Veg fried rice recipe with video & step by step photos – Delicious, flavorful and quick to make veg fried rice! There are so many ways a fried rice can be made. Chinese fried rice, schezwan style, egg fried rice, chicken fried rice are some of the most common ones from the Indo chinese cuisine.
This vegetable fried rice is an easy one to follow, can be made with any sauce you like. It can be made in a jiffy with basic ingredients and rice.
Chinese Restaurants serve veg fried rice that often taste different from one another. The few ingredients that are used in almost all recipes is the monosodium glutamate called as ajjinomotto and the olive oil or sesame oil.
Ajjinomotto or MSG lends a different taste and flavor to the rice that dominates every other ingredient that is used. Due to the controversies associated with it, I do not use it for any of my foods.
You can still make a very good vegetable fried rice with out it.
Step-by-step photos
Cooking rice for veg fried rice
If you have precooked rice, then skip the first too steps. Most people prefer to use up 1 day old cooked rice or left over rice. We don’t eat leftover rice so I always make fried rice with fresh cooked rice. I have shown below the way we personally prefer.
1. Soak 2 cups rice for 10 to 20 mins. If you are a small family you can make with 1 cup rice & cup down all of the ingredients. Bring water to a rolling boil in a large pot. Then drain the water from the rice and add it to the boiling water. Also add 1 teaspoon oil to the water. Cook the rice till al dente but not mushy. Grains must be separated yet fully cooked.
2. Drain off the rice to a colander and cool it. If the rice is al dente, you can cover and set aside. This prevents it from drying too.
Preparing vegetables
While the rice cooks, chop all the veggies. You will need –
- ½ cup fine chopped carrots (1 small)
- ¼ cup fine chopped french beans (4 to 5 medium)
- ¼ to ½ cup bell peppers (half small)
- ¼ to ½ cup chopped cabbage or sliced mushrooms
- ¼ cup spring onions (4 stalks, separate greens and whites)
- 1 to 2 green chilies slit (skip for kids)
- 1 tablespoon fine chopped garlic
How to make veg fried rice recipe
To cook on high flame and do not overcook the veggies as they lose the crunch.
3. Heat 2 tablespoons oil in a wok on the highest flame. If you don’t have a wok, use a wide pan. Add garlic and sauté till you get an aroma. Some fine dining Chinese restaurants also add star anise (whole or powder). So I do add it sometimes. This is optional but gives an awesome flavor.
4. Add all chopped vegetables and slit green chilli. Fry for 2 minutes.
5. Next add half teaspoon sugar (optional) if you like. Using sugar keeps the veggies color intact.
Adding sauces
6. Ensure the flame is still high at this stage. For making Indian fried rice just add ¾ to 1 tablespoon vinegar. To make Chinese style, add 1 tablespoon soya sauce as well. You can add more or less to suit your taste. Any other hot sauces you prefer can also be added at this stage.
There is already salt added to the sauces, so I add only half a teaspoon at this stage. Take care not to add too much. Do not cook the veggies further as the salt will make them sweat out.
7. The sauces will bubble immediately, then add rice and black pepper.
8. Toss, mix, fry for 2 to 3 mins. Taste test. If needed add more sauce & salt now to suit your taste. Remember the entire cooking process should happen on the highest flame. Otherwise the moisture from the veggies can make the rice mushy.
Garnish veg fried rice with spring onion greens.
Tips to make best veg fried rice
- Always use non sticky rice. Cook it al dente and not mushy. A good method to cook rice is to rinse it well to get rid of the starch. Then cook it in a open pot.
- Cool the rice completely before adding it to the pan.
- Do not use cold vegetables from fridge as they let out lot of moisture & turn too soft.
- Always make veg fried rice on the highest flame this lends a unique aroma.
- Veg fried rice can be made without any sauce. But soya sauce imparts a flavor. You can also add any sauce of your choice like schezwan sauce or chilli sauce.
- After cooking the rice, adding a tbsp of oil and tossing will prevent the rice grains from sticking up to each other.
What vegetables do you put in fried rice?
To make veg fried rice, you can use your favorite veggies like sweet corn, baby corn, french beans, baby beans, bell pepper, spring onions, peas, carrots,mushroom and cabbage too.
We love using cabbage but it is optional. If you have a dislike towards it you can skip. But fresh tender shredded cabbage lends a unique flavor that one can find in restaurants served fried rice.
This recipe can be altered to suit your taste, make an Chinese style fried rice by using soya sauce or use peri peri sauce to make a hot spicy peri peri rice. It can also be made using only vinegar.
Typically a simple Indian style fried rice is made using only vinegar & without any sauce.
Tips on using Soya sauce:
While buying soya sauce choose one that is labelled as naturally brewed or traditionally brewed. Other ways of making soya sauce uses harsh chemicals which may cause side effects in the long run.
I use Organic soya sauce or atleast the one made from Non-GMO soya. If you are looking for substitutes to soya sauce, then you may use Tamari, coconut aminos or liquid aminos. I personally feel tamari to be more flavorful than soya sauce.
Variations of the recipe
I have shown the basic version of making fried rice above, but you can try these variations:
1. You can make egg fried rice using the same recipe. Just stir in 4 beaten eggs once the veggies are cooked. Scramble & cook the eggs then add rice.
2. Stir in your favorite sauce to spice up the fried rice. You can use some schezwan sauce or sri racha.
3. You can also use some cooked chicken chunks in this dish. Just add them to the pan along with the veggies. Double the sauces and black pepper.
This fried rice can be served with any of these sides:
Veg manchurian
Chilli paneer
Chilli chicken
Gobi manchurian
Chilli potato
Chicken manchurian
More Fried rice recipes,
Schezwan fried rice
Egg fried rice
Chicken fried rice
Related Recipes
Recipe
Veg fried rice
For best results follow the step-by-step photos above the recipe card
Ingredients (1 cup = 240ml )
- 2 cups Rice (long grain)
- 1 tablespoon Garlic chopped
- 2 tablespoons Olive oil or sesame oil
- 1 tablespoon Soya sauce (about 2 to 3 tsp, use to suit your taste)
- ¾ to 1 tablespoon Vinegar (rice vinegar or apple cider)
- Salt as needed
- ½ teaspoon Black pepper coarsely crushed
Vegetables
- ¼ cup Carrots chopped finely
- ¼ cup Bell peppers (capsicum) chopped finely
- ¼ cup Beans chopped finely
- ¼ cup Cabbage (or 3 to 4 tablespoon chopped )
- ¼ cup Spring onions (or 3 to 4 tablespoon chopped )
Optional ingredients (skip if you don’t have)
- 1 green chili slit
- 8 sprigs celery chopped finely
- ¼ cup mushrooms sliced
Instructions
Preparation
- Skip this section if you have precooked rice. Wash rice a few times till the water runs clear.
- Soak it for at least 10 mins & drain the water.
- Bring 8 to 10 cups of water to a boil in a large pot.
- Add the rice & pour 1 tsp oil to prevent the rice from turning sticky.
- Cook rice till al dente. Rice must not be mushy but has to be grainy.
- Drain off the rice to a colander. Cool it completely & fluff it up with a fork.
- Chop the veggies, garlic and other ingredients.
How to make fried rice
- Heat a wok with oil on the highest flame and fry chopped garlic slightly.
- Next add all the chopped veggies and fry for a min or two.
- Add in half tsp sugar (optional) to cut down the pungent taste from vinegar.
- To make Indian fried rice recipe just add vinegar & salt to the wok.
- To make Chinese style, add soya sauce, vinegar & very little salt.
- Add rice and black pepper powder. Fry the vegetable fried rice for 2 mins.
- Garnish veg fried rice with fresh chopped spring onions.
Video
Video of veg fried rice recipe
NUTRITION INFO (estimation only)
Notes
Notes for veg fried rice recipe
- A Chinese wok lends the best flavor to the rice. Even a cast iron skillet works good.
- Rice must be fried on the highest flame or heat. That lends a smoky flavor to the rice.
- Do not use mushy rice.
- Refrigerated rice can be used.
- You can make variations to this by adding some schezwan sauce
You can also stir in an egg after frying the veggies. - I have tasted veg fried rice with star anise in a few fine dining Chinese restaurants. It does give an awesome flavor to the rice. If you prefer to use the whole star anise add it to the pan along with garlic. To use in ground form, add ¼ teaspoon star anise powder after sauteing the veggies.
Alternative quantities provided in the recipe card are for 1x only, original recipe.
For best results follow my detailed step-by-step photo instructions and tips above the recipe card.
© Swasthi’s Recipes
Ranjani says
I just followed your step by step instructions and it turned out so yummy. Tasted exactly like restaurant style veg fried rice. Thank you !!
Sonia Chaudhary says
Must try. Easy and mouth watering recipe
Priya says
Hi Swasthi! I have been trying your recipes and they have been our favorites. Can you please share Indian version of egg fried rice too?
swasthi says
Hi Priya,
Glad to know! Thank you! I have the egg fried rice recipe here. Hope this helps.
Subhadra says
It was awesome. I added egg after so it was egg fried rice. The rice grains were perfect and all separate not sticky. I made indian fried rice. No spring onions were available so i just added nprmal onions and garnished them with sweet corns! They tasted AWESOMEEEEE. I want to use mushrooms and baby corns next time. The veggies were crispy
swasthi says
Glad to know it turned out well. Thanks for leaving a comment.
Saurabh says
For any recipe I need I always come to your site only. Thanks for helping us and we love them as well.
Any thoughts on making an app for it please? It’s lot convenient snd other recipe apps are scoring and getting more attention because of this limitation.
swasthi says
Hi Saurabh,
Glad to know the recipes are useful.
Regarding App – No plans yet and can you please share more on the limitations you are talking about.
Thank you
sunil says
awesome recipes. just give the ingredients in total in starting then divide it for frying, seasoning, and marination and so on . in some recipes getting confused whether for each step do I have to take the ingredients seperately as mentioned in that step. please also mention the quantity while explaining the procedure to prepare for each step .
swasthi says
Hi Sunil,
Thank you! I have all the ingredients with the quantities listed in the recipe card, right at the end of the post. Yes I will do it.
Deepak Dey says
Step by step procedure along with images is really very helpful in making the dish even for a learner.
swasthi says
Glad to know! Thank you
Arathy Menon says
Simply awesome.. tried and tasted 😃
swasthi says
Thank you
🙂
Fernandes says
I just love your recipes…simple n easy to cook…tried a lot of your recipes…all came out too good…Thank you
Sunil says
This was the best recipe for Indian fried rice. You perfectly outlined the difference between Indian and Chinese fried rice and it came out very well thanks to you. Please keep creating authentic recipes and you are making tremendous difference in the recipe taste. Thank you
Sunita says
You recipe is excellent.
Suhasini says
Hi Swasthi
Thankyou for the wonderful veg fried rice recipe. It turned out perfect restaurant style thanks to you. You understand food so well hence your able to write down so meticulously all your recipes. I have tried so many of your recipes. You are my go to person for cooking anything. Please keep coming out with more. Thanks a lot. Appreciate your time and efforts that you put in.
Thanks to you that am learning how to cook and try different recipes in this lockdown.
swasthi says
Hello Suhasini
You are welcome. Glad to know it turned out good.
Thank you so much for the note. Happy to hear the recipes are helping.
🙂
Chirag Patel says
I am 44 and for the first time in my life I wanted to cook as surprise for my wife on her birthday! I never ever cooked before (typical Indian male)! I searched veg fried rice recipe. Google brought me here. I prepared the rice following your instructions. To everyone’s surprise (including me), the rice was the best all of us have ever had in life! Even better than the best Indo-chinese restaurant.
My wife started following the rice prep the way I did following your recipe.
Thank you!
swasthi says
Hello Chirag
You are welcome! Glad to know it turned out good. Belated B’day wishes to your wife!
Thank you so much!
Ashok kumar upadhyay says
Hello mam , I will definitely try this recipe but the problem is that my rice becomes very mushy whenever I make fried rice.
Please give me tips for making separate and good rice .
Thank you
swasthi says
Hi,
Use lesser water to cook the rice. Also cook for shorter time. If using basmati rice, cook it in a pot and not in cooker. You can check the step by step photos I shared below the recipe card. Hope this helps.
Govind says
I learned cooking from your blogs.
Thanks.
swasthi says
You are welcome
Glad to know
Minakshi says
All tym useful to prepare delicious food..specially in this lockdown
swasthi says
Glad to know!
Harmeen says
The perfect….what a delight to relish in these quarantine days. Thanks a lot for sharing this simple recipe…😋😋
swasthi says
You are welcome!
Thank you
Aanchal says
It came out to b amazing
The recipe has been explained in detail!!
So u cannot go wrong ..
swasthi says
Glad to know!
Thank you
Priya says
It came out very well. We dont have vinegar, so we didnt use. But other ingredients you have mentioned gave nice aroma. Perfect measurement. Thank you!
swasthi says
Hi Priya
You are welcome. Glad to know it turned out good.Thank you
Aparna Shanbhag says
Hi. I recently came across yr blog. I was searching for veg fried rice recipe. Loved yr blog as everything is so perfectly explained. Point by point. Highly impressed.
All the best!
swasthi says
Thank you Aparna
🙂
Latha Joseph says
Awesome recipe. Very easy and simple recipe. My family liked it… Thank you so much.
swasthi says
Welcome Latha
Glad to know