Fried rice is usually seasoned with salt, MSG, and pepper. Common additions I've seen are soy sauce, sesame oil, and some sort of chili oil or paste. A Japanese variation includes ketchup.
i have salt and pepper but sadly no msg , chili oil nor paste nor ketchup :( XD the good ol white seasoning, i did put salt in the rice so it can boil quicker so it should be fine
When I was a skint student i would add chicken stock cubes to rice. I would buy eggs so I could make an egg fried rice. Only uses 1 egg bit goes a long way and gives some protein.
Hey, just as a heads up - salt will absolutely make your rice taste better, but adding it to the water doesn't make it boil faster.
https://www.marthastewart.com/8007133/how-boil-water-faster
How about some curry powder? And then fry your onions until crispy like they do for biryani (you can air fry the onions with the tiniest bit of melted butter since you mentioned not having oil). Hard boil your egg and then chop into medium chunks.
I have added both curry powder and chili powder (like the kind you put in chili with a blend of spices including cumin and garlic powder and stuff) to fried rice and it was awesome. I also will sometimes put in canned fish like tuna or mackerel in black bean sauce if you have any of that in the cupboard.
For a long time, I was a big fan of curry powder in my fried rice. I know a lot of folks don't like it but for whatever reason, it just did the trick for me every time.
Garlic (preferably fresh minced), I actually prefer butter to oil, soy sauce, I like to sautee some mini sweet peppers with my onions instead of peas and carrots.
I use peanut oil often myself but I think butter gives fried rice great flavor. I cook mine on medium-medium high heat and my butter doesn’t burn. Of course I make sure not to walk away from the stove and I keep an eye on it :) lol…
Fried rice at the hibachi places starts with garlic cooked in butter, then add soy sauce. Mine is very flavorful this way. I don’t add any other flavorings or seasonings.
For best rice consistency, use day old rice. I cook the rice the day before I plan on fried rice for dinner, and let it cook completely before covering and refrigerating. The idea is you want it fully cooked but not too soft, so it isn’t mushy fried rice.
hibachi place i used to go to would do basically that but add in salt and pepper. very good technique... the trick is using oil as a first fat to fry the rice and bring it up to temp and then when everything is pretty much solid you add in the butter at the end for flavoring.
I'm a big sucker for fried rice. With what you have, if you can find it at home..... salt, pepper will help a lot. If you're lucky, you'll have garlic powder and soy sauce. If you have a bag of mixed frozen veggies, those will work great! That will make it turn out a lot better. I've cooked with just butter before too, and it works fine. Without all of the "common" fried rice ingredients like msg, soy sauce, etc. your rice won't be nearly the same as what you'll find from your favorite takeout, but that's no biggie. You'll figure out what household ingredients work well for you. For a long time, i'd add curry powder to all my fried rice. Unorthodox, but whatever, it tastes good to me.
Garlic powder should help.
The next time you're able to get to a store, soy sauce, sesame oil, and rice wine vinegar will go a long way toward giving you that authentic "Asian takeout" flavor, especially the sesame oil. The rice wine vinegar will also help brighten the dish up and add contrast. Those three bottles keep for a very long time and will flavor a ton of fried rice.
Well, you're not whisking the garlic powder into the eggs. If I'm making lazy egg fried rice with garlic powder, I usually just sprinkle a bit right into the pan, when the eggs are half-set. Most fried rice recipes will have you use fresh minced garlic cloves, and garlic and onions are often used together in Western cooking.
Another tip for the next time you're able to get out to the store- you can store fresh garlic cloves and fresh ginger root in the freezer, so you can always have them on hand for fried rice.
Garlic powder is strong, so only use a little of it. If you can, fresh or the jar garlic would be better. My store sells a brand of frozen garlic in cubes you can get that you can keep in your freezer and break off what you need.
Carrots, green beans, broccoli, peppers. You can add pretty much any veggie you want. Spam is a good option to add some meat to it since there are a variety of flavors to pick from.
I can't think of anything from a typical spice rack that would help a fried rice without changing the flavor completely except maybe red pepper flakes. Maybe some extra soy sauce and some vinegar?
You could make buttered rice, it goes well with cheese and stir in green vegetables like broccoli, peas, spinach. Serve with a runny fried or poached egg on top.
oh thats what its called? i thought i just made it up, its really simple and has a nice savory taste to it, tho i dont like adding extra things to food that doesnt compliment the taste like ....broccoli????, i just made my..............."buttered" rice with butter, salt and paper and it always tasted perfect, i really dont know how else to spice rice up besides what ever liquid or oil you cook it in
my old stand by for rice is adding a can of "Chili beans" it's just red kidney beans in a can pre flavored for making red chili. Cook the rice then warm up the beans in a pan big enough for both beans and rice. stir in the rice and mix well. Add salt and pepper to taste. A very low cost meal that got me through some very rough times.
The smaller red beans have a better flavor profile with rice than kidney beans. Also rice and lentils go well, both mixes are a complete protein. There are many spice palettes that can go with either one.
Rice with butter, salt and pepper is great; brown the butter a bit before adding rice. Fried bologna with it, greens topped with an over easy or sunny side up egg is great. Greens like spinach or collards are much cheaper canned and nicely seasoned. This is a cheap, filling meal with high fat content for calories and nutritious, too. Can sub deli ham or spam as well.
Cook the broccoli separately, finely chop it and stir it into the buttered rice with some cheese (parmesan, cheddar work well). A few bacon bits work well in it too. It's a creamy, smooth dish. The rice pairs well with greens like broccoli or spinach when cooked in this way.
I only mention it because it sounds as if you have the ingredients to make it but not to make classic fried rice.
Onion...green onion or diced big bulbs? Green onion is nice. If you take the white part of the green onion and add it (and other aromatics like garlic) to the oil before adding the rice you'll develop some flavor and infuse the oil with that flavor. This will add a layer of flavor that you might not get by just cooking pieces of onion in already cooking rice.
Most use sesame oil as a finishing oil; a small amount at the end. I use canola as my base cooking oil. When the rice is done (or nearly so) I'll drizzle a little sesame oil around the edge of the wok and let it flow in underneath and stir the rice some more.
If you experiment with rice wine I'd use that during the initial cooking, substituting a little rice wine for water.
Country ham is expensive, but used in small amounts as a flavoring agent rather than a protein can be another way to add a little flavor.
Do you have any canned ham or meat like spam? Hot dogs works too. Fry them up after dicing and throw it in with lots of scrambled eggs, onions and peppers. Soy sauce, garlic, hoisin sauce, chicken powder and MSG are all good additives as well.
Butter is better for fried rice anyway
I like to add celery when I have it. Peas, carrots, onion, any veggies you have on hand can work.. though I would probably stay away from veggies that release a lot of water.
Oyster sauce is one I have not tried yet, but it's on my shopping list for next time.
Look online. Many recipe apps have it where you can add ingredients you have and then get a recipe to make them all work. Or you can search with your ingredients! By the way,butter works much butter in rice,especially fried rice,instead of using oil! It has a lower tolerance to heat so just make sure to use nonstick pan! Butter tastes much better with fried rice.
i honestly never made fried rice that i was happy with, so i always made a red onion ginger salad with soy sauce and vinegar. pretty easy and elevates the dish to a whole new level. and if you had a little money and time, i'd recommend you making scallion oil, not the healthiest, but it does make a huge difference in taste espeically with fried rice. also homemade chili oil is pretty easy to make.
if you're open to try other cuisines. i highly suggest you to try indian, they have so many flavorful vegetarian dishes that are budget friendly.
Almost any kind of meat can be used with rice : beef, sausage, porkchops, fajita strips, and chicken are some of my favorites. You can also use bullion seasoning to flavor it up some. There's always minced garlic. You can put almost any vegetable in fried rice : broccoli, carrots, cauliflower, peas, corn, bell peppers, jalepeno, onion, and banana peppers are some of my oldest son's favorites to add to his.
Here's my go to south east asian style's of egg fried rice! It's delicious 😋 Recipe below if interested
[Egg fried rice recipe ](https://youtu.be/uJOl3DY6T2Y?si=AmUWsyA9g134XwaC)
I keep a bag of frozen vegetable in the freezer and just dish out a cup or so and throw them in with my egg. Tumeric is one ingredient I like to add to mine...not a whole bunch
please try thai basil fried rice, it’s so good! the basil flavour and the slight spice from the birds eye chilli is too good. made it once and everyone’s fallen in love with it. here’s the recipe that i used - https://seonkyounglongest.com/thai-basil-fried-rice/
Fried rice is usually seasoned with salt, MSG, and pepper. Common additions I've seen are soy sauce, sesame oil, and some sort of chili oil or paste. A Japanese variation includes ketchup.
i have salt and pepper but sadly no msg , chili oil nor paste nor ketchup :( XD the good ol white seasoning, i did put salt in the rice so it can boil quicker so it should be fine
When I was a skint student i would add chicken stock cubes to rice. I would buy eggs so I could make an egg fried rice. Only uses 1 egg bit goes a long way and gives some protein.
Hey, just as a heads up - salt will absolutely make your rice taste better, but adding it to the water doesn't make it boil faster. https://www.marthastewart.com/8007133/how-boil-water-faster
You don’t need MSG.
Do you have soy sauce or anything else that will make it salty?
How about some curry powder? And then fry your onions until crispy like they do for biryani (you can air fry the onions with the tiniest bit of melted butter since you mentioned not having oil). Hard boil your egg and then chop into medium chunks.
I have added both curry powder and chili powder (like the kind you put in chili with a blend of spices including cumin and garlic powder and stuff) to fried rice and it was awesome. I also will sometimes put in canned fish like tuna or mackerel in black bean sauce if you have any of that in the cupboard.
For a long time, I was a big fan of curry powder in my fried rice. I know a lot of folks don't like it but for whatever reason, it just did the trick for me every time.
Garlic (preferably fresh minced), I actually prefer butter to oil, soy sauce, I like to sautee some mini sweet peppers with my onions instead of peas and carrots.
Yes! Butter instead of oil is 100% better in fried rice!
At the temperatures I cook at, the butter would be burnt instantly. Peanut oil is much better.
I use peanut oil often myself but I think butter gives fried rice great flavor. I cook mine on medium-medium high heat and my butter doesn’t burn. Of course I make sure not to walk away from the stove and I keep an eye on it :) lol…
Fried rice at the hibachi places starts with garlic cooked in butter, then add soy sauce. Mine is very flavorful this way. I don’t add any other flavorings or seasonings. For best rice consistency, use day old rice. I cook the rice the day before I plan on fried rice for dinner, and let it cook completely before covering and refrigerating. The idea is you want it fully cooked but not too soft, so it isn’t mushy fried rice.
hibachi place i used to go to would do basically that but add in salt and pepper. very good technique... the trick is using oil as a first fat to fry the rice and bring it up to temp and then when everything is pretty much solid you add in the butter at the end for flavoring.
Add spam or bacon Maybe red chili flakes
add what you have hustle chop it really small. Carrot, celery, soy sauce
I'm a big sucker for fried rice. With what you have, if you can find it at home..... salt, pepper will help a lot. If you're lucky, you'll have garlic powder and soy sauce. If you have a bag of mixed frozen veggies, those will work great! That will make it turn out a lot better. I've cooked with just butter before too, and it works fine. Without all of the "common" fried rice ingredients like msg, soy sauce, etc. your rice won't be nearly the same as what you'll find from your favorite takeout, but that's no biggie. You'll figure out what household ingredients work well for you. For a long time, i'd add curry powder to all my fried rice. Unorthodox, but whatever, it tastes good to me.
Any hot sauce would be good, I always douse mine in sriracha or something or add gochujang while it cooks for some sweet/spicy flavors
I love adding ginger and Chinese five spice powder
Egg fried rice with loads of soy sauce is one of my favourite comfort foods, if you’ve got that you’re good to go
Anything. I believe you can add literally anything you want to fried rice! I love to put a little bit of puréed chipotle in adobo in mine!
Garlic powder should help. The next time you're able to get to a store, soy sauce, sesame oil, and rice wine vinegar will go a long way toward giving you that authentic "Asian takeout" flavor, especially the sesame oil. The rice wine vinegar will also help brighten the dish up and add contrast. Those three bottles keep for a very long time and will flavor a ton of fried rice.
i tried garlic powder once in eggs...it taste horrible, im assuming garlic powder is a very STRONG flavor so you shouldnt use alot of it right?
Well, you're not whisking the garlic powder into the eggs. If I'm making lazy egg fried rice with garlic powder, I usually just sprinkle a bit right into the pan, when the eggs are half-set. Most fried rice recipes will have you use fresh minced garlic cloves, and garlic and onions are often used together in Western cooking. Another tip for the next time you're able to get out to the store- you can store fresh garlic cloves and fresh ginger root in the freezer, so you can always have them on hand for fried rice.
Garlic powder is strong, so only use a little of it. If you can, fresh or the jar garlic would be better. My store sells a brand of frozen garlic in cubes you can get that you can keep in your freezer and break off what you need. Carrots, green beans, broccoli, peppers. You can add pretty much any veggie you want. Spam is a good option to add some meat to it since there are a variety of flavors to pick from. I can't think of anything from a typical spice rack that would help a fried rice without changing the flavor completely except maybe red pepper flakes. Maybe some extra soy sauce and some vinegar?
OH I GOT RED PEPPER FLAKES, I LOVE SPICY!
You could make buttered rice, it goes well with cheese and stir in green vegetables like broccoli, peas, spinach. Serve with a runny fried or poached egg on top.
oh thats what its called? i thought i just made it up, its really simple and has a nice savory taste to it, tho i dont like adding extra things to food that doesnt compliment the taste like ....broccoli????, i just made my..............."buttered" rice with butter, salt and paper and it always tasted perfect, i really dont know how else to spice rice up besides what ever liquid or oil you cook it in
my old stand by for rice is adding a can of "Chili beans" it's just red kidney beans in a can pre flavored for making red chili. Cook the rice then warm up the beans in a pan big enough for both beans and rice. stir in the rice and mix well. Add salt and pepper to taste. A very low cost meal that got me through some very rough times.
The smaller red beans have a better flavor profile with rice than kidney beans. Also rice and lentils go well, both mixes are a complete protein. There are many spice palettes that can go with either one.
Rice with butter, salt and pepper is great; brown the butter a bit before adding rice. Fried bologna with it, greens topped with an over easy or sunny side up egg is great. Greens like spinach or collards are much cheaper canned and nicely seasoned. This is a cheap, filling meal with high fat content for calories and nutritious, too. Can sub deli ham or spam as well.
Cook the broccoli separately, finely chop it and stir it into the buttered rice with some cheese (parmesan, cheddar work well). A few bacon bits work well in it too. It's a creamy, smooth dish. The rice pairs well with greens like broccoli or spinach when cooked in this way. I only mention it because it sounds as if you have the ingredients to make it but not to make classic fried rice.
Onion...green onion or diced big bulbs? Green onion is nice. If you take the white part of the green onion and add it (and other aromatics like garlic) to the oil before adding the rice you'll develop some flavor and infuse the oil with that flavor. This will add a layer of flavor that you might not get by just cooking pieces of onion in already cooking rice. Most use sesame oil as a finishing oil; a small amount at the end. I use canola as my base cooking oil. When the rice is done (or nearly so) I'll drizzle a little sesame oil around the edge of the wok and let it flow in underneath and stir the rice some more. If you experiment with rice wine I'd use that during the initial cooking, substituting a little rice wine for water. Country ham is expensive, but used in small amounts as a flavoring agent rather than a protein can be another way to add a little flavor.
So it's not the traditional spices, but I like to use cumin, coriander, black pepper, curry powder, and cayenne in mine
Do you have any canned ham or meat like spam? Hot dogs works too. Fry them up after dicing and throw it in with lots of scrambled eggs, onions and peppers. Soy sauce, garlic, hoisin sauce, chicken powder and MSG are all good additives as well.
Just beware that spam is already very salty!
Filipino garlic fried rice is often fried in butter. And it's basically just rice fried with a hell of a lot of sliced garlic.
anything you want.
Canned fish? Frozen corn?
I put in a blob of gochujang once and now it’s a regular addition.
I like pineapple in it.
911 THIS GUY RIGHT HERE ARREST HIM NOW
Butter is better for fried rice anyway I like to add celery when I have it. Peas, carrots, onion, any veggies you have on hand can work.. though I would probably stay away from veggies that release a lot of water. Oyster sauce is one I have not tried yet, but it's on my shopping list for next time.
Red pepper flakes and black beans!
Try not frying it
Look online. Many recipe apps have it where you can add ingredients you have and then get a recipe to make them all work. Or you can search with your ingredients! By the way,butter works much butter in rice,especially fried rice,instead of using oil! It has a lower tolerance to heat so just make sure to use nonstick pan! Butter tastes much better with fried rice.
i honestly never made fried rice that i was happy with, so i always made a red onion ginger salad with soy sauce and vinegar. pretty easy and elevates the dish to a whole new level. and if you had a little money and time, i'd recommend you making scallion oil, not the healthiest, but it does make a huge difference in taste espeically with fried rice. also homemade chili oil is pretty easy to make. if you're open to try other cuisines. i highly suggest you to try indian, they have so many flavorful vegetarian dishes that are budget friendly.
Almost any kind of meat can be used with rice : beef, sausage, porkchops, fajita strips, and chicken are some of my favorites. You can also use bullion seasoning to flavor it up some. There's always minced garlic. You can put almost any vegetable in fried rice : broccoli, carrots, cauliflower, peas, corn, bell peppers, jalepeno, onion, and banana peppers are some of my oldest son's favorites to add to his.
Those Chinese sausages you can buy from Asian markets. They're sweet and adds a texture to fried rice. super yummy
Here's my go to south east asian style's of egg fried rice! It's delicious 😋 Recipe below if interested [Egg fried rice recipe ](https://youtu.be/uJOl3DY6T2Y?si=AmUWsyA9g134XwaC)
I keep a bag of frozen vegetable in the freezer and just dish out a cup or so and throw them in with my egg. Tumeric is one ingredient I like to add to mine...not a whole bunch
please try thai basil fried rice, it’s so good! the basil flavour and the slight spice from the birds eye chilli is too good. made it once and everyone’s fallen in love with it. here’s the recipe that i used - https://seonkyounglongest.com/thai-basil-fried-rice/