Thai Fried Rice (aka Khao Pad)

ByLyuba Brooke Updated

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Thai Fried Rice is an amazing and easy fried rice dish made with key ingredients like chicken, jasmine rice, vegetables, and egg, and it's richly flavored with garlic, fresh ginger, fish sauce and oyster sauce. It's a great weeknight dinner recipe and you can make it with chicken or shrimp!
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First time I tried this fried rice, was at a Thai restaurant many years ago. I immediately wanted to recreate that recipe at home so I could make it any day. It took me a few tried, but this recipe has now been on our regular rotation at home and never disappoints.

So What Is Thai Fried Rice?

This is an amazing fried rice dish native to Thailand, where it’s called Khao Pad. It is considered street food and most of the time, Khao Pad is cooked with protein like shrimp, crab meat, pork, or chicken. It has key ingredients to make it different from the Chinese fried rice that we are more familiar with.

Fun fact – did you know that in Thailand, fried rice is actually not eaten with chop sticks? Chop sticks are actually reserved for noodle dishes that originated in China. So, when serving this fried rice dish, make sure not to serve it with chopsticks!

side view of Thai fried rice in a bowl with cucumber and tomato slices

What Is the Difference Between Thai Fried Rice and Chinese Fried Rice?

Although both are very tasty, there are a few differences between Thai and Chinese fried rice.

  • One main difference is rice itself! Thai fried rice uses jasmine rice, while Chinese recipes use long grain white rice.
  • Another key difference is soy sauce. Traditional Thai fried rice is made without soy sauce, as soy is actually a Chinese ingredient. Thai cuisine usually features other flavorful sauces like fish sauce and oyster sauce.
  • You can also kick things up with some red chilis for extra heat, which you mainly find in Thai cuisine.

Ingredients Notes and Substitutions

What Is the best rice to use? To make it the most traditional (and my personal favorite), use jasmine rice (Khao Hom Mali). If you need to, use another long grain rice.

To make it gluten free: All ingredients in this recipe, except for one, are naturally gluten free. Oyster sauce does not originally come gluten free but there are gluten free oyster sauce options on the market. So make sure to get gluten free oyster sauce for this recipe. (Double check fish sauce and Thai chili sauce nutritional information to make sure it does not have gluten ingredients, but they are usually gluten free.)

Protein: while I use chicken in this recipe, you can easily use shrimp, lump or claw crab meat, leftover pork, or ground pork.

collage of six images of cooking steps to cook chicken, veggies, and rice to make Thai fried rice.

How to Make Thai Fried Rice

  1. Prep everything before cooking.
  2. Sauté the chicken in a hot wok with peanut oil, then take out.
  3. Sauté veggies until softened and add the garlic and ginger.
  4. Pour the whisked eggs in the middle of the pan and cook for a few minutes.
  5. Stir everything together, add the sauce, and mix.
  6. Cook for about another minute or so.
Top view of Thai fried rice in a bowl with cucumber and tomato slices

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close up and scooping Thai fried rice in a bowl with cucumber and tomato slices

Thai Fried Rice Recipe

Thai Fried Rice is an amazing and easy fried rice dish made with key ingredients like chicken, jasmine rice, vegetables, and egg, and it's richly flavored with garlic, fresh ginger, fish sauce and oyster sauce. It's a great weeknight dinner recipe and you can make it with chicken or shrimp!
5 from 1 vote
Print Pin Rate
Course: Main Course
Cuisine: Thai
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 20 minutes
Total Time: 30 minutes
Servings: 4
Calories: 518kcal
Author: Lyuba Brooke

Ingredients

  • 1.25 lb boneless skinless chicken thigh meat
  • 2 tbsp peanut oil
  • salt
  • 1/2 yellow onion
  • 1 large carrot
  • 6 garlic cloves
  • 1 tbsp shaved or grated ginger
  • 2 eggs
  • 4 cups cooked jasmine rice
  • 4 tbsp fish sauce
  • 1 tbsp Thai chili sauce
  • 3 tbsp oyster sauce use gluten free if needed
  • 1 tbsp fresh lime juice
  • 2 tsp white granulated sugar
  • 3 scallions

Instructions

  • Prepare your ingredients first because this is a fast recipe. So dice chicken, dice onion and scallions, shred the carrot, press garlic, and grate or shave fresh ginger.
    Whisk eggs with a sprinkle of salt, and separately, whisk together fish sauce, oyster sauce, Thai chili sauce, lemon juice, sugar. 
  • Preheat a large wok or a large non-stick cooking pan with tall sides over medium-high heat. Add oil and sauté chicken with a little bit of salt until done. Take it out of the pan and set it aside.
  • Add some more oil if you need to and sauté onions and carrots until softened. Move the vegetables to the side of the pan, and add garlic and ginger. Sauté until just fragrant and mix it all together.
  • Move vegetables again to the side of the pan and pour in whisked eggs. Let it spread apart, cover, and cook for a few minutes.
  • Once eggs are mostly cooked, start stirring everything together and add cooked rice, scallions, and chicken to the pan.
  • Carefully stir everything to combine and pour the sauce mixture over the top. Mix everything well and sauté for just a couple of minute. Take off heat and serve.

Notes

No leftover rice? No problem! Here is how to cool freshly cooked rice fast: Cook the rice fist and then spread it on a large parchment paper covered plate or a rimmed baking sheet. Pop it into the refrigerator and let it chill for 15-20 minutes.
Storing: Make suer to store leftover fried rice in an air-tight food storage container in the refrigerator. It should be good for 3-4 days.
Reheating: you can reheat in the microwave or in the greased pan/wok over medium heat. Remember that rice is like a sponge at soaking liquid and it dried in the refrigerator. You will need to add a little moisture when reheating, like a splash or chicken broth.
Protein options: if you don’t want chicken,
  • you can easily use shrimp. Simply season the shrimp and sear them in a preheated wok (or a pan) with some peanut oil until opaque on both sides (it takes about 1.5-2 minutes per side depending on the shrimp.
  • You can also use lump or claw crab meat just make sure to sift through it first for shells.
  • Another option is pork, you can use leftover pork meat, chop it and add at the end or cook some ground pork with seasoning.

Nutrition

Calories: 518kcal | Carbohydrates: 56g | Protein: 36g | Fat: 15g | Saturated Fat: 3g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 217mg | Sodium: 1821mg | Potassium: 609mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 6g | Vitamin A: 2795IU | Vitamin C: 6mg | Calcium: 76mg | Iron: 2mg
Tried this recipe?Mention @willcookforsmiles or tag #willcookforsmiles!

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All images and text ©Lyubov Brooke for ©Will Cook For Smiles. Please do not use my images without prior permission. If using my posts in collections and features, please link back to this post for the recipe.
Disclaimer: Nutrition information shown is not guaranteed to be 100% accurate as most ingredients and brands have variations.

I’m Lyuba Brooke, mother of 2, the cook, recipe developer, photographer, and author behind willcookforsmiles.com. I share many classic and original recipes, cooking tips, and tutorials. My passion is sharing delicious meals for everyone to try.

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12 Comments

  1. Easy To Be Gluten Free says:

    This looks awesome! I love Thai food and I just bought shrimp today. Can’t wait to try this.

    Reply

    1. This is absolutely delicious! The sauce is perfect… so flavorful. Thank you for a grwat addition to my recipe favorites!!

      Reply

      1. Your so welcome, Alli! I am so glad you enjoyed the recipe!

        Reply

  2. this looks really good. i think i would eat thai food every day if i worked next door to a thai restaurant. ooh that would be dangerous! congrats on making a great version at home…and thank you for sharing with tuesday night supper club!

    Reply
  3. MessyMissy says:

    Yum, I’m drooling!!! 🙂

    Reply
  4. BigBearswife says:

    Fried Rice is always a go in our house!

    Reply
  5. thepsychobabble says:

    The egg sittign there for a few minutes, is genius. I never thought of doing it that way!

    Reply
  6. Michelle Paige says:

    Thanks for following my blog! I’ll follow yours too! Your food looks delicious!

    Reply
  7. Colleen @ MuralMaker&More says:

    Okay. Your pictures make such sense! I can’t tell you how many times I’ve tried fried rice (chinese) only to have a gummy mess! But the way you do the egg like a pancake . . . love it! I stay outta the kitchen most of the time, but I may venture in to give this a whirl!

    Reply

  8. This looked intimidating at first but your directions are excellent! I want to try this out. Thanks for your sweet comment on my blog!

    Reply

  9. Looks very tasty! I’m finally catching up on Mel’s Fancy Friday Blog Hop and have followed you via GFC.Happy Mother’s Day! :-)Elizabeth

    Reply

  10. 5 stars
    This looks yummy. I don’t have a lot of experience in thai food. Joni

    Reply

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