Extra Vegetable Fried Rice
Learn how to make vegetable fried rice—it's a simple and satisfying dinner! This recipe features extra vegetables and brown rice. Vegetarian/gluten free.
Updated by Kathryne Taylor on August 29, 2024
I set out to create a more interesting take on greasy take-out vegetable fried rice. Here it is in full glory, and it’s as flavorful as it is colorful. Hooray!
I used brown rice, naturally, and even threw in a handful of greens, which offer even more health bonus points. (The greens are optional.)
I also played around with a variety of vegetables, and all of them worked well as long as they were cut into very small pieces.
This is exactly what you should make when you have leftover rice and some random raw vegetables in your fridge. You’re going to love it!
The Best Vegetable Fried Rice
I designed this recipe to work well in a regular skillet (preferably cast iron), since most of us don’t have woks at home.
The only tricky part, which really isn’t so difficult, is to cook the eggs, vegetables and rice separately, and combine them all at the end.
That way, each component will be cooked just right, and the vegetables and rice will get a chance to develop those delicious golden edges.
Delicious veggie fried rice, coming up! As always, please let me know how you like this recipe in the comments. I’m always so eager for your feedback.
Craving more? Check out my Thai pineapple fried rice. If you’re looking for more versatile recipes to use up the last of your vegetables, don’t miss this roundup.
Watch How to Make Vegetable Fried Rice
Extra Vegetable Fried Rice
Learn how to make vegetable fried rice—it’s a simple and satisfying dinner! This vegetarian recipe features extra vegetables and brown rice. Recipe yields 2 large or 3 moderate servings (I think you could double it if you have a large enough skillet, but you might not get as much caramelization on the edges of the veggies and rice).
Ingredients
- 1 ½ teaspoons + 2 tablespoons avocado oil or safflower oil, divided
- 2 eggs, whisked together
- 1 small white onion, finely chopped (about 1 cup)
- 2 medium carrots, finely chopped (about ½ cup)
- 2 cups additional veggies, cut into very small pieces for quick cooking (see photos for size reference; options include snow peas, asparagus, broccoli, cabbage, bell pepper, and/or fresh or frozen peas—no need to thaw first)
- ¼ teaspoon salt, more to taste
- 1 tablespoon grated or finely minced fresh ginger
- 2 large cloves garlic, pressed or minced
- Pinch of red pepper flakes
- 2 cups cooked brown rice (*see notes!)
- 1 cup greens (optional), such as spinach, baby kale or tatsoi
- 3 green onions, chopped
- 1 tablespoon reduced-sodium tamari or soy sauce**
- 1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil
- Chili-garlic sauce or sriracha, for serving (optional)
Instructions
- This recipe comes together quickly. Before you get started, make sure that all of your ingredients are prepped and within an arm’s reach from the stove. Also have an empty bowl nearby for holding the cooked eggs and veggies. I’m suggesting that you start over medium-high heat, but if at any point you catch a whiff of oil or food burning, reduce the heat to medium.
- Warm a large cast iron or stainless steel skillet over medium-high heat until a few drops of water evaporate within a couple of seconds. Immediately add 1 ½ teaspoons of oil and swirl the pan to coat the bottom. Add the scrambled eggs and swirl the pan so they cover the bottom. Cook until they are just lightly set, flipping or stirring along the way. Transfer the eggs to a bowl and wipe out the pan with a heat-proof spatula.
- Return the pan to heat and add 1 tablespoon of oil. Add the onion and carrots and cook, stirring often, until the onions are translucent and the carrots are tender, about 3 to 5 minutes.
- Add the remaining veggies and salt. Continue cooking, stirring occasionally (don’t stir too often, or the veggies won’t have a chance to turn golden on the edges), until the veggies are cooked through and turning golden, about 3 to 5 more minutes. In the meantime, use the edge of your spatula or a spoon to break up the scrambled eggs into smaller pieces.
- Use a big spatula or spoon to transfer the contents of the pan to the bowl with the cooked eggs. Return the pan to heat and the remaining 1 tablespoon oil. Add the ginger, garlic and red pepper flakes, and cook until fragrant while stirring constantly, about 30 seconds. Add the rice and mix it all together. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the rice is hot and starting to turn golden on the edges, about 3 to 5 minutes.
- Add the greens (if using) and green onions, and stir to combine. Add the cooked veggies and eggs and stir to combine. Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the tamari and sesame oil. Taste, and add a little more tamari if you’d like more soy flavor (don’t overdo it or it will drown out the other flavors) or salt, if the dish needs an extra boost of overall flavor.
- Divide into bowls and serve immediately. I usually serve mine with chili-garlic sauce or sriracha on the side. Leftovers store well in the refrigerator, covered, for 3 to 4 days (if you used purple cabbage, it might stain your scrambled eggs a funny blue color, but it’s fine to eat).
Notes
*Rice notes: You’ll need to cook about 1 cup dry rice to yield enough for this recipe; be sure not to over-cook it or it will stick to the pan. I prefer short-grain brown rice since it’s a little chewy, but medium-grain or jasmine rice will work, too. Here’s how I cook brown rice. You can use freshly cooked rice if you spread it onto a large tray and let it cool for 5 to 10 minutes first (this gives it a chance to dry out a bit so it doesn’t steam itself in the pan). Day-old leftover, refrigerator rice is great, too. Just break up any clumps of rice before you add it to the pan. Credit goes to Serious Eats for the rice tips!
**Make it gluten free: Be sure to use gluten-free tamari, not regular soy sauce.
Make it vegan: Omit the eggs and the 1 ½ teaspoons oil that goes with them. For extra protein, you could mix in 1 cup edamame (thawed if necessary) or a batch of my crispy baked tofu with the cooked veggies at the end.
Nutrition
The information shown is an estimate provided by an online nutrition calculator. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice. See our full nutrition disclosure here.
Just listed all ingredients that I don’t have – going to make this as soon as I go to the store! Looks scrumptious.
What did you think?
Loved it!!
I’m happy to hear that, Laura!
Great recipe! I also added fresh pineapple.
Thank you! You would like my Thai pineapple version too!https://capital-fly.pro/2015/thai-pineapple-fried-rice-recipe/%3C/a%3E%3C/p%3E
Made this tonight. It was delicious!My 2 cups of extra vegetables included snap peas, red bell peppers, and broccolini. I also added 2 cups of greens – spinach and kale. All but the broccolini, onion, and carrots were from my garden. Thanks, Kate, for such a great recipe. It has been added to my family favorites.
Sounds like a great combination, Carol!
I double this recipe for lunches. It’s full of flavor: veggies, egg, rice. Sauteeing everything in order as described is key, so you get that fried rice flavor.
I love it! Thanks for sharing.
Absolutely Delicious
Thank you, Margie!
I was searching for ways to add more vegetables and less meat into our meals, this was the first recipe I found an it’s awesome! I used a salt free asian sesoning blend in place of the garlic and ginger since I did not have either on hand. I can’t wait to try more of your recipes!
looks amazing, i must try this dish ;)
Let me know what you think when you do!
I just made the extra vegetable fried rice. I had leftover rice and vegetables. This was a great recipe and we loved it! Kate was spot on with the description with regards to burning and preparing all the ingredients first. Thank you. Now a staple dish in our household.
Thank you, Robyn!
THIS IS SO GOOD! When I cut open my onion it had gone bad and I didn’t have carrots, so I left them out and it was still delicious – with them I’m sure it would be even better!
I’m excited you loved it! Thanks for your review, Jamie.
I have recently became a vegetarian and on my way to becoming a vegan. Loved this recipe. I added cabbage as well, and it turned out great. Thanks!
You’re welcome, Charles!
I made this recipe for the first time. Delicious. For the veggies I used fresh beans chopped to 1cm and frozen edamame steamed. And left out the egg.
Just stumbled on your site – this is my first recipe. So delicious and so filling. You’re making this vegetarian thing easy.
Loved it! My elective veggies were Brussel sprouts, cabbage and red pepper. Threw in kale as suggested. I also cooked the white part of the green onion with the white onions. Very tasty
That sounds like a great combination, Brooke! Thanks for your review.
Amazing flavours. Love this dish.
Thank you for your review, Shelly!
That looks so incredibly good. On my list. Never added purple cabbage to my rice ever.
Let me know what you think when you try it!
Making the coconut fried rice…Jasmine or Basmati is the best. One cup if raw rice makes two cups. Sauté one red onion…grated ginger and garlic.add colors to this with veggies..sweet peppers and carrots.For the garnish toasted nuts..and buy the toasted coconut chips at Walmart and garnish. Sprinkle a tsp of sugar. Enjoy
Thanks for sharing!
So, my son was feenin’ for this dish again so what my baby wants….my baby gets! Hehehe! Just like the first time, it didn’t disappoint!! Thanks Cookie and Kate, it’s dishes like this that makes my 10yr olds vegan journey so easy!! He is loving all of the fresh veggies!! Posted a pic for you on IG! For anyone that hasn’t tried the Spicy Black Bean Soup; I strongly encourage you to give that recipe a try; we are hooked!!! Thanks again!!!!
That’s funny! I’m happy you all could enjoy it :)
how fine is fine for carrots to cook in 2-3 mins. thanks
Hi Irene! I’m not sure I understand the question. I just want to make sure, so I answer correctly!
Would I be able to use olive oil instead of avocado or saffron oil? Would using quinoa instead of brown or jasmine rice work, or is that not a great idea?
Olive oil would work too, just be careful how hot your pan gets. Quinoa is an interesting idea! It might work, but I haven’t tried it. Let me know if you do!
I love love love this recipe! it is one of my go to main dishes. Even my meat eating husband loves it and doesn’t complain about the lack of meat. Thank you for an awesome recipe!
I’m so happy you love it, Deb!
Made it today for the first time and it was so good! I cooked the brown rice the day before and prepared exactly as instructed the next day. This is a keeper!
Hooray! Happy to hear that, Sue. Thanks so much for your review.
Thanks for writing this great article! It’s very delicious, and you included some great points to the equally great veg fired rice recipe. Even I like to bookmark this post!
You’re welcome!
Hi Kate I made your fried rice the other night and it was so easy and turned out perfect. It was really tasty. As my daughter is vegan I left the egg out of hers and used tofu for her and the egg for my husband and I. Thanks for your great recipes.
You’re welcome, Jenny!
Excellent recipe. Highly recommended!
Thank you, Terence!
I Like this very much. Can I use egg whites? I want to limit cholesterol.
Sure, but the volume will be less. You might want to increase the number of eggs you use to make up for it.
Could I just ski the eggs? Or must I use a substitute?
You can omit them if you like, AJ.
Yummy! Stumbled across your site & recipes last night and couldn’t wait to start cooking, tried this as my first dish, served it up to the family and there were clean plates all round. The sriracha was a nice addition to serve. Can’t wait to try out more.
This is a great one to start with! Thanks for sharing your thoughts, Becca.
Absolutely delicious! The whole family loved it!
Hooray! Thanks for sharing, Andrea!
I made this recipe about a month ago when i decided to be a vegetarian. My family were a bit skeptical about how the food is gonna turn out at first but this plate really showed them haha!
It turned out amazing and everyone looovvveedd it. We had some leftovers so I reheated and ate it again next day and it still tasted really good.
Thank you so much for this recipe! will definitely make this again
You’re welcome, Gamila!
can you use cauliflower rice?
You can try it. It won’t likely be as filling. I believe some readers have tried it and liked the result.
Finally! Some good veggie fried rice! Easy recipe, love it!
Thank you for your review, Michele!
Wow!! Best fried rice recipe ever, I just left the eggs out and followed the rest of your recipe it turned out so so good. I never thought I could make restaurant style fried rice at home but your recipe proved me wrong. Thank you!!
You’re welcome, GS!
made this rice Sunday, it was great! used all king of veggies,including mushrooms, we all loved it,so easy (except for the chopping the veg.)after that it goes pretty quick.thank you for sharing.
You’re welcome, Marcy!
Delicious!
Thank you, Mary!
Another recipe from this site that my daughter really likes. I made this the other day and my 10 year old quite liked this. She also really liked the tomato soup, the zucchini pesto, and the lentil soup. I can’t believe i have made 4 or 5 recipes from this site in a row, and they have all been hits with me and my 10 year old. I have never had this much luck with recipes from any one source. I like that the ingredients are items that I mainly have in my pantry. This site so far is a perfect fit for us.
Hooray! That’s great to hear. Thank you for sharing. I’m glad you and your daughter are loving so many recipes.
Yum and so easy to make. It’s a saved one for me.
Thank you for your review!
Totally delish! I got a little nutsy with the red pepper flakes, so it was pretty spicy. Such a great combo of flavors, and the egg just made it SO good. Thank you so much! Simple and loaded with veggies. Perfection!
You’re welcome, Angie! Thank you for your review.
This is the best fried rice I have made and comes very close to tasting like my favorite restaurants fried rice! Next time I will prep/chop all ingredients hrs in advance. It did come together quickly and tasted wonderful. I will definitely make this again and again.
You’re welcome, Marta! I’m glad you loved it.
Great meal! I read the notes about the rice afterward so mine stuck a bit, but luckily I have a boyfriend that does not care about presentation!
Hi! I’m seventeen and I have a single dad with a really busy work schedule that doesn’t leave him a lot of time to cook, so I’m always looking for stuff to make that’s quick, requires very little skill and tastes good. And your fried rice is such a go-to. I make it at least once a week and I’m still not sick of it. I have zero cooking ability and it still manages to turn out so delicious. So the point is, you’re magical and you keep starving students with busy dads alive, happy and fed – so thank you very much, and godspeed, I guess?
This was AWESOME!!! Even my husband (who is a meat eater) said he didn’t miss the chicken/shrimp/pork in this fried rice. That is a HUGE compliment! I had to make some substitutions…I added sesame seeds at the end instead of sesame oil as I didn’t have any. I didn’t have a lot of veggies on hand either (we are in the process of moving) so I used onions, green pepper, shredded broccoli, carrots, corn and green onions. Served it with sriracha. YUM!
I’m happy you all loved it!
I was looking for something to cook with friends on a weeknight. We cooked this together, and it was delicious! We used veggies I had on hand: broccoli, green beans, purple cabbage, and carrots. The bit of kick from red pepper flakes and garlic-chili sauce was key. We topped it with sesame seeds and chili-lime cashews. Thank you for making recipes that aren’t too fussy and stand up to a bit of variation!
Looking forward to this, I love veggies!! How would I make this with frozen veggies? I go out of town too often to own fresh veggies.
great recipe! love all the veggies and super simple.
I have tried to make fried rice using your recipe…in a camping site n the resolt was good very yammy.
If I want to make this with cauliflower rice, would you cook the cauliflower first? If so, how? in the same pan before the other veggies? Thanks!
You could use that, if you like. It won’t be as filling. I would follow my cauliflower rice recipe for guidance: https://capital-fly.pro/mediterranean-cauliflower-rice-recipe/%3C/a%3E%3C/p%3E
made it without eggs and added hot chilli sauce when the oil was hot so it gave extra flavor and kick to veggies and I only used carrots and chinese long beans and for green baby bok choy came out great thanks for sharing for sure will try with different veggies
Thanks for sharing, Aarti!
Fun and easy to make. Thanks for a clesr, concise recipe. It was the best fried-rice I’ve made.
Cheers from Caribbean
Just tried your recipe today. It was wonderful ! Just a small thing that I had to add some extra oil together with that bunch of veggies at step 4
I think next time I’ll add some mushrooms and tofu for a great dish !
Thanks a lot !