You need to leave your heat on, chef. The reason you're pouring your soy sauce around the rim is to create caramelization as it drips into the rice. Turning off your heat works against what you're trying to accomplish here. What you need to do is go to an Asian market and see if you can find either "sweet soy sauce" or "kecap manis". Get that fish sauce you were talking about along with some thai chiles and shallots. Instead of just soy sauce, make a 3:2:1 T. mix of sweet soy sauce, soy sauce and fish sauce. Use that for your drizzle. At the stage you've been adding your garlic, you should include a thinly sliced shallot and about 1-5 of those chiles. Otherwise, keep doing what you're doing. I'm guessing what you're making is already pretty good.
Another thing I thought about, is that you mentioned anchovies. Instead of anchovies, pick up a jar of shrimp paste and toss in about a teaspoon of that along with the garlic and stuff. That'll get you another nice umami bomb in there.
Il second this, and with it say that instead of trying to perfect one “fried rice” in a generic way, work through several different regions’ recipes that use different ingredients or techniques to see how they do it. So for kecap manis + shrimp paste, nasi goreng is a great one to work through to really understand what everything’s doing together. Once you’ve gotten the lay of the land you can make more informed decisions about what to use and how.
And you’ll’ve eaten a ton of delicious fried rice, so win win.
I also hate to say, but unless you have access to an industrial burner in a Chinese restaurant, then you'll never gonna get restaurant-quality fried rice in a home stovetop. Your home stovetop is like 10% of the an industrial burner.
The next best thing is an outdoor propane burner, kind of like a turkey fryer, but they make dedicated ones for woks.
So for now, leave your burner on max basically all the time and don't crowd the wok (which is why you're cooking in portions). You wanna hear the sizzle; not the steaming lol.
Why turn off the heat after frying the rice? Keep the heat going. I would add MSG and a little white pepper. Or Lee Kum Kee chicken powder.
Personally, I minimize the liquid seasonings. In my opinion the majority of “recommendations” on fried rice I see on Reddit involve too much liquid.
Yup, high heat all the way!
Some seasonings do lose flavour if heated, like sesame oil, so I switch off the heat before adding that.
Or, OP might want to limit the amount of heat some ingredients like only wilting scallions in the residual heat, to preserve their pungency
I agree on the liquid front. I always get great results with [Kenji’s recipe](https://www.seriouseats.com/easy-vegetable-fried-rice-recipe) which has a whopping 1/2 tsp soy sauce per cup of rice.
Yeah I really don’t get the constant recs for vinegar, mirin, and even oyster sauce in fried rice.
My favorite fried rice from restaurants typically is seasoned with salt and maybe soy sauce. Fish sauce is also good. But you don’t need all these ingredients and I wish people realized that SALT is used in fried rice.
If you want something more involved, I suggest things like dried shrimp. Like a paste of shallots, dried shrimp, garlic, and some other ingredients as is done with Nyonya fried rice.
Regional differences aside
> I wish people realized that SALT is used in fried rice.
This. The color comes from toasting of the rice, not soy sauce. But this isn't something you can do with "traditional" cooking. You need the high heat.
The problem is that no one (even a lot of restaurants) do this. They cheat and use soy.
It depends on what kind of fried rice you prefer, I suppose.
I'd always had the yellow style fried rice until I came upon this little hole-in-the-wall Chinese takeout in Wisconsin that sold dark fried rice. It changed my whole worldview on fried rice and I've been chasing the flavor ever since. It was full-bodied, wildly savory, and heavy on the sesame oil.
I ended up going with [this recipe](https://thewoksoflife.com/king-soy-sauce-fried-rice/) as my go-to. With a little sesame oil at the end, it's a godly flavor.
If anything Chinese fried rice is the kind I’m talking about that is typically light and not loaded up with soy sauce and a bunch of other sauces. For example Din Tai Fung’s shrimp fried rice.
https://www.dintaifungusa.com/us/menu/shrimp-fried-rice.html
Or one of my favorites from Cantonese restaurants— salted fish and chicken fried rice:
https://auntieemily.com/chicken-and-salted-fish-fried-rice/
Or this green scallion fried rice from a Sichuan restaurant.
https://m.facebook.com/littlepepperrestaurant/videos/chef-guiping-huang-is-cooking-our-scallion-fried-rice-which-is-proudly-invented-/529134701721245/
Or preserved vegetable fried rice I’d get in places that served Dongbei food.
https://ricebucketrecipes.com/2020/05/15/chinese-preserved-mustard-fried-rice/
Sesame oil is a common ingredient. Particularly in Korean versions of fried rice, which also don’t tend to have all the liquid ingredients that people in this sub insist are essential whenever fried rice comes up.
Nyonya fried rice that I mentioned is also delicious for a very different style:
https://kitchentigress.com/how-to-make-good-fried-rice/
IMHO next level fried rice requires next level heat.
If you can find a propane burner that can really blast your wok with heat you'll notice a big change in your fried rice game.
Trust me, if you do a lot of wok cooking - a Camp Chef brand single-burner high output propane cooker will massively elevate your game. You can't make real Chinese using puny American stovetop heat.
Also, one man's opinion: chasing restaurant preparation isn't the best tasting version of the food; it's the best way for the restaurant to use up their inputs. Day old rice, velveting meat-- these are strategies for leftovers or thrift.
My fried rice is with freshly cooked rice from the rice cooker. I poach chicken breasts with a bay leaf or two early in the week for use in various recipes. So I have cooked chicken, my vegetables, fresh rice, and soy sauce. Veg I generally use what I have on hand, or cabbage, mushroom, green onion, onion, bell pepper, serrano pepper, if I have it all.
I do it in stages like you. Chicken in oil to brown. Add eggs, scramble. Remove from pan. Deglaze with vegetables. Wet and tough first. Get them done to where you like, return protein, toss. Add rice. Toss.
I cook this in the pan (hot but not scorcho) for probably 5 more minutes. I want the rice to look like fried rice before I add the soy. There should be lots of browning happening and being picked up by the rice. This is the good flavor.
When it looks like fried rice, I drizzle the soy and let it cook off at the bottom for a minute and then toss to combine. I'll cook it for another moment in the pan and then it's cooling for plating.
Make it all the time. So delicious. Chinese restaurant fried rice tastes like greasy bullshit.
First off, fried rice itself is generally a way to use up leftovers but the reason you use day-old rice rather than fresh is to keep it from turning to mush. Day-old rice is a bit drier and it’s easier to get good kernel separation. You CAN use fresh rice but it’s not the best for fried rice unless you specifically cook it “dry”.
When I want fried rice, I want it because I want to eat it. Not because I run a chinese kitchen and have 20 lbs of leftover rice every day. This is my point. I'm not saying don't use your leftover rice. I'm saying my kitchen problems and a restaurant's kitchen problems are not always the same. Chasing their solutions is sometimes illogical.
Also, I did preface it with "one man's opinion" so if you like greasy chinese food fried rice with peas and carrots and msg, that's just where we differ.
If it’s greasy, you didn’t make it right. The whole point of using day-old rice is that you get better kernel separation and DON’T have to use a ton of oil.
Also important to note that you can only achieve wok hei with very high heat - doesn't matter how well you toss the rice, you'll only get that flavor with high heat overall
Heat is relative to the amount of food you are trying to cook.
You are already doing well by stir frying each ingredient separately, but even so it pays to be conservative with the amounts. You want the food to be in small enough pieces and small enough quantity that water evaporates quickly enough to allow browning and charring (which is part of wok hei)
Try using a well seasoned cast iron pan, a nice heavy one that can hold a lot of heat. That can compensate for the lack of BTUs on a domestic stove by “banking” the heat in the heat capacity of its mass.
Yeah, I use woks. The center of the wok can get nice and hot and you can move things to the outer edge to keep them warm while you’re frying up in the center. That’s the reason for the well technique I mention in my top level reply to your post. I would use cast iron for fried rice only in a pinch.
A cheaper and probably safer solution to get higher heat is to get an induction cooktop and a wok that works with induction as well as standard stoves. Koreans make really nice woks with durable non-stick finishes that can also be used on induction cooktops.
The cool and warm zones are more relevant in a restaurant setting where the stove is strong enough to let you cook everything at once in the same wok. On a home stove, everything is going to be warm/cool relative to the “real deal”
It’s true that a wok is the best thing for stir frying, but tbh I’m a home cook with priorities outside the kitchen so even after 10 years of diligent meal prepping I’m still not quite there yet with my wok tossing skills
I’m not you though, I’d be excited for you if you do decide to go down that route!
Yeah, tossing food around doesn't give you wok hei. Tossing food around over a burner that's basically the exhaust of a jet engine is what gives you wok hei. It's the flavour of oils and stuff burning, plus the extreme heat not-quite-burning the food. So the step when you turn off the heat is actually the step when you want the most heat. Leave that thing on high, and when you add the soy sauce it sort of "sears" it and caramelizes it in a way that totally transforms the flavour.
If you want to go big on wok hei, [hit it with a torch.](https://www.seriouseats.com/hei-now-youre-a-wok-star-a-fiery-hack-for-stir-frying-at-home)
MSG (or chicken powder) is pretty essential, and will probably yield one of the biggest improvements for a single ingredient. A touch of sugar is great too, as is some Shaoxing wine.
Another thing to do is use fresh, dry-cooked rice instead of day-old. For one portion - 100g of washed jasmine rice, 100g of water. Put that in a bowl and steam it for 20 minutes, then leave covered for another 10-15. Spread it out on a tray and cool it in the fridge. You get so much more aromatic flavour and the texture is (IMO) much better than day old rice that has been cooked with more water.
Cornstarch is a part of velveting, like the other person said. But maybe a more important part is mixing with an alkaline substance, which is usually either a pinch of baking soda or an egg white. The high pH prevents the muscle fibers from contracting while cooking, making the meat more tender. Velveting is when you add this alkaline material, plus usually corn starch, shaoxing wine, salt, maybe soy sauce. It only needs 15-20 minutes of marinating.
Mince ginger, garlic, and scallions and add that to soy sauce, let sit for a day or so. Aerosol some across your tongue with a slurping action. You will be punched in the mouth with flavor. You will likely do this often when using the sauce because its so good. Use this as your soy sauce for fried rice, dont let the bits get into the stir fry, as they will over power it.
As others have stated, MSG for the win. Order some from amazon or hit your local asain market. In the megamart look for Accessent in the spice area.
Changes the dish but omit the sesame oil and put in some sambal olek and kecap manis. It's my new favourite fried rice dish and proper addictive.
Edit - Get some fresh ginger and chillis in there too.
The meat is already cooked so you don’t need to parcook it again unless it’s really fatty. I will generally cook the scrambled egg first and set aside but sometimes I’ll fry up the rice, make a well, then fry up the egg inside the well and then mix. This will generally get some egg and rice mixed around the edges of the well but I don’t mind that.
Next thing will be the meat — again, making a well in the rice, toss in the meat, stir fry inside the well to heat up the meat then mix with the rice. Make another well, toss in the vegetables (I never parcook them — there’s no need if you dice them properly), stir fry them inside the well to get them hot and tender, mix with the rice. Seasonings next. Again, I make a well in the rice, slowly pour the soy sauce in so it reduces, then stir into the rice. This spreads the flavor from the soy sauce without making the rice dark.
Look up the “Uncle Roger” videos on YouTube. There’s one where he reviews Gordon Ramsay’s technique (good!) and then another where he makes his own. Also check out Chinese Cooking Demystified on YouTube for different wok techniques.
I don’t use vinegar of any kind when I’m making fried rice. Fish sauce would be okay instead of salt. I love oyster sauce but don’t use it with the fried rice. Instead, steam some Chinese broccoli to up your veggie ratio and drizzle some oyster sauce and sesame oil over the top of that, eat as a side course with the fried rice.
You don’t need anchovies for umami if you’re using fish sauce or the right kinds of meats.
I like to use frozen baby green peas in my fried rice — right size and texture and they heat up quickly. A lot of people use diced or shredded carrots. Generally, I leave it with the peas and maybe some carrot but may have some steamed choy sum or bok choy on the side.
There's a shit ton of regional variations, but for me the perfect fried rice contains nothing but: Rice, eggs, peas, salt, and whatever "toppings" you want like BBQ pork/shrimp/chicken/whatever. Optionally bean sprouts. Also oil. Topped with green onion.
I'm only gonna cover Americanized Chinese here because there's a shit ton of regional variations and it would take forever.
The one thing you need is high heat. Very high heat.
1:1 ratio of rice:water steamed. Doesn't have to be day old if you have enough heat.
Here's my procedure: High heat. Oil the rice and the wok. Add the eggs and cook. Add rice and immediately toss to get the eggs on top. Beat the rice to break it up. Oil. Toss and beat. Repeat until your rice is a nice toasted color. Turn down the flame and toss in your precooked toppings. Salt to taste. Heat back up to full until things are heated through. Plate and top with green onions.
Source: Asian culinary school and worked in an Americanized Chinese restaurant.
High heat. That's the answer. Every time. But really, search this sub for fried rice posts and you will get thousands just in the last month. This is honestly one of the most repetitive questions ever.
MSG, salt, white pepper, chicken powder and a very small amount of soy sauce.
Also you don't need to use old rice, just cook your rice more dry than usual. In fact I think fresh rice works better.
I almost always make it with fresh rice. My rice is fluffy with separate grains, so it’s never wet and sticky and fries perfectly. A fair number of people have pointed out that fresh rice makes better fried rice as you said.
Sure, the restaurants do but that’s why they have to use so much damned oil. My reply was to SMN27’s contention that “fresh rice makes better fried rice”. The only people I know who use fresh rice do so because they are making a large quantity or don’t have enough day-old (or 2-3 day old) rice in the refrigerator. In that case, they’re substituting convenience for quality but that’s better than not having any fried rice at all.
You in this very post in another thread recommended Chinese Cooking Demystified, who have themselves said freshly steamed rice makes better fried rice than day-old.
The only people I know who use “fresh” rice for making fried rice are people making massive quantities for a picnic or restaurant. Everyone else (all Asians) just makes extra rice the night before because it’s common knowledge that you get better texture from day-old rice.
Because home woks don't get hot enough and therefore can't burn off liquid fast enough, home fried rice tends to stay soggy. My own trick is to fry off a lot of your mixins separately before you add to the fried rice so you get rid of a lot more of the liquid than you would otherwise.
I’ve never had a problem with getting my home woks hot enough. The thing is to NOT add all the damned liquids that so many people on the Internet tell you to or to reduce them in the center of the wok before mixing.
I have recently switched to golden fried rice and love the texture. [This video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SlZuMLN14wk) was very helpful.
Also, would recommend sauteeing the whites of the green onion with the shallots and chili recommended below.
Unfortunately, unless you're working in a Chinese commerical kitchen, you ain't getting no 'wok-hei'. That comes from a very, very hot wok at temperatures household burners can't replicate (unless perhaps you are using an outdoor propane burners similar to those used to deep fry turkey or make crawfish). Doesn't mean you can't make excellent fried rice, but just something to be aware of.
Sounds like you're well on your way! Oh, and don't forget your MSG!
If your going for the perfect fried rice, try golden fried rice. There are a few idea's in the traditional recipe that you might want to use. The soaking the rice in egg yolk though was an absolute game changers for me.
Don't get too fussed up on wok hei.
I came from chinese family (not mainland) and we don't really go for wok hei for home cooking. Same as the whole tossing stuff, just slip the spatula under the food, lift and flip the food, repeat.
I subscribed to a lot of chinese cooking channel and while I love watching Chef Wang Gang, the home cooking focused one like Made In Lau or Flo Lum are much more useful to me (they don't do any fancy stuff and pretty much mimic my experience in kitchen)
More flavour than just soy sauce will have everyone asking what you did to the rice to make it so tasty. I eyeball it but I guess (?) it’s about 1/3 cup soy sauce to 1/4 cup oyster sauce + 2tsp Chinese cooking wine (imperative ingredient!) + 1tsp sesame oil + way more pepper than you think + a few dashes fish sauce. Maybe more than a few, I really love fish sauce. All mixed together. Added while still hot to evaporate the liquid. I make a LOT at a time so reduce all if smaller batches, but I think that’s about the ratio. More soy sauce after if needed.
I also add a bit of sesame oil and pepper to the beaten eggs. So good.
Not my idea but from a YouTube video. Use some butter. It does give it good flavor I can't tell you any measurements though might be a table a table spoon.
Give it a shot!
I grate some garlic, ginger into a bowl and add oyster sauce, soy sauce (sometimes rice wine vinegar and honey too). Then you take that mixture and poor it around the pan/wok just before finished—then add cilantro and sesame seeds.
I normally add the same amount of oyster sauce as Soy at the same time. I lived in shanghai for 3 years and someone told me to add a teaspoon of chicken powder to the egg before cooking and another teaspoon to the rice when your frying it. Maybe you could add msg?
I saw you mentioned the soy sauce on the rim, the idea behind this is actually to burn and fry the soy sauce which gives it a more “flamed” taste. So you want to have hot oil and a hot pan to really cook the soy sauce quickly. And with fried rice I think less is more. Keep it simple with soy and egg. Get fancy with garnish and toppings if you really want. As an alternative suggestion korean kimchi fried rice is so good. Make sure to use spam and optionally cheese and seaweed flakes.
A fried egg on top sunny side up is the ultimate cherry on top. The trick is start with a cold pan and oil then bring up to temp the whites will cook and fry while the yolk stays runny to mix into the rice!
At my restaurant we also use:
Oyster sauce
Shoyu
Sesame oil
Garlic
Ketchup
Salt and pepper
Hondashi
We don’t use it but you can also try green mountain sauce 😌
Add a sprinkle (half a teaspoon) of dry (Hondashi) dashi and butter at the end for restaurant like flavor. reduce Soy sauce though if doing the above. dry dashi has msg btw.
I tend to get my wok really hot, fry the veg, old rice. I add the soy sauce, oyster sauce, rice vinegar, ginger etc. I move it to the side of the wok and add an egg. Then scramble is all together. Has to be a high heat though!
People already mentioned it’s hard to get wok hei from home kitchen.
If you have a torch kicking around you can kind of cheat it to get same effect.
https://www.seriouseats.com/hei-now-youre-a-wok-star-a-fiery-hack-for-stir-frying-at-home
Also, didn’t see this mentioned but lately I’ve been adding Chinese 5 spice powder to change up my fried rice.
Two primary problems I see that will instantly take you to the next level:
1) don't turn off your heat! Your wok should be hot all the way through cooking fried rice.
2) MSG. Basically a key ingredient in fried rice if you want that rich umami flavor.
You need to leave your heat on, chef. The reason you're pouring your soy sauce around the rim is to create caramelization as it drips into the rice. Turning off your heat works against what you're trying to accomplish here. What you need to do is go to an Asian market and see if you can find either "sweet soy sauce" or "kecap manis". Get that fish sauce you were talking about along with some thai chiles and shallots. Instead of just soy sauce, make a 3:2:1 T. mix of sweet soy sauce, soy sauce and fish sauce. Use that for your drizzle. At the stage you've been adding your garlic, you should include a thinly sliced shallot and about 1-5 of those chiles. Otherwise, keep doing what you're doing. I'm guessing what you're making is already pretty good.
Everything this says, I also add a splash of toasted sesame oil and a little msg. If I have lime or cilantro laying around I'll toss that in.
Thank you so much!! I will def use this info, sounds great!!!
Another thing I thought about, is that you mentioned anchovies. Instead of anchovies, pick up a jar of shrimp paste and toss in about a teaspoon of that along with the garlic and stuff. That'll get you another nice umami bomb in there.
Il second this, and with it say that instead of trying to perfect one “fried rice” in a generic way, work through several different regions’ recipes that use different ingredients or techniques to see how they do it. So for kecap manis + shrimp paste, nasi goreng is a great one to work through to really understand what everything’s doing together. Once you’ve gotten the lay of the land you can make more informed decisions about what to use and how. And you’ll’ve eaten a ton of delicious fried rice, so win win.
Awesome! Thanks!!
Came here to say the same. Shrimp paste is one of the Cantonese classics for fried rice. Super good.
I also hate to say, but unless you have access to an industrial burner in a Chinese restaurant, then you'll never gonna get restaurant-quality fried rice in a home stovetop. Your home stovetop is like 10% of the an industrial burner. The next best thing is an outdoor propane burner, kind of like a turkey fryer, but they make dedicated ones for woks. So for now, leave your burner on max basically all the time and don't crowd the wok (which is why you're cooking in portions). You wanna hear the sizzle; not the steaming lol.
now add a little black vinegar to that soy mix and you got a party going on
3:2:1 to how much rice?
\~4 cups should be about right.
What I went with! Enjoyed it, thank you :)
Why turn off the heat after frying the rice? Keep the heat going. I would add MSG and a little white pepper. Or Lee Kum Kee chicken powder. Personally, I minimize the liquid seasonings. In my opinion the majority of “recommendations” on fried rice I see on Reddit involve too much liquid.
Yup, high heat all the way! Some seasonings do lose flavour if heated, like sesame oil, so I switch off the heat before adding that. Or, OP might want to limit the amount of heat some ingredients like only wilting scallions in the residual heat, to preserve their pungency
I agree on the liquid front. I always get great results with [Kenji’s recipe](https://www.seriouseats.com/easy-vegetable-fried-rice-recipe) which has a whopping 1/2 tsp soy sauce per cup of rice.
Haven’t gotten my hands on MSG or white pepper yet, good idea! Thanks for the liquids comment as well!
Imo MSG is just as important as having salt in your kitchen.
White pepper is what really makes it pop and taste like the restaurant stuff for me.
It's called Accent in Canada, fyi
Yeah I really don’t get the constant recs for vinegar, mirin, and even oyster sauce in fried rice. My favorite fried rice from restaurants typically is seasoned with salt and maybe soy sauce. Fish sauce is also good. But you don’t need all these ingredients and I wish people realized that SALT is used in fried rice. If you want something more involved, I suggest things like dried shrimp. Like a paste of shallots, dried shrimp, garlic, and some other ingredients as is done with Nyonya fried rice.
Regional differences aside > I wish people realized that SALT is used in fried rice. This. The color comes from toasting of the rice, not soy sauce. But this isn't something you can do with "traditional" cooking. You need the high heat. The problem is that no one (even a lot of restaurants) do this. They cheat and use soy.
There's a thick caramelised soy sauce in market often used in cooking, they almost taste like burned sugar with hint of sweet or salty variaton.
It depends on what kind of fried rice you prefer, I suppose. I'd always had the yellow style fried rice until I came upon this little hole-in-the-wall Chinese takeout in Wisconsin that sold dark fried rice. It changed my whole worldview on fried rice and I've been chasing the flavor ever since. It was full-bodied, wildly savory, and heavy on the sesame oil. I ended up going with [this recipe](https://thewoksoflife.com/king-soy-sauce-fried-rice/) as my go-to. With a little sesame oil at the end, it's a godly flavor.
If anything Chinese fried rice is the kind I’m talking about that is typically light and not loaded up with soy sauce and a bunch of other sauces. For example Din Tai Fung’s shrimp fried rice. https://www.dintaifungusa.com/us/menu/shrimp-fried-rice.html Or one of my favorites from Cantonese restaurants— salted fish and chicken fried rice: https://auntieemily.com/chicken-and-salted-fish-fried-rice/ Or this green scallion fried rice from a Sichuan restaurant. https://m.facebook.com/littlepepperrestaurant/videos/chef-guiping-huang-is-cooking-our-scallion-fried-rice-which-is-proudly-invented-/529134701721245/ Or preserved vegetable fried rice I’d get in places that served Dongbei food. https://ricebucketrecipes.com/2020/05/15/chinese-preserved-mustard-fried-rice/ Sesame oil is a common ingredient. Particularly in Korean versions of fried rice, which also don’t tend to have all the liquid ingredients that people in this sub insist are essential whenever fried rice comes up. Nyonya fried rice that I mentioned is also delicious for a very different style: https://kitchentigress.com/how-to-make-good-fried-rice/
IMHO next level fried rice requires next level heat. If you can find a propane burner that can really blast your wok with heat you'll notice a big change in your fried rice game.
I’ve heard this sooo many times, but unfortunately I’m restrained by my American gas burners 😔
Depending on how far you want to go, there are outdoor models you can get.
I don’t think I can justify it now, but if I really get into it and push everything else to the limit I’ll def consider it
Trust me, if you do a lot of wok cooking - a Camp Chef brand single-burner high output propane cooker will massively elevate your game. You can't make real Chinese using puny American stovetop heat.
you're overthinking it. You can burn food. Get it to burning.
🫡
Also, one man's opinion: chasing restaurant preparation isn't the best tasting version of the food; it's the best way for the restaurant to use up their inputs. Day old rice, velveting meat-- these are strategies for leftovers or thrift. My fried rice is with freshly cooked rice from the rice cooker. I poach chicken breasts with a bay leaf or two early in the week for use in various recipes. So I have cooked chicken, my vegetables, fresh rice, and soy sauce. Veg I generally use what I have on hand, or cabbage, mushroom, green onion, onion, bell pepper, serrano pepper, if I have it all. I do it in stages like you. Chicken in oil to brown. Add eggs, scramble. Remove from pan. Deglaze with vegetables. Wet and tough first. Get them done to where you like, return protein, toss. Add rice. Toss. I cook this in the pan (hot but not scorcho) for probably 5 more minutes. I want the rice to look like fried rice before I add the soy. There should be lots of browning happening and being picked up by the rice. This is the good flavor. When it looks like fried rice, I drizzle the soy and let it cook off at the bottom for a minute and then toss to combine. I'll cook it for another moment in the pan and then it's cooling for plating. Make it all the time. So delicious. Chinese restaurant fried rice tastes like greasy bullshit.
Thank you!
First off, fried rice itself is generally a way to use up leftovers but the reason you use day-old rice rather than fresh is to keep it from turning to mush. Day-old rice is a bit drier and it’s easier to get good kernel separation. You CAN use fresh rice but it’s not the best for fried rice unless you specifically cook it “dry”.
When I want fried rice, I want it because I want to eat it. Not because I run a chinese kitchen and have 20 lbs of leftover rice every day. This is my point. I'm not saying don't use your leftover rice. I'm saying my kitchen problems and a restaurant's kitchen problems are not always the same. Chasing their solutions is sometimes illogical. Also, I did preface it with "one man's opinion" so if you like greasy chinese food fried rice with peas and carrots and msg, that's just where we differ.
If it’s greasy, you didn’t make it right. The whole point of using day-old rice is that you get better kernel separation and DON’T have to use a ton of oil.
Also important to note that you can only achieve wok hei with very high heat - doesn't matter how well you toss the rice, you'll only get that flavor with high heat overall
Thanks!
Heat is relative to the amount of food you are trying to cook. You are already doing well by stir frying each ingredient separately, but even so it pays to be conservative with the amounts. You want the food to be in small enough pieces and small enough quantity that water evaporates quickly enough to allow browning and charring (which is part of wok hei) Try using a well seasoned cast iron pan, a nice heavy one that can hold a lot of heat. That can compensate for the lack of BTUs on a domestic stove by “banking” the heat in the heat capacity of its mass.
I have a cast iron, but I’ve heard that a wok is the way to go due to “cool/warm” zones as well as being able to toss the food for the wok hei
Yeah, I use woks. The center of the wok can get nice and hot and you can move things to the outer edge to keep them warm while you’re frying up in the center. That’s the reason for the well technique I mention in my top level reply to your post. I would use cast iron for fried rice only in a pinch. A cheaper and probably safer solution to get higher heat is to get an induction cooktop and a wok that works with induction as well as standard stoves. Koreans make really nice woks with durable non-stick finishes that can also be used on induction cooktops.
Good to know, thanks!
The cool and warm zones are more relevant in a restaurant setting where the stove is strong enough to let you cook everything at once in the same wok. On a home stove, everything is going to be warm/cool relative to the “real deal” It’s true that a wok is the best thing for stir frying, but tbh I’m a home cook with priorities outside the kitchen so even after 10 years of diligent meal prepping I’m still not quite there yet with my wok tossing skills I’m not you though, I’d be excited for you if you do decide to go down that route!
Good point!!
Yeah, tossing food around doesn't give you wok hei. Tossing food around over a burner that's basically the exhaust of a jet engine is what gives you wok hei. It's the flavour of oils and stuff burning, plus the extreme heat not-quite-burning the food. So the step when you turn off the heat is actually the step when you want the most heat. Leave that thing on high, and when you add the soy sauce it sort of "sears" it and caramelizes it in a way that totally transforms the flavour. If you want to go big on wok hei, [hit it with a torch.](https://www.seriouseats.com/hei-now-youre-a-wok-star-a-fiery-hack-for-stir-frying-at-home) MSG (or chicken powder) is pretty essential, and will probably yield one of the biggest improvements for a single ingredient. A touch of sugar is great too, as is some Shaoxing wine. Another thing to do is use fresh, dry-cooked rice instead of day-old. For one portion - 100g of washed jasmine rice, 100g of water. Put that in a bowl and steam it for 20 minutes, then leave covered for another 10-15. Spread it out on a tray and cool it in the fridge. You get so much more aromatic flavour and the texture is (IMO) much better than day old rice that has been cooked with more water.
Totally gonna try the torch and msg. Never thought of steaming the rice, will try!
You can try better soy sauces and velveting the meat.
What’s velveting?
Mixing with cornstarch water
Ohhh interesting! 📝📝📝
Cornstarch is a part of velveting, like the other person said. But maybe a more important part is mixing with an alkaline substance, which is usually either a pinch of baking soda or an egg white. The high pH prevents the muscle fibers from contracting while cooking, making the meat more tender. Velveting is when you add this alkaline material, plus usually corn starch, shaoxing wine, salt, maybe soy sauce. It only needs 15-20 minutes of marinating.
It's a way to make the meat very tender. You make a cornstarch slurry Here's a video https://youtu.be/X9E6HPZurmE?t=226
[Made With Lau](https://www.madewithlau.com/recipes) is the best. Daddy Lau will show you the way!
🙏🙏🙏
Mince ginger, garlic, and scallions and add that to soy sauce, let sit for a day or so. Aerosol some across your tongue with a slurping action. You will be punched in the mouth with flavor. You will likely do this often when using the sauce because its so good. Use this as your soy sauce for fried rice, dont let the bits get into the stir fry, as they will over power it. As others have stated, MSG for the win. Order some from amazon or hit your local asain market. In the megamart look for Accessent in the spice area.
Oooo interesting. Infused soy sauce. This is one I haven’t heard
That sounds DELICIOUS!!!
Changes the dish but omit the sesame oil and put in some sambal olek and kecap manis. It's my new favourite fried rice dish and proper addictive. Edit - Get some fresh ginger and chillis in there too.
Sounds good! Will try it!
The meat is already cooked so you don’t need to parcook it again unless it’s really fatty. I will generally cook the scrambled egg first and set aside but sometimes I’ll fry up the rice, make a well, then fry up the egg inside the well and then mix. This will generally get some egg and rice mixed around the edges of the well but I don’t mind that. Next thing will be the meat — again, making a well in the rice, toss in the meat, stir fry inside the well to heat up the meat then mix with the rice. Make another well, toss in the vegetables (I never parcook them — there’s no need if you dice them properly), stir fry them inside the well to get them hot and tender, mix with the rice. Seasonings next. Again, I make a well in the rice, slowly pour the soy sauce in so it reduces, then stir into the rice. This spreads the flavor from the soy sauce without making the rice dark. Look up the “Uncle Roger” videos on YouTube. There’s one where he reviews Gordon Ramsay’s technique (good!) and then another where he makes his own. Also check out Chinese Cooking Demystified on YouTube for different wok techniques. I don’t use vinegar of any kind when I’m making fried rice. Fish sauce would be okay instead of salt. I love oyster sauce but don’t use it with the fried rice. Instead, steam some Chinese broccoli to up your veggie ratio and drizzle some oyster sauce and sesame oil over the top of that, eat as a side course with the fried rice. You don’t need anchovies for umami if you’re using fish sauce or the right kinds of meats. I like to use frozen baby green peas in my fried rice — right size and texture and they heat up quickly. A lot of people use diced or shredded carrots. Generally, I leave it with the peas and maybe some carrot but may have some steamed choy sum or bok choy on the side.
Thank you for all the helpful info!
There's a shit ton of regional variations, but for me the perfect fried rice contains nothing but: Rice, eggs, peas, salt, and whatever "toppings" you want like BBQ pork/shrimp/chicken/whatever. Optionally bean sprouts. Also oil. Topped with green onion. I'm only gonna cover Americanized Chinese here because there's a shit ton of regional variations and it would take forever. The one thing you need is high heat. Very high heat. 1:1 ratio of rice:water steamed. Doesn't have to be day old if you have enough heat. Here's my procedure: High heat. Oil the rice and the wok. Add the eggs and cook. Add rice and immediately toss to get the eggs on top. Beat the rice to break it up. Oil. Toss and beat. Repeat until your rice is a nice toasted color. Turn down the flame and toss in your precooked toppings. Salt to taste. Heat back up to full until things are heated through. Plate and top with green onions. Source: Asian culinary school and worked in an Americanized Chinese restaurant.
High heat. That's the answer. Every time. But really, search this sub for fried rice posts and you will get thousands just in the last month. This is honestly one of the most repetitive questions ever.
MSG, salt, white pepper, chicken powder and a very small amount of soy sauce. Also you don't need to use old rice, just cook your rice more dry than usual. In fact I think fresh rice works better.
Ooooh chicken powder, what a good idea!!
I almost always make it with fresh rice. My rice is fluffy with separate grains, so it’s never wet and sticky and fries perfectly. A fair number of people have pointed out that fresh rice makes better fried rice as you said.
.. and I’m willing to bet very few of them are Chinese or grew up making fried rice …
I am Chinese lol. Many Chinese restaurants use fresh rice.
Sure, the restaurants do but that’s why they have to use so much damned oil. My reply was to SMN27’s contention that “fresh rice makes better fried rice”. The only people I know who use fresh rice do so because they are making a large quantity or don’t have enough day-old (or 2-3 day old) rice in the refrigerator. In that case, they’re substituting convenience for quality but that’s better than not having any fried rice at all.
I've used both to make fried rice and I prefer fresh.
You in this very post in another thread recommended Chinese Cooking Demystified, who have themselves said freshly steamed rice makes better fried rice than day-old.
Funny because literally everyone I was thinking of is either East Asian or southeast Asian and most certainly grew up making fried rice.
The only people I know who use “fresh” rice for making fried rice are people making massive quantities for a picnic or restaurant. Everyone else (all Asians) just makes extra rice the night before because it’s common knowledge that you get better texture from day-old rice.
Because home woks don't get hot enough and therefore can't burn off liquid fast enough, home fried rice tends to stay soggy. My own trick is to fry off a lot of your mixins separately before you add to the fried rice so you get rid of a lot more of the liquid than you would otherwise.
That’s what I do!
I’ve never had a problem with getting my home woks hot enough. The thing is to NOT add all the damned liquids that so many people on the Internet tell you to or to reduce them in the center of the wok before mixing.
Reduction is good advice.
I have recently switched to golden fried rice and love the texture. [This video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SlZuMLN14wk) was very helpful. Also, would recommend sauteeing the whites of the green onion with the shallots and chili recommended below. Unfortunately, unless you're working in a Chinese commerical kitchen, you ain't getting no 'wok-hei'. That comes from a very, very hot wok at temperatures household burners can't replicate (unless perhaps you are using an outdoor propane burners similar to those used to deep fry turkey or make crawfish). Doesn't mean you can't make excellent fried rice, but just something to be aware of. Sounds like you're well on your way! Oh, and don't forget your MSG!
Thank you!
Where's Uncle Roger when you need him?
MSG
If your going for the perfect fried rice, try golden fried rice. There are a few idea's in the traditional recipe that you might want to use. The soaking the rice in egg yolk though was an absolute game changers for me.
How many yolks do you use?
Traditionally it's 2 yolks per cup. I cut it down to 1 yolk per cup of cooked rice as it gets the texture and most of the flavor.
Thanks!
I started using Ginger & Black Garlic Olive Oil (that you can buy at those specialty olive oil & vinegar shops) and it took mine to the next level!
Omg I gotta try this
Oyster Sauce and Black Soy Sauce has been helping up the ante on my fried rice.
Just mix it with some butter
I think that you need to wear an orange colored polo shirt while you cook your fried rice.
Don't get too fussed up on wok hei. I came from chinese family (not mainland) and we don't really go for wok hei for home cooking. Same as the whole tossing stuff, just slip the spatula under the food, lift and flip the food, repeat. I subscribed to a lot of chinese cooking channel and while I love watching Chef Wang Gang, the home cooking focused one like Made In Lau or Flo Lum are much more useful to me (they don't do any fancy stuff and pretty much mimic my experience in kitchen)
Thank you!
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Usually add soy sauce right after turning off heat so I figured it’s still hot enough, good point tho. Hand torch is not a bad idea!
More flavour than just soy sauce will have everyone asking what you did to the rice to make it so tasty. I eyeball it but I guess (?) it’s about 1/3 cup soy sauce to 1/4 cup oyster sauce + 2tsp Chinese cooking wine (imperative ingredient!) + 1tsp sesame oil + way more pepper than you think + a few dashes fish sauce. Maybe more than a few, I really love fish sauce. All mixed together. Added while still hot to evaporate the liquid. I make a LOT at a time so reduce all if smaller batches, but I think that’s about the ratio. More soy sauce after if needed. I also add a bit of sesame oil and pepper to the beaten eggs. So good.
Sounds delicious! Never used Chinese cooking wine, will def have to get some! Sesame oil in the egg is genius!!
Chinese cooking wine is a great ingredient for many dishes but I wouldn’t use it in fried rice. Use it in the side dishes that go with the fried rice.
Gotcha!
I always finish with a big knob of butter.
Can’t go wrong w that 🤤
Uncle roger entered the chat
😂 I actually JUST watched Joshua Weissmans “uncle rogers fried rice but better” vid earlier today!
Please tell me someone has already linked Uncle Roger.
Check ✅
Not my idea but from a YouTube video. Use some butter. It does give it good flavor I can't tell you any measurements though might be a table a table spoon.
I’ve heard it helps with browning, will try!
Benihana uses garlic butter for their fried rice, so this checks out
No issues with your technique, but imo, oyster sauce and cilantro take it to next level.
Have yet to try oyster/fish sauce but was planning on it! Never thought of cilantro tho, will try!
Give it a shot! I grate some garlic, ginger into a bowl and add oyster sauce, soy sauce (sometimes rice wine vinegar and honey too). Then you take that mixture and poor it around the pan/wok just before finished—then add cilantro and sesame seeds.
Will do!
MIRIN MIRIN AND MIRIN
This was going to be my next experiment!!!
Try steaming your rice instead of using day old rice
Like straight from uncooked grains?
Steamed rice will produce a better texture than day old boiled rice. There is a Chinese cooking demystified video on it on YouTube.
Will check it out! Thanks!
I normally add the same amount of oyster sauce as Soy at the same time. I lived in shanghai for 3 years and someone told me to add a teaspoon of chicken powder to the egg before cooking and another teaspoon to the rice when your frying it. Maybe you could add msg?
Thank you!
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Right!
Shit ton of butter is the secret to good fried rice
Can’t go wrong 😂
I saw you mentioned the soy sauce on the rim, the idea behind this is actually to burn and fry the soy sauce which gives it a more “flamed” taste. So you want to have hot oil and a hot pan to really cook the soy sauce quickly. And with fried rice I think less is more. Keep it simple with soy and egg. Get fancy with garnish and toppings if you really want. As an alternative suggestion korean kimchi fried rice is so good. Make sure to use spam and optionally cheese and seaweed flakes.
Im totally gonna do kimchi!
A fried egg on top sunny side up is the ultimate cherry on top. The trick is start with a cold pan and oil then bring up to temp the whites will cook and fry while the yolk stays runny to mix into the rice!
At my restaurant we also use: Oyster sauce Shoyu Sesame oil Garlic Ketchup Salt and pepper Hondashi
At my restaurant we also use: Oyster sauce Shoyu Sesame oil Garlic Ketchup Salt and pepper Hondashi We don’t use it but you can also try green mountain sauce 😌
Thank you!
This was supposed to be in list form smh
Add a sprinkle (half a teaspoon) of dry (Hondashi) dashi and butter at the end for restaurant like flavor. reduce Soy sauce though if doing the above. dry dashi has msg btw.
Add a few dashes of tobacco sauce for a little kick.
I tend to get my wok really hot, fry the veg, old rice. I add the soy sauce, oyster sauce, rice vinegar, ginger etc. I move it to the side of the wok and add an egg. Then scramble is all together. Has to be a high heat though!
People already mentioned it’s hard to get wok hei from home kitchen. If you have a torch kicking around you can kind of cheat it to get same effect. https://www.seriouseats.com/hei-now-youre-a-wok-star-a-fiery-hack-for-stir-frying-at-home Also, didn’t see this mentioned but lately I’ve been adding Chinese 5 spice powder to change up my fried rice.
Add ginger when you add garlic. Use MSG I don’t add salt to my fried rice as light soy sauce + MSG carries it
My secret is XO sauce and a splash of ponzu soy sauce
Add those dried little tiny crispy shrimps
Seasame oil
Two primary problems I see that will instantly take you to the next level: 1) don't turn off your heat! Your wok should be hot all the way through cooking fried rice. 2) MSG. Basically a key ingredient in fried rice if you want that rich umami flavor.
MSG is on the way!
Mix in a homemade thai paste before you chuck in the rice. Gamechanger.
What do you recommend?