Supper Made Fast: Chicken Fried Rice Using Leftover Meat & Rice

By Texas Homesteader ~ 

Chicken Fried Rice makes a whole new meal using leftover meat & rice with healthy vegetables to get supper on the table fast. A delicious yet very flexible recipe for those busy nights.

Chicken Fried Rice makes good use of leftover meat & rice to get supper on the table fast. #TexasHomesteader

Leftover Food To Create A New Meal

I’m a big fan of Planned Leftovers. That’s the method of cooking when some of the components of today’s meal were actually prepared for a completely different kind of dish yesterday.

It makes a super-fast meal since some of the ingredients of tonight’s entrée have already been cooked.

You can see all our planned leftovers posts by clicking the button below:

A list of recipes made fast by using purposely planned leftovers for some of the ingredients. #TexasHomesteader

Using Leftovers To Reduce Food Waste

A couple of days ago RancherMan fired up the grill & cooked chicken breast. Then we’d enjoyed some of the leftovers as chicken fajitas the next night. 

Planned leftovers using leftover fajita chicken meat. #TexasHomesteader

There was plenty of grilled chicken leftover to use for my chicken fried rice too.

This will be perfect – the meat is already cooked and delightfully seasoned. Tonight’s meal will be on the supper table fast, thanks to planned leftover’s cooking.

It’s just one of the shortcuts I utilize to be able to Make Homemade Meals Daily The EASY Way.

Chicken Fried Rice Uses Leftover Meat & Rice 

I bring the cooked Fajita Chicken Meat from the fridge & chop it into cubes. I’ve got about a cup of chopped meat.

I’ve also got about 3 cups of cold, cooked rice in the refrigerator. For chicken fried rice it’s important that the leftover rice be chilled. It just makes it all come together best.

Better than takeout simple chicken fried rice uses leftover chicken and leftover rice to get a tasty supper on the table FAST! #TexasHomesteader

Easy Chicken Fried Rice Ingredients

Making chicken fried rice comes together quickly. So I first gather up my  ingredients:

      • A cup (or more) of leftover cubed chicken

      • 3 cups leftover cold rice,

      • About a cup of chopped onion,

      • 2 minced garlic cloves,

      • 1 ½ cups frozen peas/carrots,

      • 3 eggs mixed with water,

      • 2 Tablespoons soy sauce.

I’ll also be using the grilled jalapenos from our cookout the other day. It’s not an official part of the recipe, but RancherMan & I like our food spicy!

Now it’s showtime. This meal comes together fast y’all, so hold on to your hats!

Chicken Fried Rice ingredients using planned leftovers. Cold rice, leftover chicken, scrambled eggs, onions, peas and carrots. #TexasHomesteader

Quick-Cooking Chicken Fried Rice Recipe

Into a 10” cast-iron skillet over medium heat place a little bacon grease, allowing it to heat. 

You can use butter, olive oil or vegetable oil to sauté the onions & garlic if you want. But at our homestead, Bacon Grease is King

Sauté the onions & garlic until they’re translucent. Push the cooked onions to one side of the skillet.

Mix 3 eggs with 3 tablespoons of water in a small bowl. Then add the egg mixture into the empty side of the skillet & cook them –  chopping them with the spatula as they cook. 

Add frozen peas & carrots, soy sauce, chopped cooked chicken and 3 cups of cold leftover cooked rice.

Stir to blend & allow to heat thoroughly. Serve hot!

Chicken Fried Rice makes good use of planned leftovers. Chicken Fried Rice makes good use of leftover meat & rice to get supper on the table fast. #TexasHomesteader

In just a few minutes, all those leftovers were blended into a completely different and delicious meal.

What Vegetables Go With Chicken Fried Rice?

Frozen peas & carrots are traditional & simple to use. But I often change up the vegetables depending upon what I have leftover from previous meals to be used.

I typically like to try to add different colors & textures. I just drain & mix in leftover:

Steamed broccoli,

Carrot coins,

Chopped green beans,

Steamed fresh asparagus,

Roasted Vegetables, etc. 

Roasted fresh vegetables in an easy, healthy dish. #TexasHomesteader

Sometimes I add fresh veggies from the garden when I’m cooking the onions & garlic.

Bell peppers are a good choice & the color provides a nice presentation as well. Plus I always have red or green bell pepper growing in my garden.

Pretty colorful peppers. #TexasHomesteader

Feel free to experiment with different flavors, colors & textures of other veggies to come up with YOUR family’s fave.

Just shoot for about 1.5 cups of vegetables.

Chicken Fried Rice Serves 4? Or More?

The recipe below is the base recipe I use.

This recipe makes about 4 large servings which is just right for us. We’ll enjoy chicken fried rice for supper one night and often have enough left over for lunch the next day too.

But you can stretch the servings by doubling the recipe or by adding eggrolls or soup if you’re feeding a crowd.

Did you make this Chicken Fried Rice? Please rate the recipe in your comment below!

Chicken Fried Rice uses cold leftover rice to make supper fast! #TexasHomesteader
5 from 1 vote
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Chicken Fried Rice

This delicious chicken fried rice recipe gets supper on the table fast! It takes advantage of planned leftovers, using a cup of leftover meat and 3 cups of leftover rice stir-fried into a quick supper. #TexasHomesteader

Course Main Course
Cuisine Chinese
Keyword chicken, easy recipe, fried rice, garlic, leftovers, onions, planned leftovers, rice, soy sauce
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 20 minutes
Total Time 30 minutes
Servings 4 people
Author www.TexasHomesteader.com

Ingredients

Ingredients

  • 1 cup cooked chicken I used cooked chopped fajita chicken – can use ham, beef, etc
  • 3 cups chilled leftover cooked white rice – must be cold
  • 1 cup chopped onion about 1 medium-sized onion
  • 2 cloves garlic minced
  • 3 eggs, mixed w/3 Tablespoons of water
  • 2 Tablespoons butter, olive oil or bacon grease, divided (I used bacon grease)
  • 2 Tablespoons soy sauce
  • 1 teaspoons black pepper
  • 1 8-oz bag frozen peas and carrots - about 1 ½ cups, thawed

Instructions

INSTRUCTIONS

  1. Add 1 Tbsp grease in a large skillet over medium heat until melted and skillet is hot.
  2. Add 1 cup chopped onion & 2 minced garlic cloves. Sauté until the onion is soft. Add 1 ½ cups of thawed previously-frozen peas and carrots (if using) and mix to blend. Then push the mixture to one side of skillet.

  3. In a small bowl, beat 3 eggs with 3 Tablespoons of water. Into the unoccupied area of the skillet add 1 Tablespoon grease. After it's melted add the mixed egg, chopping with spatula & scrambling until cooked. Then blend egg in with onion/vegetable mixture.

  4. Add 3 cups cold, cooked rice, 1 cup chopped chicken, 2 Tbsp soy sauce & 1 tsp black pepper. Stir-fry together about 3-5 minutes, stirring until mixture is well combined.

  5. Serve hot in wide bowls.

Recipe Notes

Note 1: You can use other kinds of leftover cooked meat if desired such as chopped ham or beef.

Note 2: Instead of a bag of frozen peas & carrots, you can lightly steam fresh veggies of your choice. I like chopped carrots, chopped bell pepper and/or maybe fresh green beans snapped into 3/4" pieces. Lightly steam in your microwave, drain and use in this recipe.

~TxH~

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Tagged in     All our favorite posts about rice. #TexasHomesteader  A list of our favorite entree recipes. #TexasHomesteader

One thought on “Supper Made Fast: Chicken Fried Rice Using Leftover Meat & Rice

  1. Thelma Briggs

    5 stars
    I purposely make more rice than we can eat on any given night just to have cold leftover rice to make chicken fried rice the next night. So fast, so easy. I use whatever leftover vegetables I have in the refrigerator or lightly steamed veggies from the garden such as colorful bell pepper or fresh asparagus spear tips. It always makes a pretty presentation with all the colors and vegetables. And a meal on the table fast!

    Reply

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