Chicken and vegetable fried rice
The fastest thing in the library and a good way to use up whatever is left in the fridge. Egg through the rice makes it feel like a proper meal.
Notable for: B vitamins, fibre, vitamin A
Ingredients
- 700 gchicken breast, small dice
- 320 glong grain white rice, cooked and cooled
- 4eggs, size 7, beaten
- 200 gfrozen peas
- 200 gfrozen corn kernels
- 200 gcarrots, small dice
- 150 gbrown onions, diced
- 1spring onions, sliced
- 10 gcrushed garlic
- 45 mlsoy sauce
- 10 mlsesame oil
- 15 mlolive oil
Method
Cook the rice ahead and spread it on a tray to cool, since cold rice fries well and warm rice turns to porridge.
Heat a wok or wide pan with the oil, add the chicken in one layer, and cook for 4 minutes until coloured, then lift it out.
Add the onion and carrot and cook for 3 minutes, then add the garlic for 30 seconds.
Push everything to one side, pour the beaten egg into the space, scramble it, then fold it through.
Add the rice, breaking up any clumps, then add the peas and corn and fry for 3 minutes without stirring too much, so the rice catches a little.
Return the chicken to the pan with the soy sauce and sesame oil, and scatter the spring onion over the top.
Use cold rice
Rice cooked the day before, or cooled fast on a tray, has dried out just enough to fry. Fresh hot rice releases steam and starch and you end up stirring a paste.
Storage
Keeps two days in the fridge. Cool it quickly and refrigerate within an hour.
Reheat until piping hot the whole way through.
Cost per serving is indicative, based on New Zealand supermarket prices as at September 2026. Batch prices your own week against your own store on the day. Nutrition figures, including calories, are estimates rather than label readings, so always check the packet if you have an allergy. "Notable for" reflects well-established qualities of the ingredients used, not a lab measurement of this exact dish.