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 needed a quick, easy meal, and had a bunch of leftover rice, so I went searching and found this. It will be added to our regular rotation. Since there’s only two if us, we had leftovers for lunch the next day and I’m happy to report they were just as tasty as if I’d made them fresh for lunch. So, so good!
Thanks for the 5 star review and glad you enjoyed the recipe and that it will go into your regular rotation!
Just made this for my family and added diced Shallots and it was fantastic. Highly recommend
Just made this for my family and added diced Shallots and it was fantastic. Highly recommend
Thanks for the 5 star review and I am glad to hear it was fantastic!
this is the shittest recipe ever
I along with my three children are celiacs and it is a perfect simple dinner when you are not in the mood to fuss. This was so quick and incredibly good! In fact the entire list of recipes look great for gluten free people.
Thanks for the 5 star review and glad this was incredibly good, including for you Celiac kids!
I usually don’t leave a lot of reviews online, but after making this, I had to say how absolutely AMAZING it is! I absolutely loathe cooking – making dinner every day is the name of my existence – but this was so easy and phenomenally delicious! And it’s totally customizable by changing up the veggies. I used peas and carrots, typical for chicken fried rice, but I also added frozen corn… I feel green beans or mushrooms would work well too, something to try next time. And I love that since I’m making it, I have total control of the sodium content – add just enough soy sauce to make it flavourful without getting the salt overload you’d get from a restaurant. This is going to be my new favourite meal to make.
Thanks for the 5 star review and glad that this is going to be your new fave meal to make and yes indeed, great to be able to customize it, and control the salt level for sure!
This is sooooo good! My family loves it! Thank you!
Thanks for the 5 star review and glad it was amazing!
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 that you’ve been making this for years and that it never fails!
My family really enjoyed this recipe. I made it almost exactly as written, I will definitely be making again. Thank you for your recipe!
I made this last night for my 5-person family. I used Kroger-brand pure sesame oil and Kikkomen less-sodium soy sauce in this recipe. I actually made a double batch, thinking we’d have plenty of leftovers for the next day but NOPE! Every grain of rice gone save a small container I had to hide so I’d have lunch at work. This turned out every bit as good as advertised, super easy, and dead cheap to make. It’s a new family favorite!
Thanks for the 5 star review and glad this was such a hit and that even a double batch disappeared super fast! Glad you agree it’s super easy and cheap to make, too!
I’ve made this about 5 times now and it’s a big time hit for the whole family. My husband AND my 6 year old always got back for seconds! It’s super good and takes me maybe 30-40 minutes max from start to finish (and I don’t use instant rice.)
Thanks for the 5 star review and glad it’s a big hit with your family!
So good! I needed an easy dinner to add to my rotation and this was it! Followed recipe exactly. My whole family loved it!
Thanks for the 5 star review and I am glad this was so good that you’re adding it to your dinner rotation!
This recipie is easy, quick to prepare, and absolutely delicious! Add snow peas, carrots, or your favorite veggies. I substituted low sodum/organic tamari.
Thanks for the 5 star review and I am glad to hear that you have been adding your favorite veggies and also that tamari is working well, too!
I found your recipe in June. I tried it and it came out delicious. I have made it a few times now. In July for my daughter’s 28th birthday, I made two trays for an outdoor gathering with her friends and the rice was a total hit. Thank you for such easy and great recipe
Thanks for the 5 star review and glad that this has been a total hit for you all summer!
So yummy! I love the step-by-step instructions, making it an easy recipe to follow!
Thanks for the 5 star review and glad that it was so yummy for you!
Omg so delicious I am not a vegetable lover but this is so goodddd
Thanks for the 5 star review and glad that it turned out great for you!