Easy Chicken Fried Rice Recipe - The Kitchen Girl (2024)

FAQs

What is the secret of Chinese fried rice? ›

The secret is all in the prep: use precooked rice for the best results, and leftover char siu pork is the perfect flavour burst. Make the fried rice stir-fry sauce by mixing the soy sauce, shaoxing wine and sugar. Prepare, measure and chop all ingredients before cooking.

Let the rice stand for one to two hours until it's cooled to room temperature. Resting and cooling your rice allows excess moisture to evaporate, which also helps keep grains from clumping. If you want to do this a day or two ahead, let the rice cool completely, then refrigerate it in an airtight container.

You can also use day-old brown rice, however it will create a less-authentic taste and texture, even though it's still delicious. Sesame oil. I do not recommend omitting or substituting the sesame oil in this recipe. It is key to the authentic flavor of this dish.

Signature flavor

To give your dish that signature fried rice taste, you'll need to drizzle in sesame oil and soy sauce, but feel free to use as much or as little as you wish. You can even mix in things like garlic powder, ginger root, or Sriracha sauce and chili pepper for a bit of a kick.

There are a few different seasonings that make fried rice taste just right. The most important sauces to add are soy sauce, oyster sauce, and fish sauce in fried rice. All three add unique flavors to rice, but it can be easy to go overboard. Make sure you add small amounts of each and regularly taste the rice.

That's one of the major differences between how Chinese and Japanese restaurants prepare fried rice. Whereas the former only uses oil, the latter cooks leftover grains with butter (plus soy sauce).

The basic elements of Chinese fried rice include rice, meat and vegetables, soy sauce and garlic.

The usage of rice

But in Chinese rice, it is suggested to use leftover cooked rice to avoid the rice from being sticky. In Fried Rice, most quick-service restaurants (QSRs) use long-grain white rice like Basmati, whereas Jasmine Rice is used in Chinese Rice.

In fact, it's critical. Unlike freshly cooked rice, which forms soft, mushy clumps when stir-fried, chilled leftover white rice undergoes a process called retrogradation, in which the starch molecules form crystalline structures that make the grains firm enough to withstand the second round of cooking.

Excess Water and Incorrect Water Ratio: Too much water during cooking often results in mushy rice.

Which vinegar is used for fried rice? ›

Cook for 3 to 5 minutes or until softened. Add rice, VH® Lite Soya Sauce, rice wine vinegar and sesame oil.

The ingredients you add are up to you but I usually fry up some onions in a little chopped bacon (I freeze bacon in small lots and use it for flavoring many foods and it chops easily when frozen), add the rice, and let it brown a bit. Then an egg or two, some chopped fresh ginger and sesame oil to taste.

The choice of oil for fried rice plays an important part in creating authentic Asian flavor. Oils suitable for stir-frying are vegetable oil such as peanut and palm oil. They have a high smoking point suitable for stir-frying and a neutral taste that will not affect the flavor of the fried rice.

Some restaurants add MSG to a number of popular dishes, including fried rice. MSG is also used by franchises like Kentucky Fried Chicken and Chick-fil-A to enhance the flavor of foods.

What gives Chinese Fried Rice its taste? Chinese fried rice uses ingredients like garlic, ginger, white pepper, msg, and soy sauce to give it an incredibly aromatic flavor with lots of umami!

Restaurants will have a long list of ingredients prepped, including stocks, sauces, lots of different spices, dark, light, and regular soy sauce, etc. Many home cooks will skimp/compromise on some of these for convenience, unless it's a special occasion.