This is an easy, classic chicken fried rice recipe you can make for a quick dinner on any weeknight. It’s also heavier on the chicken than what you’d get from takeout!
Limited by the low prices they need to charge to get by, takeout restaurants keep the chicken pieces small and the vegetables at a minimum. Because chicken isn’t the most flavorful protein on offer, I generally choose beef, pork, or shrimp when I order fried rice. This recipe remedies that flavor gap with juicy chunks of chicken and lots of crunchy vegetables.
Our already popular Classic Pork Fried Rice is hard to beat if you use fresh Chinese roast pork (char siu), but for those of you who don’t eat pork—or just happen to have a chicken breast in the freezer—chicken fried rice is a great choice.
Note: This recipe was originally published in October 2015. We have updated it with clearer instructions and metric measurements. The recipe is still the same. Enjoy!
Customize This Chicken Fried Rice!
Remember, this recipe is only a template. I used onions, eggs, bean sprouts, and scallions, but you can customize to your heart’s content.
Add mushrooms, peas, or carrots. Cut your chicken into smaller pieces if you like. Omit the onions, use black pepper instead of white pepper… I think you get the point.
One word of advice: If you’ve never made chicken fried rice before, then follow these directions as written just once. Then next time, you can make adjustments according to your own tastes and experiment with variations.
Happy Cooking!
Chicken Fried Rice Recipe Instructions
Combine the chicken and marinade ingredients (soy sauce, cornstarch, sesame oil, and oil). Set aside while you prepare the rest of the ingredients.
For more information and preparing chicken for stir fries, see my post on Chicken Velveting: 101.
In a small bowl, combine the hot water, sugar, light soy sauce, dark soy sauce, salt, and white pepper. This is the sauce you’ll add to the rice. It’s much easier to have it combined and ready to go before you start cooking.
(If you have questions about light and dark soy sauce, check out our extensive article on soy sauce.)
Fluff your cooked rice with a fork or with your hands. (You can rinse your hands in cold water if the rice starts sticking to them.) If you are using cold leftover rice, try to break up the clumps as best as possible.
Heat the wok over medium high heat, and add 1 tablespoon of oil. Add the eggs and scramble them until just cooked. Start scooping them up when they look like they are almost set.
Set aside. They will continue to cook in the bowl and you will cook them again in the rice. I’m only harping on this because you don’t want dried egg bits in your chicken fried rice!
Heat the wok until just smoking and spread another tablespoon oil around the perimeter. Sear the marinated chicken in one layer for 20 seconds.
Stir-fry the chicken until about 80% done. Remove the chicken, and set aside.
With the wok over medium high heat, add another tablespoon of oil, and sauté the onions until translucent.
Add the rice, and use your metal spatula to flatten out and break up any large clumps.
Cooking Rice:
When it comes to fried rice, leftover rice is best. But how exactly do you make the rice in the first place?
If you have not purchased a rice cooker yet, then you really should consider it. They’re a kitchen lifesaver, and we recommend a really simple one without too many bells and whistles. Check out our Chinese Cooking Tools page for more information and some useful links to products.
If you don’t have a rice cooker, check out our instructions for foolproof stovetop rice and steamed rice.
If the rice is cold from the refrigerator, continue stir-frying to warm it up, which will take about 5 minutes. Sprinkling just a little water on large clumps of rice will help break them up more easily.
If you made the rice fresh, it will cook faster. Just make sure that the rice isn’t too wet, as it will make frying it difficult.
Once the rice is warmed (very important or the sauce will not mix as well and the color of the rice will not be as uniform), add the sauce mixture and mix with a scooping motion until the rice is evenly coated with sauce.
You will have to break up any remaining clumps of rice with the spatula as best as possible, but no need to be obsessive. The rice should be hot by this time.
Now add the chicken and any juices from the bowl you set aside earlier and stir fry for another minute.
Add the eggs, bean sprouts, and scallions, and continue stir-frying the rice for another 30 seconds.
Then gather all of the rice into the middle of the wok. This lets the sides of the wok heat up. After about 20 seconds, spread the Shaoxing wine around the perimeter of the wok, and stir-fry for another 20 seconds.
This step gives you a little of that extra “wok hei” that you taste when you get fried rice from a good Chinese restaurant.
Serve with some homemade chili oil.
Chicken Fried Rice
Ingredients
For the chicken and marinade:
- 8 ounces chicken breast (about 1 large, diced into ½-inch cubes)
- 1 teaspoon light soy sauce
- 1 teaspoon cornstarch
- 1/2 teaspoon sesame oil
- 1 teaspoon oil
You’ll also need:
- 1 tablespoon hot water
- ¼ teaspoon sugar
- 1 tablespoon light soy sauce (or to taste)
- 1 teaspoon dark soy sauce
- 1 teaspoon salt (or to taste)
- 1/8 teaspoon white pepper (or to taste)
- 5 cups cooked rice
- 3 tablespoons canola oil (divided)
- 2 eggs (beaten)
- 1 medium onion (diced)
- 1 cup fresh mung bean sprouts
- 1 scallion (chopped)
- 1 tablespoon shaoxing wine
Instructions
- Combine the chicken and marinade ingredients. In a separate bowl, combine the hot water, sugar, light soy sauce, dark soy sauce, salt, and white pepper in a small bowl. Set aside.
- Take your cooked rice and fluff it with a fork or with your hands (you can rinse your hands in cold water if the rice starts sticking to them). If you are using cold leftover rice, try to break up the clumps as best as possible.
- Heat the wok over medium high heat and add 1 tablespoon of oil. Add the eggs and scramble them until just done. Remove from the wok immediately, and set aside.
- Heat the wok until just smoking and spread another tablespoon oil around your wok. Sear the marinated chicken in one layer for 20 seconds. Stir-fry the chicken until about 80% done. Remove the chicken and set aside.
- With the wok over medium high heat, add the final tablespoon of oil, and sauté the onions until translucent. Add the rice, and use your metal spatula to flatten out and break up any large clumps. If the rice is cold from the refrigerator, continue stir-frying until the rice is warmed up, which will take about 5 minutes. Sprinkling just a little water on large clumps of rice will help break them up more easily. If the rice was made fresh, cooking time will be faster. Just make sure that the rice isn't too wet––which will make frying it difficult.
- Once the rice is warmed (very important or the sauce will not mix as well and the color of the rice will not be as uniform), add the sauce mixture and mix with a scooping motion until the rice is evenly coated with sauce. Break up any remaining clumps of rice with the spatula. The rice should be hot by this time. Now add the cooked chicken, along with any juices from the bowl. Stir-fry for 1 minute.
- Add the eggs, bean sprouts, and scallions, and continue stir-frying the rice for another 30 seconds. Then gather all of the rice into the middle of the wok to let the sides of the wok heat up.
- After about 20 seconds, spread the Shaoxing wine around the perimeter of the wok and stir-fry for another 20 seconds. This step gives you a little of that extra "wok hei" that you taste when you get fried rice from a good Chinese restaurant. Serve!
I tried this and it was delicious great recipe!
Thank you, Kendra.
I’m going to try this today thank you for sharing
You are very welcome, Tammie.
I just made this for dinner and it was absolutely YUMMY!! Thank you for this great recipe!
You’re welcome foodie!
The first time I made this recipe I didn’t have some of the ingredients like Shaoxing Wine and Dark Soy Sauce and it still turned out amazing! I am making it for the second time tonight after buying the ingredients I didn’t have and I am super excited! Wonderful recipe and well written. Really apricate learning what velveting is, makes a huge difference.
Hi Caroline, glad to hear you went to the trouble of getting the proper ingredients. Every little bit helps ;-)
Learned some great new skills like velveting chicken and the stir fry sauce! I marinaded my chicken for 1 day and it turned out amazing!
Nice job Caroline!
Tried to make this tonight, and the flavor was good, but my rice came out sludgy. I used day old basmati brown rice from the fridge. What do you think I went wrong?
Update: I fixed it! I bought the rice cooker you recommend and it made all the difference’. Round 2 came out amazing! Thank you so much!
hi Dave, ah, a rice cooker is a good investment – perfect rice every time :)
Hi Dave, it could be that your rice may have been a bit overcooked in the first place. It could also have been too much moisture in other ingredients? Lastly, maybe your wok was not hot enough?
very good, enjoying the recipes
Glad to hear you are enjoying this chicken fried rice and hopefully some of our other family recipes!
This is downright amazing. Very impressed with the flavor. I bumped it up a notch and used home made chicken broth in place of the water when making the rise. I can’t wait to make this again. Thank you!
Hi David, good idea on using chicken stock to cook the rice. Happy cooking!