Fried Rice is an Easy One Pan Meal for Busy Weeknights

This is a great meal for a busy weeknight, especially when you have pre-cooked rice (or any grains really).

• Fried Quinoa

• Fried Brown Rice

• Fried…you name it!

Fried rice that you order from you fave Chinese restaurant is crunchy, flavorful, and everything is perfectly cooked! You can do this at home too!

The key to a good fried rice is…left over rice!

If you’re familiar with my thoughts on cooking during the week, you probably already cook rice & other grains in bulk. Prepping rice ahead of time can save you soo much time when cooking on busy weeknights!

If you don’t have rice already cooked & chilled, it’s okay, it’ll just take a bit longer to dry out…but the steps are the same!

Easy Fried Rice

• Preheat the oven to 425°F.

• Line a sheet tray with a Silpat or parchment paper.

• Spoon out your freshly cooked rice, or chilled rice in a single layer on the sheet tray and place it in the hot oven.

  • You want the rice to be both heated through and dry/crispy before it’s done. Like 15-30 minutes depending if you started with fresh rice or rice that’s been in the fridge for a bit. Basically, the wetter the rice the longer it will take to dry out.

• While your rice is preheating sauté your veggies, protein, or whatever else you want in your fried rice.

  • For a quick weeknight fried rice, I like to use frozen veggies because there is no prep involved! Try a corn, pea and carrot mix! Any veggies you have will work, just make sure they are cut into bite size pieces.

  • As a quick protein addition, cube up some cold cuts, rotisserie chicken, or any leftover meats you have!

  • Be sure to choose a pan large enough to not only sauté your veggies, but also large enough to move the rice around.

• Once your veggies are almost done/heated through/have some color on them, whisk up an egg or two!

• Push your veggies to the outside of the pan and add your beaten egg to the center of the pan, allow it to cook for 15-20 seconds before you move it.

  • Break up the egg into small pieces as its cooking. This will help it evenly disperse throughout the rice.

  • Try to keep the egg separate from the veggies, this will help it cook fully without becoming a goopy mess.

• Once your veggies and eggs are cooked, remove the rice from the oven and add it to the pan.

• Toss everything to combine.

  • Optional add-ins: soy or teriyaki sauce, fresh lime juice, dried ginger, sambal or sriracha, fresh herbs like mint, basil, or green onions.

• Ready to serve! Try it on its own or in lettuce wraps!

This is a great meal to use leftovers because it can come together in just a few minutes if everything is already cooked or prepped out! You can also try making a Stir-Fry…similar to fried rice, but without the rice!

Using this to make dinner tonight? Snap a pic, post it on the gram and tag @wellnesscucina! I can’t wait to see what you make!

Does this sound awesome, but you’re not sure where or how to start cooking like this at home?

Check out the Kitchen Confidence Resource Library. It gives you the bitesize cooking skills you need to get dinner on the table in 30.