Better-Than-Takeout Chicken Fried Rice — One-skillet, ready in 20 minutes, and you’ll never want takeout again after tasting how good homemade is!! Way more flavor, not greasy, and loads of juicy chicken!!
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Easiest Fried Rice Recipe with Chicken
If you’ve ever wanted to learn how to make fried rice, this recipe will help you in no time! It’s an easy, one-skillet recipe that’s ready in 20 minutes and better than takeout. You’ll never be tempted again to eat rice from a flimsy white takeout container after trying homemade.
The chicken is moist and juicy and there are green onions, garlic, sesame oil, and soy sauce for layers of flavor. My favorites are the bits of scrambled eggs. Fried rice just isn’t fried rice without those coveted bits of eggs that I go searching for and devour those little treasures first.
It’s such an easy and healthy weeknight dinner you can whip up in no time and the leftovers are great for lunches!
Chicken Fried Rice Ingredients
For this straightforward chicken fried rice recipe, you’ll need:
- Vegetable oil (or another neutral oil like canola oil)
- Sesame oil
- Chicken breasts
- Frozen peas and carrots
- Green onions
- Garlic
- Eggs
- Cooked white rice (use pre-cooked rice packets if you’re in a rush)
- Soy sauce (I use low-sodium soy sauce)
- Salt and pepper (to taste, optional)
Note: Scroll down to the recipe card section of the post for the ingredients with amounts included and for more complete directions.
How to Make Chicken Fried Rice
This truly is the BEST fried rice. It’s a straightforward recipe that uses simple ingredients and is easy to customize depending on what you have on hand (more on that in a bit!).
Here are the basic recipe steps:
- Add the oils and diced chicken to a large skillet (or wok, if you’re lucky enough to own one!). Cook over medium-high heat for about 5 minutes, or until the chicken is no longer pink inside. Remove the chicken to a plate while you stir-fry the veggies.
- To the same skillet, add the peas, carrots, and green onions. Once softened, add the garlic.
- Push the veggies to one side of the skillet, and scramble the eggs on the other side.
- Add the chicken back to the pan, followed by the cooked rice.
- Drizzle everything with soy sauce and cook until everything is heated through.
Recipe Tips
To save time if you don’t have leftover rice on hand or don’t want to cook a batch, use two pouches of ready-to-serve rice. Works like a charm.
If cooking the rice yourself, I highly recommend making it the day before or adding slightly less water than you normally would. You want the rice to be a little dry so it soaks up the soy sauce (but not crunchy, though!). That’s why day-old rice works perfectly for stir-frying!
I don’t even bother thawing the frozen peas and carrot blend that’s mixed into the rice. You can add the veggies straight to the skillet!
Recipe Variations to Try
Chicken stir-fried rice is a great clean out the fridge meal. Here are some fried rice variations you can try:
- Swap the chicken: Use chicken thighs, ground chicken, or ground turkey instead. Or, use a different protein entirely (see the related recipes linked below the recipe card for all of my fried rice recipes!).
- Use different vegetables: I used a frozen vegetable blend for ease, but you can also shred fresh carrots yourself, finely chop onions, etc. to add to the pan. Pretty much anything will work! Chop fresh veggies into bite-sized pieces, and remember that different veggies have different cook times, so adjust the recipe as needed.
- Use a different rice or grain: I use a white long-grain rice to keep this recipe as close to the takeout version as possible, but brown rice or another grain like quinoa would also work.
- Make it vegetarian: Omit the chicken entirely or replace with firm tofu (smoked tofu would be great here!).
- Make it gluten-free: Swap the soy sauce for a gluten-free soy sauce or use tamari sauce instead.
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Better-Than-Takeout Chicken Fried Rice
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons sesame oil
- 2 tablespoons canola or vegetable oil
- ¾ to 1 pound boneless skinless chicken breasts, diced into 1/2-inch pieces
- 1 ½ cups frozen peas and diced carrots blend, I don’t thaw and use straight from the freezer
- 3 green onions, trimmed and sliced into thin rounds
- 2 to 3 garlic cloves, finely minced
- 3 large eggs, lightly beaten
- 4 cups cooked rice, I use white, long-grain or brown may be substituted. To save time use two 8.8-ounce pouches cooked and ready-to-serve rice
- 3 to 4 tablespoons low-sodium soy sauce
- salt and pepper, optional and to taste
Instructions
- To a large non-stick skillet or wok, add the oils, chicken, and cook over medium-high heat for about 3 to 5 minutes, flipping intermittently so all sides cook evenly. Cooking time will vary based on thickness of chicken breasts and sizes of pieces.
- Remove chicken with a slotted spoon (allow oils and cooking juices from chicken to remain in skillet) and place chicken on a plate; set aside.
- Add the peas, carrots, green onions, and cook for about 2 minutes, or until vegetables begin to soften, stir intermittently.
- Add the garlic and cook for 1 minute, stir intermittently.
- Push vegetables to one side of the skillet, add the eggs to the other side, and cook to scramble, stirring as necessary.
- Add the chicken, rice, evenly drizzle with soy sauce, optional salt and pepper, and stir to combine. Cook for about 2 minutes, or until chicken is reheated through.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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More Homemade Fried Rice Recipes:
15-Minute Sheet Pan Chicken Fried Rice – Easy HEALTHIER “fried rice” that’s actually baked and not fried!! Full of authentic flavor and ready faster than you can call for takeout!!
Pineapple Fried Rice – A Hawaiian-inspired shrimp fried rice recipe that’s EASY, ready in minutes, and has so much authentic flavor!! A family favorite that’s better-than-takeout!!
Shrimp Fried Rice — There’s garlic, ginger, green onions, sesame oil, and soy sauce for layers of flavor while peas, carrots, corn, and bits of egg add texture!
Skinny Chicken and Cauliflower Rice Stir-Fry — Even people who don’t like cauliflower will be amazed at how authentic and DELICIOUS this SKINNY version of chicken fried rice tastes!
Beef Fried Rice — This better-than-takeout beef fried rice is EASY, ready in 20 MINUTES, and made in ONE skillet! Everyone loves the big juicy strips of steak and perfectly fried rice that’s speckled with bits of onions, peas, carrots, and scrambled eggs.
Meatless Mondays!! I skip the chicken to get it ready even faster – just veggies with lotsa eggs! We love it!!
Thanks for the 5 star review, Flavia, and I’m glad this is a Meatless Monday fave and you just load up with more veggies and eggs! Great thinking!
Pure decadence. It’s beautiful . Thank you! Soooooo tasty 😋 oh my word . My photo doesn’t do it justice
Thanks for the 5 star review, Karen, and for sharing your photo! I am glad that you loved it!
I can’t get your .5x or 2x buttons to work on recipes
Not sure why, they are working for me on all my devices. Perhaps do a restart on your computer or power your phone on and off.
Hey Averie,
Great recipe! turned out perfect. I added a tablespoon or two of oyster sauce and it really took the dish up a notch.
Thanks for the 5 star review and I bet the oyster sauce made this even better! I sometimes have it on hand and will do the same next time I make this!
love it i cooked it both ways vegan and regular
Thanks for letting me know and glad you loved it!
A delicous recipe. I actually made it with leftover beef and pork. YUM!!!
Way to be creative and work with what you had! I am glad it was delish and thanks for the 5 star review!
This recipe is amazing! Very easy and it actually is better than take out! Thank you so much for sharing it!
This recipe is amazing! Very easy and it actually is better than take out! Thank you so much for sharing it!
If using the pouches of rice, do you just put them in the skillet straight from the pouch or do you cook it in the microwave first?
I heat them in the pouches in the microwave for about 90 secs and then just let the sit on the counter while I am prepping the rest of the dish before adding them.
This recipe is amazing! Very easy and it actually is better than take out! Thank you so much for sharing it!
Thanks so much Lisa and I am glad it turned out better than takeout for you!
I’ve made this so many times and it’s always perfect! My kids (even the three year old) love it. Thank you for this recipe!
I’ve made this so many times and it’s always perfect! My kids (even the three year old) love it. Thank you for this recipe!
Thanks for the 5 star review and I am glad it’s a hit even with the 3 year old!
Made this once with chicken and my daughter loved it! She said it needed more egg for her though. So the next time I made it, I added 2 extra eggs and did it with cut up pork chops and she loved it even more. Thank you for this easy to follow recipe! It’s now a staple in our house and saves us soo much money!
This is delicious fried rice and so easy to make. I added a small, sweet opinion because I like a little onion in my fried rice but otherwise followed the recipe as written. I love that it doesn’t call for any crazy ingredients so I had everything on hand. I’m amazed at how much it tastes like fried rice from a restaurant. Will definitely be making this again.
This is delicious fried rice and so easy to make. I added a small, sweet opinion because I like a little onion in my fried rice but otherwise followed the recipe as written. I love that it doesn’t call for any crazy ingredients so I had everything on hand. I’m amazed at how much it tastes like fried rice from a restaurant. Will definitely be making this again.
Thanks for the 5 star review and I’m glad this came out great for you and that you’ll be making it again. I always try to call for ingredients that are easy to find and common!
I added an onion to mine too! It was delicious!
This was so good! I’m in the 1st trimester of pregnancy and having horrible nausea. Fried rice was the only thing that sounded good and boy was it amazing! Thank you so much for this easy recipe. And for something this mama can actual eat!