Chicken Fried Rice Recipe - Easy Chicken Recipes (2024)

FAQs

What are some secrets for perfect fried rice? ›

To give your dish that signature fried rice taste, you'll need to drizzle in sesame oil and soy sauce, but feel free to use as much or as little as you wish. You can even mix in things like garlic powder, ginger root, or Sriracha sauce and chili pepper for a bit of a kick.

The process of soaking the chicken in a saltwater solution before cooking keeps the meat moist and infuses it with flavor. The salt in the brine solution draws out moisture from the chicken, which is then reabsorbed along with the salt, sugar and flavors from the added spices.

Add spices and herbs: Before cooking the rice, add a pinch of salt, some black pepper, and a few dried herbs such as thyme, oregano, or rosemary. You can also use ground cumin, turmeric, or cinnamon to add more flavor. Use chicken or vegetable broth instead of water: This will add more flavor to the rice as it cooks.

Butter: This is my secret ingredient! This is what they use at hibachi restaurants for their fried rice and has been a game changer ever since I started using it. It adds a lot more flavor and helps to brown the rice.

The answer: high heat, expert tosses, and something known as 'wok hei. ' As J. Kenji López-Alt writes for Serious Eats, expert cooking with a wok (and the gas range it requires) is one of the main reasons that fried rice from a Chinese restaurant tastes so much better than what you can make at home.

It's all about that crunch

Done properly, deep-frying creates a satisfying contrast between the crispy-crunchy coating and tender chicken. Beyond that simple textural enjoyment, the crispness actually sends our brain a message that the food itself is in good condition.

Why do you put milk on chicken? ›

A milk marinade produces a super tender chicken, which melts in the mouth because milk contains lactic acid, which breaks down muscle fibers in the meat. Additionally, the best milky marinade for chicken is one that uses a fermented milk product, such as buttermilk or yogurt.

Use fresh garlic and onion.

Use freshly chopped onion and garlic instead of the dried versions. I recommend 1/2 chopped yellow onion or 1 chopped shallot, and 3 pressed or minced fresh garlic cloves (or 4 if you're a garlic lover like me!)

Aside from classics like salt, pepper, basil and garlic, you could try using chilli powder, ginger, cumin, cayenne, paprika, oregano, sage, rosemary and thyme.

The Hainanese chicken rice dish is said to have taken root in areas like Middle Road, Purvis Street and Koek Road more than 60 years ago. The rich flavour of the rice comes from the grains that have been pre-fried in chicken fat and then cooked in chicken broth.

There are a few different seasonings that make fried rice taste just right. The most important sauces to add are soy sauce, oyster sauce, and fish sauce in fried rice. All three add unique flavors to rice, but it can be easy to go overboard. Make sure you add small amounts of each and regularly taste the rice.

Cook without peeking or stirring.

Cook until the water is absorbed, about 18 minutes. Try not to peek until the end of the cooking time so the steam doesn't escape. Whatever you do, don't mix the rice while it's cooking — this will lead to gummy rice.

There are two secrets to egg fried rice. The first is to use cold, leftover rice taken from the fridge. It has a firm, dry texture that freshly-made rice doesn't. The second is to serve the dish ferociously hot – the rice needs to have felt the hot metal of the wok.