Pork fried rice is probably one of the most popular Chinese take-out dishes out there. Anything involving rice and pork is likely to be a winner with a Chinese audience (or any audience that loves Chinese food). In my parents’ restaurant, we used to serve pork fried rice as a side dish accompanying many other main dishes, so we were churning out orders of it on a regular basis.
Note: This recipe was first published on our blog in October 2014. We’ve updated it with more helpful information and links as of September 2019, but the recipe is still the same as the original! Enjoy!
What’s In Pork Fried Rice?
You may be wondering why the pork in a takeout Pork Fried Rice is red in color. The reason for that is that the pork used in the rice is actually char siu, a kind of Chinese BBQ pork with a sweet flavor and shiny, brick red crust on the outside.
If you haven’t ever tried char siu pork before, make a priority to make your own using boneless pork shoulder/butt and our easy char siu recipe. It only takes an hour to make from start to finish!
Once you’ve made it, you can freeze chunks of it to use in this Pork Fried Rice or other dishes, like Roast Pork with Chinese Vegetables, Steamed Pork Buns, or Roast Pork Puffs.
If, however, you have a good Chinese supermarket or restaurant near you that sells BBQ pork, you can always buy it instead. Asian grocery stores with a hot bar usually make a fresh batch of BBQ pork every day.
The Best Type of Rice for Fried Rice
The type of rice we recommend for fried rice also happens to be our everyday rice––jasmine rice. It’s a long grain, fragrant rice with a great texture, and we always find it makes perfect fried rice. We usually buy high quality premium Jasmine rice imported from Thailand.
The rice must be cooked before making fried rice. We often get questions about whether it’s better to use freshly cooked rice or leftover cold rice to make fried rice.
Our answer is that it’s totally acceptable to use either! Using leftover rice might be a little easier if you’re a novice at wok cooking, as it has less moisture and will be easier to break up into individual rice grains. But if you didn’t think that far ahead, you can also cook a batch of rice in your rice cooker expressly for the purpose of making fried rice.
Pork Fried Rice doesn’t sound all that glamorous at first blush, but when done right, it is truly awesome. Just writing this post is making me hungry!
Pork Fried Rice Recipe Instructions
Start by combining the hot water, honey, sesame oil, Shaoxing wine (or dry sherry), soy sauce, dark soy sauce, and white pepper in a small bowl. This is the sauce that you’ll be adding to the rice, and it’s much easier to have it combined and ready to go before you start cooking.
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). There shouldn’t be any big clumps!
With the wok over medium heat, add a tablespoon of oil and sauté the onions until translucent.
Then stir in the roast pork.
Add the rice and mix well. If the rice is cold from the refrigerator, continue stir-frying until the rice is warmed up, which will take about 5 minutes. If the rice was made fresh, then you just need to mix until everything is incorporated.
When it comes to fried rice, leftovers are the best, but how exactly did you make the rice in the first place? If you have not purchased a rice cooker yet, then you really should consider purchasing one. We recommend a simple rice cooker that doesn’t have too many bells and whistles! Check out our Chinese Cooking Tools page for some more information and some useful links to products.
Add the sauce mixture and salt 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 wok spatula as best as possible, but no need to be obsessive. The rice should be hot by this time.
Toss in your mung bean sprouts…
Scrambled eggs…
…and scallions.
Mix thoroughly for another minute or two and serve!
Pretty authentic, if I do say so myself!
And even better with a little hot sauce!
Don’t forget to try our Classic Chicken Fried rice, which is another dish you can easily cook at home. If you feel like a vegetable dish, try our Vegetable Fried Rice. For something a little different, try our Shrimp Fried Rice with Thai Basil. Or for something even more different, give our Cantonese Chicken & Salted Fish Fried Rice a try.
Enjoy these fried rice dishes with your family, folks!
Classic Pork Fried Rice
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon hot water
- 1 teaspoon honey
- 1 teaspoon sesame oil
- 1 teaspoon Shaoxing wine (or dry cooking sherry)
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce
- 1 teaspoon dark soy sauce
- 1/4 teaspoon white pepper
- 5 cups cooked Jasmine rice (add 1 teaspoon oil to rice when cooking)
- 1 tablespoon oil
- 1 medium onion (diced)
- 1 pound Chinese BBQ pork (450g char siu cut into 1/2 inch chunks; click here for our char siu recipe!)
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup bean sprouts
- 2 eggs (scrambled)
- 2 scallions (chopped)
Instructions
- Start by combining the hot water, honey, sesame oil, shaoxing wine (if using), soy sauce, dark soy sauce, and white pepper in a small bowl. This is the sauce that you'll be adding to the rice, and it's much easier to have it combined and ready to go before you start cooking.
- 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). There shouldn't be any big clumps!
- With the wok over medium heat, add a tablespoon of oil and sauté the onions until translucent and then stir in the roast pork. Add the rice and mix well. If the rice is cold from the refrigerator, continue stir-frying until the rice is warmed up, which will take about 5 minutes. If the rice was made fresh, then you just need to mix until everything is incorporated.
- Add the sauce mixture and salt 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.
- Toss in your mung bean sprouts, scrambled eggs, and scallions. Mix thoroughly for another minute or two and serve!
nutrition facts
Bill, I’ve made this over 2 dozen times at this point, and every time is better than the last. Thank you so much for this recipe!
For anyone reading, feel free to substitute the meat for whatever leftovers you have. I’ve used pork belly, chicken, sausage, and steak; it’s all delicious. Leftover rice is the key though. I make plenty for dinner (make sure to add oil) the night before and leave it uncovered in the fridge overnight.
This looks delicious and I’d love to make it but don’t have the wine or even dry sherry. Will the 1 tsp called for make a vast difference if I proceed without it??
Hi Bill!
I do not mak a great deal of Chiese recipes, but that is about to change!
I made the rice and the Cjar Siu pork recipe first, and I was hoping to get something close to the pork fried rice I had always loved for takeout. What we discovered was something that will remain in our archives as favorite recipes for our family!
The Char Siu was so good that its great as a standalone dish….when this is added to the rice recipe, you have the very best Pork fried rice! Delicately balanced, and perfectly flavored!
The whole family loved it!
Thank you so much for posting such a fabulous recipe!
Rob
Hi Robert, it warms my heart to hear you and your family are enjoying char siu and our pork fried rice :)
Delicious! I had leftover pork tenderloin, so I made the char siu BBQ sauce, tossed the cubed pork in it and heated it for 10 minutes in oven. Not the real thing, but enough to put a glaze. Easy recipe that came together quickly. I appreciate the clarity of all the recipes on this site.
Hi Beth, Good job on a quick char siu!
This recipe has a lot more ingredients in it than when I slung it at a restaurant but it sounds really good. I’m going to try the next time I make char siu. Problem is, the char siu disappears before I can use it in anything! We want steamed buns….where’s the char siu….we ate it!
I’m going to start hiding it!
Hi Sugeehaz, the problem you describe f the disappearing cha siu is a real one! As for this pork fried recipe, it is a nonconventional one but very delicious!
Delicious, thank you so much Mr Bill :)
You’re quite welcome Robert!
Absolutely delicious!!!!
Glad you liked our pork fried rice recipe Anne!
Would love to know recipe for fish ball steamed made with water chestnuts and fish.
Thank you so much for sharing your recipes.
Hi Victoria, thanks for your request. We’ll put it on our list!
Made this with leftover char siu and basmati rice I made yesterday…didn’t have the sprouts but it was still amazing…ate with garlic eggplant. I’m making some rice right now to cool for another round of this with the rest of the pork! Thanks for an easy and tasty recipe.
You’re welcome Christina, enjoy!
Dream come true
Hi John, sounds like you had a good meal :)