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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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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
- Chicken Fried Rice
- Beef and Broccoli
- 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!
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Video
Equipment
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
- 1/2 cup frozen peas
- 1/4 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 1/3 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
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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!
Followed your recipe to the letter and honestly think this is the best it can be. The secret to a crispy fried rice appears to be cooking the components separately and then combining them at the end. No more gummy mess! Thanks.
Tried the recipe. Not bad. Next time I won’t be using butter though. You need high temperature to give the pork and the vegetables a good sear, in my opinion, especially if you’re making a big of a batch as this one with probably all the pork or the vegetables crammed inside the pan. Then it just starts releasing too much water and ends up boiling.
But otherwise pretty good. Everything else was pretty good and kept simple, which I like. Should’ve listened and cut the pork into even smaller pieces.
Yes! Teeny tiny pieces of pork taste the best in this recipe. Thanks for trying!
Clarify your butter first, or use store bought ghee. it’s really better with butter.
I have now made this recipe a half dozen times or so. I don’t remember if I wrote a review for my first time but I ended up roasting a pork loin and glazing it with barbecue sauce and then cutting into little pieces and then following the rest of the recipe. I’ve also substituted shrimp and chicken and they both taste fabulous. Super easy even if you don’t have some day-old rice you can still make this and it turns out great
I tried this last night for supper for my 15-year-old. I had to leave out the sesame oil, since I didn’t have that, but it was wonderful, anyway. He requested I make it again soon. Thank you so much for posting it…next time I will have sesame oil to enhance it.
Thanks for the recipe! I made my first pork loin roast in the instant pot last night and it didn’t turn out like I had hoped so we have about 2 lbs of roast left -_-. I can’t wait to try this recipe with it 🙂
Loved it added more veggies – sweet peppers!
I pretty much use one pan, throwing all ingredients as needed. It works.
I tried the recipe and i really loved it .thanks for the recipe
Really great recipe and easy to follow. Loved the marinade! The only change I made was adding a few extra veggies and and egg. Thanks!
Tried your recipe and loved it. You Rock! Thanks for taking the time to post it.
I cook all the time. This is the best fried rice recipe ever. My family even noticed. Thanks for giving me a recipe I will be using every time I make fried rice.