Vegetarian Fried Rice – This is how to use up leftovers! Ready in 15 mins
- Updated on Oct 31, 2016
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In my humble opinion everybody should know how to make veggie fried rice. The good news is that it’s really simple to make.
The most difficult part of it is to come up with the idea of making a fried rice dish in the first place.
The perfect leftovers dish
The best way to make really tasty fried rice is by using leftover rice from a day or two ago. If you use freshly made rice, chances are it forms as a massive dollop when added into the pan.
The rice still contains too much water. Leftover rice on the other hand is much dryer – perfect!
You can use fresh rice, but make sure to spread it out evenly on a tray and let it cool down for 20 minutes or so beforehand.
Even though fried rice is awesome with just an egg, onion and some spices, why not add some leftover veggies too?
Have a carrot, bell pepper, zucchini or broccoli that need to go? Chop it up and throw it in there!
Now, vegetarian fried rice is a super simple dish. But if you want to take it to the next level you need to follow these cooking steps!
First, prep time! Make the sauce, dice up your veggies, get your eggs and rice. How many veggies are fine?
Any amount is fine, ideally don’t use more veggies than you have rice though. Make it max a 1:1 ratio.
Second, egg time! Start off the cooking show with some oil on medium to high heat and crack in the egg.
Add a sprinkle of salt and a dash of vinegar to make it more flavourful. Scramble for about 60 seconds. Then set aside.
Third, veggie time! Add another tbsp of oil. Add your onion. After 30 seconds or so toss in the rest of your veggies.
I hope you made sure to cut them into bite sized pieces! Stir and fry for about 3-5 minutes.
Fourth, bring it all together! Switch the flame down to medium heat. Pour in the sauce, let it bubble a little, add the rice and egg. Stir for another 1-2 minutes and taste test.
And there you have it, excellent veggie fried rice! So quick and so good. Plus, having recipes like those under you belt makes using up your leftover stuff so much easier.
Oh, and if you’d like further visual input for this recipe, check out this Indian chef. He makes the best version I could find. Simple, quick, and in the “correct” cooking order.
I’m also excited to mention we won’t be stopping here. Many of you told us you’d like waste less food. And so shall it be!
There’ll be many more “leftovers” recipes under our “No Ingredient Left Behind Series”. To be continued.
Ingredients
For the sauce
- 2 tbsp soy sauce (dark)
- 2 tsp vinegar (eg. white wine vinegar)
- 2 tsp olive oil (or any other oil you have at hand)
- 1 tsp maple syrup
For the fried rice
- 2 medium eggs (2 medium eggs = 1 large egg. Beaten)
- Salt to taste
- 2 tbsp sesame oil (or whatever you have available)
- 3 cups rice (cooked)
- 1 onion (or 2 spring onions, finely chopped)
- 2 cups veggies of your choice (frozen vegetables are fine too, but make sure to thaw them before frying)
Instructions
- Prep time: In a small bowl mix together the ingredients for the sauce. Then chop your veggies into bite sized pieces.
- Get a pan to high heat, add sesame oil and pour in the egg. While scrambling add a small dash of salt and vinegar. The egg should be done in about a minute, then set aside in a bowl.
- Add another tbsp of oil into the pan on high heat and add the onion. Let it fry for about 30 seconds (NOTE: If you use spring onions, add them in the end instead!).
- Now is the time to your veggies to the pan. Stir fry for 3-5 minutes.
- Reduce the heat, add the rice, sauce and your eggs. Stir well. Now you can safely add your spring onions too.
- Done!
NOTES
Nutrition
Comments
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18 comments
Homemade fried rice is always a favorite! The secret is the precooked rice!
I love fried rice! And using up leftovers is a perfect way to make it. I haven’t had it in so long I think it may be time to bring it back into the mix! YUM!
This looks so good! I never order fried rice because there’s so much oil in it. Homemade is the way to go.
YES! Fried rice is perfect for using up leftovers! I also love using dark soy sauce in recipes…nice and easy sauce!
I like fried rice! I am going to try this soon as well:)
Haha the recipe is so good it’s worth making extra rice just to use it again 😀
Nice Recipe Dave
Is this gluten free? I would like to make it for my friend.
Ha! I was about to say yes without any hesitation, but you need to watch out with soy sauce. If your friend has celiac he might react to the tiniest amount of gluten. That could mean you’ll have to look for a soy sauce that is labelled gluten free. 🙂
Oh ok. That helps. Thanks.
How is this vegetarian if it has egg in it?
Hi Emma, we use the now standard ‘vegetarian’ to mean ‘ovo-lacto vegetarian’ – as in it encompasses eggs and dairy, too. We find it’s the easiest way to distiguish between that and ‘vegan’.
I agree with Emma… vegetarian cannot include eggs or dairy…
I agree with Dave. Vegetarian = eggs + dairy + honey = okay. Vegan = eggs + dairy + honey = not okay.
The sauce was really good. Adding vinegar to the eggs was an unexpected but great idea. The dish was very good as is, but next time I would add small cubes of cooked tofu for a little extra protein.
A bit of extra protein is always appreciated! I’m a big fan of vinegar with eggs, glad you enjoyed too, Nancy!
Use sauteed crumbled tofu with some black salt to give it the eggy taste.
Great idea!!