🍚 10-Minute Egg Fried Rice
Ingredients
- 3 cups cooked rice
- 3 eggs
- 1 cup frozen peas & carrots
- Green onions
- Soy sauce (pantry staple)
- Sesame oil (pantry staple)
- 2 tbsp olive oil (pantry staple)
Instructions
- Scramble eggs in a hot oiled wok; remove.
- Stir-fry rice and frozen veg until hot and lightly crisped.
- Return eggs, season with soy and sesame oil, finish with scallions.
Tips
- Use cold, day-old rice. Fresh rice is too moist and turns to porridge — this is the one rule that genuinely matters here.
- Get the pan hotter than you think and resist stirring constantly. Letting the rice sit 30 seconds at a time is what crisps the grains.
- Cook the eggs first, take them out, and fold them back at the end. Scrambling them through the rice coats every grain and makes it heavy.
Substitutions
- Frozen peas and carrots
- Any small quick vegetable — corn, edamame, diced pepper, spring onion. Frozen is genuinely fine and needs no thawing.
- Soy sauce
- Tamari for gluten-free. Add it around the edge of the hot pan rather than into the middle so it caramelises instead of just wetting the rice.
- Sesame oil
- Toasted sesame oil, added off the heat. It's a finishing oil — cooking it destroys the aroma.
- Rice
- Any leftover grain: brown rice, quinoa, even barley. Short-grain works but clumps more.
Storage & reheating
Keeps 3 days refrigerated. Cool leftover rice quickly and refrigerate within an hour — rice left at room temperature is a genuine food-poisoning risk (Bacillus cereus). Reheat until piping hot throughout, once only.
Common questions
Can I use fresh rice?
It works but is much stickier. Spread it on a tray and refrigerate uncovered for 30 minutes to dry the surface first.
Why is my fried rice soggy?
Wet rice, an overcrowded pan, or too much sauce. Cook in two batches if the pan is small.
Is reheated rice really dangerous?
The risk is real but manageable. Spores survive cooking and multiply at room temperature, so the rule is cool fast, refrigerate promptly, reheat thoroughly once.