Loaded Veggie Fried Rice- a healthy alternative to your fried rice. This dish is vegetarian, vegan, and LOADED with vegetables for the perfect side dish!

Loaded Veggie Fried Rice- a healthy alternative to your fried rice. This dish is vegetarian, vegan, and LOADED with vegetables for the perfect side dish! this recipe

I’ve been wanting to to post a variation of this Loaded Veggie Fried Rice for some time now. Ever since buying an Instant Pot a few years ago, rice has been a VERY regular part of our diet. Actually, for the first year, rice was literally the only thing that I ever cooked in our Instant Pot (I have since started exploring other clever ways to use it!).

This fried rice is one of those things that I could eat for every single meal. I wanted to leave the recipe vegan but if it fits your lifestyle, I highly recommend adding in a few scrambled eggs to the mix. With the addition of the eggs, I often eat this by itself as a meal. IT’S SO GOOD!!

Loaded Veggie Fried Rice- a healthy alternative to your fried rice. This dish is vegetarian, vegan, and LOADED with vegetables for the perfect side dish!

At a year old, Jemma is finally at the age where she’s learning to bite food and use her 4 (adorable) little teeth. She’s enjoyed eating dishes like that with small foods that are easy for her to chew. It’s also really cute to watch her shovel handfuls or food into her mouth. We’re still working on the whole fork and spoon thing.

How to Make Loaded Veggie Fried Rice

First things first: you REALLY need to use cold rice for this. I’ve tried it several times with fresh rice and it’s just not the same. The excess moisture from the fresh rice makes the whole dish a little soggy and bleh. If you can manage it, definitely USE DAY OLD COLD RICE.

Loaded Veggie Fried Rice- a healthy alternative to your fried rice. This dish is vegetarian, vegan, and LOADED with vegetables for the perfect side dish!

We’re going to cook the veggies in a bit of oil. You can experiment with using a bit less oil than my recipe calls for if you’re wanting to leave some of it out (it just might not be quite as tasty :)). The veggies are sautéed until they’re beginning to soften. If you’re adding in egg, you can do it midway through cooking the veggies and scramble them right in the pan next to the veggies.

Then the rice and remaining ingredients are added into the skillet (which is probably PRETTY full at this point). I like to stir everything together and then leave it cooking on medium low heat for a few minutes in between stirring. This lets the rice get a little bit crispy on the bottom which is what I like. Just as it is starting to stick a bit, I stir it.

And that’s it!!

Also wanted to mention that you can add in whatever veggies you like (or omit whatever you don’t like). Just try and keep the ratios of veggies to rice roughly the same. While this recipe is SUPER easy, it can take a while to get all of the veggies chopped. I’ve made this before with half of the veggies but doubling the quantities of the veggies that I did put in.

Loaded Veggie Fried Rice- a healthy alternative to your fried rice. This dish is vegetarian, vegan, and LOADED with vegetables for the perfect side dish!

I hope that this becomes a regular part of your dinner menu because it’s SO GOOD and so easy to throw together. I’m obsessed! (did I say that already!!?).

Please let me know if you make this dish by tagging me on Instagram @foodwithfeeling !

Loaded Veggie Fried Rice- a healthy alternative to your fried rice. This dish is vegetarian, vegan, and LOADED with vegetables for the perfect side dish!

See how to make the Fried Rice here:

Print
clock clock iconcutlery cutlery iconflag flag iconfolder folder iconinstagram instagram iconpinterest pinterest iconfacebook facebook iconprint print iconsquares squares iconheart heart iconheart solid heart solid icon

Loaded Veggie Fried Rice

  • Author: Food with Feeling
  • Total Time: 35 minutes
  • Yield: 8 servings 1x
Print Recipe

Ingredients

Scale
  • 4 cups of cooked rice (day old rice is ideal)
  • 2 ½ tablespoons of coconut oil (any other oil will work well!)
  • 5 cloves of garlic, finely minced
  • 1 inch of ginger, peeled and finely minced (about 1 tablespoon)
  • 1 ½ cups of yellow onion, chopped
  • 1 cup of carrot, diced
  • 2 cups of broccoli, finely diced
  • 1 cup of bell pepper, finely diced
  • 1 cup of corn (I used frozen corn, thawed)
  • 1/2 cup of peas (I used frozen peas, thawed)
  • Heaping ½ cup of chopped red cabbage
  • 4 tablespoons of soy sauce
  • 2 tablespoons of sesame oil
  • If not vegan, you can also add in a couple scrambled eggs

Instructions

  1. Over medium heat, heat your coconut oil until hot. Add in the garlic, ginger, onion, and carrots. Saute for 5 minutes and then add in your broccoli and bell pepper. Saute for 5 additional minutes, stirring frequently.
  2. Stir in the cold rice, corn, peas, cabbage, soy sauce, and sesame oil. Once full combined, let the rice cook, untouched for a couple of minutes. When it is just beginning to stick to the bottom of the pan a bit, stir again and repeat this a few times. This helps get a tiny bit of crispiness on the bottom of the rice.
  3. Remove from heat and season with a bit of salt and pepper and ENJOY!!
  • Prep Time: 20 minutes
  • Cook Time: 15 minutes
  • Category: dinner
  • Method: stove
  • Cuisine: American

Keywords: fried, vegan, rice, dinner, side dish