This Spam and Zucchini Fried Rice is probably one of the tastiest fried rice dishes I’ve ever made since becoming a parent. I used to eat fried rice regularly because there are so many different versions. Sometimes it would be kimchi fried rice, sometimes it would be a Chinese-style fried rice with oyster sauce. Most fried rice dishes made in Hawaii will have either diced onion and/or green onions plus a bag of frozen mixed vegetables, but I can’t get my son to eat the mixed vegetables to save my life. However, this fried rice with zucchini is different. He ate up every single bite and did not pick out the vegetables!
What makes this fried rice so great
Fried rice is great for every meal of the day. Our family makes fried rice about once a month, so we satisfy that craving without eating it out at restaurants where it’s cooked in a lot more oil. We took this on the go to eat at an outdoor movie night under the stars. It kept well in the insulated bag I packed it in right after cooking it. The fried rice was not overly greasy and had great flavor from the sesame oil.
The recipe gives you some wiggle room. You don’t need to get exact amounts of the vegetables listed in the recipe. The size of vegetables varies in the grocery stores, so aim for getting at least 2 cups of chopped vegetables in total. Adding more vegetables will only benefit your health; here, more is more!
This fried rice is a great way to use up zucchini when it’s zucchini season and you don’t want to taste like you’re eating zucchini. The zucchini absorbs all the flavor of the fried rice sauce ingredients. When you dice it up into smaller pieces, it mimics the texture of the sauteed onion and you don’t feel like you are eating chunks of vegetables. The hard part is that this Spam and Zucchini Fried Rice is addicting, and you will have to use all your willpower not to eat more than 2 or 3 servings of it in one sitting! Try it the next time your kids are refusing to eat the vegetables in your fried rice.
Key Tips for Making Fried Rice
Only use cold leftover rice
Freshly cooked rice is too moist and results in mushy fried rice. You can also use frozen leftover rice, adding 2 to 4 minutes of cooking time for the rice if you didn’t have a chance to defrost it.
Make sure you have enough seasoning
Take-out fried rice is often very oily. You need some oil so the rice doesn’t stick to the pan. Using enough sauce (like oyster sauce and soy sauce) will help flavor the rice and keep it from sticking to the pan while cooking.
Prep all your ingredients before you start cooking
I’ve had many nights where I was cutting vegetables while Spam was cooking, or vice versa, or trying to scramble eggs while cooking the rice. My attempts at multitasking often left us with mushy vegetables or cooking at medium heat and it taking forever. Getting everything ready lets you cook at a high heat so everything cooks quickly and you don’t burn or overcook anything because you can watch the pan.
Don’t forget to try these other tasty weeknight dinners that your family will enjoy so much there may not be any leftovers!
Spam and Zucchini Fried Rice
Equipment
- 1 large cutting board
- 1 chef's knife
- 1 medium bowl
- measuring cups and spoons
- 1 fork or whisk
- 1 10" stainless steel saute pan optional
- 1 5 Quart pan or 11" chicken fryer or wok
Ingredients
- 1 12-ounce can Spam Lite
- ½ large onion diced
- 2 small carrots or 1 medium carrot, peeled and diced
- 1 medium zucchini diced
- 5 large eggs
- ¼ tsp salt
- ¼ tsp ground black pepper
- 1 ¼ tbsp granulated garlic
- ⅛ cup sesame oil
- ½ tbsp olive oil
- ⅛ cup kimchi optional (increase as you get used to spicier foods)
- 5 cups cold cooked brown rice Genji Mai preferred, or white rice
- ⅛ cup soy sauce
- ⅛ cup oyster sauce
Instructions
- Dice the onions, carrots, and zucchini. Set aside.
- Cut the Spam Lite into cubes. Set aside.
- Crack the eggs into a medium bowl. Add salt, ground black pepper, and granulated garlic. Mix well with a fork or whisk until well combined. Set aside.
- Heat a 10”-stainless-steel saute pan to medium heat for your scrambled eggs. Skip this step if cooking the eggs in the same pan or wok as the fried rice.
- Heat a large 5-quart pan or 11” chicken fryer pan or wok on medium high heat. Add the sesame oil, onions, carrots, and zucchini to the pan and stir immediately so the sesame oil doesn’t burn. Cook the vegetables for 2 to 3 minutes until the onions start to soften.
- Add the Spam Lite and cook for 2 to 3 minutes until the vegetables are cooked to your desired softness.
- While the vegetables and Spam are cooking, add the olive oil to the saute pan and the eggs. Cook the eggs for about 2 minutes until almost cooked through. If cooking the eggs in the same pan as the fried rice, skip this step.
- Add the rice, soy sauce, and oyster sauce (and kimchi if using) to the pan and mix well. Break up large clumps of rice and make sure all the grains of rice are coated.
- If cooking eggs in the same pan, push the rice to the cooler part of your pan and add the eggs to the hotter part of your pan and cook the eggs for about 2 minutes until almost cooked through.
- Mix the eggs into the rice until it is evenly distributed. Serve immediately.
