To make baked fried rice, just place uncooked rice, stock, soy sauce and a few other flavourings in a baking pan, give it a mix then shove it in the oven. Out comes fluffy, seasoned fried rice that’s so good, you may never wok-toss fried rice ever again!
(Well, maybe not. Nothing beats the real deal, after all. But this emergency version is excellent for the minimal effort required!)
Emergency baked fried rice
OK, you’re right, this isn’t fried rice per se! It’s a baked rice. But I call it a baked fried rice because it’s everything we love about fried rice, without the frying! It will save you on all those nights when you’re scrambling for a quick side dish that will go with almost everything and please everyone.
Unlike the normal way fried rice is cooked, there’s no need to plan ahead and cook rice the day before so that it has time to dry out overnight in the fridge. You don’t even need to chop anything (hello, frozen veg!).
Just dump everything in the pan – uncooked rice, stock, frozen pre-chopped vegetables, raw bacon – then whack it in the oven. There’s no need to stir while cooking – in fact, I forbid it, because it makes the rice mushy!
And for all that effort, you will be rewarded with THIS ↓↓↓ (“this” being a big pan of fluffy seasoned fried rice that’s littered with vegetables and oh wow, even the bacon is nice and golden!!🙌🏻)
Ingredients for baked fried rice
This is an excellent recipe to customise and make your own, with lots of options for changing up add-ins! Here’s what I use in this baked fried rice recipe:
Rice – Best made with long grain white rice because it’s the least sticky. This means you get that nice, crumbly and fluffy fried rice texture with this “dump ‘n bake” cooking method.
Other rice types that work:
→ Basmati rice: Has the same fluffy texture but you get the basmati aroma (it’s not traditional with fried rice seasoning, but it’s rather nice!)
→ Medium and short grain white rice: Works perfectly but these rices are a bit stickier so don’t expect quite the same rice texture you see in the video (it will clump a little more).
→ Jasmine rice: Reduce water by 1/4 cup (water to rice ratio is lower, see here for cooking plain jasmine rice).This recipe won’t work as-written for the following: Brown rice, paella or risotto rice, wild rice, quinoa or other speciality rices. I’d need to figure out special liquid/rice ratios and bake times, which I have not done!
Stock/broth – Chicken stock will give a better flavour (it’s not chicken-y as such, it has just a more deeply seasoned flavour), but vegetable stock works just fine too. Whichever you use, make sure it’s low sodium otherwise the rice ends up a tad saltier than is ideal.
Don’t have liquid stock? Use water plus stock powder. Make up 2 cups according to the stock powder directions and use per the recipe.
Vegetables – Because this is conceived as a recipe for “dinner emergencies”, I’ve used frozen diced vegetables here. Fresh vegetables can be used, but you’ll need to increase the water by 1/4 cup because the liquid to rice ratio factors in the water that comes off the frozen vegetables (a surprising amount!).
Garlic – I can’t ever imagine making any type of fried rice without garlic. And that includes an emergency baked version!
Bacon (uncooked) or ham – Just like we do in wok tossed fried rice! Here, it’s scattered across the surface and it adds flavour into the stock as it cooks.
There’s no need to cook the bacon beforehand, it will brown at the end when we finish the rice off uncovered in the oven.
Soy sauce – I’ve used light soy sauce here which adds seasoning without discolouring the rice too much. All purpose soy sauce will work just fine too.
Dark soy sauce – It’s much more intense in flavour so use half the quantity and be prepared for your rice to be much browner in colour.
Chinese cooking wine (Shaoxing wine) – adds umami / depth of flavour which is important for this method of cooking that skips the usual “sauté garlic and onion” etc.
Best substitute – Dry sherry, followed by cooking sake, followed by mirin (though rice will be a touch sweeter).
Non alcoholic option – Skip the wine and add an extra 1/2 tbsp of soy sauce PLUS add 30g / 2 tbsp of unsalted butter with the sesame (butter compensates for loss of flavour from skipping the cooking wine). It’s not the same, but equally delicious!
Pepper – For a touch of warmth. White pepper is typically used for fried rice because you can’t see it. Substitute with black pepper.
Sesame oil & green onion – For finishing. We add sesame oil at the end to preserve the flavour, and the green onion is tossed through at the end for a hit of freshness and colour.
How to make baked fried rice
Are you ready to see how easy it is??
Put the uncooked rice into the baking pan;
Add everything else except the bacon;
Give it a mix, then scatter the bacon across the surface (because we want it to get some colour when we bake it uncovered);
Cover with foil and bake 40 minutes at 200°C / 390°F (180°C fan);
Remove foil and bake for a further 15 minutes. This gives the bacon some nice colour;
Remove from the oven, cover with foil then let it rest for 10 minutes. To finish the dish, add sesame oil and green onion, fluff with a fork then serve!
Why we rest rice – When you take it out of the oven, there should be no liquid left in the pan and the rice will be cooked through though a tiny bit firmer than ideal. You’ll also notice that the surface of the rice grains will be wet.
When we rest the rice for 10 minutes, the grains finish cooking through using the residual heat, and the wetness on the rice grains gets absorbed. This is an essential step with any rice you cook, no matter what method you use – stove, absorption, boil and drain, oven, microwave or rice cooker!
Here’s a nice close up for you so you can see how the grains are fluffy and separated, and how the bacon bits are lovely and golden.
No mushy, overcooked rice in sight!
What to serve with baked fried rice
Serve to accompany dishes you would with fried rice, which these days is far and beyond just Asian foods! Try it with the Mushroom Stuffed Chicken I shared a couple of weeks ago, or as a side for a fillet of seasoned pan fried fish.
Pair it with something sticky like this Chilli Chicken, Honey Garlic Chicken or a tropical Hawaiian Huli-Huli chicken. For vegetarian options, skip the bacon and instead, pile over juicy and buttery garlic mushrooms or a medley of marinated grilled vegetables.
The rules are: there are no rules! This is a rice side that will go with virtually anything, Asian or not! – Nagi x
PS. I just had a fleeting thought. If you’d like to turn this into a meal, trying stirring through a big handful of baby spinach or chopped English spinach when fluffing it up at the end. By upping the veg in this, it would be great as a meal!
Watch how to make it
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Emergency “Dump ‘n Bake” Fried Rice
Ingredients
Baked Fried Rice:
- 1 1/2 cups long grain white rice , UNCOOKED (Note 1)
- 2 cups chicken or veg stock , low sodium
- 1 1/2 tbsp light soy sauce (Note 2)
- 1 tbsp Chinese cooking wine (dry sherry, mirin or sake, Note 3)
- 2 garlic cloves , minced with crusher (straight into pan)
- 2 cups frozen diced veg (carrots, peas, corn mix, Note 4 fresh veg)
- 1/4 tsp white pepper
- 1 1/4 cups / 180g bacon (uncooked) or ham , chopped (I use store bought chopped bacon, Note 5)
Finishing:
- 1 tbsp sesame oil
- 1/2 cup green onion , finely sliced (2 – 3 stems)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 200°C / 390°F (180°C fan).
- Mix ingredients in baking dish: Place all Baked Fried Rice ingredients except bacon in a baking dish (~22 x 32cm / 9 x 13"). Stir, then spread rice evenly across pan.
- Top with bacon: Scatter bacon across surface.
- Bake covered 40 min: Cover with foil. Bake 40 minutes.
- Bake uncovered 15 min: Remove foil. Bake uncovered 15 minutes – this will colour the bacon. Liquid should be absorbed, rice should be cooked (but will seem wet, will absorb and soften while resting).
- Rest 10 min: Cover loosely with foil, stand for 10 minutes.
- Fluff: Add green onion and sesame oil. Fluff rice with fork, marvel at how perfectly cooked the rice grains are. Serve!
Recipe Notes:
1. Rice types – Best made with long grain rice because it’s the least sticky so you get that nice crumbly, fluffy fried rice texture with this “dump ‘n bake” cooking method. Other rice types that work:
- Basmati rice – same fluffy texture but you get the basmati aroma (it’s not traditional with fried rice seasoning, but it’s rather nice!)
- Medium and short grain white rice – works perfectly but the rice is a bit stickier (that’s the way it is) so don’t expect the same rice texture you see in the video (it will clump a little more).
- Jasmine rice – NOT RECOMMENDED. This rice is softer and difficult to get exactly right for this recipe.
- Carrots, peas, corn, onion – use in recipe as written.
- Cauliflower, broccoli, green beans, asparagus, zucchini, capsicum/bell peppers (chopped) – add them 30 min into bake time.
- Egg – Cook separately and stir in when fluffing rice. Either scramble, or make ribbons (cook a thin omelette using 2 whisked eggs, roll it up like a cigar then finely slice)
- Cooked chicken (or other cooked protein), char siu – dice or shred, toss on top of rice when resting (residual heat will warm up), then mix through well fluffing rice.
- Raw prawns/shrimp – small ones. When you remove the foil, scatter them across the surface, pop into oven for the last 15 min uncovered bake time.
- Baby spinach or chopped spinach – Stir it through at end with fluffing rice, residual heat will make it wilt.
- Spicy! Add a squirt of sriracha or dollop of your favourite chilli paste during cooking, or stir through a big handful of chopped kimchi just before serving.
Nutrition Information:
Life of Dozer
Weekend car problems. Dozer was keen to help. (Well that’s a big fat lie! We all know he was just snuffling around for treats from the road side assistance man.)
Made this fried rice today and it was amazing. Thanks for another winner.
Wahoo!!! Thanks so much for letting me know you loved it Bernadette! N x
Soak brown rice overnight
Made this tonight for some lunches for the week and wow! Had to mix basmati and jasmine rice as I didn’t have enough of one, frozen veg and speck instead of bacon and it was amazing. I will be making this a lot! So easy to make and easily adapts to changes.
Wahoo, that’s awesome Deanna!! N x
What a wonderful alternative!
Just superb!
I added a few bits of chicken breast to the mix. I would add some fried egg together with the green onion at the end. So easy. Nagi is a legend!
YES! So glad you enjoyed it Alan! N x
Hi Nagi, I absolutely love the great range and ease of your recipes. The videos are a great resource too, But what I love even more is the success rate they have with the family….and pics of Dozer are always loved. Take care & stay safe
That’s made my day Anna, thanks so much!! N x
This was sooo easy and very tasty, we’re using leftovers with a fried egg for breakfast. This ones going in the file!
YUM! Great idea Alma!! N x
One of my favorite ingredients in fried rice is the egg. Will I miss it in this recipe?
Hi Tami, you can add it if you like – this is mentioned in the notes. N x
You can add it at the end if you want to, it’s in the notes. Personally I didn’t miss it.
Brilliant. Love it, so tasty. Agreed it’s not the same as my wok cooked version…but ……so much easier, faster, and tastes so good.
It’s not, but it’s a great alternative isn’t it Carolyn! N x
So I finally made it and wow, it works. It doesn’t have the char aroma of true fried rice but it’s still very good and much less hassling. I used the base recipe but using my own no onion no garlic chicken broth, lightly salted, and instead of garlic & chives I made a little soffritto with 1 tsp oil, 1/8 tsp asafetida (I chickened out, next time 1/4), a ginger round and 1/4 tsp 5 spices powder and poured it in the dish (I took the ginger out then). It worked, but a fresh touch like chives would have been amazing…I can’t think of another herb I want in this one though. Still it was good and I will do it again. Because I’d like to vary veggies according to what’s in the fridge (like mushrooms) but I don’t want the hassle of adding them halfway through, I thought I might just do the veggies separately in a pan and add them at the end. Or maybe in the 10 mins before the fluffing?
For the tiny effort involved , this delivers a great result. I used the frozen veg with peas, corn, and capsicum, just because I like the colours.
Tasty, easy, and would be a great recipe to scale up for catering. Will def make this again.
I’m so glad you think so Polly!! N x
Was unsure but, this will be how I do rice in future, tastes authentic, will wok fry the leftovers to get the wok taste. Thank you
So easy, so nice! Thanks Nagi. Goes really well with Asian Beef Bowls! Yum, double yum. https://salesdock.info/asian-beef-bowls/%3C/a%3E%3C/p%3E
Yes perfect John!! N x
Would it work to bake in a Dutch oven with the lid on, or should I cover with foil instead?
Thank you Nagi for this amazing and simple recipe. We loved it as we do with all your recipes that we have tried, and that’s lots.
Looks like another wonderful recipe from you! What size pan would I use to make 1/2 batch?? Thank you
I may prefer this to actual fried rice. So easy, too!
Can’t wait to try….sounds so good. Should we grease the empty pan first? Can this be enjoyed after it cools down (taking it where it will be a huge picnic tables so its like buffet with people lining up.)
Hi Nagi! Just wanted to say if you follow the directions correctly the product you will end up with Is perfect. The edges that seem stuck and dry will be the crispy bits that you puposely fry to stick to the bottom of the frypan.the flavour is spot on as is texture with minimal time and effort. To everyone cooking this stop questioning this and trust your intuition. You know ingredients and you know your oven so adjust accordingly and enjoy! 😁😁 Kim from Perth x x
Thanks so much Kim!! N x
Nagi, I had the wok fried rice earlier in week. I’m wondering could I add the oyster sauce as in the recipe for this oven version? Husband loved the flavour (I did use brown rice).
You could Mark, although I don’t find this one needs it. N x
Cooked this exactly to your recipe instructions, tasty for sure, but rice wasn’t cooked (quite crunchy). I used ‘Doongara clever rice (low GI white)…. Cheers, Mort.
Hi Mort, sorry you had issues here – the only thing I can think of is that the rice has a different cook time, I haven’t tried with this particular rice sorry! N x
Thanks for your reply Nagi. I will try a longer cooktime next time, then & see if it helps. Or better still, use your recommended rice! It is a tasty dish that’s for sure.
Is it OK to freeze leftovers?Cheers, Mort.