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This ham fried rice is one of my favorite ways to use up leftover ham! Fried rice dishes are one of the most classic ways to both use up leftover ingredients and make a healthy, filling dish at the same time. While regular egg easy fried rice is perfectly fine, what do you do if you need that little bit of extra protein? What if that leftover rice and some scrambled eggs simply aren’t enough?
You can make my shrimp fried rice recipe as well, but here’s how to make an absolutely amazing ham fried rice so that you can always have this reliable recipe on hand for when you have ham on hand (which I tend to have more than I have shrimp!)
What is Ham Fried Rice?
Ham fried rice is a slightly Asiatic twist on the classic American breakfast dish of ham and eggs. Instead of serving up a plate of toast, fried eggs, and some ham for breakfast, you use rice, scramble the eggs, and mix it all with bits of shredded ham. I, of course, use bacon as well!
You end up with an easy to eat, mixed meal that could seamlessly replace any meal of the day – it works perfectly as a breakfast dish just as well as it works for dinner. It is also one of the best ways to use up leftover rice, either from last night’s dinner or from Chinese takeout. (I tend to be eating a lot of takeout lately, I don’t know about you)
Ham fried rice, just like many other Asian-inspired dishes, tends to look confusing when you watch an expert make it. However, it really is one of those simple dishes that come together with one step at a time, so if you follow a great recipe, you cannot go wrong!
How to Make an Incredible Ham Fried Rice
Once you learn that fried rice is frying a bunch of ingredients and sauces together with hardly any chance of screwing the recipe up, you’ll be making this from now on!
Ingredients:
– Bacon – you can use any flavor you like, however sweeter apple wood smoked types don’t work as well in this dish
– Fresh garlic – this is a base amount to start, you can adjust this to your liking, we love a lot of garlic!
– Sesame Oil – don’t use toasted sesame oil, you only use regular for frying. Toasted has a lower smoke point.
– Low Sodium Soy Sauce
– Oyster Sauce
– Cooked Rice – chilled completely. Old leftovers are the best for this (My favorite is Jasmine Rice)
– Chopped Ham – leftovers are great for this
– Cooked Vegetables – frozen work well, or any leftovers are great!
– Eggs – Beaten well until homogeneous
– Green onions for the top
Instructions
- Using your biggest, widest skillet, fry your bacon on medium-high heat until it gets as crispy as you like it. We tend to like ours tender-crisp.
- Once your bacon is done, add in your garlic and fry for about 1-2 minutes, or until lightly toasted and fragrant.
- Add your sesame oil, soy sauce, and oyster sauce. If you want, you can mix in even more at the end for a stronger flavor. Start with just 2 tablespoons of each, ramping up until you are happy with the taste.
- Stir everything together until everything is combined
- Add in your rice and fry it in the flavorful bacon fat until it is as crisp as you like it.
- Stir in your ham and whatever vegetables you chose.
- To make your eggs, instead of making it in a separate pan, just make a little well in the center of your rice mixture. Push everything to the side with your spatula and pour your eggs into the middle. Fry them gently until they scramble to your preferred level of doneness. Remember that it will continue to cook for a little while on the plate.
- Stir it all together again and fry the rice a bit more to let all the flavors get to know each other. If you want some extra soy sauce or oyster sauce, this is the time to add it. Don’t go overboard, though!
- Serve in bowls and top with your chopped green onions.
Tips and Tricks
- For an extra flair of flavor, when you add in any extra soy sauce or oyster sauces, pour them around your ham fried rice in the pan, rather than directly on it. This lets the sauce touch the hot pan itself before trickling down to mix in with the rest of the meal. This lets the sauces briefly sear and caramelize, resulting in a richer and more intense flavor throughout the whole dish. You might see expert chefs doing this with all kinds of wok dishes, but it works just as well with soy sauce and your widest skillet!
- Clean out your fridge and use any vegetables that you have leftover! This is a terrific way to use up leftovers that might get thrown out anyway. I usually don’t have leftover veggies, so I use the frozen mixed vegetables.
Check out my other pork recipes too!
Happy Cooking!
Love,
Karlynn
Ham Fried Rice
- Prep Time
- 10 minutes
- Cook Time
- 20 minutes
- Course
- Main Course
- Cuisine
- Chinese
- Servings
- 4
- Calories
- 607
- Author
- Karlynn Johnston
Ingredients
- 2-3 slices of bacon chopped small
- 3 cloves garlic minced
- 2 tablespoons sesame oil
- 2-3 tablespoons low sodium soy sauce to your taste
- 2 -4 tablespoons oyster sauce
- 5 cups cooked rice chilled completely –
- 2 cups chopped ham
- 1-2 cups cooked vegetables of your choice
- 2-4 large eggs beaten well
- diced green onions to top
Instructions
- In a large, over-sized skillet, fry the bacon on medium-high heat until it reaches desired doneness. We like ours tender-crisp in rice.
- Add in the garlic and fry for 1-2 minutes.
- Add in the sesame oil, soy sauce, and oyster sauce. ( you can mix in more at the end, so start at 2 tbsp of each. I prefer 2 tbsp soy and 4 tbsp Oyster sauce, but feel free to mix it up to your liking!). Stir until all the sauces and bacon mix are combined.
- Add in the rice and fry until it crisps up how you like it.
- Stir in the ham and vegetables of your choice.
- Push the rice to the side or make a well. Add in the eggs and stir fry in that well until scrambled. Once done, mix the egg into the rice mixture.
- Fry the rice some more, taste and see if you want to add more soy or oyster. Mine always needs more oyster sauce, it gives it the most fabulous flavor ever!
- Serve up in bowls and let the family top with green onions.
Recipe Notes
- old leftovers are the best when it comes to the rice, and I prefer Jasmine rice. You want the rice to be slightly dried out a bit to fry up properly.
- Nutritional values will vary depending on ingredients used
Nutrition Information
All calories and info are based on a third party calculator and are only an estimate. Actual nutritional info will vary with brands used, your measuring methods, portion sizes and more.
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