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.
Laura says
September 15, 2016 at 1:34 AMAptly named….it’s the best vegan fried rice I’ve ever tasted. Thank you!
Kim says
June 21, 2016 at 8:21 PMIt was awesome. There was no sesame seed oil or liquid smoke so I omitted them from the recipe. I added green beans cut in size of green peas for crunchiness.
julia says
May 7, 2016 at 9:05 PMfucking incredible. i’m still in shock
Cassie says
May 18, 2016 at 10:38 AMWoot! Glad you liked it 😀
Bec Wiles says
May 2, 2016 at 4:48 AMOMG! Thank you, thank you, this was DELIGHTFUL and so moorish!
Kelly says
April 13, 2016 at 9:48 PMI made this tonight and my husband and I LOVED it. Great recipe. Will definitely make again.
Cassie says
April 14, 2016 at 7:45 AMAwesome, Kelly! So happy that you both loved it. 🙂
Charlie says
March 16, 2016 at 6:59 PMThis was great! Best vegan fried rice I’ve tried.
Cassie says
March 16, 2016 at 7:38 PMGlad you liked it, Charlie!
LaNi says
January 27, 2016 at 6:09 PMJust made this last night. Super easy and super good. I substituted and left out some things I didn’t have. But it was still really. Can’t wait to make it again. (With all the ingredients)
Anna says
March 10, 2016 at 9:44 PMJust finished eating this- wow, so delicious! Thank you ☺️!!
Cassie says
March 14, 2016 at 11:18 AMGlad you liked it, Anna!
Cecilie @A Story of Freedom says
January 11, 2016 at 12:24 PMP.S how did you get that little note at the end of the post of how many visitors this post had?
Cecilie @A Story of Freedom says
January 11, 2016 at 12:24 PMThis looks so good! And what a great idea to use scrambled tofu! How come I never have thought about that before 😀 I am sure that would go so well with noodles as well!
Thanks for the recipe!
Alyssa says
November 10, 2015 at 10:36 PMI made this tonight with my roommate and we both loved it! I thought the sauce wouldn’t cover all the rice, but it was just enough. All the portions and seasonings were spot on. Will definitely make again! Thanks!!
Kelsey says
October 23, 2015 at 12:12 AMLove this recipe! I have probably made it 10+ times now and it is delicious every time. I finally got liquid smoke to use in the sauce, and wow! So good. I reccomend to anyone, vegan or not!