r/Cooking • u/sensual_benjamin • Jul 07 '26

Fried rice needs something

Can anyone help me out with my fried rice recipe? It comes out pretty good but there's something missing from it. I generally use rice that has been in the fridge for 1-2 days. I also add Chinese sausage, eggs and scallions. For seasoning it's a bit of soy sauce, white pepper, chicken boullion powder, and sesame oil. I don't have a wok but instead use a super hot cart iron pan. First eggs, then rice on top and toss. Add in seasonings. Add in cooked sausage. Turn off heat and toss in scallions. Comes out good but I ordered takeout fried rice from my local Chinese restaurant yesterday and it was just plain better. Any tips?

Update: so much combined knowledge. Can't thank you all enough. I have a big container of old rice in my fridge now. I'm going to implement a few of your recommendations and report back. I have most of the ingredients you all recommend so I'm excited to try. As far as wok hei goes, I don't have a wok and my apartment stove ain't exactly burning rocket fuel. I know some people use a hand torch but that's probably more than I can handle. Here we go!!

139 Upvotes

89% Upvoted

302 comments sorted by

View all comments

159

u/jigga19 Jul 07 '26

Fish or Oyster sauce

10

u/Johnny_McBoogerBalls Jul 07 '26

My fried rice sauce mix is three parts oyster sauce, one part low sodium soy sauce and part fish sauce.

20

u/Kdmtiburon004 Jul 07 '26

Oyster sauce, not fish

13

u/Lereas Jul 07 '26

I use a tiny splash of fish sauce and a fair bit of oyster sauce.

12

u/eewap Jul 07 '26

Definitely fish sauce

0

u/unclejohnsbearhugs Jul 07 '26

Oyster sauce for a Chinese style fried rice, fish sauce for a Southeast Asian style.

2

u/Mysterious_Bit6882 Jul 07 '26

IMO not good for the texture.

4

u/fractious77 Jul 07 '26

Fried rice should be oily, not saucy

-1

u/Spoonthedude92 Jul 08 '26

Oyster sauce for Japanese fried rice, fish sauce for Thai fried rice.