Microwave Fried Rice
Ready in under 10 minutes, this is a super easy recipe for healthy and delicious fried rice made in the microwave. Make one serving, or dinner for the family!
Anyone who’s been hanging around here the last little bit knows by now that I am fully onboard the 10 minute meal train. Between the pandemic (which finally seems to be subsiding, cross your fingers!), the insanity that is teaching these days, and the regular old family and household responsibilities, my appetite for spending long periods of time in the kitchen is shot.
However, I’m still committed to feeding my family healthy, delicious meals. I figure there has to be more than a few people trying to negotiate that same balance, which is why I’ve turned my attention to creating extremely fast, simple dinners. This microwave fried rice is the latest in that series. Here’s hoping your family loves it as much as mine!
*Disclosure: this post contains affiliate links. They are marked with an asterisk. If you purchase something from these links, I will receive a portion of the profit. However, all opinions and recommendations are my own. I will only ever recommend something I love!*
What equipment do I need?
Microwave-safe bowl or mug: This is what you’ll make your fried rice in. This recipe is for a single serving, which will fit easily into a regular dinner bowl, or a larger mug. This recipe doubles and quadruples easily, which means that you can make a dinner for your entire family — just make sure that you have a bowl large enough for it! My favorite large microwave-safe bowl is this one*. It also goes in the oven, if you need to bake round things.
Microwave: Self-explanatory, I hope!
What ingredients do I need?
Egg: Farm-fresh or straight from Walmart, you’ll need 1 egg per serving for this. The egg will be microwaved separately from the rest of the ingredients, then stirred in so that it doesn’t get overcooked.
Rice: Typically, I make this with leftover rice, but sometimes the craving hits when I have none in the fridge. That’s why I keep several of these minute rice cups* around. They’re a perfect serving size. I have also made this recipe with cauliflower rice and with quinoa cups*. I love it with all of them, so if you’re looking to make this even more healthy, feel free to experiment with other bases!
Chicken: I have used leftover rotisserie chicken for this, which is my favorite. When I don’t have that around, I use plain old canned chicken. This recipe is versatile enough that you could sub in other proteins as well — consider leftover pork, beef, or tofu as options!
Frozen Veggies: Keeping a bag of frozen stir-fry veggies around has been a very good move. Again, as versatile as this recipe is, you could sub in any fresh or frozen veggies you have lying around. Bell peppers? Perfect! Mushrooms? Fantastic! Peas and carrots? Bring it on!
Soy Sauce and Rice Wine Vinegar: This is a winning combination! The soy sauce gives the rice that distinctive taste, and I love the tang that rice wine vinegar adds. That said, you can drop the vinegar if you can’t find it or don’t like it.
Spices: Garlic powder, ginger, salt and pepper are your base here, but you can liven this up with seasoned salt, onion powder, or any of your other favorite flavors. Just be careful with anything salt-based, as the soy sauce will already add quite a bit of salt to the mix!
How do I make microwave fried rice?
You’re going to do this in three steps:
Microwave your egg: Crack an egg into a microwave safe bowl and scramble it. You can add milk here, or not. I usually don’t, since I don’t notice a huge difference in the final product, but some people swear by it!
Then, you’ll cover the egg and microwave it for 30 seconds to 1 minute. I like my egg slightly wet, so I typically run to the shorter end of things. If you like your eggs very dry, go for the full minute.
Microwave everything else: Toss the frozen veggies, chicken, and rice into a larger microwave safe bowl and microwave them on high for about 2 minutes, or until completely heated through. Add the eggs into this bowl and stir them in.
Add the flavors: Stir in the soy sauce, rice wine vinegar (if you’re using it), ginger, and garlic. Stir until all the ingredients are coated, then add salt and pepper to taste. You can also add anything else you’d like for flavor here — I sometimes add a dash of sriracha or sesame oil just to change the flavor up a bit!
For more 10 minute dinners, check these out:
Microwave Fried Rice
Ingredients
- ½ cup cooked rice
- ¼ cup cooked chicken
- ¼ cup frozen or fresh vegetables
- 1 egg
- 2 tsp rice wine vinegar
- 2 tsp soy sauce
- ½ tsp garlic powder
- ¼ tsp ginger
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- In a small microwave safe bowl, scramble the egg.
- Cook egg in microwave for 30 seconds – 1 minute. Set aside.
- In a larger microwave-safe bowl, mix together, rice, chicken, and veggies.
- Cover and microwave the rice mixture for 2-3 minutes, or until heated through.
- Stir egg into rice mixture.
- Add soy sauce, vinegar, garlic powder, and ginger. Mix together thoroughly.
- Add salt and pepper to taste, then serve.
Notes
Don’t forget to pin!
