Healthy Fried Rice
This post contains affiliate links. Read our disclosure policy.
Healthy Fried Rice is quick to make and actually good for you! Full of flavor + so delicious – just like takeout chicken fried rice at home! This post is sponsored by our friends at ButcherBox.
This healthy fried rice is one of our favorite quick and easy weeknight dinners. It’s so much healthier than regular fried rice because it’s lower in salt, veggie loaded and higher in protein!
Liz’s Tips for Fried Rice
- Cutting the carrots – an easy way to get small pieces of carrot is to peel in ‘ribbons’ and then chop with a knife. They’ll cook perfectly in this recipe that way!
- Buy precooked rice – You can buy precooked frozen brown rice or make it in the instant pot to save time.
- Buy precut veggies – You can buy pre cut veggies to save time. I love the Healthy 8 Mix from Trader Joe’s. Coleslaw mix or broccoli slaw mix will also work! Load it up with as many veggies as you can!
- Extra soy sauce/coconut aminos – You might want your fried rice a little saucier (or saltier!) adding a few extra drops of coconut aminos or soy sauce can help with this
Ingredients for Healthy Fried Rice:
Substitutions
Rice: You can use any type of rice in this recipe. Brown or white rice will work. You can also use cauliflower rice.
Egg free: You can simply omit the eggs.
Olive Oil: You can sub toasted sesame oil with olive oil, avocado oil or canola oil. It will not be as flavorful and we really recommend using toasted sesame oil.
Vegetables: Bulk up the dish by adding more carrots or peppers! I’ve also added mushrooms and match-stick sliced zucchini and it was yummy! If you love veggies & chicken together – try this Chicken Vegetable Soup.
Vegetarian: Feel free to skip the chicken and bulk up on veggies to make this vegetarian or check out our cauliflower fried rice recipe!
Protein: You can sub in shrimp for the chicken if you’d like. Shrimp take much less time to cook, depending on their size I would cook about 2 minutes on each side until shrimp begin to turn pink. You can also use shaved steak/beef if you prefer! I have not tried this recipe with cooked tofu but I think it would work! ButcherBox also carries wild-caught shrimp and lots of grass-fed beef options! We also love our Shrimp Stir Fry!
Chicken: Boneless skinless thighs or chicken tenders will also work.
Coconut Aminos: If you don’t have coconut aminos – substitute soy sauce or Bragg’s liquid aminos. If you use Bragg’s, use 1/2 the amount as it is much saltier.
Whenever we are cooking, we like to use ButcherBox meat. If you’ve never heard of ButcherBox, they’re a meat delivery company that delivers the best quality meat right to your door! They have grass fed & grass finished beef, free range, organic chicken, wild caught seafood, and so much more.
We’ve used their boneless, skinless chicken breasts in this recipe. It’s my absolute favorite chicken to cook with. It has barely any fat on it and it cooks up to be so tender and juicy!
If you want to learn more about ButcherBox, we wrote a whole ButcherBox Review that you can read here.
How to Make Healthy Homemade Fried Rice:
- In a pan sauté chicken for 10 minutes until brown on edges. Remove chicken from the pan and set aside.
- In the same pan sauté onions and garlic for 5 minutes. Add in peppers and carrots. Sauté for an additional 5 minutes.
- Push the veggies to one side of the pan. Add eggs to the empty side of the pan and scramble. Once cooked, stir together with the veggie mixture.
- Add dried spices, toasted sesame oil, coconut aminos, thawed peas, cooked rice, and cooked chicken back to the pot. Stir over low heat until combined and warm.
If you want to make fried rice in your instant pot, check out our Instant Pot Fried Rice recipe.
How to Cook Rice:
You can cook your rice on the stovetop, instant pot, or even in the crockpot. You can also buy/use pre cooked or frozen rice in this recipe!
Stovetop: Check the back of your rice package for instructions on how to cook the rice.
Instant Pot: Different types of rice require different cooking times. Here’s a link to how to cook rice in your instant pot.
Crockpot: I usually make my rice in the instant pot because it’s quicker but here’s a link to cooking rice in the crockpot.
Do you boil rice before frying it? Yes, you need to cook rice completely before frying it. You don’t need to boil it, you can cook it on the stove, instant pot, crockpot, or even in the microwave – but it does need to be cooked before adding it to fried rice.
Storing/Serving Healthy Fried Rice
Storing: I keep this healthy fried rice in the refrigerator for up to 4 days
Reheating: You can reheat this fried rice in a pan or in the microwave.
Freezing: We have not tried freezing this healthy fried rice but I think it would work!
Best Rice for Fried Rice
Long grain white rice is the best rice for fried rice. It cooks up to be very fluffy but also doesn’t stick together. Jasmine rice is often used for fried rice because it has a light flavor and texture.
Any rice will work in fried rice though. Use up whatever you have!
Is basmati rice good for fried rice? Yes! We recommend using basmati or Jasmine rice for fried rice. Both are long grain white rice and will work very well in fried rice!
Long grain white rice is the best rice for fried rice. It has great texture and cooks quick!
Fried Rice FAQ
The secret to fried rice is a good sauce, and adding in alot of veggies. Fried rice can be boring if you only use a few veggies and a little bit of sauce. Adding in different colors, textures and flavors really helps to bring flavor to good fried rice!
You can add flavor to fried rice by adding more soy sauce or coconut aminos. Toasted sesame oil and ground ginger also help add a lot of flavor to fried rice
Other healthy dinner recipes:
If you like this fried rice recipe, you might like our other healthier takeout inspired recipes!
Healthy Fried Rice
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil divided
- 1 lb boneless, skinless chicken breasts cut into 1/2 inch cubes
- 1 cup diced onion
- 1 tablespoon minced garlic
- 1 cup diced red bell pepper
- 1 cup diced carrots
- 2 eggs
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
- 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes optional- omit if you like less spice
- 1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil
- 1/2 cup coconut aminos
- 1 cup green peas thawed
- 2 cups cooked white or brown rice (about 2/3 dry brown rice)
Instructions
- Cook the rice according to the directions on the package. Rice cooking time will vary depending on what type of rice you use.
- While the rice cooks, start cooking the chicken. In a large pan, heat 1/2 tablespoon of olive oil. Add chicken to the pan and sauté for 10 minutes. Once the chicken is cooked, remove the chicken from the pan and set aside on a plate.
- In the same pan, add remaining 1/2 tablespoon of olive oil. Heat the oil and sauté onions and garlic for 5 minutes.
- Once the onions and garlic have cooked, add in peppers and carrots. Sauté for an additional 3 minutes until they start to soften.
- Push the vegetable mixture to one side of the pan.
- In a small bowl, whisk together eggs. Add eggs to the pan and scramble on the empty side of the pan.
- Once the eggs are cooked, stir together with veggie mixture.
- Add black pepper, ginger, red pepper flakes, toasted sesame oil, coconut aminos, thawed peas, cooked rice and cooked chicken back to the pot. Stir over low heat until combined and warm.
Video
Nutrition Facts
Important Note: This is not an authentic fried rice recipe. My goal is always to share recipes that are a bit healthier and made with affordable, accessible ingredients so everyone can enjoy them regardless of their food allergies or dietary restrictions. If you are looking for an authentic fried rice recipe – check out this recipe!
Very easy and flavorful!
Yet another five star winner! I didn’t have any bell pepper or carrots on hand so I swapped with white and red cabbage. Everything else I followed to the letter. Great recipe, and will add to my regular rotation!
Great. But do not put the garlic in that early Jesus 😐 garlic should be in the pan no more than 2 mins
How many boil in bag brown rice bags to use for this recipe?
Sorry but I don’t know! You’ll have to google how much cooked rice is in those bags.
I subbed out the aminos for soy sauce as recommended and it was so so salty!! I don’t know if the sauce proportions are wrong, but will not be making this with soy sauce again.
This was easy and really good! Fed a family of 4 for dinner and 2 lunches. Leftovers were just as good!
Made this last night and it was delicious! Only tweaks I made were using chicken thighs instead of breasts and adding in some chopped onion and celery. Will definitely keep this recipe in the rotation. Thanks!!
Really great recipe and directions, I added some Fenucreek seasoning only because I just got it and wanted to try it. Thank you so much!
Just to clarify! So it’s 6oz of chicken and 2 cups of the rice/veggie mix= 1 serving??
The serving size is: 6 oz chicken + rice/veggies. Which is about 2 cups total. If you’re counting macros – nutrition facts are just an estimate. Unless you pick out the chicken, weigh it, pick out the rice, weigh it, etc – it’s not going to be accurate
This is such a perfect alternative to Chinese take out that leave you feeling full. This is nice , light and full of fresh ingredients .. Easy recipe to follow and taste delicious !
Super easy and seriously delicious! This is definitely making the family dinner rotation!
I loosely followed this recipe, and I really enjoyed the result! After cooking my chicken, I let it marinate in the 1/2 cup of soy sauce. (I used low-sodium soy sauce instead of aminos because I’m a poor college kid.) This helped ensure every bite of chicken had flavor in it. I used a bag of frozen chopped onions and a mixed bag of frozen peas and carrots, which all worked great even without thawing. I added an entire bag of shredded cabbage, 3 eggs instead of 2, about 4 cups of rice, and an extra 1/4 cup of soy sauce. It turned out GREAT and it produced five generous helpings that will get me through most of the week! The only reason I’m giving 4 stars instead of 5 is because I changed so many things, and I don’t know how it would have turned out if I followed the recipe to a T.
If you really enjoyed the result – I’m not sure why you’d leave 4 stars but glad you liked it!
1″Cubes of Cubes of chicken so Chicken and Fried rice here … I cut it up like you would for Fried Rice and made it. Not into huge chunks that you would never ever find in any fried rice but the recipe says fried rice not Chicken fried rice all’s Good recipe 👍
After our first bite my husband and I exclaimed “This is really good!”. Just recently discovered your site but the recipes I’ve tried have been good. Looking forward to preparing more. I really appreciate you supplying the nutrition facts as there are things I need to track in our diet as my husband has a heart condition. We’re trying to be mindful of what we eat and stay within the cardiologists guidelines. Thank you!
Finally a chicken fried rice that the flavor is amazing! I definitely will make this again
One word AMAZING!! 🤩🤩🤩 We didn’t use carrots and added peas and mushrooms! Highly recommend!
Make this all the time! Quick and yummy.
I have made this recipe multiple times and I have never stopped loving it. So good and easy! Also is great warmed up for a few days (if you can have it last that long!)
Really Tasty, This is a keeper
It is so good!
My new favorite recipe! It’s light and easy. The perfect lunch meal!
Can I freeze it?
Check the storage info – We have not tried freezing this healthy fried rice but I think it would work!
I made this dish for the first time today as a meal prep for work and it was amazing! Super easy to make and overall a delicious dish. I will most definitely be making this more often!
I made this recipe last night and it is delicious, in fact I am eating the little that was left for breakfast, can’t get enough. I will be making this again for my grandkids I know they will love it also.
This is delicious! If you have a refined clean taste bud, maybe go lighter on Coconut Amino’s or switch to organic lite soy sauce. I love it oh and I used yellow pepper.