocery stores, so if your family likes it, be sure to grab a bottle.

Now, here is my Chicken Fried Rice recipe. Be sure to Print It and Pin It so that you can make it again and again. We make it here about once a week. I know it looks like a lot of steps, but I promise you it really isn’t, and it’s not hard! You all know that I don’t make complicated recipes!

Best Chicken Fried Rice

Make one of your favorite resturant-style dishes at home with this easy homemade chicken fried rice recipe.

Print Rate

Course: Dinner

Cuisine: Asian

Keyword: chicken, chinese, easy recipes, onions, restuarant meals, rice, vegetables

Prep Time: 10 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 20 minutes minutes

Rice cooling time for before cooking: 6 hours hours

Servings: 6 people

Author: Tracy

Equipment

• Stove

Ingredients

Vegetables

• ▢ 1 Shuman Farms Vidalia Sweet Onion diced
• ▢ 1½ cups diced squash zucchini would be fine as well or mixed in with
• ▢ 4 mini sweet peepers diced
• ▢ ¼ tbsp butter

Chicken

• ▢ 1-1½ boneless skinless chicken breasts cut into 1 in cubes, you want them to be bite size
• ▢ 2 tbsp low sodium soy sauce
• ▢ ½ tbsp butter

Fried Rice

• ▢ 6 cups cooked and cooled white rice
• ▢ ½ cup low sodium soy sauce
• ▢ 2 tbsp butter divided
• ▢ 2 tsp all purpose seasoning I used DUST by VooDoo Chef
• ▢ 1 tsp red pepper flakes

Get Recipe Ingredients

Instructions

Chicken

• Melt ½ tablespoon of butter in a medium skillet and add in the cubed chicken and 2 tablespoons of soy sauce. Cook throughout.
• Drain if needed.
• Turn heat to low or off until you are ready to add to the rice.

Vegetables

• While the rice and chicken are cooking, melt ¼ tablespoon in a small pan and cook the onions until tranluscent
• Once the onions are cooked, add in the squash and peppers and cook until tender
• Turn heat to low or off until you are ready to add to the rice.

Rice

• In a large skillet pan add a tablespoon butter, once it's melted add the cooked and cooled rice.
• Top the rice with another tablespoon of butter, but break it into pieces so that it is scattered all over the top.
• Sprinkle on 1 teaspoon of seasoning and ½ teaspoon of red pepper flakes
• Allow the rice it to cook for 5 - 6 minutes. Don't touch it during this time.
• After the rice has been cooking for the 5-6 minutes, flip the rice using a large food turner.
• Drizzle on ¼ cup soy sauce, try to cover as much of the rice as possible
• Allow the rice it to cook for another 5 - 6 minutes. Don't touch it during this time.
• Flip the rice again and add an additional ¼ cup of soy sauce.
• Allow the rice to cook for 2-3 minutes, then mix it around so that that the soy sauce is mixed throughout.
• Add in the cooked vegetables and mix them throughout the rice.
• Add in the cooked chicken and mix it throughout the rice and vegetable mixture.
• Add in 1 teaspoon of seasoning and ½ teaspoon of red pepper flakes and mix.
• Gently move the rice to the edges of the pan, making a "hole" in the middle of the pan that is about 4 inches wide. You want it big enough for you to add in two eggs.
• Crack the eggs and add them to the hole you just made.
• Loosely scramble the eggs, then mix through the fried rice.
• Serve immediately
• Top with yum yum sauce if desired
• Enjoy!

Notes

My family always eat at least 2 bowls, so your servings may be smaller than mine.  Which is okay, because then you will have leftovers and this chicken fried rice recipe is just as good the next day!

You can make the rice the day or the night before, allow it to cool and toss it in the refrigerator until ready for use.  I recommend making it at least 6 hours ahead of time.

Did you make this recipe?We want to see! Tag us on Instagram @foodwinesunshine or use the hashtag #foodwinesunshine

I hope you and your family enjoy this Chicken Fried Rice as much as we do!

I grabbed my RealSweet Vidalia Sweet Onions at Publix, but you can find them at your favorite grocers. Learn more about Vidalia Sweet Onions and check out their growing process and how they get from the farm to our table.

You can also follow Shuman Farms RealSweet Onions on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest for more cooking tips and recipes ideas.

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