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.

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. 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.

This is...

6:45 pm - Start Cooking

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.

6:47 pm - Cutting 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.

6:58 pm Cutting 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.

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.

7:04 - Wok Is Hot

At 7:04 the wok was hot and 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.

7:08 - Vegetables go in the wok

At 7:08 I added the garlic and chopped vegetables except the green onions into the wok and cooked them for about 2 minutes.

7:10 pm - 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.

7:12 pm - 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.

Conclusion - Pork Fried Rice

This is one of my preferred go to meals in a pinch. This 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 left over BBQ or roast chicken, left over 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.

You really just can't go wrong with pork fried rice, or fried rice in general.

Oh! I almost forgot, while you are stir-frying all of this together make sure to scrape the bottom of the wok. 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.

I hope that you enjoyed this post as much as I enjoyed making and eating. Check out below for the full recipes and as always thank you for reading. Also, remember to subscribe to the blog so that you never miss a post.

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Pork Fried Rice

A quick, cheap and delicious dinner or side dish.

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Prep Time: 15 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 15 minutes minutes

Course: Main Course, Side Dish

Cuisine: American, Chinese

Keyword: 30 minute meals, Fried Rice, Pork, Quick Meals

Servings: 4

Author: Chef Ben Kelly

Ingredients

Rice

• 1 cup Short Grain Sticky Rice Sushi Rice
• 1 ½ cup Water

Pork Fried Rice

• 1 batch Cooked Sticky Rice
• 1 baseball sized Onion, diced
• 1 med Carrot, diced
• 1 ea Celery Stalk, diced
• 2 cloves Garlic, sliced
• 2 ea Green Onions, Sliced
• ½ cup Frozen Peas
• 1 ea Egg
• 1 lb Diced Pork
• 2-3 tablespoon Soy Sauce or Tamari
• 1 tablespoon Sesame oil
• 2 tablespoon Canola oil
• 1-2 tablespoon Sambal oelek

Instructions

Rice

• Put the rice and water in a medium sized pot.
• Bring the water to a boil over high heat stirring the rice once or twice.
• Once the water comes to a boil, cover the pot, turn the heat down to low and set a 12 minutes timer.
• After 12 minutes remove the pot from the heat and let sit, covered, for another 5 minutes.

Pork Fried Rice

• Heat a wok on high heat for 2-4 minutes or until very hot.
• Add the oils and the pork.
• Let the pork sit, undisturbed in the wok for about 2 minutes to allow it to sear on the bottom.
• Flip the pork piece and let sit for another 2 minutes.
• Add the onion, carrot, celery, and garlic into the wok and cook for 2-3 minutes.
• Add the cooked rice and soy sauce in, stir-fry for 1 minute and then add the peas.
• Make a well in the center of the rice and break the egg into it.
• Let the egg sit for 30 second before mixing into the rest of the rice.
• Add the green onion and sambal.
• Season to taste.

Notes

Make sure to scrape the bottom to the wok. You will get some stuck bits that add a really nice flavour and a bit of crunch to the fried rice. 

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