Fried Rice - Nigerian Fried Rice Recipe

Fried rice! This Nigerian fried rice recipe is easy, simple and gives the most delicious rice dish ever. Let me show you a step by step on how to cook Nigerian fried rice.

Many of you have been waiting for my fried rice recipe for a while now. I have had many opportunities to put it up as I've cooked it lots of time in the past few months for parties and home cooking. However, one way or the other I ended up putting other recipes before it. I had even taken pictures which I had forgotten about till I checked all my food pictures for the blog and realised I had taken the step by step pictures at least two times!

The good news is I am now posting the recipe and I also used different plating pictures 🙂

Nigerian Fried Rice Recipe

Fried rice like Jollof rice is a party favourite and it usually accompanies Jollof rice. Most times Nigerian party food is served as half portion fried rice and half portion jollof rice thereby giving people options to eat the one they prefer or have the best of both worlds. I personally like best of both world. If one is not to my taste the other might except for the few occasions where both were lipssealed.

Growing up, I liked eating fried rice but cooking it was another matter. I hated the amount of time I used to spend in chopping the vegetables. That was really the hard work of the whole process of cooking fried rice. Thank God I now live where already chopped mixed vegetables and peppers are easily available although most times they come frozen.

Be aware that fresh vegetables best for fried rice but for those that can't be bothered all the time with the cutting of the vegetables, the frozen ones works fine as well.

Here is my recipe for fried rice:

Ingredients for Fried Rice (Nigerian Fried Rice)

Rice

Mixed vegetables ( carrot, green peas, sweetcorn, green beans)

Mixed peppers ( yellow, green, red)

Liver (cooked, diced and fried)

Prawns (peeled, cooked and fried) optional

Onions (chopped)

Oil - Vegetable or Sunflower

Stock cubes

Thyme

Curry powder

Chicken broth

Spring onions (optional)

Cabbage (optional)

HOW TO MAKE NIGERIAN FRIED RICE

1) If you are using fresh vegetables, wash and dice them ready. If frozen, thaw the vegetables.

Note: Fresh vegetables are best for fried rice but frozen ones works fine.

2) Wash rice with warm water 3 times or till water runs clear. Drain and set aside.

3) Grease pot with a little vegetable oil and put on heat. Use just enough oil to grease the pot like you would grease a cake pan.

4) Pour rice into the greased pot and stir fry for 1-2 minutes.

5) Add stock cubes, thyme and half of chopped onions and stir for another minute.

6) Add Chicken broth and water then cover pot tightly and leave to cook on low heat.

Note:  I did not add curry to the rice at this stage. Curry determines the final colour of fried rice and the more you put, the more coloured your fried rice would be. Chicken broth is usually slightly coloured by the curry used in boiling it so what I do is wait to see the shade it gives the rice before adding any additional curry.

Tip: If your pot lid doesn't cover the pot tightly, cover with a foil before putting the pot lid. You want to lock in steam to cook the rice and not dilute the taste by cooking with a lot of water.

How to cook Nigerian fried rice

7) While the rice is cooking, put a frying pan or pot on a burner and add the remaining vegetable oil. When the vegetable oil is heated, add the mixed peppers, the remaining  onions and mixed vegetables and leave to fry. Add stock cubes, salt and curry powder.

Add curry to the vegetables as by now you would have noted the shade of the rice and adjust curry accordingly.

I let the vegetables be a little bit wet when going in the oil so the onions cook and fry and not just outright crunchy which I don't personally like.

8) When the mixture is fried, add the fried liver, prawns, butter and mix. Adjust salt and seasoning.

9) By the time you're done frying the vegetable mixture, the rice will almost be cooked.

10) Add the vegetable mixture to the rice and mix evenly.

Tip: It's easier to mix when the pot is halfway or ¾ filled but if you have a full pot you can transfer to a bigger pot. If no bigger pot available, divide into two pots mix evenly and then transfer back into a pot.

11) Let the vegetables steam with the rice for about 5 minutes then take off heat.

That's fried rice done.

Be careful not to overcook so you don't end up with soggy fried rice and also don't undercook. Rice tastes much better when it's properly cooked. Not hard and not soggy is what you should aim for.

WHAT TO SERVE WITH

Fried rice can be served with fried plantain,

moin moin

Nigerian salad, coleslaw

Kelewele.

Chicken, beef or fish.

HOW TO STORE

Unlike Jollof rice, fried rice doesn't keep very well. It goes bad if not correctly stored and loses taste when it does. To prevent that, quick cool then store in the fridge for u to 3 days or in the freeezer for up to 3 months.

Below picture from 2014.

MORE RECIPES ON THE BLOG

Chicken curry rice

Efo riro

Moin Moin

Shito pepper

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This post was originally published May 12, 2014. Updated to add few new pictures and recipe card March 24, 2020.