Pork Fried Rice

Pork Fried Rice, made with tender pork tenderloin, is a delicious and complete meal your family will love. See how easy it is to make in your own kitchen just like you would enjoy in a Chinese restaurant!

Why this recipe works:

Pork fried rice is a recipe I've been making for as long as I can remember. As a kid, I always used leftover pork chops, which you can totally do. For this recipe, I used a pork tenderloin.

I've been craving authentic pork fried rice for quite some time now, and thought pork tenderloin would be so much better than using leftover pork chops. Turns out I was right.

This recipe is outstanding because it is full of great flavor. Unlike other fried rice recipes, you'll find that this one has a great texture too because there's a trick with the rice.

Read on to find out how to make pork fried rice like a Chinese restaurant. YUM!

Ingredients you will need:

• Short grain white rice - I cook mine in the Instant Pot
• Butter
• Eggs
• Pork Tenderloin - this will be cut into tiny pieces prior to cooking
• onion, carrots, peas, garlic, green onions - all sliced and diced into small pieces
• Soy sauce, sesame oil, sesame seeds, salt and pepper

How to make it:

This recipe is cooked in phases and then all combined together at the end. Before you start making the fried rice, you will need to make the rice. For this recipe to work, the rice needs to be at room temperature or cooler, so I recommend setting it out on a baking sheet which helps it get extra sticky.

1. Cook the scrambled egg until set in some butter (photo 1). Set that aside. Next cook the pork pieces in butter (photo 2). Spread it out as much as possible and stir it infrequently to give it a nice crispy brown. Set that aside.
2. Next, you'll saute the vegetables in butter (photo 3) and set them aside once they are limp and begin to brown. Finally, you'll melt more butter in the pan and add the rice (photo 4). Let that sizzle and crisp up before you stir it.
3. Finally, you can add all the cooked ingredients back into the pan (photos 5 and 6), toss everything together, and add the soy sauce, sesame oil, sesame seeds, green onions, and salt and pepper.

Cooking tips:

• This recipe can be made in a large fry pan, but for best results you will need a wok.
• For the best results, be sure to dice the vegetables into really small pieces. You want to be able to eat this meal with a spoon or chopsticks, and the smaller the vegetables are, the easier they will stick to the rice.
• You can easily make a vegetarian version of egg fried rice or vegetable fried rice, but I much prefer the addition of meat.
• You need to cook the egg, meat, and vegetables all separately and then combine them at the end. This will give you soft eggs as well as meat and veggies with a nice, flavorful, golden brown sear.
• Soy sauce and toasted sesame oil are to be added at the very end for flavor.

Substitutions:

• You can make slightly different versions of this recipe by swapping the pork tenderloin with boneless skinless chicken or shrimp.
• If you're looking to make healthier version, you can easily replace the white rice with brown rice.
• I have replaced the frozen peas with fresh sugar snap peas and that was delicious.
• If you don't have sesame seeds but you have some of that everything-but-the-bagel seasoning, try that!
• Butter can be replaced with oil, however butter is what gives you the tastiest browning on your meat, veggies and rice.

How to reheat pork fried rice:

Leftover fried rice is excellent, however you must reheat it carefully so as to not over cook the meat or the egg. There are two methods I recommend.

1. First option would be the microwave. I recommend heating it on a lower power setting or, if your microwave offers, the reheat setting. Heat, uncovered, just until warm. Fried rice tastes better when it is really warm as opposed to super hot.
2. My other recommendation would be to melt a bit of butter in a saute pan and reheat over medium heat, uncovered, with very little stirring. This method will heat your pork fried rice all the way through without over cooking the meat or the egg.

Other great stir fry recipes:

• Kimchi Fried Rice
• Shrimp Stir Fry
• Beef Stir-Fry
• Shrimp Chow Mein
• Hunan Chicken

Recipe video below!

Did you make this recipe? Please leave me a comment below to let me know what you think!

Pork Fried Rice

Pork Fried Rice, made with tender pork tenderloin, is a delicious and complete meal your family will love. See how easy it is to make pork fried rice just like a Chinese restaurant in your own kitchen!

4.95 from 40 votes

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CLICK TO PLAY RECIPE VIDEO

Course: Main Course

Cuisine: Asian

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Cook Time: 30 minutes

Total Time: 50 minutes

Hover to scale: 6 servings

Chef: Krissy Allori

Ingredients

• ▢ 4 cups short grain white rice (cooked and chilled)
• ▢ 5 tablespoons butter (divided)
• ▢ 2 eggs (slightly beaten)
• ▢ 1 pound pork tenderloin
• ▢ 3 cloves garlic (minced)
• ▢ 2 carrots (peeled and diced)
• ▢ 1 small onion (diced)
• ▢ ½ cup frozen peas
• ▢ ¼ cup green onions (sliced thinly (mostly whites but some greens))
• ▢ 3 tablespoons soy sauce (more if preferred)
• ▢ 1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil (more if preferred)
• ▢ 1 teaspoon sesame seeds (more if preferred)
• ▢ salt and pepper (to taste)

Instructions

• Ahead of time, you'll want to cook your rice. Rice typically triples in size when it cooks, so you'll need at least 1 ⅓ cups uncooked rice to start with. I typically make more just to have it on hand for the kids. You want the cooked rice to be cold when you make the pork fried rice, so if you need to chill it quickly, you can spread a thin layer on a cookie sheet and place in the refrigerator or even freezer.
• Cut the pork tenderloin into very small pieces. This is easier if the meat is partially frozen and you use a serrated edge knife.
• In a very large pan over medium heat, melt 1 T of the butter. Add the whisked egg and cook to a slightly underdone scramble. Transfer to a plate.
• Increase heat under pan to medium high and melt another 1 T of butter. Add the tenderloin pieces, stirring only occasionally in order to get them to brown. Once mostly cooked, add the garlic, stir, and cook for a few more minutes. Transfer to a large plate.
• Add another 1 T of butter to the pan. Saute the carrots, onion, and peas until slightly golden brown, stirring only occasionally. When done, transfer to the plate with the meat.
• Add the remaining 2 T of butter to the pan. Add the cold rice and spread to an even layer. Allow to cook for a couple minutes before stirring to get the bottom layer to crisp up a bit. Then give it a good stir to heat through. Add meat and veggies back to the pan (along with any juices on the plate). Stir to combine to heat through. Add scrambled egg, green onions, soy sauce, sesame oil, and sesame seeds. Stir to combine. Add salt and pepper and additional soy sauce and/or sesame oil, if needed.
• Serve warm.

Notes

Cooking tips:

• This recipe can be made in a large fry pan, but for best results you will need a wok.
• For the best results, be sure to dice the vegetables into really small pieces. You want to be able to eat this meal with a spoon or chopsticks, and the smaller the vegetables are, the easier they will stick to the rice.
• You can easily make a vegetarian version of egg fried rice or vegetable fried rice, but I much prefer the addition of meat.
• You need to cook the egg, meat, and vegetables all separately and then combine them at the end. This will give you soft eggs as well as meat and veggies with a nice, flavorful, golden brown sear.
• Soy sauce and toasted sesame oil are to be added at the very end for flavor.

NUTRITION INFORMATION

Calories: 375kcal | Carbohydrates: 37g | Protein: 23g | Fat: 15g | Saturated Fat: 8g | Cholesterol: 129mg | Sodium: 664mg | Potassium: 512mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 3g | Vitamin A: 3902IU | Vitamin C: 9mg | Calcium: 51mg | Iron: 2mg

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This recipe was originally created in January 2018 and has been updated with process photos, helpful information and cooking tips. Don't worry - I didn't change the recipe!