Light Chicken Fried Rice

I love Chinese food, but Chinese restaurants aren’t exactly known for their healthy options! However, I’ve found that it’s relatively easy to make some basic “healthified” Chinese dishes at home. I have made my fair share of stir fries, but last night I wanted to try making fried rice.

A few things that you should know about me and my cooking:

1. I often don’t start making dinner until I’m already starving, and I’m not the most patient person when I’m hungry, so I look for recipes that are quick to make.

2. My husband Rick hates doing dishes (and our agreement is that he cleans when I cook) so I try to find recipes that use a minimal number of pots and pans.

3. I try not to spend hundreds of dollars at the grocery store each week, so I seek out recipes that use ingredients I already have and/or could see myself using again in the near future.

Many of the fried rice recipes that I found used way too many dishes, took too long to make, or asked for ingredients that I didn’t have or want to buy. So when I came across this recipe, I jumped on it! I already had shredded chicken (I use this recipe to cook up large batches of shredded chicken and have it ready to go), popped some rice in the rice cooker, and the rest of the meal was prepared in one (pretty large) skillet. I did have to invest in sesame oil - I think it’s possible to make the recipe with a different kind of oil, but the sesame oil gave it just the right flavor. Quick, easy, healthy, and delicious - Rick and I happily ate it up!

Light Chicken Fried Rice

(Adapted from SkinnyMom)

Ingredients:

2 cups rice, prepared (I used brown rice, but white rice is also fine)
1 cup cooked and shredded chicken breast (I used this slow cooker shredded chicken)
1 1/2 tablespoons sesame oil
1/2 cup frozen peas & carrots
1/2 small white onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1 egg
1/8 cup lite soy sauce

Directions:

1. Prepare rice according to package instructions to yield 2 cups of cooked rice.
2. Heat sesame oil in a large skillet on medium heat. Add onion, garlic, peas and carrots and saute until the veggies are tender (approximately 5 minutes).
3. Crack egg into skillet and scramble, mixing with the vegetables.
4. Once the egg has scrambled, add rice, chicken, and soy sauce to skillet. Mix well.

*This made 3 servings of approximate 1 ¼ cups each. It can easily be doubled to make 6 servings.