Easy Egg Fried Rice – A Simple Technique for the Best Results

Fried rice is an easy dish to make at home, but if you want it to taste as good as what you find in restaurants, you’ll need to adjust your techniques.

Restaurants typically use high-powered stoves that create a distinct wok aroma, something that’s often lacking in our home kitchens where our stoves usually don’t have that level of heat.

Over the years, while working in restaurants and cooking at home, I’ve discovered a few adjustments that can help you create high-quality fried rice in your own kitchen.

Today, I made a simple egg fried rice and took the opportunity to demonstrate some of the tricks I’ve learned. I hope these tips will help you make the best fried rice at home!

You might wonder whether the result of this easy egg fried rice will be as good as that made on a high-powered stove. Although the result may not be exactly identical, it is still highly acceptable by home cooking standards. Although it’s a trade-off, it’s a viable solution with minimal difference.

Let’s begin by preparing a simple egg fried rice recipe that can be made at home.

Make an easy egg fried rice

I will demonstrate the simplest method using leftover rice, eggs, green onions, light soy sauce, and salt. This serves as the foundation for all traditional Cantonese-style fried rice, and you can always customize it by adding different types of meat, vegetables, shrimp, and more.

1. Use day-old rice (leftover rice)

The first and most crucial ingredient is leftover cooked rice. Leftover rice has a different texture than freshly cooked rice. If you store cooked rice in the refrigerator overnight, you will notice a change in texture—it becomes much less sticky. 

To test this, you can cook fresh rice and let it sit for about an hour or use a fan to cool it down. When you try to separate the grains, you’ll find they are still very sticky, which is not ideal for fried rice. In contrast, overnight-cooked rice can easily be separated apart by hand into individual grains. This texture is perfect for fried rice, as the separate grains can be well coated with oil, withstand high heat, and reduce the chances of getting stuck onto the skillet.

Therefore, the most important thing is to precook the white rice and then store it in the refrigerator overnight.

2. How to produce wok aroma without a high-powered stove

Since we are not using a high-powered stove, cooking the rice in small batches is best. This allows the heat generated by a small stove to effectively deliver sufficient heat to the smaller amount of rice in the pan. It also ensures that the rice remains at a high temperature, generating a rich wok aroma. I recommend cooking no more than two small portions or one large portion at a time.

For the same reason, I will initially fry the rice in oil, without adding any other ingredients. The small stove won’t generate enough heat to properly fry each grain of rice until it becomes fragrant if I mix in all the ingredients from the start. I will only add the other ingredients once the rice has become fragrant and slightly charred on the surface.

To create the wok aroma for the rice, first heat the vegetable oil in the pan, then add the loosened rice over low heat. This ensures that each grain of rice is coated with oil, reducing the likelihood of sticking to the pan. After that, gradually increase to medium heat while stirring and flipping the rice. Increasing the temperature slowly can minimize the chances of the rice sticking to the pan. Finally, turn the heat up to maximum and stir-fry the rice briefly to develop the desired wok aroma.

3. Use a nonstick pan or skillet

Another difference between preparing fried rice at home and in a restaurant is the amount of oil used. For health reasons, I use much less oil at home, and I prefer using a non-stick pan or skillet to achieve this. While you can always use a cast iron pan, you’ll need a high-powered stove to support it effectively.

4. Egg: The Most Important Ingredient (and How It Should Be Cooked)

The most essential ingredient for fried rice is the egg. With the egg, you can create delicious egg fried rice without needing many other ingredients. There are several methods to use the egg in fried rice. While I won’t cover all the details, here are some common approaches:

1. You can scramble the egg first and then mix it with the rice afterward.

2. Another option is to fry an egg and place it on top of the rice.

3. Alternatively, you can beat the egg and stir-fry it together with the rice.

The last method, which involves stir-frying the beaten eggs with the rice, is less common but traditional for preparing Golden Fried Rice (黄金炒饭).

5. Combined all the ingredients and season the rice

The next step is to combine the cooked egg with the rice. Next, season the rice with salt and a small amount of light soy sauce. You may also add some sesame oil and oyster sauce if you like.  After that, add the chopped green onions (spring onions) and keep the heat high for ten to fifteen seconds to generate the wok aroma, and just like that, the very basic egg fried rice is done.

Conclusion

As you can see, making traditional Cantonese-style fried rice is quite straightforward. Anyone can make excellent fried rice at home by following the method outlined in this easy egg fried rice recipe. If you want to elevate your fried rice further, add meat (chicken, pork, beef), vegetables (green beans, bell peppers), seafood (shrimp, cuttlefish), or a combination of them, depending on your preference. Garnish with more green onions and sesame seeds.

In today’s recipe, I keep it super simple by only adding some fried garlic at the last minute. I have already pre-made and stored the garlic in an airtight container. 

I hope this article has demystified some of the secrets behind making traditional Cantonese fried rice.

Other Chinese food that might interest you. 

If you enjoy this Chinese egg fried rice, I have a few more related recipes to suggest.

• Steamed egg with tofu 
• Air fryer sweet and sour pork
• Chinese Broccoli (Gai Lan) Stir-fry