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Chicken, duck & turkey Rice & grains Breakfast Lunch / Dinner One Bowl Meals

Chicken fried rice

Published: 05.31.2022 » Last updated: 08.13.2022

For the best chicken fried rice, season and marinate the chicken overnight. For a more interesting flavor combination, pair Indonesian sweet soy sauce (kecap manis) with oyster sauce.

Chicken fried rice, a one bowl meal

Just to clarify, that opening statement consists of two parts. The first is about marinating the chicken. Chicken fillets are cut into small cubes, mixed with salt, pepper, soy sauce and rice wine, and marinated overnight. That gives the meat a salty-sweet flavor.

The second part about kecap manis and oyster sauce comes during the latter part of the cooking. It is the rice that is flavored with these two seasonings. That gives the rice a salty-sweet flavor too.

This is a dish cooked with leftovers. We had fried chicken wings the other night and, as I was prepping them, I realized that there were chunks of breast meat attached to the little drumsticks. I cut them off and separated them.

The mushrooms were leftovers too. I had six button mushrooms which, by themselves, weren’t enough to make a complete dish. Either they went into a soup or a stir fry. And they would definitely have to combined with other ingredients. So, into our chicken fried rice breakfast they went.

Sauteeing onion, garlic and carrot before adding marinated chicken

To cook this delicious chicken fried rice, start by sauteeing onion, garlic and carrot. Do this slowly to soften the vegetables. Add the chicken, turn up the heat, and cook until the chicken pieces have almost lost their pinkness.

Adding mushrooms to chicken in pan before pouring beaten eggs

With the chicken still only partially cooked, add mushrooms and sprinkle with salt and pepper. While the chicken may be perfectly seasoned, the mushrooms aren’t. Unless you season them, they will soak up the seasonings in the chicken and both will turn out bland. So, season the mushrooms.

Cook everything, stirring often, just until the chicken pieces are cooked through. By that time, the mushrooms should be fully cooked.

Pour in beaten eggs so that they cover the surface of the chicken, mushrooms and vegetable mixture. That way, the eggs are evenly distributed.

Adding rice to chicken, mushrooms and eggs in pan and seasoning with kecap manis and oyster sauce

Immediately after pouring in the eggs, spread the rice on top of everything in the pan. Add the kecap manis and oyster sauce. Drizzle in sesame seed oil. Cook, tossing, until the rice is heated through and the eggs are fully cooked. Optionally, toss in sliced scallions before serving.

Chicken fried rice

Connie Veneracion
The cooking time indicated below might seem overly long for a fried rice dish, but it's just the marinating part that's long. The actual cooking time is ten minutes.
Chicken fried rice in blue bowl
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Prep Time 10 minutes mins
Cook Time 10 minutes mins
Marinating time 8 hours hrs
Total Time 8 hours hrs 20 minutes mins
Course Breakfast, Main Course, Snack
Cuisine Asian
Servings 4 people

Ingredients
  

Chicken

  • 250 grams chicken breast fillets cut into ¾-inch cubes
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • ¼ teaspoon pepper
  • 1 tablespoon soy sauce
  • 2 tablespoons rice wine mirin was used here

Fried rice

  • 3 tablespoons cooking oil
  • 1 onion peeled and roughly chopped
  • 3 cloves garlic peeled and chopped
  • 1 small carrot peeled and cut into ¼-inch cibes
  • 6 buttom mushtooms chopped
  • salt
  • pepper
  • 2 to 4 eggs beaten
  • 2 ½ cups day-old rice
  • 2 tablespoons kecap manis (Indonesian sweet soy sauce)
  • 2 tablespoons oyster sauce
  • ½ teaspoon sesame seed oil
  • sliced scallions

Instructions
 

  • Mix the chicken, salt, pepper, soy sauce and rice wine. Place in a tightly covered bowl and marinate in the fridge overnight.
  • Heat the cooking oil in a wok or frying pan.
  • With the heat on medium-low, saute the onion, garlic and carrot until softened, about three minutes.
  • Turn up the heat, add the chicken and stir fry until the chicken has lost most of its pinkness.
  • Add the mushrooms and sprinkle in half a teaspoon of salt and a pinch of pepper.
  • Stir fry until the chicken is cooked through.
  • Pour in the beaten eggs to cover the surface of the contents of the pan.
  • Spread the rice over the eggs.
  • Pour in the oyster sauce, kecap manis and sesame seed oil.
  • Continue stir frying until the rice is heated through.
  • Taste and adjust the seasonings, if needed.
  • Stir in scallions and serve.

Connie Veneracion

Lawyer by education. Journalist by accident. Writer by passion. Photographer by necessity. Good food, coffee and wine lover forever. Read more about me and Umami Days. Find me on Flipboard, Substack and Pinterest.

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