Today I’m going to show you how to make an amazing fried rice recipe without egg, or soy. Like stir-fry, fried rice can be made a thousand different ways, and that’s what we’ll be tapping into. This recipe is also a great way to add more fresh veggies to your weekly meals.
In fact, one of my tasters say that this is one of the best vegan fried rice recipes they’ve ever had, and they’re not fans of some of the vegetables in this recipe. It just goes to show that in the right combination, and with the right additional flavours, veggies can really shine. Now, grab your cutting board and let’s get to work!
Tools to Make This Egg Free Fried Rice Recipe
- Vegetable Peeler
- Knife (this is my favourite current knife series)
- Cutting Board
- Baking Sheet (also called a Baking Tray)
- Kitchen Scale
- Deep/Large Pot (you can also use a Dutch Oven)
- Cooking Spoon
Allergy Status
Free From: Wheat/Gluten, Dairy, Egg, Soy, Tree Nut (including Coconut), Peanut, Fish, Shellfish, Sesame, Top 9 Allergens, Sesame, Apple, Avocado, Banana, Beans & Lentils, Berries, Buckwheat, Cane/Refined Sugar, Carrot, Cinnamon, Citrus, Garlic, Lupin, Mushroom, Mustard, Nightshade, Oat, Potato (Nightshade Variety), Poultry, Red Meat, Seeds, Squash & Gourd, Strawberry, Sweet Potato & Yam, Tapioca/Cassava/Yuca/Manioc, Tomato, Yeast
Friendly To: EOE, Vegan
Compatible With: Corn Free
Corn Free: Use a safe cooking oil/fat in place of the dairy free butter. Make sure your produce is safe (root vegetables have higher success rates especially at farmer’s markets) and use a safe brand of peas.
Ingredients for This Fried Rice Recipe Without Egg
Oven Roasted Veg Ingredients
- 110mL Oil of Choice for Cooking (4 ounces)
- 375g Organic Purple Daikon Radish (13.5 ounces)
- 235g Organic Watermelon Radish (8.5 ounces)
- 120g Organic Tokyo Turnips (4.5 ounces)
- 2 tsp Sea Salt
Stovetop Part 1 Ingredients
- 40g Dairy Free Butter/Fat/Oil of Choice For Cooking
- 365g Organic Yellow Onion (13 ounces), diced
- 100g Organic Celery (3.5 ounces), sliced thin
- 165g Organic Medjool Dates (6 ounces), weighed without pits
- 1 tsp Sea Salt
Stovetop Part 2 Ingredients
- 40g Dairy Free Butter/Fat/Oil of Choice For Cooking
- 280g Organic Frozen Peas (10 ounces)
- 70g Fresh Organic Spinach Leaves (2.5 ounces), chopped
- 1/2 tsp Sea Salt
Assembly Ingredients
- 500g Roasted Vegetable (from above) (18 ounces)
- 1.38KG Organic Calrose OR Sushi Rice (50 ounces) cooked, unsalted
- 2 tsp Sea Salt
Ingredient Notes
Oil of Choice: For oven roasting, you’ll want to use a liquid oil for ease. However, if you’re not vegan and want to punch up the flavour, use bacon drippings on your baking tray. During the stovetop portion of the cooking process, you can use a liquid oil such as olive oil or perilla seed oil, dairy free butter, or vegan butter.
Spinach Leaves: If you can’t have spinach, baby kale leaves are a fantastic substitute, followed by baby arugala.
Rice: Personally, I use sushi rice from this brand for fried rice recipes. You can experiment with short grain white rice, jasmine rice, short grain brown rice, long grain brown rice, and more. Each one will bring a different vibe and fragrance to the table, so it’s all about personal preference.
For example, my kids really, really, really don’t like jasmine rice (or basmati rice), and it took them years to warm up to brown rice. For reference, they grew up on loads of sushi rice before I started introducing them to other options.
Cooking with day-old rice is a very traditional way to make fried rice. However, it’s not the end of the world if you use fresh white rice or fresh brown rice when making this recipe, rather than cold rice. Honestly, I use fresh cooked rice almost every time. I know, GASP.
Fried Rice Directions (with pictures)
Let’s assemble your simple ingredients into a super delicious fried rice without egg. The directions are broken down by component for your ease, however, make sure you have everything cooking at the same time.
Roasted Vegetables Directions
Start by peeling and cubing your vegetables. Aim for a medium dice, and keep in mind you’ll lose some volume as it cooks. You don’t want the pieces to be so small that they burn before they cook properly. This is also a good time to start your rice cooker.
Spread your cooking oil all over a baking tray. Add the produce, sea salt, then mix it all together well with the oil on the tray. Roast in your oven at 400f/205c for 20 – 25 minutes. The vegetables should be easy to pierce with a fork when they’re done.
Once ready, pull out of the oven and set aside until it’s assembly time. I like to prop my tray up a bit to allow any excess oil to run away from the veg.
Stovetop Directions
Heat a large/deep non-stick skillet on high heat (7/10 for me). Add your butter and melt. Once melted, add the other Part 1 Ingredients. Mix well and cook for 10 minutes. Stir as needed to prevent burning/sticking. Now, add the frozen peas.
Mix again and continue to cook for 5 – 8 minutes. At this point, if needed, add the next 40g of dairy free butter. In my case, I needed more cooking fat in the pan. Also, this last bit of butter will be absorbed by the rice when you add it, so it’s still OK to add, even if you think you don’t need it.
Finally, add your chopped spinach and 1/2 teaspoon of sea salt. Mix well and cook for 3 – 5 minutes. Time to assemble.
Assembly Directions
Once your stovetop ingredients are done cooking, mix in the roasted vegetables from the first step. My final roasted veg weight was 500g, but it’s totally fine if yours is different. Next, add the cooked rice. I cook rice without salt, and I then added 2 teaspoons of salt along with the rice.
If you cook your rice with salt (and any other flavouring agents), taste before adding the final salt content. Mix everything together VERY well, and your fried rice is ready to serve and enjoy.
How to Store Your Fried Rice Leftovers
After your whole family have enjoyed dinner, leftovers should be stored in an airtight container in your fridge. This fried rice recipe is not freezer friendly.
Your leftovers can be used as an easy dinner (eat within five days), or as a lunch.
Kid Serving Tips
This is a fantastic meal for kids to help you with. If you don’t already have child safe knives, I suggest getting a set and having your child help cut some of the vegetables. This type of food exposure is fantastic if you have a selective/picky eater that’s still learning to enjoy a range of ingredients.
This meal is easy to deconstruct! If you have a toddler or little kid that’s not ready for mixed foods just yet, you can easily set aside portions of each component for them. Here’s a picture of this meal on a divided toddler plate:
Another easy way to get your kiddo involved, no matter their age, is to. have them pit the dates for you. What I like about this: it’s one less sticky job for you to do.
As you prep dinner and later enjoy the meal together, talk about the color of the fresh vegetables to get your child interested, especially if these are new types of vegetables for your family.
Change Up Your Egg Free Fried Rice
There are so many ways you can change up this recipe. That’s one of the benefits to cooking with simple ingredients. Below are different ideas that lean into global flavors, and I hope something here excites you to try something new.
Make a spicy fried rice for dinner.
You can spice up your egg free fried rice with a hot pepper, sweet chili sauce, or crushed red pepper (easier method). If you want the taste of peppers, but without the heat, consider using aji dulce peppers, peperoncini peppers, or shishito peppers.
When cooking with peppers, you’ll add them half way through cooking the Stove Top Ingredients Part 1. If you opt for crushed red peppers, you can add them near the end of the Stove Top Ingredients Part 2 cooking.
Add an Asian sauce.
There are so many fantastic Asian sauces that can take your egg free fried rice to the next level. I’m sure you may have noticed that a lot of my recipes are hyper inclusive (from an allergen standpoint), so I don’t call for ingredients such as soy sauce. However, don’t let that stop you from using them. Here are some ideas of sauces you can add:
- Dark Soy Sauce
- Light Soy Sauce
- Regular Soy Sauce
- Gluten Free Soy Sauce (use coconut aminos if you have a soy allergy)
- Chinese Cooking Wine
How Much Sauce to Use: It’s important that you use the right amount of sauce to avoid making your fried rice super salty, or making it read as soggy. You’ll want to start with 2 Tablespoons of your sauce of choice during the assembly portion of the cooking process, or just at the end of the stovetop cooking.
Taste, and if you’d like a little more punch, add sauce 1 – 2 teaspoons at a time (it’s easy to go over on the salt levels).
Serve up a bowl of Korean inspired vegetable fried rice.
I don’t know about you, but I’m always looking for an excuse to pull out Korean gochujang. It’s a fermented spicy paste that can really breathe life into your recipes. If you’re gluten free, here’s an option for you to check out.
What’s nice is that the sweetness from the dates will help balance out the heat in the gochujang so you’re not too overwhelmed by the heat. You can take this a step further and use sesame oil (or perilla seed oil if you have a sesame allergy) as your cooking oil. Finish off your rice with a garnish of sliced green onions (also called scallions).
Add an umami hit to your fried rice.
There are loads of ingredients rich with umami flavour that you can add to your fried rice. Here are a few ideas:
- Fermented Seaweed Paste (example)
- Fish Sauce
- Garlic Paste (can be homemade from roasted garlic cloves)
- Ginger Paste
- Mushroom Powder (especially handy if you don’t like the texture of mushrooms, example link)
- Oyster Sauce
- XO Sauce
Change up the vegetables.
I personally love how flexible the vegetables are in this recipe. If you like other earthy veggies, shredded carrots or shredded parsnips would both be excellent additions.
You can also change up the vegetables by using what you have on hand in your freezer. For a real special treat, oven roast pearl onions with a little balsamic glaze and maple, and fold that into your fried rice.
Play with different toppings.
Try an Asian seasoning such as togarashi sprinkled on top of your rice. You could also try an everything style seasoning (assuming you’re not allergic to sesame).
Toppings don’t have to stop at seasonings. A crispy tofu topping would be SO delicious with this egg free fried rice. Plus, if you’re allergic to soy, you can get soy free tofu from Pumpfu or Big Mountain Foods.
Make a Mexican fried rice.
You can totally give your eggless fried rice a Mexican vibe with grilled street corn, a little spicy chili, diced tomatoes, black beans, and a little fresh cilantro. I know, this is a bit out there, but trust me, it works. This is fusion food at its finest.
Experiment with different protein options.
If you enjoy eating meat, you could add cooked beef, chicken, or pork to your fried rice. For vegan and vegetarian eaters, pulled jackfruit would be a great alternative.
I’d suggest cooking your protein in a small separate pan, then add it during the assembly steps.
Explore different textures.
There are lots of ways to add texture to your fried rice. Overall, since this egg free fried rice leans pretty hard into cooked vegetables, it can read as soft. Here are some ways to bring in layers of texture:
- Sautéed Chinese Broccoli
- Crushed Cashews
- Sliced or Diced Raw Jicama
- Fresh Edamame (soy)
- Diced Raw Bell Peppers or Lunch Box Peppers
More Awesome Rice Forward Recipes
If you need great rice dish recipes that are egg free and allergy friendly, I’ve got you covered. These dishes are all dairy free, nut free, egg free, and more.
- Creamy Vegan Eggplant & Rice (this is a great side dish)
- Pineapple Fried Rice
- Chicken Noodle Soup Flavored Rice Recipe
- Sweet & Sour Pork (features bell pepper and other traditional ingredients)
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Answering Your Questions About This Fried Rice Recipe Without Egg
Can I use any type of leftover rice if it’s cold?
In theory, yes. What really matters is that YOU like the taste of the rice. For example, my kids don’t love the taste of some rice varieties, no matter how much I jazz them up. That means I simply use a different variety when making rice recipes.
If you enjoy the taste of a non-traditional rice, I say go for it and love your meal. There are no rules set in stone and food should taste good to you. OK, maybe one rule. I wouldn’t use risotto rice for fried rice. I mean, you can, but should you?? Have fun!
Could I make this recipe in a wok?
If you have a large wok and know how to use it, I say go for it. However, cooking this egg free fried rice in a wok isn’t necessary. Personally, I don’t own a wok and all of the fried rice recipes that I make turn out wonderful.
Would this fried rice taste good with mushrooms?
Ab.So.Lute.Ly! If you like mushrooms, I don’t think you’ll be disappointed when adding them to this fried rice recipe. In fact, they can help bring in another layer of missing texture since there’s no eggs in this recipe.
It’s up to you what type of mushroom to use, along with how far to cook them. A light cook on medium heat will retain loads of texture. A longer cook on medium high heat is going to develop a deeper flavour. You could use a combination of texture rich mushrooms with flavour rich mushrooms for the best of both worlds.
Also, be sure to explore different mushroom varieties. Personally, I’d make this with lobster mushrooms because of their meaty texture and somewhat exotic flavor profile.
Will this taste good garnished with sesame seeds?
Fun fact: I have a life threatening sesame allergy and have no clue. In fact, I’ve had to ask people what sesame tastes like (I’ve only ever had it once and found out the hard way I’m very allergic).
Based on what I know, sesame seeds are dark and earthy, and you can taste them when you add them to your meals (as in, the flavor doesn’t hide). I’d sprinkle a few sesame seeds on a small portion of the meal and see if you like the taste before going all in. I get the feeling it won’t taste awesome, but again, I might be the wrong person to ask.
Will i get the best results with day old rice?
When it comes to making an authentic Chinese restaurant style fried rice, sure, you should use day old rice and have awesome results. However, if you don’t have cold leftover rice, I promise, it’s not the end of the world. I make fried rice ALL the time with fresh rice, and all of my taste testers say the rice tastes fabulous.
If you plan to make fried rice regularly, plan to make a batch of rice a day or two before you need it. You can even have your rice cooker going whilst making a completely different dinner, let it cool, then store it. plus, you can repurpose leftover rice in quite a few ways, so run with it.
Can I use frozen veggies when making this fried rice recipe?
You can absolutely use frozen veggies in place of the Roasted Vegetable Ingredients. It’s OK if you end up using different vegetables. In fact, you could roast a little extra and use leftover vegetables as part of a future lunch or dinner.
Could I swap the radish for fresh carrots?
When making this easy meal, you can absolutely substitute the radish for carrots. Ideally, you’ll cut your carrots and cook them alongside the rest of the vegetables. However, if your goal is to have fresh carrots in the fried rice, you need to use shredded carrots.
If you were to use pieces that are too large, it will make chewing the fried rice feel like a bit of a chore. Alternatively, you can also use very thin sliced fresh carrots.
Can I trade the peas for green bean?
You can swap the pea for green bean. However, I suggest cutting the green beans into small pieces so they’re closer to the size of peas. If you plan on using a French green bean, this is especially necessary since they’re considerably longer than a standard frozen green bean.
Are liquid aminos the same thing as coconut aminios?
No, liquid aminos are usually soy based, and coconut aminos are coconut based. It’s helpful that they’re different so people with different food allergies still have an option to choose from.
