Real talk: We’ve eaten a lot of bad homemade fried rice, most of which we’ve made. Homemade fried rice shouldn’t have to be an oily, soggy, mushy mess that you end up eating out of spite after a 60-minute battle with your kitchen! And yet, it kept turning out that way.

We’ve experimented. We’ve cooked in batches, switched up oils, and tried countless sauces. We’ve invited various specialty ingredients to the party. We’ve even gotten the broiler involved. (Listen—sheet pan fried rice actually kinda rules but that’s a topic for another time.) 

To get a handle on homemade fried rice, we had to go back to basics. There are fundamental reasons why wok-fried rice is so good! Namely, the texture variance and complex smoky flavor created by wok cooking. Think of stir-fried veggies at your favorite restaurant—crisp-tender with caramelized outer edges. Think of the specks of crisp and chewy grains mixed throughout a plate of your favorite fried rice. (Hungry yet?) Wok cooking is practically alchemical, transforming food from simple ingredients into a dish greater than the sum of its parts.

Restaurants that rely on wok cooking can achieve these results because the extreme heat of the cooking method (much higher than Western home stoves) blasts away excess moisture allowing for maximum caramelization of foods and vaporization of cooking oils. All of this happens in seconds—David used to work with a cook who had run the wok in a Thai restaurant and said he never minded remaking orders, since most dishes on his station cooked for under a minute! 

Trouble is…Your landlord and/or lungs won’t abide by the use of that sort of equipment and heat in a home kitchen. The smoke produced by traditional wok cooking requires a serious ventilation setup for the safety and comfort of cooks and diners alike.

But you can have delicious fried rice at home without a six-figure kitchen remodel! The trick? A combo of cold pre-cooked rice, low-moisture veggies, sauce that aids in caramelization, and letting heat and time do their thing. By not over-stirring your ingredients, they have a chance to caramelize and develop some of those sought-after flavors. The ingredients just need more time in contact with the surface of your pan than a commercial wok!

This fried rice is a go-to in our home for tired weeknight dinners and easy weekend lunches alike! It’s ideal comfort food, with starchy-salty-sweet vibes meeting fresh and bright flavors. The recipe makes 2-3 servings, so if leftovers are your thing, you might need to make a couple of batches.

Tips & Info

• Tofu fills in here for the scrambled egg commonly present in fried rice. Salt, oil, and minimal stirring help it to develop texture and flavor variance that elevates its presence in the final dish.

• You can choose-your-own-veggie-adventure by switching up the veggies. Large chunks of green onion and broccolini are our favorites, as the recipe calls for. One of the big reasons is that they’re lower in moisture, preventing the final dish from getting soggy. But you do you! Half an onion leftover from Tuesday’s pasta? Cabbage you over-bought when you made coleslaw last weekend? Swore you’d use up all two pounds of those carrots but they’re starting to wilt? Now you have a home for them. Just make sure you drain off any excess moisture that’s accumulated in the resting veggies before adding them back to the rice.

  • Rule-of-thumb regarding veggie quantity: 1 large handful of alliums (like 5 green onions, ½ a large yellow onion, etc.), and 2 large handfuls of another veggie (like a head of broccoli, a bunch of asparagus, etc.)

  • No matter what veggies you choose—be sure to give them as much time on the bottom of the pan as they need to develop some dark color and charred texture.

• Leftover white rice is the real star of this recipe. We often prep extra servings of rice over the weekend to have on hand for easy-meal-moments. Turns out, though, that cold leftover rice actually works better than the fresh-cooked stuff when making fried rice. This is because rice grains become more separate and less starchy when refrigerated! It’s the trick to getting the crispy-chewy rice you want, whereas fresh rice will stick to the pan and end up soggy. 

  • Don’t have day-old rice? Cook some up fresh, then spread it out on a plate or sheet pan to cool and dry uncovered in the fridge for 10-20 minutes.

• Use a pan with a large flat cooking surface that can handle sustained heat (like a 12-inch cast-iron skillet). You want the rice and veggies to cook through direct heat, meaning they need to be in contact with the bottom of the pan as much as possible. This will make the difference between mushy and crisp-tender veggies! The heat retention and distribution of cast-iron also makes it the best choice for crisping the rice.

• No matter what pan you use, make sure you have a spatula that is safe and effective to scrape up all the crispy bits of rice as you go! This is essential for texture and flavor! You want to see variance in the final dish, with speckles of dark caramelized rice throughout. 

• Seasoned rice vinegar swoops in at the very end to liven up this dish with a hit of acidity and sweetness, turning the aromatics up to eleven. But what’s up with all the different types you see in the store? Rice vinegar is all made by fermenting rice first into alcohol (rice wine) and then into acid. Rice vinegar and rice wine vinegar are just different names! However, seasoned rice vinegar has a bit of sugar and salt added to balance the acidity (it’s usually found seasoning steamed vegetables or tossed in a salad). If you want to use plain rice vinegar in this recipe, do a slightly lighter pour. It’ll still work great.

We would love to see what you make!
Tag #cookwithpowerplant & @powerplantpnw on Instagram!