The Absolute Best Type Of Rice To Use For Fried Rice

When it comes to fried rice, the world is your oyster. We don't mean you can add oyster sauce (although you certainly can, it's very savory), but rather that you can toss in lots of different ingredients like garlic, peas, pineapple, or crispy fried onions (for a crunchier addition to your fried rice). Most proteins are workable, from shrimp to eggs to pork. The rice itself has stricter rules, however. Which means you'll want to make sure you're frying up the kind of rice that won't stick together in lumps and ruin the dish. For some useful fried rice advice, The Takeout talked to chef Michael Schukar from the modern Asian restaurant Toku Miami. 

Schukar offered a few rice options for Chinese-style fried rice, all of which have one thing in common: they're low in starch. "Medium or long-grain rice is standard because they have less starch to avoid clumping and it won't get mushy from the starch," Schukar told The Takeout. If you're a fan of jasmine rice (which is less processed than your average white rice) that's also a good choice. "Jasmine works well because it's a drier long-grain rice with very little starch," he said. "So each grain can actually be toasted evenly and individually in the wok."

Does the size of a grain of rice really matter? It matters quite a bit, in fact. The big difference between long and short grain rice is that short grain rice is stickier and clumps easily because of how much starch it contains. In Japanese onigiri or sushi, you want that short, sticky grain. Chinese fried rice, however, leans more dry. Because you're mixing in lots of other ingredients, rice that doesn't clump is important to allow things to unify. Jasmine rice is always long-grain and has that earthy, floral smell to it as a bonus.

Even with long grain rice, there are some extra steps you can take to increase the quality of your dish. Schukar had this recommendation: "Washing the rice thoroughly (at least 3 times) to remove excess starch and using a rice cooker to ensure that the rice is cooked evenly to perfection." If you've made fried rice before, you're likely familiar with the idea that leftover rice is a good fit for the job. The whole reason this works ties back to Schukar's point about texture. So instead of throwing leftovers out, freeze leftover rice for quick fried rice any time.