Easy, Spicy Shrimp Fried Rice Recipe (under 30 mins)
This is a spicy fried rice recipe that is fast and easy to cook. It uses only three seasoning sauces, shrimp (or any meat of your choice) and lots of butter! This is a very versatile dish so you can add any variety of veggies. You could add veggies getting old and sad inside your fridge, and make this a clean-the-fridge fried rice I love adding onions, jalapenos, bell peppers, cabbage and lots of garlic to my fried rice. This is one of my go-to recipes to make a quick and easy dinner.
I prefer cutting my vegetables into neat slices, and usually grate carrots for fried rice. However, I had come home at the end of a busy Friday and was craving some greasy fried rice. Looking at the times to get an order delivered from a restaurant, I realized it was faster to cook a fried rice myself. This dish was prepared while I was super hungry, so please excuse the unevenly cut vegetables. However, this is very delicious, healthier than eating out, and was prepared in 20 mins (probably because I was extremely hungry haha)
If you try this, please leave a comment. I would love to get your feedback. As always, love and good vibes to you all. Happy cooking!
How to Prepare Shrimp for Cooking
I used medium-sized shrimp (headless) with shells on in this recipe. To prepare them for cooking, wash them with water and season lightly with salt and pepper. Then cut into bite sized pieces. If you do not like shrimp shells, remove these and then wash and season the shrimp. I like to keep the shells since it retains more flavor on the shrimp, and shrimp shells are perfectly okay to eat.
How to Cook a Spicy fried rice (the Short Recipe)
Shrimp is sautéed first in butter and garlic. Then chopped vegetables are sauteed with an egg, and finally rice with seasonings and lots of butter. This make a very quick and easy spicy fried rice within 20 mins. The easiest, yummiest, spicy, garlicky dinner you will ever make – tastes even better than chinese takeout!
Reasons to Try to this easy recipe for Spicy Shrimp Fried Rice
1) Dinner in under 30 minutes
2) Healthier and cheaper than chinese restaurants!
3) Use up all veggies in your fridge
4) Best way to use up leftover white rice
5) The perfect meal to prep for work lunch
What Ingredients do you need for this Spicy Fried Rice Recipe?
To cook this spicy fried rice recipe, you need the following ingredients (including spices) :
- Fresh Shrimp
- Garlic cloves chopped
- Sweet peppers chopped
- Thai chillies optional for extra spicy
- Jalapeno chopped
- Carrot large, chopped/grated
- Onion chopped
- Green onions (optional, for garnish)
- Egg
- Cooked rice
- Butter Day old rice is best
- Oil Olive
- Salt
- Garlic Salt
- Black pepper
- Sesame oil
- Fish sauce
- Soy sauce
Tips and Tricks to Cook the Best Shrimp Fried Rice
- Use leftover cooked rice in this recipe. Day-old rice makes the perfect fried rice! Any type of rice can be used in this recipe including jasmine rice or even brown rice. I prefer using basmati rice (long grain rice) since it makes a very fluffy fried rice.
- To make a vegetarian fried rice, omit the shrimp and fish sauce. Substitute with lots of mushrooms to get a meaty flavor.
- White pepper can be used, but note that it is much spicer than black pepper
- Use frozen vegetables for a quicker dinner. Thaw the frozen veggies, and add them to the pan in place of the chopped veggies listed in the recipe.
- To make this recipe spicier, add more thai chillies and black pepper. You can also add any chili oils as a seasoning to increase the spiciness.
- Shrimp can be substituted with chicken. Chop chicken breasts into bite sized pieces, then season with salt and pepper. Fry them in butter, oil and garlic as noted in the recipe to make a spicy chicken fried rice.
- To make a fancier fried rice, add some chopped, cooked chicken and sausages to the fried rice.
- This spicy fried rice will taste even better the next day after the flavors are absorbed into the rice
- Beaten eggs will be fluffier than just cracking eggs
- Add one tsp of oyster sauce if you have in the fridge
How to serve this easy Shrimp Fried Rice?
To make a complete meal, serve this spicy fried rice with a fried egg and some chilli paste / chilli oil / sambal olek.
Spicy Chinese Shrimp Fried Rice
Ingredients
- 10 Shrimp, medium cut into halves
- 4 Garlic cloves chopped
- 4 Sweet peppers chopped
- 3 Thai chillies optional for extra spicy
- 1 Jalapeno chopped
- 1 Carrot large, chopped/grated
- 1/2 Onion chopped
- 1 Egg
- 3 cups Cooked rice
- 2 tbsp Butter Day old rice is best
- 1 tbsp Oil Olive
Seasoning
- 1/2 tbsp Salt
- 1 tbsp Garlic Salt
- 1 tbsp Pepper
- 1 tbsp Sesame oil
- 1 tbsp Fish sauce
- 2 tbsp Soy sauce
Instructions
- Heat pan and add oil and 1 tbsp of butter
- Add the chopped garlic to the pan and cook until slightly browned
- Add the shrimp and cook until color changes
- Take out shrimp from the pan and leave aside
- Add all the chopped veggies (onion, jalapeno, carrot, peppers) into pan and cook for 5 mins
- Move veggies to one side of the pan, and add an egg on the other side
- Season egg with salt and pepper, scramble it and mix with veggies
- Add all the ingredients under "Seasoning" on the mixed veggies and egg
- Add the rice, mix well with veggies and add 1 tbsp of butter
- Add the cooked shrimp and cook for 5 minutes.
Notes
- This dish is very versatile, so you can add any convenient veggies
- Add more/less thai chillies and black pepper to adjust spiciness
How to make Spicy Shrimp Fried Rice (step by step with pictures)
Chop all the vegetables to use in the spicy shrimp fried rice. Here we have carrots, red bell peppers, red onions and green chillies.
Heat a large skillet and add some vegetable oil and 1 tbsp of butter. Add the chopped garlic to the pan and cook on medium heat until slightly browned. Cut the large shrimp into bite sized pieces and add to the pan.
Add the fresh shrimp to the hot pan and cook until the shrimp changes color to light pink
Take out the cooked shrimp from the pan and leave aside. Add all the chopped veggies (onion, jalapeno, carrot, peppers) into pan and cook on medium-high heat for 5 mins
Move the stir fry vegetables to one side of the pan, and add an egg onto the side of the pan
Season the egg with salt and pepper, scramble it and mix with the cooked vegetables
Add all the seasonings to the stir fry vegetables and egg mixture
Add the rice grains, mix well with the cooked vegetables and add 1 tbsp of butter
Add the cooked shrimp, mix well and cook on medium high heat for 5 minutes.
spicy shrimp fried rice is ready to eat! Leftovers can be stored up to 3 days in the fridge in an airtight container. Enjoy!
