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Short-Order Kitchen

Quick Shrimp Fried Rice

By Wes Ellis1 min read
A mound of egg fried rice with scallions topped with pink shrimp on a white plate.
Recipe card
Servings
1 to 2
Prep
10 minutes
Cook
10 minutes
Method
Skillet
Heat
Medium-high heat
Difficulty
Easy
Jump to ingredients & directions ↓

Part 10 of the thread Weeknight dinners

THE SHORT VERSION4 points
  • Day-old rice isn't optional. Fresh rice steams and clumps.
  • Prep everything before the pan gets hot.
  • Shrimp only need to cook until pink.
  • The egg is optional but makes it feel complete.
THE RECIPE · QUICK SHRIMP FRIED RICE

Ingredients

You'll need

  • Large skillet or wok
  • Spatula

Directions

  1. Get the shrimp, rice, vegetables and sauce ready by the stove before you turn it on.
  2. Spray the pan and cook the carrots until they start to soften.
  3. Add the garlic and shrimp and cook just until the shrimp turn pink.
  4. Add the rice and peas. Break up the rice and stir-fry until everything is hot.
  5. Season with soy sauce, salt and pepper.
  6. If using the egg, push everything aside, scramble it in the open space, then mix it through.
  7. Top with green onions and serve hot.
Notes Keeps up to 2 days in the fridge. Reheat in a skillet or microwave with a splash of soy sauce or water. Serving sizes vary a lot with fried rice, so treat the numbers as a rough guide: roughly 350 calories and 30 g protein per serving, give or take.

wesellis.com/blog/shrimp-fried-rice/

Fried rice exists to use up leftover rice, and that's also the secret to making it well. This one leans on shrimp for most of its bulk, with just half a cup of rice, so it comes out closer to "shrimp with some rice" than the takeout version. Ten minutes, one pan.

Why day-old rice

Fresh rice is soft and full of steam. In a hot pan it goes gummy and sticks together. Rice that's spent a night in the fridge has dried out on the surface, so the grains separate and actually fry. If all you have is fresh rice, spread it on a plate and chill it uncovered for a while first. It helps.

Tip

Cold rice clumps. Break it up with your hands before it goes in the pan, not with a spatula in the pan.

Everything within reach

Stir-frying goes fast. By the time you're chopping green onions, the shrimp is overcooked. Line everything up by the stove before the heat goes on, same rule as Shrimp Stir Fry, the next post in this thread.

Heads up

Leftover cooked rice shouldn't sit around for days. How Long Food Keeps has the fridge times. And if you want something rice-based with a glaze instead, Air Fryer Teriyaki Salmon Bowl is another quick one.

LINKED FROM6 notes

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