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.
I love this recipe. I doubled the recipe and it only took 1hr to make. Didn’t have onions but this still slapped harder than my ex. Thanks!! 💕💕💃
Ok wow! And thanks for the 5 star review and glad that you love this recipe!
Delicious!!! I added celery and onion to the veggies, a little ginger then mixed in some oyster sauce along with the soy sauce!!!
Glad it was delicious!
I have made this recipe a few times and it has been popular and completely finished off each time it was made. My son told me he would be skipping dinner yesterday until he heard that I was making this.
The recipe is quite versatile. I usually cut up leftover chicken in to bags in my freezer to make in other recipes. I have replaced the 1st step of the recipe with this and it still turns out amazing. I also don’t generally have green onions so substitute either a regular or sweet onion instead and it has also turned out awesome. I used leftover parboiled white rice last time I made it and this time used leftover basmati rice and it again turned out awesome to the last bite.
Thanks for the 5 star review and glad this recipe has been a keeper for you with a variety of variations. That’s the beauty of fried rice, you can really vary it up quite a bit with great results!
i did’nt think you could use sesame oil to fry with ,,,,I always thought it to be to delicate of an oil and that it should be added at the end of the recipe for fried rice to season it once the pan is removed from the heat ….try it some time Thanks for your recipes
I really don’t listen to that advice personally although I have read the same thing many times over the years. I just add the oils together at the beginning and it’s just fine for me. Although maybe a chemist would disagree, in reality it works just fine for me.
I sincerely want to make this rice but am using the Lose It app to drop a few pounds and need to know the calorie count. Are you able to give us the calories, per cup, for this recipe? Thank you.
Been making this recipe for quite a while. Simply love it. Easy and not many ingredients. Perfect for me.
Thanks for the 5 star review and glad this is a winner for you!
I’ve been making this for a couple of years and it never fails! Its an amazing recipe!
Thanks for the 5 star review and glad you’ve been making it for a few years and that it never fails!
Can you please include nutrition information for the recipe. It was good!
I really enjoyed this. Made it on a whim.
Thanks for the 5 star review and glad your whim worked out well!
I made this for dinner tonight. I did fry the rice (brown rice) after I cooked it, otherwise followed your recipe. It’s delicious! Thank you!
Thanks for the 5 star review and glad it was delicious!
Great recipe , I didn’t have soy sauce or green onions so instead I used purple onions and Worcestershire sauce and it still turned out great ! 5 stars !
Thanks for the 5 star review and glad it turned out great and you were able to make due with what you had on hand.
Was a easy meal great tasting too
Thank you :) Delish !!
Thanks for the 5 star review and glad it was delish!
Can I use basmati rice?
Probably not the best rice for this recipe but you can try it.
Having guests over in a couple days; do you know if this is gluten free? Forgive my ignorance.
Made this last week for my family and it was yummy and easy! Hits the spot when you’re craving Chinese food.
Substitutions were slight because I had these on hand:
Veggie mix (carrots, peas, corn, beans), olive oil, regular soy sauce, and instant brown rice.
Thank you!
It would be GF if you use GF soy sauce which you would probably need to order on Amazon, not commonly stocked in grocery stores. However, ask the person you’re cooking this for is regular soy sauce is ok for them, since it may be, and that would be the only item that has trace gluten in it.
This is the gold standard of Chicken Fried Rice recipes, I regularly make it once or twice a month.
Thanks for the 5 star review and glad this is the gold standard for you!
I added another egg, added sweet corn kernels, and substituted brown rice. It was amazing! Definitely better than take out!! Will make again.
Thanks for the 5 star review and glad it was definitely better than takeout for you!