spam and zucchini fried rice in a pan

Spam and Zucchini Fried Rice

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

ingredients for spam and zucchini fried rice

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.

a side dish serving of Spam and Zucchini Fried Rice on a plate

Prep all your ingredients before you start cooking

cooked vegetables for spam and zucchini fried rice

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!

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spam and zucchini fried rice in a pan

Spam and Zucchini Fried Rice

Katherine Park
Get your kids to eat their veggies with this tasty fried rice that is so hearty it is a meal in itself.
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 10 minutes
Total Time 25 minutes
Course Breakfast, Brunch, Main Course
Cuisine Asian, Local Hawaii Food
Servings 5

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
  • cup sesame oil
  • ½ tbsp olive oil
  • cup kimchi optional (increase as you get used to spicier foods)
  • 5 cups cold cooked brown rice Genji Mai preferred, or white rice
  • cup soy sauce
  • cup oyster sauce

Instructions
 

  • Dice the onions, carrots, and zucchini. Set aside.
    diced vegetables for spam and zucchini fried rice
  • Cut the Spam Lite into cubes. Set aside.
    cubed spam lite for spam and zucchini fried rice
  • 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.
    cooked vegetables for spam and zucchini fried rice
  • 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.

Notes

Tips and Tricks
Can I use regular brown rice?
If you don’t have Genji Mai brown rice, I recommend using medium grain white rice. Most brown rice out there has a very hard exterior and doesn’t provide the ideal texture for fried rice. If you mostly care about taste, you can use leftover brown rice.
What about freshly cooked rice?
I know sometimes we just want fried rice immediately. However, using freshly cooked rice results in a mushy fried rice.
For the same reason that leftover brown rice is too hard, a fried rice with freshly cooked brown rice might result in a great texture. I’ve never tried it, so let me know how it works out for you if you decide to try freshly cooked brown rice.
What other meat or protein can be used?
Fried rice is versatile so many leftover meats, such as breakfast meats, steak, or roast pork, work well. Make it lighter with shrimp or chicken seasoned with salt, pepper, and granulated garlic, and cut into 1-inch chunks. For a vegetarian option, shelled edamame is a great addition.
Keyword 30 minutes or less recipe, affordable eats, easy meal, easy recipe, fried rice, kid-friendly meal, rice, spam, zucchini
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