Do you have leftover ingredients that need to be put to use? Whether you have leftover rice, meat, or vegetables, use these ingredients to jazz up your rice meals in under 15 minutes. With my detailed Yang Chow Fried Rice recipe, you can create restaurant-style fried rice at home with the right taste and texture.
What Is Yang Chow Fried Rice?
Yang Chow fried rice gives you a taste of Asian cuisine. It is also known as Yangzhou fried rice, Young Chow fried rice, and Yeung Chow fried rice. It is not your typical fried rice since it is loaded with bits of meat and vegetables.
This Chinese-style fried rice is said to have originated from Yangzhou city in Jiangsu province of China. It started as a dish for sailors when they used leftover food to mix with fried rice. Today, Yang Chow fried rice is a staple fried rice dish and a takeout classic in Chinese cuisine for lunch or dinner.
Moreover, it is still common today to use leftovers to make this dish. It is popularly served as a side dish to go with the main meal. This fried rice recipe is light and fluffy in texture and is not too greasy or salty to taste.
What Is The Ideal Rice To Use?
Of course, the overall taste and texture mainly depend on the type of rice used. Generally, you can use any type of rice you prefer. The most common type of rice for fried rice is basmati rice or jasmine rice.
Make sure to stick with medium or long-grain rice. Although newly cooked rice is perfectly fine, I prefer slightly dry day-old rice. Do not use rice that is too wet since it will only make the fried rice mushy.
In case you have freshly cooked rice, you can make it a bit drier by letting it cool and putting it in the fridge for a few hours. If you cook it right away while it is hot from the rice cooker, it may turn too soggy or wet in the pan. Remember, the secret to light and fluffy fried rice is using dried-out leftover rice.
The Best Ingredients For Yang Chow Fried Rice
The options are endless! You’ll love that you can make as many combinations as you want to make your own version of this dish. For my home-cooked Yang Chow fried rice, I use scrambled eggs, onions, green peas, corn, carrots, ham, and boiled shrimp.
I season it with salt, chicken bouillon powder, and light soy sauce. Lastly, as a finishing touch, I garnish it with a pop of color with green onions. Here are some suggestions on meat and vegetable ingredients to add:
Vegetable and non-meat ingredients:
- Bamboo shoots
- Diced carrots
- Frozen peas
- Frozen green beans
- Corn
- Finely chopped romaine or iceberg lettuce
- Mushrooms (shiitake, dried shiitake, button)
- Minced garlic
- Fried tofu cubes
Meat ingredients:
- Chinese dried cured ham
- Chinese-style roast pork
- Chinese sausage or lap cheong, check out my Chinese Sausage Fried Rice recipe.
- Chinese cured pork belly or la rou (腊肉)
- Dried scallops
- Shrimp
- Diced pork
- Sea cucumber
- Ham
- BBQ meats
- Luncheon meat or Spam
- Eggs
- Chunks of chicken or duck
- Scallops
- pork belly
- pork belly char siew
- char siu pork
Seasonings:
- Chinese five spice powder
- Oil or butter (to enhance the flavor)
- White pepper
- Black pepper
- Shaoxing wine
- Soy sauce
- Sesame oil
- Oyster sauce
- Chicken or vegetable bouillon powder
Why Use A Traditional Wok For Yang Chow Fried Rice
You probably noticed Chinese restaurants using a wok for fried rice. Traditionally, a wok is the ideal kitchenware to cook fried rice because of its ample space and heating capacity. It allows the rice to keep moving and stirring as you sway and shake the wok.
Moreover, it heats the ingredients up quickly and evenly. The trick in using a wok is to pre-heat it with oil until it becomes extremely hot or when it starts to smoke. In this step, you have to make sure the oil is evenly spread out by swirling it onto the entire wok.
Heating it before adding the rice prevents it from sticking and burning. While you are frying the rice, maintain a high heat all throughout the process. If you don’t have a wok, you can use a non-stick pan instead.
Kitchen Tools And Ingredients To Prepare
Prepare your wok or non-stick pan to cook the eggs and rice. If you have uncooked meat ingredients, make sure to cook them first before adding to the rice. Choose your favorite ingredients and decide on the amount you want to use.
Here’s what you need to get started:
Kitchen Tools:
- Non-stick pan or wok
- Spatula
- Knife and chopping board
Ingredients:
- 4 eggs for scrambled eggs
- Oil
- 20g of diced onions
- 5g of peas
- 5g of corn
- 5g of diced carrots
- 20g of ham
- 20g of boiled shrimp
- 400g cooked rice
- 1/2 tsp of salt
- 1/2 tsp of chicken bouillon powder
- 1/2 tbsp of light soy sauce
- Chopped green onions for garnish
How To Make Yang Chow Fried Rice
If you are not using cooked leftover meat, you will have to cook the uncooked meat first before adding it to the rice. For already cooked meat ingredients, chop them into bits to make it easier to spread out throughout the rice. Learn more about the recipe steps with my 30-second tutorial guide on Instagram or TikTok.
- Chop all your meat and vegetable ingredients into small diced pieces. For uncooked meat, stir-fry it first in the pan until tender.
- Prepare the scrambled egg by beating the 4 eggs in a bowl.
- Prepare the pan with oil and heat it on high heat.
- When the oil temperature is 248°F, slowly pour in the beaten eggs and stir quickly.It should become fluffy scrambled eggs.
- Remove the eggs from the pan.
- Add oil again to the pan and fry the diced onions.
- Stir-fry with peas, corn, carrot, ham, and boiled shrimp. As you can see, I used frozen carrots, peas, and corn and did not thaw them. Add these frozen vegetables right away to prevent them from becoming too soft and maintain their texture as you cook.
- Add the cooked rice and continue stir-frying.
- Stir-fry the rice until the grains are well separated. There should be no chunks or large clusters of rice sticking together.
- Next, stir in the scrambled eggs.
- Season with salt, chicken bouillon powder, and light soy sauce. Adjust to taste.
- As a final touch, sprinkle some chopped green onions.
If you love this fried rice dish, try these recipes as well: shrimp fried rice (din tai fung style) and one-pot taro rice (yam rice).
Yang Chow Fried Rice (Yangzhou Fried Rice 扬州炒饭)
Equipment
- Non-stick pan or wok
- Spatula
- Knife and chopping board
Ingredients
- 4 eggs for scrambled eggs
- Oil
- 20 g of diced onions
- 5 g of peas
- 5 g of corn
- 5 g of diced carrots
- 20 g of ham
- 20 g of boiled shrimp
- 400 g cooked rice
- 1/2 tsp of salt
- 1/2 tsp of chicken bouillon powder
- 1/2 tbsp of light soy sauce
- Chopped green onions for garnish
Instructions
- Chop all your meat and vegetable ingredients into small diced pieces. For uncooked meat, stir-fry it first in the pan until tender.
- Prepare the scrambled egg by beating the 4 eggs in a bowl.
- Prepare the pan with oil and heat it on high heat.
- When the oil temperature is 248°F, slowly pour in the beaten eggs and stir quickly.It should become fluffy scrambled eggs.
- Remove the eggs from the pan.
- Add oil again to the pan and fry the diced onions.
- Stir-fry with peas, corn, carrot, ham, and boiled shrimp. As you can see, I used frozen carrots, peas, and corn and did not thaw them. Add these frozen vegetables right away to prevent them from becoming too soft and maintain their texture as you cook.
- Add the cooked rice and continue stir-frying.
- Stir-fry the rice until the grains are well separated. There should be no chunks or large clusters of rice sticking together.
- Next, stir in the scrambled eggs.
- Season with salt, chicken bouillon powder, and light soy sauce. Adjust to taste.
- As a final touch, sprinkle some chopped green onions.
Sea cucumber is an animal, not a vegetable. You should move it to the meat option section.
Hi Simon,
Thanks, just fixed it.