Egg Fried Rice

Fluffy rice stir-fried with egg, peas and spring onion in a savoury, lightly soy-seasoned toss. It's the perfect quick side or light meal, and the best possible use for last night's leftover rice.

Egg fried rice is the ultimate leftover-rescue recipe — quick, cheap and genuinely better with day-old rice than freshly cooked. One important thing to know: cooked rice needs to be cooled quickly and kept chilled, and only reheated once until piping hot, because it can grow harmful bacteria if left warm. Use properly stored cold rice and this comes together in minutes.

Ingredients

• 500g cooked, cooled rice — about 200g uncooked; day-old is ideal
• 2 eggs — beaten
• 2 tbsp oil
• 3 spring onions — sliced
• 2 cloves garlic — crushed
• 100g frozen peas
• 2 tbsp soy sauce
• 1 tsp sesame oil — optional

Method

1. Make sure your cooked rice is cold — ideally chilled from the day before (see the safety note below).
2. Heat 1 tbsp oil in a wok or large frying pan over a high heat. Pour in the beaten egg, let it set, then scramble and tip out.
3. Add the rest of the oil, then the white parts of the spring onion, garlic and peas, and stir-fry for a minute.
4. Add the cold rice and toss over a high heat for 3–4 minutes, breaking up any clumps, until piping hot throughout.
5. Stir the egg back in with the soy sauce, sesame oil and the green spring onion tops, toss and serve straight away.

Serve it with

• Honey garlic chicken
• A simple stir-fried greens dish
• Prawn crackers
• Sweet chilli sauce

Why this works

Cold, day-old rice is drier and firmer than fresh, so it fries into separate, fluffy grains instead of turning to mush. A really hot pan and constant tossing give that signature 'wok hei' savouriness and stop the rice steaming.

Common swaps

• Add cooked chicken, prawns or ham to make it a main.
• Throw in diced carrot, sweetcorn or pepper.
• Use tamari instead of soy for a gluten-free version.

Common mistakes to avoid

• Using warm, freshly cooked rice, which goes sticky and mushy.
• A pan that isn't hot enough, so the rice steams instead of frying.
• Adding too much soy, which makes it wet and over-salty.

Storage, freezing & reheating

Storage: Eat straight away; if you must keep it, cool quickly and refrigerate for up to 1 day.

Freezing: Best eaten fresh. Cooked rice dishes should be cooled fast and frozen promptly if at all.

Reheating: Reheat once only, until piping hot all the way through. Never reheat rice more than once.

Allergen notes: contains egg, soya, gluten, sesame. Always check individual product labels.

Estimated nutrition

Per serving, estimated from typical ingredient values — not a substitute for precise dietary calculation.