Easy Vegetable Fried Rice

Stir fried rice is really a great springboard for adaptation. This one is simply flavored and has more than four cups of chopped and sliced vegetables, such as carrots, peppers, and broccoli—though you can change up the vegetables as you like!

How to Make a Great Stir Fry

When you are making a stir fry like this, you want to make sure all of your ingredients are cut and ready to go before you begin the cooking process -- once you start cooking, it goes very quickly and there's no time to pause or chop veggies.

The idea is to add the ingredients in stages, so that everything finishes cooking at the same time. Start with the more dense vegetables first since these will take longer to cook, or cut them into smaller pieces so they cook more quickly.

In this recipe, the various vegetables are cut so that they can cook all together and become tender at the same time. Then the other ingredients are quickly cooked in stages, and a simple stir-fry sauce pulls it all together–the whole cooking process takes less than 15 minutes.

Use Day-Old Rice to Make Fried Rice

As many cooks in countries such as China, Vietnam, and Korea know, day-old cooked rice is best for stir fried rice dishes. It's a little dried out so it doesn’t get clumpy when you return it to heat.

If you don't have rice already made and need to make some for this dish, use a bit less water than usual and let it cook until it is quite dry so that the grains stay separated.

If you have both time and forethought, you can also spread out freshly cooked rice on a dishtowel or cookie tray and leave it uncovered for an hour or two so that it dries out somewhat.

Ways to Adapt This Stir Fried Rice Recipe

Once you get the hang of it, there are endless ways you can adapt this recipe for yourself! Here are a few:

• Use fewer veggies: If you wanted to skip a vegetable or two in the recipe below, no one would be the wiser. You also can add the edamame or peas straight from the freezer; there’s no need to defrost.
• Or switch up the veggies! You can also switch up the vegetables depending on what you have around, and what you and your family like!
• Use white or brown rice: White or brown rice can be used interchangeably.
• Add more flavor! Play around with various Asian ingredients you may have in your pantry or fridge, from pickled vegetables to water chestnuts to bean sprouts. You can also add a couple of tablespoons of hoisin or oyster sauce along with the soy sauce, both of which are savory Asian condiments that will add another layer of flavor to your stir fry.
• Add some protein: Add some more substance to this recipe with cubes of tofu. And if you’re not looking for a vegetarian dish, feel free to add some leftover small cubes of pork, beef, or chicken.

More Easy Stir Fries to Make at Home!

This stir fried rice could certainly be a meal on its own, but it would also make a great or partner for all kinds of Asian dishes. Some recipes to try:

• Ginger Pineapple Fried Rice
• Chicken Fried Rice
• Ginger Beef Stir Fry
• Chicken, Broccoli and Sugar Snap Pea Stir Fry from my website, The Mom 100
• Lemon and Scallion Chicken Stir Fry from my website, The Mom 100