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.
The whole family loves this recipe!!!! We added a bit more chicken to bolster it up for our “military boys”, but perfect for a hearty dinner!!!!
Thanks for the 5 star review and glad your whole family loves the recipe!
Best stir fried chicken I have ever eaten
That’s great to hear – thanks!
AH-MAZE-ING!!! Thanks for the wonderful recipe
Thanks for the 5 star review and glad it was amazing!
Awesome recipe, added to the regular rotation list.
I use fish sauce (1 Tablespoon) and omit the salt.
Also easy to modify with whatever frozen veggies and leftover chicken I have on hand.
Thanks!
Thanks for the 5 star review and glad it’s in your regular rotation!
Great Recipe,,,Definitely a Keeper…Good Job.!!
Thanks for the 5 star review and glad it’s a keeper!
“Recipe is best warm and fresh but will keep airtight in the fridge for up to 5 days or in the freezer for up to 4 months. Reheat gently as desired.”
No way this would last for 5 days let along 4 months in my house! 🤣😂 boyfriend came home and ate up the remaining portion (about two normal sized helpings). Made it the second night in a row. So delicious!!!!
Thanks for the 5 star review and glad you made it two nights in a row and that leftovers go fast!
I made this tonight and enjoyed it so much better than a Chinese takeout! I am going back for seconds. Please season your chicken (I used salt) while it’s cooking. It really helps!
Thanks for the five star review and glad you enjoyed it so much more than takeout!
Stupid question..How cups of uncooked rice will make 4 cups of cooked rice?
Thanks in advance :)
I would read the yield on the type of rice you’re using but usually it about doubles in volume.
Loved It ❤️ Used chicken thighs instead of breast
Thanks for the 5 star review and I’m glad it worked out great with thighs!
Making this tonight Cant wait to try it out on my family
I hope it was a hit!
My husband said this was the best fried rice he’d ever tasted! We subbed BBQ chicken for ordinary chicken, which we thought gave it a nice smokiness.
Thanks for the five star review and I’m glad this was the best fried rice your husband has ever had! I’m sure the BBQ chicken was tasty!
This recipe is amazing. I am definitely not a cook…but the directions were so easy to follow and the end result was fantastic!!
Leftovers…um…there were none. It was that good!!
Thanks for the recipe!!!
Thanks for the five star review and I’m glad this was so good that you didn’t have leftovers!
Excellent recipe, very classic and easy to modify to suit your personal tastes. I do fresh cooked jasmine rice, and add teriyaki and hoisin. Going for something maybe a little closer to tepanyaki. I’ll definitely be looking into some of the modifications other commenters have mentioned. This works great as a weekly meal prep item and keeps extremely well in Tupperware in the fridge. IMO, like many one – pot recipes, this actually improves with a little time for the flavors to mingle.
This is seriously the best recipe! I love a lot of egg and after I cooked the chicken… I ripped them into smaller pieces how I like it. Only advice is have everything prepped and ready to go … I didn’t and I’m a single mom so I’m sure I overcooked it as my 3 year old was trying to throw more rice in the pan but it still came out delicious!
Thanks for the 5 star review and glad you loved the recipe and glad it all came out delicious in the end (yes having everything prepped and ready helps a lot)!
This was absolutely delicious! My husband loves fried rice and he said this is definitely better than takeout! I did up the soy sauce and added white onion instead of green onion because that’s what I had.
Thanks for the five star review and your husband even said it’s better than takeout!
So delicious! Next time I’m thinking I’ll add more chicken and use just a little less oil, but I’ll definitely make this again!
Thanks for the 5 star review and glad you will definitely make it again!
Beginner cook here… easy, fast and a success. Yum!
Glad it was a success!