This easy veggie fried rice is simple and quick to throw together for a weeknight meal or side dish. Loaded with vegetables and flavor, you’re going to love it.
There is just something about veggie fried rice. It’s filling, comforting, and goes with so many other great dishes. My family loves fried rice and this is a great way to get the kids to eat some extra vegetables.
Veggie Fried Rice
Fried rice is the perfect basic staple to have in your back pocket. It can easily help clean out the fridge and is the perfect vehicle for veggies and protein!
It’s easy to customize for what you like as there is no hard fast rule with what goes inside! It’s also easy to switch up the protein making it a great meal for those mixed eating families. Have a vegan preference, use plant based ingredients. But if you have that meat eater at the table, it’s super easy for them to add their protein of choice!
What goes with vegetable fried rice?
There are so many dishes you can serve with fried rice, you can make a variety of dishes to give the full take out experience, or keep it simple with a basic miso soup! Some of my favorite recipes to serve this with are:
- Vegan Tofu General Tso Recipe
- Baked Vegan Orange Cauliflower Recipe
- Indo Chinese Corn Soup
- Stir Fry Cauliflower Rice (as an extra veggie side)
- Easy Vegan Thai Peanut Noodles
- Easy Vegan Miso Soup with Noodles and Vegetables
- 20 Minute Vegan Coconut Curry Soup
- 20-Minute Low-Fat Detox Bok Choy Miso Noodle Soup
Is vegetable fried rice healthy?
Usually, anything that is fried isn’t that good for you, but this recipe is a great balance because you can control how much oil you use. There are so many vegetables and the amount of sesame oil and soy sauce is minimal.
Is vegetable fried rice vegan?
Yes! You can use vegan egg product for the eggs traditional fried rice has or leave it out all together. Everything else is vegan-friendly.
Is homemade fried rice bad for you?
No, homemade fried rice is actually better for you as far as sodium and oil goes, as you can control what ingredients go into the rice. Plus you can add all the veggies!
Customizing fried rice
It’s really easy to make this fried rice recipe anything that works for you and your family. I make this different almost every time. Here are a few tips to help guide you:
- Check to see what veggies are in your fridge that may be going bad soon.
- When buying groceries, buy a little extra of the veggies you are already using for other recipes.
- Pick up a bag of frozen mixed veggie for a really fast version
- Use ready rice, frozen or vacuum packed.
You can also use leftover rice from another recipe. I like to make this friend rice the same week I make something like my Baked Vegan Orange Cauliflower Recipe or the Vegan Tofu General Tso Recipe because you can make extra rice to use.
Another thing you can do is mix regular rice with cauliflower rice. This adds an even bigger dose of veggies and my kids don’t even notice. I use this same idea in my Easy Vegan Tikka Masala recipe!
Traditionally, fried rice uses white rice, but brown rice works great as well. We usually use brown because we love the texture and slight nutty like flavor.
If you want to up the spice level in this recipe, add some sriracha. It will give it a great flavor and spice. And you all know how I love my spice!
Tips for adding protein
Adding protein to this recipe is super easy. There are so many options to choose from and any of them would work great.
- White beans
- Chickpeas
- Mild vegan Sausage
- Use my vegan taco meat without the seasoning
- Use my vegan sausage crumbles without the seasoning
- Crispy tofu from this recipe
- Crumbled tempeh
This is also a perfect recipe to make for those dinners where you have a variety of eating styles. Making this veggie fried rice as a base, then allowing everyone to add their protein of choice leads to stress free and happy meals. Which is so important for your mental health!
Storing and reheating tips
If you have leftovers, store them in an airtight container in the fridge. You could also freeze this for long term storage. When reheating, you can always use a microwave, but it’s easy to reheat on the stove as well. Here is how:
- Add fried rice to a pan.
- Add a few tablespoons of water and/or a drizzle of oil.
- Slowly heat as you mix around to warm the fried rice up!
Meal prep tips
This veggie fried rice recipe is super easy to prep! That is the beauty of how great it is. Here are the tips I use when I have this on my meal plan for the week:
- Buy extra veggies from the other recipes I am making that week and prep them when prepping the other recipes.
- Keep the extra prepped veggies in the fridge in a container.
- Make extra rice if making it for another recipe, or buy premade rice. You can always just pop some rice into your instant pot the day before or morning of as well.
- Night of, I simply take out the prepped veggies and cooked rice and throw this meal together in about 15 minutes.
Here is a full post all about how to prep veggies to help you organize your dinners to make them easier!
How To Make Veggie Fried Rice
- Saute veggies.
- Add in rice and seasonings.
- Garnish with onion and devour!
This easy veggie fried rice is simple and quick to throw together for a weeknight meal or side. Loaded with vegetables and flavor, you're going to love it!
- 4 cups chopped veggies of choice , see note
- 1 cup chopped yellow or sweet onion
- 2 cloves garlic , finely chopped
- ¼ cup Soy Sauce , or Tamari for gluten-free (can add up to 6 tablespoons if preferred, we didn’t like ours too salty)
- 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
- 2 teaspoons sesame oil , can use drizzle of broth to keep oil-free
- 4 cups cooked rice
- ½ cup sliced green onion , optional for garnish
- Black pepper to taste , optional
- In a large pot, sauté the onion and garlic with the sesame oil or broth until slightly brown. About 5 minutes.
- Add the veggies and sauté until browning at the edges. About 5 more minutes.
- Add rice, soy sauce, and vinegar and mix until combined and heated through. About 2-3 minutes.
- Garnish with green onion and black pepper and serve!
- You can use any veggies you like with this, I used bok choy, carrots, peas, peppers and broccoli. Frozen veggies work too.
- You can add egg to this if you want as well. Use a vegan egg to keep this vegan. Simply scramble cook the egg first and set aside to mix in at the end.
- The apple cider vinegar helps bring out the flavors, but it can be left out if preferred.
Tips to prep ahead:
- Chop veggies. Cook rice.
Andrea D Wiener says
or you can even substitute for both the soy sauce and tamari something called Bragg’s Amino Acids (I try to get the soy-free one) – that works just as well!
veggiesdontbite says
Hi Andrea! You definitely can! It isn’t my favorite flavor but I know many love it!