Shrimp Fried Rice easy Chinese fried rice recipe and better than takeout - How To Cook Delicious Meal

This shrimp fried rice highlights the best of Chinese takeout in a quick and easy recipe. Made with rice, shrimp, peas, carrots, onion, and egg, plus savory Asian flavors, it's the best stir fry recipe ever - and healthy too!

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Dice and prep the vegetables

If you love Chinese takeout as much as I do, you are going to love this homemade version of shrimp fried rice. It's the perfect balance of diced veggies, savory rice, scrambled eggs, and juicy seared shrimp. And the best part is that it's a quick and easy 20-minute recipe and you can serve it as a side dish if you have other items on the table, or you can serve it as a healthy main course that is completely satisfying all on its own. 

I've got a few tips to share with you today to make this the best shrimp fried rice recipe you've ever had, so let me show you how to make it. One of the things that makes this a really fast recipe is that there's very little to prep, because we're using frozen peas and carrots and day old, chilled rice.

So the only items you'll need to slice, dice, or grate are onions, garlic, and ginger, and I've even got a tip to avoid grating ginger as well. But back to the onion. You'll need to dice half of a small onion. And once that's done, just place it in a bowl to take over to the stove. Next, slice up two green onions.

The green of the green onion will be used for garnish at the end, while the white parts will get sauteed along with the other onion you just diced up. So when you're done slicing the green onion, make sure to separate them and put the white parts in the bowl with the other onion and the green parts in a separate bowl, which you'll add to the shrimp fried rice right before serving. 

You'll also need two garlic cloves, and I have one garlic clove that I'll just call Gigantor today, because it's about the size of two garlic cloves all on its own, but you know my motto, the more garlic the better, well, unless if you're on a date, but for weeknight meals, a little extra garlic is always welcome.

And right now, all you need to do is smash them and remove their outer skin. The last ingredient to prep is ginger. If you have fresh ginger and want to peel and grate it up, that's awesome. You'll need about half a teaspoon of grated or minced ginger. But if you wanna save time in the kitchen, I have absolutely no issues with using jarred minced ginger either. 

In fact, I find that having a jar of ginger in my fridge allows me to add more healthy ginger to recipes on the regular, and that's a very good thing. Because you need frozen peas in this shrimp fried rice recipe, I find it's easier and faster to just grab a bag of frozen peas and carrots, which means I don't have to peel and dice a couple of carrots.

Season the shrimp (white pepper vs black pepper)

You'll need 1 1/2 cups of frozen peas and carrots. And if you find a bag that also has sweet corn in it, feel free to use that as well. Season one pound of shrimp with one teaspoon of kosher salt and half a teaspoon of ground white pepper. White pepper is more often used in Asian recipes, especially ones that are lighter in color, and I love that the finally ground texture really sticks to the shrimp and seasons it properly. White pepper is also great in light colored soups, chowders, and sauces where you don't want thick bits of pepper.

Why you need to use chilled rice

So, if you don't have white pepper, it's a great spice to have in your spice drawer. And once you've added the salt and pepper to the shrimp, just give it a stir to make sure that it's well combined. In terms of the rice for this recipe, it's really crucial that you don't use warm, freshly cooked rice.

You want chilled, day old rice, or essentially rice that you've meal prepped in your fridge because the rice grains will be firm and easily separated, and won't clump together and go mushy once they're stir fried. And you'll need four cups of cooked rice for this recipe.

Whisk the eggs

The last ingredient to place in a bowl is three large eggs. And just to reiterate, you do want all of these ingredients prepped in bowls and ready to go, because the recipe does move quickly once it's on the stove.

Now, if I was Uncle Roger, I'd probably whisk my eggs together with chopsticks, but I'm not, so I'll just use a fork and whisk the eggs together, and then set them to the side, and also keep my fingers crossed that Uncle Roger doesn't critique my version of this shrimp fried rice recipe. 

Using a wok vs a pan

Now, fried rice recipes are traditionally done in a wok, but I know many of you may not have a wok, and because I still want you make this healthy recipe, I'll show you today that you can also make it in a large pan.

How to make shrimp fried rice

So, if you have a wok, that's great, but if you don't, not to worry, you can still make this delicious recipe. So to get started, add two tablespoons of avocado oil or other high heat oil to a pan over medium high heat, give it a swirl, and once it starts shimmer, add the shrimp to your pan. The key to cooking shrimp is to get them in a flat layer and to not overcook them, or else they'll go rubbery. 

So just cook them one to two minutes on one side until they're nicely seared and release naturally from the pan, then flip them over and cook them another 30 seconds to a minute on the other side until they're just cooked through and opaque, then use tongs to remove them to a bowl and set them aside for now. In the same pan, add the diced onion and white parts of the green onion, mince those two garlic cloves that you peeled straight into the pan, and then add the half a teaspoon of mince ginger.

Stir fry this for about a minute, until those ingredients become softened and fragrant, then add the frozen peas and carrots to the pan. The softened onion and frozen veggies will release a bit of moisture and should help unstick any browned bits from the bottom of the pan, which is just extra flavor. 

After you've stirred the veggies for a minute or two, push them off to the side of the pan and make room for the beaten eggs. Pour the eggs to the pan and then scramble the eggs until you have soft curds. If you happen to get a few veggies mixed into the eggs, that's no biggie.

In fact, fried rice recipes are always better when the egg isn't overly scrambled and can coat the veggies in rice and little bits of egg. That’s why I'm not a fan of fried rice recipes where you scramble the eggs completely and remove them from the pan, only to add them back in at the end. So, after the eggs have formed soft, scrambled curds, stir them together with the veggies. 

Add your four cups of rice to the pan, along with your cooked shrimp. And to give this recipe that unmistakable Chinese takeout flavor, add three tablespoons of tamari soy sauce, or coconut aminos, if you're soy-free, and two teaspoons of toasted sesame oil, which is the dark sesame oil, and not the light version.

It's a great flavor enhancer to finish off recipes. Then simply stir that all together for about two minutes or so, until the rice, shrimp, and veggies are all warmed through. Lastly, finish it off by adding the green parts of the green onion, stir that all together, and you are done. 

As I mentioned at the beginning, a big bowl of shrimp fried rice is more than satisfying all on its own, and similar to my other stir fry recipes, this recipe is great for meal prep. The shrimp fried rice will keep for about four to five days in the fridge in a sealed container, which makes it a great option for when you've got a busy week ahead and want something healthy to enjoy on the fly.

All you've gotta do is serve up a portion, warm it in the microwave or in a small pan on the stove, and dig in. If you enjoyed this recipes, make sure to give it a thumbs up, share it with your family and friends, because sharing is caring, and I will see you again in the next recipes.