Sausage Fried Rice

Traditional fried rice gets a makeover with this easy sausage fried rice, filled with cabbage, carrots, peas, corn and eggs. Use brown rice or white. You can also swap out sausage with leftover pulled pork, steak or chicken and you’ve got a quick and flavorful meal!

This post was originally published June 9, 2014. It was been updated with new photos and video, plus more content.

I am always introducing new recipes to my family. The kids have gotten used to this even though not all of the foods I have given them were welcomed whole heartedly. And sometimes I forget some of the obvious choices to make for my crew.

My boys went out with their cousin one night to celebrate a birthday at Benihana’s. When they returned they raved about the fried rice prepared before them. Fried rice? Why did I never make fried rice for them at home? And so I did.

Ingredients you need

• Cooked rice: As I explained above, you can use any leftover cooked rice, brown rice or white, short grain or long. Do make sure it is chilled. You don’t want to fry up freshly cooked rice as it will get mushy from getting overcooked.
• Vegetables: I like to load up the veggies in my fried rice. I like to use carrots, celery, peas, corn and cabbage. Feel free to use these veggies, fewer veggies or swap out with your family’s favorites.
• Sausage: This recipe uses already cooked sausage. You can use any kind of cooked sausage: smoked, Andouille, Chinese, beef, pork, chicken…. Sometimes I make this fried rice with leftover pulled pork, too. It is terrific with leftover steak, as well. Use whatever protein, you have on hand, just be sure it is already cooked.
• Soy sauce: I prefer to use low sodium soy sauce. You can use regular soy sauce or Tamari sauce.
• Sesame oil: For extra flavor, I use toasted sesame oil.
• Fresh ginger: I love the flavor from fresh ginger, but you can use ground ginger instead.
• Eggs: Fried rice is not fried rice without some scrambled eggs in it. Keep this dish meat free and add extra eggs instead.
• Extra virgin olive oil: I sauté everything in olive oil. And yes, there are mild flavored olive oils out there. You can use any other vegetable oil you have on hand.
• Green onions: My family loves adding fresh herbs to our meals. You can skip the green onions or use chives.

Step-by-step directions

1. Sauté veggies. Heat up your wok and coat with some olive oil. Sauté the carrots, celery, corn and peas for 1-2 minutes.
2. Add meat. Stir in the sausage. This should already be cooked so it just needs a few minutes to heat up.
3. Add rice. Stir in the cabbage and then rice. Spread the mixture across the entire wok and cook until rice starts to sizzle, about 1 minute. Stir rice and spread again across the bottom of wok to cook for an additional minute.

4. Add seasonings. Mix together the ginger, soy sauce and sesame oil. Stir it into the rice mixture.
5. Add egg. Spread the rice mixture to one side of the wok and add the remaining ½ tablespoon of oil to the open part of the wok. Add eggs and stir quickly to scramble.
6. Garnish. When eggs are cooked, mix it in with the rest of the rice mixture.Remove from heat, add the green onions and serve immediately.

Expert tips and recipe FAQs

You can make fried rice with ANY kind of rice, long grain or short, white or brown. Chinese cuisine usually cooks with Jasmine rice, but as many countries make fried rice, they also use various different rices.

The beauty of this dish is that anything goes. There are no rules in what vegetables to use in fried rice, so choose your favorites or whatever you have in your refrigerator and freezer.

For me, it’s all about color. I like to choose a variety of colors and textures when I cook. In my fried brown rice recipe, I use carrots, corn, peas, cabbage and green onions.

Here are some great vegetables you can mix into your own fried rice:

• carrots
• celery
• corn
• peas
• onions
• green onions
• cabbage
• bean sprouts
• bok choy
• bell peppers
• snow pea pods
• mushrooms
• spinach
• broccoli
• asparagus

Just as you can choose any of your favorite vegetables to make fried rice, the same is true with the meats. Use whatever you have on hand, even leftover pulled pork, pork sausage, steak, chicken or shrimp.

Don’t have meat? Don’t worry. Just scramble an extra egg for your protein source or stir in some tofu.

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Sausage Fried Rice

Laura Bashar | Family Spice

Traditional fried rice gets a makeover with this easy sausage fried rice, filled with cabbage, carrots, peas, corn and eggs. Use brown rice or white. You can also swap out sausage with leftover pulled pork, steak or chicken and you've got a quick and flavorful meal!

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Prep Time 30 minutes mins

Cook Time 12 minutes mins

Total Time 42 minutes mins

Course Main Course

Cuisine Asian

Servings 6 Servings

Calories 321 kcal

Ingredients

  

1x2x3x

• 2 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil divided
• 1 cup diced carrot
• 1 cup diced celery
• ½ cup frozen peas
• ½ cup frozen corn
• 7 oz smoked sausage diced
• 4 oz shredded cabbage
• 3 cup cooked rice chilled
• 3 tablespoon soy sauce
• 1 teaspoon sesame oil
• 1 teaspoon freshly grated ginger
• 2 large eggs beaten
• 2 green onions diced

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Instructions

 

• Place a wok or large sauté pan over high heat. When wok is hot, coat the pan with 1 ½ tablespoons olive oil.
• Add the carrots, celery, corn and peas and give it a quick sauté for for 1-2 minutes.
• Stir in the sausage. This should already be cooked so it just needs a few minutes to heat up.
• Stir in the cabbage and then rice. Spread the mixture across the entire wok and cook until rice starts to sizzle, about 1 minute. Stir rice and spread again across the bottom of wok to cook for an additional minute.
• Mix together the ginger, soy sauce and sesame oil. Stir it into the rice mixture.
• Spread the rice mixture to one side of the wok and add the remaining ½ tablespoon of oil to the open part of the wok.
• Add eggs and stir quickly to scramble.
• When eggs are cooked, mix it in with the rest of the rice mixture.
• Remove from heat, add the green onions and serve immediately.

Notes

You can use any kind of cooked sausage: smoked, Andouille, Chinese, beef, pork, chicken…. Instead of sausage, feel free to use any leftover meats you have on hand, like leftover pulled pork, steak or chicken. Just give it a quick sauté in the hot wok to reheat.

I have made this dish with both brown rice and white. I always have leftover basmati rice on hand, and use it all the time to make this delicious meal.

Instead of fresh ginger, you can use ¼ teaspoon ground ginger.

I load my fried rice with LOTS of vegetable, which is how my family like it. So feel free to swap out the vegetables you don’t like with what you do like.

TO STORE: Store any leftovers in an airtight container and refrigerate for up to 4 days.

TO FREEZE: You can also freeze leftovers. Transfer to a resealable bag or freezer safe container and freeze for up to 4 months

Nutrition

Serving: -63gCalories: 321kcalCarbohydrates: 32gProtein: 11gFat: 17gSaturated Fat: 4gPolyunsaturated Fat: 11gCholesterol: 82mgSodium: 777mgFiber: 3gSugar: 3g

Keyword fried brown rice, pork fried rice, sausage fried rice

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Nutrition Disclaimer

Nutritional information is an estimate provided to you as a courtesy. You should calculate the actual nutritional information with the products and brands you are using with your preferred nutritional calculator.

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