Pork Fried Rice - 30 Minutes or Less

The typical approach to pork fried rice or any fried rice is to use day old rice that has been slightly dried. In this version, we actually use fresh rice. Specifically, sticky sushi rice. It may seem strange but it works very well and the rice holds its structure.

Jump to:

• Cooking the Rice
• Cutting the Vegetables
• Cutting the Pork
• Searing the Pork
• Adding the Vegetables
• Adding the Rice
• Finishing with the Egg
• Final Thoughts
• Recipe

Fried rice is a great, quick dinner that can be easily made with whatever you have on hand. This version is pork and vegetables, but the exact same technique can be used for chicken and mushrooms, beef and broccoli, or shrimp, or scallop. Whatever you want to put in here, you can.

I first learned to make fried rice when I worked in a Chinese Restaurant nineteen years ago. It was so good, and so simple that I have been making it pretty much the same way ever since. The key, as with any stir-fry, is a screaming hot wok and working quickly. So, let's take a look at how you can make restaurant quality pork fried rice at home from scratch in 30 minutes or less.

Cooking the Rice

I started cooking at 6:45. The first step was to get the rice going. Again, I used short grain sushi rice. 1 cup of rice and 1 ½ cups of water. I brought this to a boil stirring once, put a lid on the pot, turned the heat down and let the rice simmer for 12 minutes. Then I took it off the heat and let it sit for a few minutes.

Cutting the Vegetables

After I got the rice on and while it was cooking it was time to start slicing up some veggies.

First up was to dice an onion. I cut it in half, peeled it, made a couple horizontal cuts, then a few vertical slices. Then I cut across the onion, making perfectly diced onion.

Next up was the carrot. I peeled it and cut it into manageable sized pieces. I cut the carrot into slabs, then sticks, and finally diced them.

Also, right around here is when the rice started to boil. I put the lid on the pot, turned the heat down to low and set a 12 minute timer.

Then it was celery time. Wash and trim the ends. Cut into manageable sized pieces cut in half or thirds lengthwise, and then cut across those pieces.

I also cut up two Green Onions. Trim off the ends and cut the whites and greens on a slight angle.

Finally, I cut some garlic. I cut the root end off. Peeled the two cloves and thinly sliced them. That was it.

Cutting the Pork

You can't have pork fried rice without pork. So, after the vegetables were cut it was time to get the pork ready.

At this point I also turned on the wok to get that heating up. I was using a heavy cast iron wok which takes 4-6 minutes to heat up. If you are using a wok made of a thinner metal you may only need 2-3 minutes to heat it. But you want it very hot before anything goes in it. I was heating mine up on medium high. Once the pork went in I turned the heat up to high to maintain it.

For the pork, I use a shoulder chop. These have a good amount of fat and tend to not dry out too quickly. If you want to learn more about cooking pork, check out my pork chops guide.

All I did was cut out any bones that were in the pork and then diced it into cubes about the size of the end on my thumb. Bigger or smaller doesn't really matter too much. Just try to get all the pieces about the same size.

Searing the Pork

Once the wok was hot it was time to get cooking. Two minutes before this the timer went off for the rice. I knew that by the time I was ready to add the rice in with the rest of the ingredients it would be ready to go.

First things first, 1-2 tablespoon canola oil and 1 tablespoon sesame oil into the wok followed by the pork. Once the pork is added to the wok just let it sit for a minute or two so that it gets a nice sear on the bottom. Then give it a toss and do the same thing. It took about four minutes to sear the pork.

Adding the Vegetables

Next I added the garlic and chopped vegetables except the green onions into the wok and cooked them for about 2 minutes.

Adding the Rice

After cooking the vegetables for about 2 minutes I added in the rice and about 2-3 tablespoon soy sauce. This got stir-fried for about 1 minute then I added the peas.

Finishing with the Egg

Next up, I made a little well in the middle of the rice and broke one egg into it. I let this cook for about 30 seconds and then mixed it into the rice then added in 1 big tablespoon of Sambal and the green onions. Once this all got tossed together the pork fried rice was done with three minutes to spare.

One important tip: make sure to scrape the bottom of the wok while you are stir-frying. Any bits of rice or whatever that get stuck, crisp up and brown will add a really nice flavour and texture to the finished rice.

Final Thoughts

This is one of my preferred go-to meals in a pinch. It is such a versatile dish that can be made really quickly for next to no money. You can use any leftovers you have on hand, or use fresh ingredients. I really like using leftover BBQ or roast chicken, leftover BBQ pork chops, whatever. You can make it vegetarian with mushrooms and/or tofu.

The other great thing about this pork fried rice is that you can eat it as a meal or use it as a side dish. It is even delicious as leftovers the next day. Fried rice is one of those dishes I never get tired of, and I hope this version becomes a regular in your kitchen too.

Recipe