Kid-Friendly Fried Rice Recipe
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Pork fried rice gets a kid-approved makeover, for a dish that’s healthy enough for you to serve to the little ones guilt-free. And it’s made with ingredients you probably have on hand, so dinner can be on the table in a flash.
Game plan: Fried rice is just as delicious when made ahead and served cold. To do so, cook the recipe all the way through, then turn the rice out onto a large plate or baking sheet and spread it out so it can cool down quickly. When it’s lukewarm to room temperature, place it in an airtight container and refrigerate it until ready to eat. Be sure to get the rice into the fridge within 2 hours of cooking to avoid any serious food-safety issues.
This fried rice is on the mild side, so be sure to have bottles of soy sauce and hot sauce on hand for the adults.
This recipe was featured as part of our Good Food for Kids photo gallery.
- 1 tablespoon peanut or vegetable oil
- 1/2 cup Canadian bacon, small dice
- 2 medium garlic cloves, finely chopped
- 4 cups steamed long-grain white rice, cold
- 2 large eggs, beaten
- 1/2 cup frozen pea and carrot medley
- 1/2 cup frozen shelled edamame
- 3 medium scallions, minced
- 2 tablespoons soy sauce
- 1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil
- Heat peanut or vegetable oil in a large, nonstick frying pan over medium heat. When it shimmers, tilt the pan to coat it evenly, add bacon, and cook until just browned, about 5 minutes.
- Add garlic and cook until fragrant, about 10 to 20 seconds. Add rice and stir-fry, breaking up the rice and cooking until it’s heated through and coated with oil, about 3 to 5 minutes.
- Evenly drizzle in beaten eggs and cook, stirring frequently, until rice is coated in egg and set, about 2 minutes. Add frozen vegetables and cook until thawed and cooked through, about 3 minutes. Add scallions, soy sauce, and sesame oil and cook until scallions just wilt, about 1 minute.
sooo easy....my children loved it!
Don't like the frozen veg. idea. I always dice raw carrots and stir-fry them in a little oil first thing, then add the frozen peas for a little bit. Remove these from the wok, continue with the rest of the production, and add the peas and carrots back into the rice near the end.
The pan fried carrots have such a wonderful flavor that I can't imagine using frozen ones.
I agree with cooking the egg separately and adding it at the end. Sometimes I add a little shoyu and just a tiny amount of sugar to the egg mixture. I loe the idea of edamame, though. I always have some but for some reason had never thought to add it to fried rice. Thanks!
For one of my nephews I sometimes add won bok kim chee, since kim chee fried rice is one of his favorite things in the world. His grandmother sends me home made kim chee in the winter and I keep in the fridge through the summer.
It's always a hoot when I get the kim chee in the mail because, even though she wraps it in tons of Saran Wrap (think "The Mummy") and winds duct tape all around (again "The Mummy") before double boxing it, the scent just wafts out all over as soon as I get the box out of the large mail boxes in my apartment's lobby. The people across the hall from me, Koreans from Korea, always open their door and ask "Kim Chee?" when I'm returning to my apartment with my "Care package". What I have in my fridge right now is baby bok choy kim chee and it's absolutely fantastic! It's so pretty that I always feel guilty chopping it up to add to fried rice - so much better whole served on plain white rice hot from the rice cooker, and a nicer presentation.
I agree I cook my egg seperately, I also add it at the end so it does not get too beaten up. My son loves this, I just made it last night..I add a touch of brown sugar to the soy sauce before adding it, it just cuts the salty soy sauce a bit..Great recipe!!
Around here, the egg in fried rice is beaten and cooked separately, cut into tiny pieces or strips, and mixed in at the end. Preferable, IMO, to having the egg bind the rice into a clump. I'd cook the egg before the bacon, then remove it and set aside. In step 3, I'd: Add scallions, cooked egg, soy sauce, and sesame oil and stir to blend. Then stir in the frozen vegetables, cover the pan, and turn off the burner. The vegetables will cook through on residual heat. Wait 5 minutes, stir again, and serve.