3 min read

Quick Vegan Fried Rice Recipe

It's been a busy day, and all you want is a quick hot meal to sit down to. Don't stress; I have you covered with this five-minute fried rice. This rice recipe covers several Daily Dozen checkboxes, including grain, vegetables and beans. It is also simple, quick and tastes great.

The recipe is a vegan dish. I try to stick to simple ingredients that are ready to go. I do not use vegetable oil or sesame oil in this recipe, but some of the ingredients contain different oils as they are processed. You can adjust this as you make it.

What’s in Your Bowl: Nutritional Benefits

This quick vegan fried rice isn’t tasty – it’s packed with healthy goodness. With plant-based protein, fibre, and vitamins, it’s a good meal for your body. Add tofu and veggies to boost nutrition. Use brown rice or extra beans, like edamame, for more protein.

Easy Ingredient Swaps

Missing an ingredient? No worries! Swap tofu for tempeh or chickpeas, and if you don’t have fried rice sauce, soy sauce or a dash of sriracha works well. You can even use tamari or coconut aminos if you’re gluten-free. This recipe is super flexible, so you can use what you have in your kitchen.

Storing and Reheating Tips

Got leftovers? Keep your fried rice in an airtight container in the fridge for up to three days. When reheating, add a splash of water and heat it on the stovetop or microwave with a cover to keep it moist. You can also freeze it for later – perfect for quick meals when you’re short on time!

Here's what you will need for vegan fried rice:

Veggies and beans: I use some pre-cooked frozen vegetables and beans. Frozen veggies are handy for saving time and still providing great nutrition. Frozen options make for easy meal prep.

For this recipe, I had pre-cooked corn and edamame. For the fresh vegetables, I used purple onion and red capsicum. Cut your vegetables as you prefer. I diced the capsicum and sliced the onion. Green onion is great if it is handy but not essential. While fresh veggies are nice, they take longer to prepare. Frozen onion is just as good, and no tears involved.

Tofu: Tofu offers flavour and protein for those who want a little extra. I used a flavoured block of tofu for extra umami flavour and cut it into small cubes. The tofu was pre-fried but

You might like to eat cleaner and switch this out for baked tofu or plain. 100 grams of firm tofu should be enough unless you want to increase the protein content. If you have some leftover tofu scramble, this would be a great addition.

Grains: The type of rice you use is up to you. The recipe can be prepared with white rice, jasmine rice or brown rice. Cook according to the package instructions. The best rice is day-old rice. Cooking the rice a day before allows the rice to dry out a little. This way it won't be soggy when you add the ingredients.

To save time, I like to use pre-made rice from a packet. You can use whichever rice you like; traditionally, white rice is used for fried rice, but we don't stick to the rules on this site. I used a 250-gram pouch of coconut chilli lime white rice.

This rice is good, but today, we are levelling it up. Besides the flavour and convenience, I like this rice because it is a little dry. The dryness of the rice makes it great for soaking up flavours and sauces, and you don't end up with soggy rice at the end of the recipe.

Sauce: Soy sauce works and is what most of us have. For this batch, I used Chef's Choice Fried Rice Sauce.

Storage: If there is leftover rice, allow the hot rice to cool, put it in an air-tight container and store it in the fridge for up to three days. The cold rice can be eaten as is or heated in the microwave. Cold leftover rice is perfect for work or school lunches. Alternatively, this recipe is freezer-friendly.