This super simple fried rice recipe was something I threw together to use some left over roast chicken and the veggies which were starting to look a little sad in the fridge. I never set out for this to be a recipe to be posted but I did a Facebook Live showing how simple it is to pack 4 lunchboxes and I popped in our leftover fried rice from dinner. Quite a few people asked for the recipe, so here it is. Also sorry about the photo because I hadn’t intended this to be a recipe, I didn’t get Israel to take a proper website photo – instead this is a iphone snap of our dinner picnic at the beach last night and the fried rice was the second course after pumpkin soup.
To get a closer look at the fried rice, you could check out the FB live because Israel took some close up footage of the fried rice in the live.
Ingredients
- 3 eggs, whisked
- olive or coconut oil
- brown onion, diced
- 2 knobs garlic, crushed
- 1 celery stick, finely chopped
- 1 carrot, grated or diced
- as much mixed fresh vegetables as you want – I used pumpkin, green beans, capsicum, broccoli stalk, cabbage but use whatever you have
- leftover roast chicken (there was probably about 2 cups of diced chicken)
- cooked brown rice *
- Good shake of Herbamare salt (or good quality salt)
- Black pepper to taste
- Tamari Sauce (this is a gluten free soy sauce replacement, use soy sauce if you prefer)
* 1 cup of uncooked brown rice usually makes about 3 cups of cooked rice.
Method
- Splash a little oil into a large frying pan
- Pour in the whisked eggs and swirl so the eggs reach right out to the edge of the pan. When eggs start to cook, use an egg slide to flip it over. This usually makes about 4-5 strips of egg (depending on the size of your pan). When it’s cooked through, slide the eggs out onto a large plate, use your egg slide to roughly chop the egg into small pieces – set aside
- Without washing the pan, warm some more oil in the frying pan
- Add onion, garlic, celery and carrot, pumpkin and saute until onion turns clear
- Add all the vegetables in and saute for about 3 minutes (a little longer if you’re family are used to veggies being softer)
- Throw in the diced leftover chicken, stir well to combine the veggies with the chicken
- Add in the cooked brown rice and stir well
- Add in the salt and pepper, stir well
- Add a few good splashes of tamari or soy sauce and stir to combine – I usually look for the colour of the rice to change to a richer brown then grab a teaspoon out to test if I need more sauce to flavour it
- Once you’re happy with the flavour, add in your egg and gently stir to combine the egg
Serving Suggestion
I like to serve this up on a bed of baby spinach or mixed lettuce leaves. Or like in this photo from our dinner picnic at the beach, we had it as a second course after homemade pumpkin soup.
2 Other Ways
- Change out the protein source from chicken to beef strips or tofu for a vegetarian option. Cook the beef or tofu at the start
- Add in some delicious fresh pineapple chunks for a sweet addition
Kid’s Won’t Eat Cold Leftovers?
Here’s how I trained my family to eat cold leftovers. Simplifies lunchbox packing hugely and adds loads of variety to the lunches.
Just a reminder, you don’t need to be a master chef, or have a big spotless kitchen to make awesome nutritious meals or snacks for your family.