Fried rice is an easy freezer meal with these simple tips and recipes for freezing fried rice.
Can you freeze fried rice?
Yes, you can freeze fried rice. It makes a great freezer meal.
I first shared my tips for freezing fried rice back in 2010. That was over ten years ago.
Last week I made a huge batch of fried rice. It ended up being enough to freeze four dinners and several single serving containers. I decided to take a few pictures so that I could update my post and recipe from ten years ago.
I still make the same basic fried rice recipe, but the pictures were in desperate need of updating.
How To Freeze Fried Rice
Fried rice is easy to freeze. You can make and cook your fried rice as normal, let it cool, than freeze it. But there is a better way.
My favorite way to freeze fried rice is to mix all the ingredients together and then freeze it without cooking it. Then you “fry” it after you freeze it when you are ready to use it.
Cooking it after you freeze it gives it the best texture. And frying it really doesn’t take that long so it is still an easy meal to keep in the freezer.
What is in fried rice?
One of the things that I love about fried rice is that you can use whatever you have on hand, needs used up, or that you like.
Most fried rice contains cooked rice, cooked meat, scrambled eggs, vegetables, and some sort of a sauce made with soy sauce.
For the meat you can use cooked chicken, steak, pork, or even bacon.
For the vegetables you can add peas, carrots, onions, peppers, or whatever other vegetable that you like.
For the sauce I like to keep it basic with soy sauce, rice vinegar, honey, and some spices.
That is it. That is all you need to make fried rice. I am sharing my basic recipe, but you can change it up with whatever you like to put in your fried rice.
How do I freeze fried rice?
After you mix it all together you can freeze it in whatever sized containers or zip top bags that you like.
I usually do a combination. The small individual portion-sized containers work great for my kids to cook up for lunch or dinner.
For dinner sized portions I usually like to freeze the fried rice in zip-top bags, but you can also use a large freezer container.
The recipe I am sharing today serves four. I usually triple the recipe. Sometimes I make even more than that.
You can adjust the recipe as needed for the amount that you want to make.
Freezing Fried Rice
Fried rice is an easy freezer meal. It works great for easy lunches and dinners.
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon oil
- 3 eggs
- 4 tablespoons soy sauce (Use gluten free soy sauce if gf)
- 2 tablespoons rice vinegar
- 2 tablespoons honey
- 1 clove garlic minced
- 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
- 2 cups cooked meat ( leftover chicken, steak, pork, or bacon works well)
- ½ cup frozen peas
- 2 cups cooked rice
Instructions
- Crack eggs into a bowl. Using a fork or whisk scramble the eggs.
- Heat oil in a nonstick pan or another pan that works for cooking eggs. Add egg to pan. Swirl and scrape egg to cook, basically, you are scrambling the eggs. Let eggs cool.
- In a bowl combine soy sauce, rice vinegar, honey, garlic, and ground ginger. Set aside.
- In a large bowl combine rice, cooked meat, peas, and eggs.
- Stir in soy sauce mixture until well combined.
- Fill freezer bags or containers with desired amounts.
- Freeze. Be sure the mixture is completely cooled before freezing.
- Defrost. This is best when cooked either partially or fully defrosted.
- Heat 1 to 2 tablespoons oil in a large skillet or pan. If using a nonstick pan you may not need oil.
- Add rice mixture and "fry" by cooking over medium low heat, stirring occasionally. Add a little more soy sauce when cooking if desired. Be sure not to crowd the pan. It is better to cook "fry" it in two batches. If the pan is too full it will not have the texture that fried rice should.
Notes
For gluten free freezer fried rice use gluten free soy sauce.
Other Fried Rice Recipes
Originally posted 2010. Updated January 2021.
This is my favorite basic fried rice recipe:
https://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Fried-Rice-Restaurant-Style/Detail.aspx
I have never frozen it but that’s a great idea I will definitely try. I also like to make Spanish rice like this when we have tacos, etc. for dinner and find I have a lot leftover at times. Freezing might also be a good way to repurpose that for other meals.
https://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Linnies-Spanish-Rice/Detail.aspx
I learned how to make fried rice out of necessity. When I came home with my daughter from China she refused to eat the fried rice from the Chinese restaurants. I tried several times to duplicate what we had in China and this is as close as I could get. Oh, and she LOVES it! 🙂
3 c cooked Jasmine rice, cooled (1 1/2 c water to 1 c uncooked rice)
1 c frozen peas and carrots
1 c cubed cooked ham
1 egg
salt and pepper
Low sodium Soy Sauce
2 tsp. Olive Oil, divided
Add 1 tsp olive oil to a skillet set to med high heat. Add rice and quickly begin stirring with a large spatuala. When heated through, about 3-5 min. add peas and carrots and ham. Continue to stir until heated, another few minutes. With the spatula, push the rice mixture to one side of the skillet. Add 1 tsp. olive oil to empty side. Crack the egg into the oil and begin stirring it with the spatuala until almost set. Mix in with the rest of the rice mixture. Add just enough soy sauce to make the rice a light tan color. I don’t know how much…I just sprinkle it on. Sprinkle with pepper to taste.
I have used cooked frozen rice with this and it turns out great. The key to great fried rice is using the Jasmine rice.
Definitely agree on the use of Jasmine rice! The perfect sticky rice. I also find that day-old rice works better for fried rice.
I have been making fried rice a lot recently and just mentioned it on my blog this week too…. I use up leftover rice then saute onions and veg then add the rice, soy sauce and egg. It freezes really well and I can take one out for lunch or have it for dinner one night with won ton soup 🙂
I freeze my leftover rice to use later for fried rice. I love fried rice because it doesn’t really require a recipe, just use up leftover meat and veggies.
Love fried rice! I got my recipe from a dear Japanese friend of mine from church. You can use shrimp, chicken, bacon, etc. – https://www.lamp-unto-my-feet.com/2008/10/menu-plan-for-october-20-26th.html
This is the recipe I use to make for my husband:
https://www.food.com/recipe/oamc-chicken-fried-rice-174440
He likes it. I’m not a fan of fried rice, so I can’t attest to how it tastes. Any similar recipe, I suppose, could be used in place of it and just follow that method.
I love looking at everyone’s recipies! I loathe the jasmine rices – my nose is sensitive LOL – but we do love rice and I don’t do this often enough – making some to freeze is a good idea – it would also be great as a base for some sort of rice bowls for school lunches – then I could plan the rest of the bowl by what each kid will eat! sigh
@cherie,
I had to laugh at this one! 🙂 I had never had Jasmine rice until I went to China. Now, every time I open the bag I take a good long whiff because the smell takes me right back there!
Good idea to keep some fried rice in the freezer to pull out for a quick lunch!
I froze Spanish rice once, but it was soggy after being thawed. My recipe calls for broth and canned tomatoes, so the end product is rather moist, and I think that’s what caused the sogginess. I gave up on freezing rice, but might try again with some fried rice. I love making fried rice with leftovers from a pork chop, rice, & veggie dinner.
i’ve never made fried rice but now i want to try!
I have found that rice freezes best if it is put into its container and then into the freezer while still warm. Thank you for these recipes!
Hi there, I had the same idea a couple weeks ago, and made a huge batch. The reheated fried rice was awesome a couple days later, but I just pulled one out today (after about a week or longer) and its the grossest consistency. Spongey, watery, mushy, etc. Have you tried it after freezing for very long?
I have never had that happen and I have had it in the freezer for several weeks before, sometimes longer. Did you use long grain rice for it?
Hi i just thought i would share my recipe for fried rice its the best recipe i have made for fried rice a family fav
now i have 5 kids so my recipe is for a lot of it but you can just halve it for less people.
1 kilo of uncooked rice
250grams cooked diced bacon
1 capsicum diced
3 onions diced
4 carrots diced
1 cup frozen peas
1-1 and a 1/2 cups canned corn kenrnel’s
4 eggs
5 cloves of garlic
2 table spoons fish sauce
half a cup soy sauce more if needed
method
1:cook rice till just cooked
2:grill bacon till crispy then dice
3:dice all other vegies about the same size
4:beat eggs and make a standard omlet then remove and dice
5:add vegies to wok stir fry for about ten minutes add diced bacon and crushed garlic
6:add diced egg and warm through
7:add cooked strained rice make to strain it well
8:add fish sauce and salt and pepper to taste
9:add soy and use egg lifter to fold till combined well check for seasoning and add salt if required
10: serve and enjoy