Try swapping out traditional rice for quinoa in this easy quinoa fried “rice” recipe! It’s amazingly flavorful and delicious, and only takes about 15 minutes to make.
A year ago I shared my hands-down, all-time, better-than-the-restaurant, finally-perfected, FAVORITE fried rice recipe. Readers have made it hundreds of time since and love it. I have made it countless times ever since and love it. Let’s be real — the world loves some good fried rice.
But last week when a cold and stressful day hit and all I was craving a bowl of rice, a tiny problem popped up: no rice in the casa.
Argh. So I scavenged my pantry and decided to try subbing in the next closest thing: quinoa.
Game changer.
Quinoa Fried Rice Recipe | 1-Minute Video
I probably shouldn’t have been surprised by this one. I regularly sub in rice and farro for quinoa in recipes that call for rice, and know that it is usually a great swap. But this was fried rice that we’re talkin’ about here. The holy grail of rice dishes, in my book. Very, very rice-ish.
Still, it was rainy out and I didn’t want to traipse across the neighborhood to my Chinese restaurant. So quinoa it was.
I whipped up a batch of quinoa, made using veggie stock (my favorite). Then in order to speed up the chilling process (essential for making fried rice), I spread it out on a baking sheet and popped it in the refrigerator for 15 minutes. Meanwhile, I chopped and sauteed my veggies and garlic, and got things rolling. Then finally added in the chilled quinoa and the remainder of the ingredients, sauteed in lots of butter over high heat (my secret to fried rice).
The result?!
Well, honestly, the result was the best compliment I could pay to this dish:
It tasted just like fried rice!!!
Again, this probably should not have come as any sort of surprise. But after finally landing on my perfected recipe for fried rice, I was a little shocked that quinoa could swoop in so stealthily and carry the dish. But it did! And it was just as delicious and comforting and satisfying as the original, but made a bit healthier with the addition of protein-packed quinoa.
Win = win.
Look out rice, I’m totally making this again.
Quinoa Fried "Rice"
Ingredients
- 3 tablespoons butter, divided
- 2 eggs, whisked
- 2 medium carrots, peeled and diced
- 1 small white onion, diced
- 1/2 cup frozen peas
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- salt and pepper
- 4 cups cooked and chilled quinoa (*see instructions here for how to cook quinoa)
- 3 green onions, thinly sliced
- 3-4 tablespoons soy sauce, or more to taste
- 2 teaspoons oyster sauce (optional)
- 1/2 teaspoon toasted sesame oil
Instructions
- Heat 1/2 tablespoon of butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat until melted. Add egg, and cook until scrambled, stirring occasionally. Remove egg, and transfer to a separate plate.
- Add an additional 1 tablespoon butter to the pan and heat until melted. Add carrots, onion, peas and garlic, and season with a generous pinch of salt and pepper. Saute for about 5 minutes or until the onion and carrots are soft. Increase heat to high, add in the remaining 1 1/2 tablespoons of butter, and stir until melted. Immediately add the cooked quinoa, green onions, soy sauce and oyster sauce (if using), and stir until combined. Continue stirring for an additional 3 minutes to fry the quinoa. Then add in the eggs and stir to combine. Add the sesame oil, stir to combine, and remove from heat.
- Serve warm.
Did you make this?Let me know how it turned out in the comments below!
Just finished making this…It is absolutely delicious and healthy! Thank you for posting it!
Thanks Linda — we’re happy to hear you enjoyed it! :)
Love this!!! Made it with Trader Joe’s rice cauliflower and it was amazing!!!!!
We’re so glad you liked it Jamie! :)
Fixed this last week for my family, and it was a hit. Even my teenage son who thinks he doesn’t like quinoa liked this a lot. Making it again tomorrow. We’re not green onion fans, so I switched those out for some sliced mushrooms instead.
We’re so glad to hear that Michelle! And we think the mushrooms sound yummy—good idea!
This was so good! I was a bit timid to try this recipe at first, but the pregnant lady is craving Chinese food. This does the trick and it’s healthy!!! Thanks so much- I love cooking many of your recipes, and very glad I gave this one a try!
You’re so welcome Melissa! We’re happy to hear you enjoyed this! :)
Way delicious. Best thing I have had since I gave up meat :)!
Yay! We’re so glad you enjoyed it! :)
Tried this tonight…. Just happened to have some quinoa to use up and went online for ideas. So glad I found this. What a great recipe! My kids loved it, as did I! Will def make again!
Thanks Caroline! We’re so glad this was a hit with you and your kiddos! :)
Can you make without the sesame oil?
You sure can! It’s just for flavor. :)
Hey looks yummy but is it low calorie ? Could this be a part of a weight loss diet? I’m trying to lose weight but I can’t give up the fast food maybe this is something I can replace it with.
Hi Rosetta! We’re sorry but we are unsure of the nutrition facts/amount of calories in this recipe. We currently are not publishing nutrition facts on the site, as the nutrition calculators available are not 100% accurate, and we never want to publish anything that might be misleading. However, a lot of our readers love the My Fitness Pal nutrition calculator, so feel free to try that for an estimate. We hope that helps!
Hey this sounds amazing!
I’m currently in the middle of making this right now! I was going to have it for lunch tomorrow….cold? Hope this will taste ok haha?
Hi Lizzie! We can totally dig some cold fried rice! You can always reheat it too though. We hope you enjoy!
Loving yet another recipe from Ali! I did make some slight changes to some parts of the recipe but it turned out delicious either way! I used frozen mixed veggies as I found this was easiest for a person who is new at cooking such as myself. I then used chicken broth with no sodium to cook to the quinoa. I did not seperate the eggs when cooking and just combined that into the mixed vegetables as they were all being tossed together. Lastly, I did not mince my garlic. I intended to just crush the garlic clove and drop it in the fried rice for flavor and remove it once I was done cooking but I forgot! I don’t think it made much of a difference though.
Other than those changes, I did all the measurements as mentioned! I HIGHLY recommend adding the oyster sauce. It really changed up the flavor. Thanks so much for sharing this recipe! I can’t wait to cook it for all my friends and family to try!