We’ve got Chinese fried rice recipes for Yangzhou fried rice and the Chinese-Cambodian fried rice bai cha, as well as recipes for fried rice from Japan and Korea, if you’re getting into the spirit of Chinese New Year and Lunar New Year and looking for fried rice recipes. All of these fried rice recipes are quick, easy and versatile, and can be made with leftover steamed jasmine rice.
Firecrackers are going off here in Siem Reap, where celebrations are starting for Chinese New Year and Lunar New Year. It’s the first day of the Year of the Snake, and Wood Snake specifically, according to the Chinese zodiac calendar and Vietnamese zodiac calendar, which don’t always align animal-wise. For example, the Chinese Year of the Rabbit was the Vietnamese Year of the Cat, which pleased our lucky black cat Pepper no end.
Chinese New Year’s Day also marks the start of the Chinese Spring Festival, and the celebrations will continue for fifteen days in China, the Chinese diaspora and Chinese communities around the world until the Chinese Lantern Festival during the full moon.
Good food, especially lucky food, such as spring rolls, dumplings and noodles, are cooked and eaten throughout Chinese New Year and the Spring Festival. We’ve got more recipes for dishes for Chinese New Year and Lunar New Year, including one of the most popular dishes, longevity noodles, and one of our favourites, melt-in-the-mouth Vietnamese braised pork belly and boiled eggs dish.
Chinese fried rice makes an appearance on the festive table, as fried rice symbolises harmony. In this compilation, we’ve got Chinese fried rice recipes for Yangzhou fried rice, one of the most beloved fried rice dishes, Chinese-Cambodian fried recipes, and Korean and Japanese fried rice recipes. If you’re a lover of fried rice dishes, do bookmark this post as we’ll be adding more fried rice recipes soon.
In case you missed it, we also shared a collection of Chinese egg recipes, everything from a Chinese tea eggs recipe for perfumed marbled eggs and a soft scrambled eggs recipe with Chinese barbecue pork and chives to Chinese egg drop soup and recipes for egg foo young, both the Cantonese original and Chinese-American versions.
Now before I share this compilation of Chinese fried rice recipes, we have a favour to ask. Grantourismo is reader-supported. If you’ve cooked our recipes, please consider supporting Grantourismo by buying a handcrafted KROK, the best mortar and pestle ever; browsing our Grantourismo store for gifts for food lovers designed with Terence’s images; or buying something on Amazon, such as these classic cookbooks for serious cooks or gifts for Asian food lovers. Now let me tell you all about these Chinese fried rice recipes for Yangzhou fried rice and more.
Chinese Fried Rice Recipes for Yangzhou Fried Rice, Bai Chai, Yakimeshi and More
We’ve got Chinese fried rice recipes for Yangzhou fried rice, perhaps one of the best known fried rice dishes, Chinese-Cambodian fried rice, along with Korean and Japanese fried rice recipes.
Chinese Special Fried Rice Recipe for Yangzhou Fried Rice
This recipe for the classic Chinese special fried rice we’d eat in Chinese restaurants growing up in Australia is essentially Yangzhou fried rice. It originated in China’s Yangzhou city in Jiangsu province, a hotbed of Huaiyang cuisine.
The traditional fried rice dish was comprised of cooked rice, char siu pork, shrimps, peas, carrots, scallions, and scrambled eggs, with crab or sea cucumber sometimes added.
We’d find this fried rice on every Chinese restaurant menu, from swanky banquet restaurants and suburban eateries to all-you-can-eat food court buffets. While it’s acceptable after sitting in a bain-marie for a while, it’s outstanding when freshly wok-fried and piping hot.
Chinese Special Fried Rice Recipe, a Fantastic Filling One Pot Meal
Classic Chinese Cambodian Fried Rice Recipe for Bai Cha
As you’d expect of a Southeast Asian country with a long history of Chinese trade and migration, and a sizeable Chinese-Cambodian community, Cambodia has no shortage of fried rice recipes, but this classic Cambodian fried rice recipe makes a particularly delicious Cambodian bai cha (fried rice).
It’s a lighter style of fried rice and is essentially the Cambodian take on the classic Chinese fried rice, and it’s another of our best fried rice recipes. Bai cha is simply ‘fried rice’ – ‘bai’ is rice and ‘cha’ is to stir-fry – and it’s distinguished by two typical Cambodian breakfast ingredients, sausage and eggs.
The sausage in question is Siem Reap sausage, the local take on lap cheong, the smoked, sweetened, red Chinese sausage. Sometimes it’s served with a fried egg on top in addition to the scrambled egg through the rice.
Japanese Fried Rice Recipe for Yakimeshi
There are several theories as to when fried rice arrived in Japan, but it’s thought that Japanese emissaries to China during the Tang Dynasty, who had gone to learn about the culture, first brought Chinese fried rice recipes back to Japan in the Seventh Century.
Yakimeshi is one of two styles of Japanese fried rice, the basic version of which is made with Japanese rice, scrambled egg and bacon or ham. This Japanese fried rice recipe for yakimeshi with bacon and egg makes my take on the classic Japanese fried rice.
I’ve added shredded cabbage, sesame seeds and roasted seaweed to give the fried rice greater texture, along with quintessential Japanese ingredients such as Japanese soy sauce, rice vinegar, mirin, sesame oil, and shichimi togarashi Japanese seven spice to intensify the flavour.
My recipe came about from experimentation as we had some leftover steamed Japanese rice in the fridge, which we had with Japanese fried chicken and the Japanese style cucumber and cabbage salad, and the best thing to do with leftover rice is make fried rice.
Japanese Fried Rice Recipe for Yakimeshi with Bacon, Egg and Cabbage
Korean Kimchi Fried Rice Recipe for a Classic Kimchi Bokkeumbap
This easy Korean kimchi fried rice recipe with fried eggs makes a classic kimchi bokkeumbap stir-fried with Korea’s famously fiery fermented cabbage called kimchi, spicy chilli sauce gochujang, scallions, onion and carrot.
It’s topped with a soft fried egg and sprinkled with roasted seaweed and sesame seeds. If it’s not spicy enough for you, you can also sprinkle on some Korean chilli flakes called gochugaru.
It’s a very versatile rice dish. I ran out of kimchi the other day and add braised cabbage to the little kimchi I had left. This is actually a vegetarian kimchi fried rice and if you skipped the fried egg, it’s essentially a vegan fried rice.
Easy Korean Kimchi Fried Rice Recipe with Fried Egg for Kimchi Bokkeumbap
Cambodian Shrimp Fried Rice with Shrimp Paste Recipe
Another of Cambodia’s popular fried rice dishes and another of our best fried rice recipes makes this shrimp fried rice with shrimp paste called bai char kapi. ‘Kapi’ is shrimp paste.
The classic fried rice dish combines sweet plump prawns and pungent shrimp paste to create a fried rice that is sweet, salty and funky. If you’re not a fan of shrimp paste, then you could leave it out and use fish sauce instead.
They’re different ingredients obviously, but they boast the same funkiness, however, fish sauce tends to be more approachable for those not used to cooking and eating with either. You’ll probably have a better chance finding a Thai shrimp paste than a Cambodian shrimp paste outside Cambodia.
Shrimp Fried Rice With Shrimp Paste Recipe – How to Make Cambodia’s Bai Cha Kapi
Yunnan Inspired Fried Rice with Bacon, Potatoes, Green Beans and Peas
If you’ve got leftover steamed jasmine rice in the fridge, then try this recipe inspired by Yunnan style fried rice for fried rice with crispy bacon, browned potatoes, blistered green beans, and bright peas. Seasoned with Chinese dark soy, it’s packed with umami, deliciously filling, and comes together in twenty minutes or so. It’s quickly become one of our most popular fried rice recipes beyond the obvious.
My recipe was inspired by a Yunnan fried rice with ham, potatoes and peas in Georgia Freedman’s exquisite cookbook Cooking South of the Clouds, Recipes and Stories from China’s Yunnan Province. The traditional Chinese fried rice recipe is made with Yunnan air-dried ham, which is like Spain’s jamon Serrano. I use bacon as it’s more accessible and more affordable.
I first connected with Georgia three years ago when I embarked on my Make Rice Not War, project and contacted chefs, food writers and cookbook authors for recipes and tips for my guide to how to cook rice around the world – a project I had to put on hold but hope to resume next year.
Georgia nominated pineapple sticky rice, but I was secretly hoping she’d share her fried rice with ham, potatoes and peas. When I eventually made her recipe, I couldn’t help myself and made a few tiny tweaks. This fried rice recipe with bacon, potatoes, green beans and peas is the result of that experiment and while inauthentic, it’s incredibly tasty.
Yunnan Style Fried Rice with Bacon, Potatoes, Green Beans and Peas
Please do let us know in the comments below if you make any of our Chinese fried rice recipes, as we’d love to know how they turn out for you.
