This super easy leftover pork fried rice recipe only takes about 20 minutes to throw together, so it’s a great weeknight recipe for a busy evening — and, it’s so much cheaper than takeout!
Fried rice is one of my favorite ways to use up leftovers; it’s a great way to give new life to leftover rice, leftover meat, or leftover veggies, or to cook up an easy meal on your next “use up what you have in the fridge” day.
Think ahead and meal prep a little: I sometimes just make up a big pot of rice on Sunday, so that I always have cold cooked rice handy to use in fried rice, to top with stir fries, or as the base for rice bowls later in the week.
This all leads up to…
Easy Leftover Pork Fried Rice!
Today’s Easy Leftover Pork Fried Rice recipe makes use of just a little bit of leftover cooked pork roast I had in my fridge: It wasn’t enough to feed all of us when served as a sliced up roast, but was easy enough to stretch into a whole new meal by throwing it into a big batch of fried rice with a couple of scrambled up eggs, plus some veggies I already had on hand.
This simple fried rice is such a great option for any busy weeknight, because it can be on your table in just 20 minutes start to finish. Bonus: It’s cheaper, fresher, and even tastier than carryout!
Usually I like to add mushrooms to my pork fried rice since the flavors of pork and mushrooms pair so well, but apparently someone already ate all the mushrooms in my fridge before I could get to them. (OK, in all honesty, it was me, so I guess I can’t get mad…) So, I instead found a bit of broccoli in the fridge to add into this batch of fried rice.
- Not a pork fan? Check out this easy shrimp fried rice recipe for an alternative dinner idea.
- If you have leftover chicken instead of leftover pork, try: Leftover chicken fried rice.
- For a vegetarian alternative, check out: Edamame & mushroom fried rice.
You can substitute whatever veggies you have on hand or that you personally enjoy. Fried rice is not an exact science; it’s an easy weeknight meal to throw together with whatever you have in the fridge!
Pork Fried Rice (with leftover pork)
Ingredients
3 Tbsp canola or other high smoke point oil, divided
1 tsp sesame oil
1 medium carrot, peeled and diced small
4 cloves minced garlic (about 2 tsp)
1 cup finely chopped broccoli
1 cup frozen green peas
1/4-1/2 tsp crushed red pepper (use less or omit, if you’re sensitive to heat)
1/2 tsp ground ginger
2 Tbsp soy sauce
4 cups cold cooked rice (it’s not an exact science — use what you have!)
1-1.5 cups leftover chopped cooked pork
2 eggs, beaten
2 chopped green onions
Sriracha or chili garlic sauce to taste, optional
Directions
Heat 2 Tbsp canola oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Once shimmering, add the carrot, garlic, broccoli, and sesame oil and cook for about two minutes until veggies begin to soften, stirring occasionally.
Stir in peas, crushed red pepper, and ginger and continue cooking for about a minute, then stir in the rice and spread it out across the entire pan, breaking up clumps. Let the rice cook undisturbed for two minutes, then stir, spread out again, and cook for another two minutes.
Stir in the soy sauce and pork and continue cooking over medium-high heat for about another minute.
Meanwhile, beat the eggs in a small bowl. Push the rice to the edges of the pan to create an open well in the center, then add 1 Tbsp canola oil to the center of the pan.
Pour the beaten eggs into the center of the pan and cook for about two minutes until scrambled, occasionally pushing the egg to the middle and breaking it up. Stir and chop the cooked scrambled eggs into the rice, then stir in the chopped green onions.
Taste to see if you want to add additional soy sauce, stir in a little optional chili garlic sauce or Sriracha to taste, then serve.
Note: Cold cooked leftover rice works much better for fried rice than freshly cooked, and it’s also important for the final texture to let the rice sit spread out in the pan undisturbed for a while, rather than stirring frequently.
Who else ate too much fried rice today?
… Although, I seriously had to fight our resident fried rice fiend Mr. 11 over the last of it! There’s just something kind of irresistible about a big plate of fried rice, isn’t there? I added a little dollop of chili garlic sauce to mine to kick it up a notch, but you can skip that for the kids or if you don’t care for that bit of underlying heat.
This easy leftover pork fried rice could just as easily become leftover chicken fried rice, leftover veggie fried rice, or any combination you prefer. The important thing is that: Just a little bit of leftover pork roast seems like a lot more meat when diced up and distributed through the whole batch — and the slightly chewy pork goes so well with the salty soy and tender rice & veggies. Enjoy!
Easy Leftover Pork Fried Rice, printable recipe
Easy Leftover Pork Fried Rice
Equipment
Ingredients
- 3 Tbsp canola or other high smoke point oil, divided
- 1 tsp sesame oil
- 1 medium carrot, peeled and diced small
- 4 cloves minced garlic (about 2 tsp)
- 1 cup finely chopped broccoli
- 1 cup frozen green peas
- 1/4-1/2 tsp crushed red pepper (use less or omit, if you’re sensitive to heat)
- 1/2 tsp ground ginger
- 2 Tbsp soy sauce
- 4 cups cold cooked rice (it’s not an exact science — use what you have!)
- 1-1.5 cups leftover chopped cooked pork
- 2 eggs, beaten
- 2 chopped green onions
- Sriracha or chili garlic sauce to taste (optional)
Instructions
- Heat 2 Tbsp canola oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Once shimmering, add the carrot, garlic, broccoli, and sesame oil and cook for about two minutes until veggies begin to soften, stirring occasionally.
- Stir in peas, crushed red pepper, and ginger and continue cooking for about a minute, then stir in the rice and spread it out across the entire pan, breaking up clumps. Let the rice cook undisturbed for two minutes, then stir, spread out again, and cook for another two minutes.
- Stir in the soy sauce and pork and continue cooking over medium-high heat for about another minute.
- Meanwhile, beat the eggs in a small bowl. Push the rice to the edges of the pan to create an open well in the center, then add 1 Tbsp canola oil to the center of the pan.
- Pour the beaten eggs into the center of the pan and cook for about two minutes until scrambled, occasionally pushing the egg to the middle and breaking it up. Stir and chop the cooked scrambled eggs into the rice, then stir in the chopped green onions.
- Taste to see if you want to add additional soy sauce, stir in a little optional chili garlic sauce or Sriracha to taste, then serve.
Notes
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Kathleen says
Yum! Looks delicious. Made fried rice today with our fave combo, ham (we had our Easter dinner yesterday), and topped it with crispy bacon. We love tons of mushrooms too. The ham/bacon combo, if you are lucky enough to have leftovers, makes a spectacular breakfast reheated and topped with a soft cooked egg. I think I’ll go hide some now for breakfast . .
rachel says
Oh yum! That sounds so good right now. 🙂
Sheila Tennent says
Fabulous, made this last night. I have never tried fried rice before but this recipe was easy and very delicious. Added lots of bacon and mushrooms and snow peas. The whole gang loved it. This recipe is a keeper.
Jennifer @ Mrs G Living Simple says
Looks delicious. I’m going to add this to my menu plan. Thanks!
Christine says
This is the first recipe my oldest in college learned to make. She makes it several times a week because it is so simple and inexpensive. We like our fried rice spicy so I add lots of crushed red pepper.
Meredith says
This is the best fried rice I’ve ever made! Thanks for the tips! I did double the carrot since my toddler is obsessed, and I don’t keep sesame oil on hand so I didn’t use that, but I followed every other step exactly. I chopped the veggies during nap time so when dinner rolled around it all came together very quickly. Thanks 🙂
rachel says
Awesome! I’m so glad you enjoyed it. The sesame oil just takes it up a notch, but fried rice is still great without. 🙂
Helyn says
I made this tonight and it came out delicious. So easy and so good. A picture doesn’t do it justice. Thanks for sharing!!
LuAnn says
It was awesome 👏
Donna Parsons says
except think will use beef since that’s the roast had yesterday
Paulo says
Nice flavor easy prep, made even easier with a bag of frozen stir fry veggies that I ran under cold water to defrost.
Vicki says
This was awesome. I cooked my carrots a bunch prior to adding them. My friend doesn’t eat mushrooms or onions so I omitted them. Had no red pepper so added hot sauce instead. I will definitely make this again; I am wondering about trying it with shrimp!
rachel says
Awesome, so glad you enjoyed! I do have a similar shrimp fried rice recipe here: https://www.mashupmom.com/easy-shrimp-fried-rice/ — but really switch out the proteins to what you have on hand. 🙂
Ellie says
I don’t usually comment on recipes but I felt that I had too for this one! I found this recipe and made it in October last year and my husband (who doesn’t like fried rice) tried it because “it smelt delicious”, not only that he and the kids finished their bowls and had more! All saying they would eat it again. I had completely forgotten about it over Christmas but this week decided to have it again but couldn’t find this recipe! I searched the internet with all the search terms I thought I may have used and ended up searching through my browsing history just to find this recipe!! While there are millions of fried rice recipes out there, this is the only one I’ll be using as it is perfect!
Lauren says
Wow! Awesome! Did not have any green onion, so diced half an onion and saute until translucent before adding carrots, etc. Used 1/4 tsp frozen chopped habanero in place of the red pepper. Added some frozen corn with the peas too. Did not have any cooked rice so made some fresh and added it at the very end. It turned out great!
Laura Born says
This is a great way to use leftover pork roast! Every time I have tried to reheat or serve leftover pork with a sauce or some other variation, it always came out dry and not a very good flavor. This recipe knocks it out of the park! I did not have green peas or green onions on hand, but I had everything else. I didn’t have leftover rice, so I had to make fresh rice, but while I was cutting up all of the veggies and getting everything else ready, I spread the hot rice out in a large pan and put it in the freezer since you said it is better with cold rice. The rice wasn’t completely cold when I started cooking, but it was apparently cooled off enough. I also doubled the recipe. This was amazing! The flavor was so good! We like spicy foods, so I put in a whole teaspoon of crushed red pepper and it added just the right heat, although I could have added another 1/4 tsp and it still would have been within our tolerance level. The only thing I did differently since I doubled the recipe and had a lot more rice, was that I stirred the rice 2 more times and let it sit for 2 mins each time so more of the rice was fried. I look forward to trying this with other meats as well!