This fried rice uses up leftover rice and vegetables from your fridge to make a quick dish that will help you have dinner on the table in about twenty minutes! It’s easy to adjust with what you have on hand, and it may even convince your family to eat a few extra veggies.

A skillet filled with fried rice containing scrambled eggs, peas, carrots, and green onions being scooped by a wooden spoon.

Table of Contents

Why We Love Fried Rice

Tasty And Quick Recipe – This recipe comes together really fast, in about 20 minutes in a skillet or in a wok if you have one.
Flexible Recipe That Uses Easy Pantry Ingredients – Most of these items I keep on hand in my pantry fridge or freezer already so it’s really easy to throw together for a quick meal or side dish. Plus you can add your own protein or left meat or vegetables depending on what you have. It also makes a great side dish for any stir-fry dish.
Kid Friendly Dinner – While not every kid loves fried rice, I’ve also seen kids who only eat fried rice when the family goes to an Asian style restaurant! Make it home for a lot less money than takeout for your kids.

Try this fried rice as a side dish for this slow cooker sweet and sour pork or with the ground pork lettuce wraps.

Ingredients For Fried Rice

Find the full printable recipe with specific measurements and directions below in the recipe card.

eggs beaten lightly
butter divided
onion diced
carrots diced, you can use fresh or frozen
dried ginger
minced garlic jarred, you can also use garlic powder
frozen peas
low sodium soy sauce adjust this to taste as necessary at the end
leftover cold rice day old, this works best with yesterday’s leftover cold rice. Cooking fresh rice and then trying to use it in fried rice will often result in a mushy fried rice

How To Make Fried Rice With Leftover Rice

In a small bowl, crack the eggs and beat with a whisk or fork.

A bowl of beaten eggs with diced carrots and onions in bowls nearby.

Pour 2 tablespoons of butter into the pan and heat over high medium-high heat. Add diced onion, carrots, garlic, ginger and cook for about 3 minutes. Keep moving the vegetables around the pan with a wooden spatula until the vegetables have softened.

A frying pan containing sautéed diced carrots and onions with peas and beaten liquid eggs in bowls nearby.

Pour the frozen peas into the pan and cook for 1-2 minutes until just warm.
Push the vegetables to the side of the pan and turn the heat down to medium-low. I like to scoot the pan a little on the burner so it’s mostly the empty side of the pan over the burner.
Add one tablespoon of butter to the empty side of the pan. Stir the eggs gently while cooking on half the pan until cooked. Keep pushing the eggs back towards the empty side of the pan, but don’t worry if a little egg gets in the vegetables.

A frying pan with scrambled eggs on one side and a mixture of diced vegetables on the other for fried rice.

Chop any large pieces of egg with the spatula gently, then mix with the vegetables.
Add the rice and mix with the egg and vegetable mixture. Take care to break up any large chunks of rice with the spatula. Drizzle soy sauce over the rice and stir until warmed all the way through. Garnish with optional green onions, then eat and enjoy!

A skillet filled with fried rice containing peas, carrots, and scrambled eggs

Variation Ideas For The Best Fried Rice Recipe

Fried rice is a really flexible recipe! Don’t be afraid to use what you have as leftovers in your refrigerator, pantry or freezer and get creative. Use this recipe as a base recipe and throw in bits of what you have.

Try Adding More Protein – We always like big chunks of egg in fried rice in our house, but you can add about any cooked protein to this dish. Try chicken, turkey, shrimp or steak! I’ll save pieces of rotisserie chicken leftover in the freezer, then heat it up in the pan with a little chicken broth or water before adding the onions and carrots. Chopped bacon or even ham lunch meat diced up finely is also delicious, just sautee it before the onions and carrots to warm it up and get a good color on it.

Add Extra Vegetables – Get creative with the veggies and use what you have! Some of our favorites are defrosted frozen and shelled edamame, diced zucchini, bell pepper and sugar snap peas or snow peas. Water chestnuts or baby corn are a great option, add fiber and crunch, and can be purchased canned. Celery, reddish, and shredded cabbage (in moderation) are also all great options. Broccoli and cauliflower are great but it’s best to chop them into small pieces.

If you are using any vegetables that have a little more water in them or need a longer cooking time, add them after any protein but before the onions and carrots. Also dicing up the vegetables into bite sized pieces will help them all cook evenly. I like using my vegetable chopper to make it fast and easy, it’s handy when making this quick vegetarian ramen recipe too, and helps us make a better ramen at home instead of going out.

Try Pineapple – Pineapple is about the only fruit I would add to this recipe, but it’s delicious. Use bite sized pieces of fresh, canned pineapple that has been drained well, or event frozen pineapple pieces. I usually add it right before adding the rice to heat it through, especially if it is frozen.

Spice It Up In The Pan – Try adding 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper or red pepper flakes, a few dashes of hot sauce or sriracha or a spoonful or two of chili oil to the rice in the pan for a little extra kick. Or if you have picky eaters, any of these additions can be added to taste at the table to individual portions.

A wooden spoon holding a scoop of fried rice with peas, carrots, and scrambled egg above a pan filled with fried rice.

Can I Use Frozen Rice In This Recipe?

Frozen rice can be used if warmed before adding it to the dish. Adding the rice frozen straight to the pan will often cause too much water to be in the pan and can result in mushy rice.

What Type Of Rice Can I Use?

I like this recipe best with jasmine, long grain rice, or even a variety of brown rice. You can use almost any variety of rice you have on hand as long as it is already cooked and doesn’t already include a lot of extra flavoring. You can use cooked minute rice, cooked frozen rice,

Arbororio rice is usually used for pilaf and cooks a little differently, I would recommend making risotto with arboroio rice and not using it for fried rice.

I wouldn’t recommend using leftovers from a rice pilaf, a tomato flavored rice or leftover cheesy rice for this recipe. I also don’t recommend using leftover wild rice as the flavor tends to be a bit too earthy for this dish.

Can I Use Cauliflower Rice In This Recipe?

Cauliflower rice can be used in this recipe, but it may need cooked a little bit longer especially if cooking from frozen. Cauliflower won’t soak up liquid the same way that regular rice does. I have the best results adding cauliflower rice with my kids if I only substitute 1/3 of the rice for cauliflower rice.

A bowl fill of fried rice with peas, carrots, and scrambled eggs with a spoon and more fried rice and chopped green onions on the table nearby.

What T Serve With Fried Rice?

We really enjoy fried rice with pork dishes. Try it as a side with ground pork lettuce wraps, crock pot pineapple pork loin, pineapple pork skewers or crock pot sweet and sour pork.

Egg fried rice is also really delicious with this simple Hibachi Steak which only needs a few ingredients, or try it with beef and broccoli.

How Do I Reheat Fried Rice?

You can reheat fried rice in a microwave or add it back to a skillet to warm it up. I like to sprinkle a few teaspoons of water over the rice to help keep it from drying out when warming it up.

How Long Will This Easy Fried Rice Last?

Expect leftover fried rice will last about 4 days if stored in a covered airtight container in the refrigerator. If you add other proteins to the rice like chicken or steak it may decrease the freshness to 3 days.