Brown Fried Rice with Chicken and Vegetables

If you love traditional fried rice but don’t love the calorie price tag that comes with it, this recipe is for you! The best part? It is designed for leftovers. In fact, one of the secrets to delicious brown rice is to use leftover, cold rice.

Here are a few tricks I used to boost the nutrition of this delicious Chinese American classic:

• Good Quality Brown Rice: For years I relied on boxed, quick-cooking brown rice but found my dishes always coming up flat. The rice was mushy and lacked real flavor. All of that changed when I discovered Nishiki Brown Rice. It takes a little longer to cook but I make a big batch in my rice cooker once/week and use it all week long.
• Load up on Veggies: This recipe is ideal for leftover veggies or whatever you happen to discover that week at the farmer’s market. As always, use this recipe as a method not a guide book. If you have asparagus and green beans? Use them. No broccoli? Skip it. Make it your own.
• More Veggies = Less Meat: By loading up on veggies, you can use less meat. If you want to eat more organic meat but can’t handle the price tag, this is a great recipe for stretching your food dollar.
• Sesame Oil: In leui of using canola oil to stir fry all the ingredients, I save my calories for sesame oil which has a very strong, rich flavor. By using a more flavorful oil, I can get away with using less of it.

Your chop sticks are waiting.

Brown Fried Rice with Chicken and Vegetables

 

Author: Liz DellaCroce | The Lemon Bowl

Nutrition Information

• Serves: 4

• Serving size: 1
• Calories: 357

• Fat: 8.6g
• Unsaturated fat: 1.1g
• Carbohydrates: 47.9g
• Sodium: 164mg
• Fiber: 8.8g
• Protein: 25g
• Cholesterol: 75mg

Recipe type: Entree

Prep time:  10 mins

Cook time:  10 mins

Total time:  20 mins

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Ingredients

• 8 oz chicken breast – diced
• 1 medium onion – diced
• 1 medium zucchini – diced
• 1 ear corn – kernels removed
• 1 c green peas
• ½ c edamame – shelled and cooked
• 2 c cooked broccoli – cut into small florets
• 1 egg
• 2 c leftover brown rice (preferably cold)
• 1 tbs sesame oil
• 2 tbs soy sauce – low sodium
• 1 tbs rice vinegar
• 1 c scallions – minced

Instructions

1. Heat a wok or large pan over medium-high heat and spray with non-stick spray.(Tip: Save the sesame oil calories to finish the dish vs. using them to cook the ingredients. You won’t miss the calories and you won’t notice a change in flavor.)
2. Saute chicken breast about 4 minutes per side. No need to move the chicken constantly – let it brown and gain flavor.
3. Once cooked, remove from pan and reserve.
4. In the same pan, add onion and zucchini; cook for 3-4 minutes.
5. Add corn kernels, peas, edamame and broccoli.
6. Stir fry for about 2 minutes to heat.
7. Move the veggies to the perimeter of the pan and in the middle, add the egg.
8. Using a wooden spoon, quickly stir the egg to scramble.
9. Add the reserved, cold brown rice, cooked chicken and sesame oil. Stir well to distribute the oil and spread the rice and veggies all over the pan.
10. Walk away from the pan and let the ingredients brown a bit.
11. After about 2 minutes, stir and let sit for another 2 minutes to brown.
12. Add soy sauce, rice vinegar and scallions. Stir well and serve.

Notes

Excellent source of Vitamin C, good source Vitamin A, calcium and iron.

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