Vegetable Fried Rice
Cold, day-old rice fried fast over high heat with vegetables and soy — the classic way to rescue leftover rice into something better than fresh. Speed and cold rice are everything.
By Vegan Cook. Published 5 August 2026
Ingredients
Serves 3.
- 3 cupscooked rice, cold and day-old (fresh rice turns to mush)
- 1 cupmixed vegetables (carrot, peas, sweetcorn), finely diced
- 3spring onions, sliced, whites and greens separated
- 2 clovesgarlic, minced
- 1 tbspginger, grated
- 2 tbspsoy sauce or tamari
- 1 tsprice vinegar
- 1 tbsptoasted sesame oil
- 2 tbspneutral oil, for the wok
- 1/2 tspwhite pepper
Cookware
- Wok or large frying pan
Method
Read each step end-to-end before starting.
- 01
Prep everything first
Fried rice cooks in under 5 minutes once you start, so have every ingredient chopped and beside the wok before you turn on the heat — there's no time to prep mid-cook.
- 02
Break up the rice
Break up any clumps in the cold rice with your hands so every grain is separate. Cold rice has dried out just enough to fry crisp instead of steaming into a sticky mass.
- 03
Get the wok smoking
Heat the neutral oil in a wok over the highest heat until it just starts to smoke. Add the garlic, ginger and spring onion whites and stir for 15 seconds.
- 04
Stir-fry the vegetables
Add the mixed vegetables and stir-fry for 2 minutes over high heat, keeping everything moving.
- 05
Fry the rice
Add the cold rice and toss constantly for 2-3 minutes, pressing it against the hot wok between tosses to let it catch and crisp. Add the soy sauce, rice vinegar, sesame oil and white pepper and toss until evenly coloured and steaming hot.
- 06
Finish
Scatter in the spring onion greens, give it one final toss, and serve immediately.
Allergen profile
Every recipe here is fully plant-based. Cross-contamination risk depends on your kitchen, so check all packaging.
Swap note
Contains soy and gluten (soy sauce, sesame oil). Use tamari to make it gluten-free.