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.
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:
Using Leftovers To Reduce Food Waste
I’m a big fan of using leftovers to make a whole different meal. It’s a great way to reduce food waste and 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 some leftover cooked Fajita Chicken Meat from the fridge & chop it into cubes. I 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. I
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 cooked 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!
Quick-Cooking Chicken Fried Rice Recipe
Into a 10” cast-iron skillet over medium heat place a little bacon grease, allowing it to heat.
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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!
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 for chicken fried rice. And it’s 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.
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.
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 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 help this recipe show in internet searches by rating the recipe in your comment below!
Chicken Fried Rice
Ingredients
Equipment
Method
- Add 1 Tbsp grease in a large skillet over medium heat until melted and skillet is hot.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- Serve hot in wide bowls.
Notes
Tried this recipe?
Let us know how it was!~TxH~
This post categorized in 
Tagged in 
Reinventing New Meals Using Leftovers
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Beef
Chicken/Poultry
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Vegetables
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One Response
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!