Friends, do you know how long it’s been since I had fried rice? Far. Too. Long.
This recipe is my solution to that problem and you should totally get on board because it’s quick, easy and super delicious.
Origin of Fried Rice
The exact origin of fried rice is unknown, but it’s earliest mention is believed to be in a book about Chinese cuisine from the Sui Dynasty (569-618). The story is that Emperor Yang Guang tasted the dish in Yangzhou and loved it so much that it became an imperial dish.
The standard recipe for Yangzhou fried rice includes rice, eggs, meat, fish, mushrooms, bamboo shoots, and peas. You can find a traditional (not vegan) recipe here.
Our plant-based version strays from traditional in terms of ingredients, but is similarly colorful and cooks the rice twice for a “fried” effect.
How to Make Vegan Fried Rice
This fried rice requires just 10 ingredients and easy, fool-proof methods.
Including cooking the rice, the whole dish comes together in a little over an hour and feeds two generously as an entrée boasting 27 grams of protein!
Now we’re talking…
It starts with my favorite crispy, baked tofu marinated in a simple 5-ingredient sauce and sautéed to crispy perfection.
Next comes a generous helping of vegetables tossed with the remaining sauce and perfectly tender brown rice.
The result? Fried rice perfection. It’s:
Hearty
Flavorful
Satisfying
Loaded with vegetables
Topped with crispy tofu
Subtly spiced
Make this as an entrée or a side dish when a serious Chinese takeout craving strikes! I reckon it’s far healthier and more satisfying than anything you’ll find at a restaurant.
What to Serve with Fried Rice
If you try this recipe, let us know! Leave a comment and rate it, and don’t forget to take a picture and tag it #minimalistbaker on Instagram! We’d love to see what you come up with. Cheers, friends!
Easy Vegan Fried Rice
Ingredients
RICE + VEGETABLES
- 1 cup extra-firm tofu* (8 ounces yields ~1 cup)
- 1 cup long- or short-grain brown rice* (rinsed thoroughly in a fine mesh strainer)
- 4 cloves garlic (minced)
- 1 cup chopped green onion
- 1/2 cup peas
- 1/2 cup carrots (finely diced)
SAUCE
- 3 Tbsp tamari or soy sauce (plus more for veggies + to taste)
- 1 Tbsp peanut butter
- 2-3 Tbsp organic brown sugar, muscovado sugar, or maple syrup
- 1 clove garlic (minced)
- 1-2 tsp chili garlic sauce (more or less depending on preferred spice)
- 1 tsp toasted sesame oil (optional // or sub peanut or avocado oil)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (204 C) and line a baking sheet with parchment paper (or lightly grease with non-stick spray).
- In the meantime wrap tofu in a clean, absorbent towel and set something heavy on top (such as a cast iron skillet) to press out the liquid.
- Once the oven is preheated, dice tofu into 1/4-inch cubes and arrange on baking sheet. Bake for 26-30 minutes. You’re looking for golden brown edges and a texture that’s firm to the touch. The longer it bakes, the firmer and crispier it will become, so if you’re looking for softer tofu remove from the oven around the 26-28 minute mark. I prefer crispy tofu, so I bake mine the full 30 minutes. Set aside.
- While the tofu bakes prepare your rice by bringing 12 cups of water to a boil in a large pot. Once boiling, add rinsed rice and stir. Boil on high uncovered for 30 minutes, then strain for 10 seconds and return to pot removed from the heat. Cover with a lid and let steam for 10 minutes*.
- While rice and tofu are cooking, prepare sauce by adding all ingredients to a medium-size mixing bowl and whisking to combine. Taste and adjust flavor as needed, adding more tamari or soy sauce for saltiness, peanut butter for creaminess, brown sugar for sweetness, or chili garlic sauce for heat.
- Once the tofu is done baking, add directly to the sauce and marinate for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Heat a large metal or cast iron skillet over medium heat. Once hot, use a slotted spoon to scoop the tofu into the pan leaving most of the sauce behind. Cook for 3-4 minutes, stirring occasionally, until deep golden brown on all sides (see photo). Lower heat if browning too quickly. Remove from pan and set aside.
- To the still hot pan add garlic, green onion, peas and carrots. Sauté for 3-4 minutes, stirring occasionally, and season with 1 Tbsp (15 ml) tamari or soy sauce (amount as original recipe is written // adjust if altering batch size).
- Add cooked rice, tofu, and remaining sauce and stir. Cook over medium-high heat for 3-4 minutes, stirring frequently.
- Serve immediately with extra chili garlic sauce or sriracha for heat (optional). Crushed salted, roasted peanuts or cashews make a lovely additional garnish. Leftovers keep well in the refrigerator for 3-4 days, though best when fresh. Reheat in a skillet over medium heat or in the microwave.
Video
Notes
*For the rice, you can also substitute a comparable amount of quinoa.
*Rice cooking method from Saveur! Literally, the perfect brown rice.
*Nutrition information is a rough estimate calculated with the lesser amounts of brown sugar and chili garlic sauce.
Katy says
I made this. It was delicious. I used my rice steamer to make the rice though. Does Boiling it in 12 cups water then steaming get rid of some of the starch and make the rice less sticky? Even with sticky rice it was good
Hi Katy, the pasta method does yield really fluffy rice! In our experience brown rice isn’t usually sticky. Confirming you were using brown, not white rice?
Katy says
I had to use white rice because I was on a fiber free diet for 2 days in prep for a medical procedure. I actually didn’t notice the recipe said brown rice. Now that makes much more sense. Thanks for the reply. Next time when I use brown rice like I usually would, I will try your method. Thank you.
Ah, got it! Enjoy!
Saara Antipas says
This is my all-time favourite rice recipe! I’ve been making it for about 5 years now and thought I’d better let you know! Thanks so much for the wonderful recipe! Xxx
Aw, we’re SO happy you enjoy the recipe, Saara! Thank you for the lovely review! xo
Mindy Artus says
Made this last night – I think the peanut butter in the sauce gives this dish such a depth of flavor. I sauteed onion, zucchini, garlic and fresh haricot verts from the garden and added cooked basmati rice. Delicious. Served with Asian glazed grilled Norwegian Salmon and corn on the cob. Recipe is a keeper. Thank you.
We’re so glad you enjoyed it, Mindy! Thanks so much for the lovely review. xo
Linn says
Even my two year old is obsessed with this recipe!
Whoop! We’re so glad to hear it. Thank you for the lovely review! xo
Julie says
Everything about this got a thumbs up from the family except the tofu. I used an organic locally (UK) made tofu; a Japanese recipe but it’s pre-pressed so it doesn’t need water squeezing out. I’ve fried it before and it’s been fine – less crumbly then other tofu – but this method turned it into very tasty, plasticky rubber. 🤔 I guess I might need to try it again with regular tofu…
The rice cooking technique was interesting and worked fine for me. My brown basmati might have ended up a bit overdone, so I think I’ll shave a few minutes off the half hour next time.
I subbed in 250g chopped mushrooms for the carrot, stir fried separately in a bit of oil.
I am curious though, your recipe has no oil mentioned at all except a tiny bit in the sauce. Are you really just dry frying everything else?
Hi Julie, Thank you for sharing your experience! It sounds like the tofu may have baked a little too long. Perhaps that tofu is dryer and doesn’t need as long? We don’t find it necessary to bake the tofu with oil, but you definitely could bake it with oil.
Colburn says
DONT MAKE THE RICE AS DESCRIBED IN THE RECIPE
I’ve made this twice. The first time it was fantastic.
I made the rice according to the directions on the bag of rice. I doubled the sauce and subbed red onion and chickpeas instead of peas. Phenomenal.
The way the recipe is asking to make the rice uses way too much water. I’ve never heard of cooking 1 cup of rice with 12 cups of water. WTF!
I tried to do it that way the second time and the rice turned out mushy. It’s not nearly as good, the extra water diluted the flavor and it’s not recognizable as fried rice.
Ignore this strange time consuming way of making rice and just follow the directions on the rice bag.
Did this recipe get hacked? Never heard of making rice that way.
Hi Colburn, sorry that method didn’t work for you! We wonder what type of rice you were using? The method we described is called the pasta method and we find it creates the fluffiest brown rice. See the notes for more info!
Colburn says
I was using basmati rice instead of brown rice.
It’s a great recipe overall, I really appreciate it!
Hi Colburn, there’s both brown basmati and white basmati, so we’re not sure which you used. White rice doesn’t work well with the pasta method, so if you used white, that would explain why it was mushy!
Roxanne Boyd says
How big is a serving?
Hi Roxanne, 1 serving is 1/4 of the total recipe, but we don’t have a precise measurement in cups. Probably 1 – 1 1/2 cups. Hope that helps!
Jody says
Thank you for this recipe. The flavors are so good and it is visually gorgeous looking. I did use my rice cooker but one of these days I’ll try it your way, I love it so much that I am making this for 15 people at a get together this weekend and I really, really appreciate that you have the increase the servings conversion — no need to guess!
We’re so glad you enjoyed it, Jody! Thanks so much for the lovely review. xo
Charli says
Great vegan fried rice! I added a tablespoon of oil to my wok before frying the rice.
Also, I made rice in advance earlier in the day. This would work well with leftover rice too.
I didn’t add any sugar and it still tasted yummy!
Jasmine says
Still using this recipe years and years later! Our family loves it.
We’re so glad you’re enjoying it, Jasmine. Thank you for sharing! xo
Ki says
I’m your March 23rd review…love this! I’m making another recipe and am wondering if I can cook white rice in the same fashion as the brown rice in your recipe above,..it came out perfectly…any thoughts? I do not cook rice often at all…
Hi Ki, we haven’t tried this method with white rice and aren’t sure if it would work. It would certainly cook faster than brown rice, probably 10-12 minutes. Let us know how it goes if you try it!
Kim says
It turns out mushy 😞 oh well.. lesson learned!
Kim says
There were so many wonderful surprising things about this meal! From the tofu… I did not expect the texture! I did press it first. To the rice… So MUCH water!! But it worked and it was cooked to perfection! All of the flavors just came together beautifully. This will be added to my book immediately 💕😊
No complaints from my husband and daughter… and my husband scarfed it right down 😉 I will take that as a win!!
We’re so glad you and your family enjoyed it, Kim. Thanks so much for the lovely review! xo
Kristi E says
This was really good and it is definitely going into my “make again” file! I added pineapple to mine and am thinking about adding water chestnuts next time for a nice crunch. The only thing I would change is the size of the tofu cubes. A 1/4 inch cube of tofu is way too small and does not look like the size on the video. (maybe a typo?) I’ll be making 1/2 inch cubes next time to see if that comes out better.
Thanks for the great recipe!!
Thank you for sharing your experience and modifications, Kristi!
Colin says
A staple in my kitchen, and a (non-veg) people pleaser for sure! I usually stick to the recipe as written… sometimes with the oil, sometimes without… sometimes with peas/carrots, sometimes with whatever frozen veg I have on hand… no matter how I make this it always comes out perfect! I can’t speak on the rice cooking method, as I use a rice cooker to save myself some work. I usually serve with veggie spring rolls from Costco as a side.
I have also applied the tofu baking method to pretty much all of my tofu applications, never with any oil (I do use parchment paper exclusively for this)… perfect crispy “fried” texture every time without frying!
Amazing! Thanks so much for the lovely review and for sharing your modifications, Colin!
Adam G says
Hi from New Jersey! I’ll be making this tonight. Can’t wait.
We hope you enjoy, Adam!
Treena says
One of my absolute favourite recipes!!
Yay! Thanks, Treena!
M says
I made this for my husband who is fasting for Orthodox Easter (basically needs vegan without any oil). I always struggle to make a good tasting hot meal with protein (that isn’t always beans) without being able to cook with oil. This was perfect for him!
We’re so glad you enjoyed the recipe! Thank you for sharing! xo
Mimi says
What can I use instead of peanut butter? Thanks
Hi Mimi, the flavor will be different but any other nut butter should be tasty here. Cashew, almond, or even tahini would be yummy!
Georgia says
I made this tonight. I used broccoli cause I needed to use it and used some olive oil gifted to me from Italy, nummy,this was very good, I loved it and so easy, just what I wanted.
Thanks so much for the lovely review, Georgia. We are so glad you enjoyed it! Next time, would you mind leaving a star rating with your review? It’s super helpful for us and other readers. Thanks so much! xo
Treena Davis says
Very yummy!!
Woohoo! Thanks for the review, Treena!
Isaiamuthu says
Very tasty vegan fried rice recipe!!!
We’re so glad you enjoyed it. Thanks so much for the lovely review! xo