I can’t even explain how good this fried rice is. I came up with the recipe on a whim awhile back. It was my first time making fried rice since becoming vegan in September of last year, and I wanted it to taste as good as I remembered fried rice tasting.
Thankfully, with a few additions (and subtractions!), this dish turned out remarkable. Even my husband, who only groans like crazy when his food is MEGA GOOD, couldn’t keep his mouth shut about it.
“You HAVE to blog this”, he said. “You HAVE TO. It’s SO GOOD.”
And so, here I am. Blogging it.
Traditional fried rice is made with fried egg and some kind of meat. Usually bacon – at least, that’s what was always in my fried rice growing up.
So, I had to either eliminate those ingredients, or come up with some substitutions.
I went the substitution route.
Instead of fried egg, I added scrambled tofu, which gave the dish that yellow colour that cooked eggs do.
For bacon, I had a few options. I could use fake meat, but didn’t want to, I could use coconut bacon – but I’m not a big fan of coconut bacon, and I didn’t feel like making anything bacon-like, so I did the next best thing – I used liquid smoke in the sauce.
And guess what – it worked like a charm. Bacon flavour without the bacon. Hurrah!
This is now one of my go-to meals when I am too tired to dream up something creative.
If you can cook the rice in advance, that will save you a lot of cooking time, since rice can take up to 45 minutes to cook (depending on the type you use – brown rice takes me 45 minutes to cook).
- 1½ cups uncooked rice (I used brown rice)
- ½ block extra firm tofu, pressed for at least 20 minutes
- ½ tsp turmeric
- ½ tbsp nutritional yeast
- ¼ tsp salt
- ¼ tsp onion powder
- ¼ tsp freshly ground black pepper
- ½ tbsp olive oil
- 1 small garlic clove, minced
- 2 tsp olive oil
- 1 medium carrot, diced (very small!)
- ⅔ cup frozen peas
- Green onions for garnish (optional)
- 2 tbsp tamari
- ¼ tsp salt
- ½ tsp freshly ground black pepper
- ¼ tsp liquid smoke
- 1 tsp sesame oil
- 1 medium garlic clove, minced or grated
- ½ tsp onion powder
- 1½ tbsp rice wine vinegar
- 1 tbsp brown sugar
- 2 tsp sriracha sauce (or to the heat of your liking!)
- Cook rice according to package directions and set aside.
- Crumble the pressed tofu in a small bowl. Add in the turmeric, nutritional yeast, salt, onion powder, and pepper. Mix well and set aside.
- Heat the oil in a medium pan over medium heat.
- Add the minced garlic and cook for a minute or so, or until the garlic has browned lightly.
- Add in the tofu mixture and cook for about 5-7 minutes more, stirring often. Remove from pan and set aside.
- In the same pan that you used to cook your tofu, heat 2 tsp olive oil over medium heat, then add in the carrots and peas.
- Cook for about 5 minutes, or until the carrots can easily be pierced with a sharp knife. Set aside.
- Whisk together all of the sauce ingredients and set aside.
- In a large pan or wok over medium heat, add your sauce, then the rice, then the vegetables, then the scrambled tofu.
- Mix everything together very well, and cook until heated through, about 5 minutes.
- Serve, topped with a sprinkling of chopped green onions, if desired.
I’ve been vegan (and also a raw foodist for 4) 15I years. Only love cooking the last 2 yrs. I made this last week and it was great! I accidentally used a whole block of tofu, so I doubled the spices. Definitely making it again! Loved it, Thanks!
That’s 15 years i mean. Lol
Hi,
Made the fried rice tonight. I didnt have the liquid smoke. Without the liquid smoke it was still delicious. As my husband kept saying ‘ delicious, absolutely delicious’. Needless to say this will now be my go to fried rice recipe.
Marianne
Just made this and it is absolutely wonderful! Great job, Cassie! I did add more peas and carrots and some diced celery and also some diced up vegan chik’n nuggets and also sauted some onion with the garlic for the tofu scramble (I don’t have any green onions). Anyway, I think it’s delicious! Thank you!
My family LOVES this recipe. Even my 19 year old son who HATES rice about 80% of the time, will come back for seconds and thirds! I’ve made this sooooo many times with many different varaitions of veggies. The sauce and the nooch mixture for the tofu is what makes this everything. I don’t think it matters what veggies.
I saw this recipe and adjusted it a little (didn’t add liquid smoke) and turned out to be very successful and so tasty, both me and my husband loved it! I also want to point out that it’s so clever how you make the tofu look so much like egg by adding turmeric in it! Thanks for sharing! I wish I could show you the picture of my dish though! 🙂
I am a newbie vegan. Tried this recipe in place of our usual ham and shrimp laden fried rice and was afraid of what the kids would think. They loved it! We added edamame beans and corn, in addition to the peas and carrots. It was different enough from fried rice that we were not comparing one with the other, which was good. Loved the tofu scramble, and loved the sauce with the liquid smoke. Great recipe. Thanks, Cassie!
Yum! Just made this recipe and its awesome! It was my first time making scrambled tofu and im quite impressed! The texture and color is spot on (well, from what i remember lol.. Havent had eggs in a long time) I did add more veggies (celery, bell pepper, mushrooms) and sprinkled black sesame seeds on top! Im pretty sure its gonna be good cold as left overs for lunch 😉 thanks for sharing!
This wasnt so great. Didn’t taste like fried rice but some rice concoction. I liked the idea though.
This was very good. I forgot to put the peas in it,even after I went to the store to get them,but it was still great. I will be adding to my rotation! Thanks
just curious, new to vegan cooking and was wondering if nutritional yeast is a must or can i omit?
thanks in advance =)
excited to make this!
Nutritional yeast adds a cheesiness. You can omit for this recipe if you don’t have it.
This is the first time I have tried a “Tofu Scramble”. I loved all the colors of this recipe. Thanks!
Looks great – thank you!! I will be making this soon 🙂
Is that 1.5 cups dry rice? Or 1.5 cups cooked rice?
Sorry! Uncooked rice. 🙂
This was seriously amazing, and really satisfied my comfort food craving. I think that next time I make it I will omit the salt and add in some more veggies. Thank you for the great recipe!
So happy you enjoyed it Kelli!
Hi!
🙂 Had this tonight with my family and it was a complete HIT!!!! First time working with a tofu scramble. Thank you 🙂
I’m glad you enjoyed it! Tofu scrambles are super simple and yummy. 🙂