Thai-Style Pork Fried Rice
This post may contain affiliate links. Read my full disclosure policy.
This Thai-style pork fried rice comes together in under 30 minutes, and it makes a satisfying one-dish meal.
Somewhere near the top of the list of things that make me happy as a mom is discovering a weeknight recipe my whole family loves—and if it can be made inexpensively from pantry staples and a just few fresh ingredients from the supermarket, all the better. This Thai-style pork fried rice, a variation on my favorite traditional fried rice, is one of those recipes, and it comes together in under 30 minutes. I use ground pork, which, while not traditional, is so much easier and more flavorful than pork tenderloin or pork chops. This fried rice reheats beautifully in the microwave, making it the perfect dinner for those nights when everyone is running in different directions.
what you’ll need to Make Thai-Style Pork Fried Rice
Before we get to the recipe, a few words on the ingredients. I’ve made this dish with jasmine rice and regular long-grain white rice — both work well. While most fried rice recipes call for cold rice (so that the rice doesn’t stick together when fried), it doesn’t make much difference in this recipe, so feel free to make the rice ahead of time or at the last minute — whatever is most convenient for you.
To flavor the rice, I use a combination of fish sauce and oyster sauce. Fish sauce is a salty, savory condiment often used in East Asian cuisine. It adds a rich umami flavor to sauces, marinades, and salad dressings. Oyster sauce is a thick, dark brown condiment made primarily from oyster extracts. Despite its name, oyster sauce doesn’t taste strongly of oysters; rather, it has a salty, savory, slightly sweet flavor. You can find both sauces in the Asian section of most supermarkets.
Step-by-Step Instructions
In a large sauté pan, heat 1 tablespoon of the oil over medium-high heat. Season the beaten eggs with a generous pinch of salt, add them to the pan and cook, stirring frequently, until scrambled. Transfer the eggs to a plate and set aside.
In the same pan (no need to wash it), heat the remaining tablespoon oil over medium-high heat. Add the light green scallions, garlic, and ginger.
Cook, stirring frequently, for about 1 minute.
Add the pork and continue cooking, breaking the meat apart with a wooden spoon, until no longer pink, about 3 minutes.
Add the cooked rice, peas, broccoli, fish sauce, oyster sauce, sugar, and red pepper flakes.
Cook, stirring to evenly combine, until the rice and vegetables are hot.
Stir in the dark scallion greens and cilantro.
Mix in the scrambled eggs.
Taste and adjust seasoning, if necessary. Serve with Sriracha, if desired.
You may also like
- Sweet & Sour Shrimp with Broccoli
- Kung Pao Chicken
- Fried Rice
- Egg Roll in a Bowl
- Easy Thai Shrimp Curry
- Cauliflower Fried Rice
Thai-Style Pork Fried Rice
This Thai-style pork fried rice comes together in under 30 minutes, and it makes a satisfying one-dish meal.
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 3 large eggs, beaten
- Pinch salt
- 1 bunch scallions, finely sliced, light and dark green parts divided
- 3 cloves garlic, chopped
- 2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh ginger (see note)
- 1 pound ground pork
- 4 cups cooked white rice (from 1⅓ cups uncooked rice)
- ½ cup frozen peas, defrosted
- 1½ cups cooked broccoli florets (see note)
- 3 tablespoons fish sauce
- 2 tablespoons oyster sauce
- 2 teaspoons sugar
- ¼ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
- 3 tablespoons fresh chopped cilantro
- Sriracha, for serving (optional)
Instructions
- In a large sauté pan, heat 1 tablespoon of the oil over medium-high heat. Season the beaten eggs with a generous pinch of salt, add them to the pan and cook, stirring frequently, until scrambled. Transfer the eggs to a plate and set aside.
- In the same pan (no need to wash it), heat the remaining tablespoon oil over medium-high heat. Add the light green scallions, garlic, and ginger and cook, stirring frequently, for about 1 minute. Add the pork and continue cooking, breaking the meat apart with a wooden spoon, until no longer pink, about 3 minutes. Add the cooked rice, peas, broccoli, fish sauce, oyster sauce, sugar, and red pepper flakes. Cook, stirring to evenly combine, until the rice and vegetables are hot. Stir in the dark scallion greens, cilantro and scrambled eggs. Taste and adjust seasoning, if necessary. Serve with Sriracha, if desired.
- Note: Check out easy guidance on how to peel, grate, and chop fresh ginger here.
- Note: Defrosted frozen broccoli florets will work in a pinch, but they tend to get a bit mushy so fresh-cooked (or leftover fresh-cooked) broccoli is preferable. You can also substitute any other leftover cooked vegetables you have in your fridge.
Nutrition Information
Powered by 
- Per serving (4 servings)
- Calories: 701
- Fat: 35 g
- Saturated fat: 11 g
- Carbohydrates: 63 g
- Sugar: 4 g
- Fiber: 2 g
- Protein: 31 g
- Sodium: 1455 mg
- Cholesterol: 221 mg
This website is written and produced for informational purposes only. I am not a certified nutritionist and the nutritional data on this site has not been evaluated or approved by a nutritionist or the Food and Drug Administration. Nutritional information is offered as a courtesy and should not be construed as a guarantee. The data is calculated through an online nutritional calculator, Edamam.com. Although I do my best to provide accurate nutritional information, these figures should be considered estimates only. Varying factors such as product types or brands purchased, natural fluctuations in fresh produce, and the way ingredients are processed change the effective nutritional information in any given recipe. Furthermore, different online calculators provide different results depending on their own nutrition fact sources and algorithms. To obtain the most accurate nutritional information in a given recipe, you should calculate the nutritional information with the actual ingredients used in your recipe, using your preferred nutrition calculator.
Gluten-Free Adaptable Note
To the best of my knowledge, all of the ingredients used in this recipe are gluten-free or widely available in gluten-free versions. There is hidden gluten in many foods; if you're following a gluten-free diet or cooking for someone with gluten allergies, always read the labels of your ingredients to verify that they are gluten-free.
See more recipes:
Comments
Add a Comment
This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.
My husband is allergic to fish, oysters and shrimp. I use hoisin sauce in stir-fries that I make. Would there be any thing that I could substitute for the oyster sauce and the fish sauce?
Hi Deb, You can use hoisin sauce in place of the oyster sauce and soy sauce in place of the fish sauce. Keep in mind that the dish won’t have that authentic Thai flavor without the fish sauce, but it will still be good. Please LMK how it turns out!
This was absolutely delicious! I’m always hesitant to prepare Thai dishes because my husband spent 15 years in Thailand and LOVES Thai food.
He really thought this dish was perfect!
I did use leftover pork loins, diced very small, instead of ground pork. We will add this recipe to our favorites…thank you!
This dish is so easy and so flavorful. I had never heard of Red Boat Fish Sauce until this recipe. It adds such an authentic flavor to the rice and veggies. Another winner from Jenn!!!
Wonderful last meal of 2020! Great recipe … one thing I did differently was to add the eggs directly to the skillet and let them cook with the rice and pork.
Is there some reason you do not use a wok .
Hi Tom, I just don’t find a wok to be necessary (but it’s fine to use one if you’d prefer). 🙂
Wow I overcooked a 5 lb pork roast. Obviously not a recipe from this site. Who cooks pork at 300 for 6 hours. Anyway I have all this pork that is dry. I cut off a lb , put it in chicken broth and heated it . I did not know this but pork can be re hydrated. Anyway I followed the recipe to a T. I chopped up the roast and in it went. Well thank you Once Upon a Chef. You are now my go to site tks again
I love this recipe. It’s my go to when I have left over rice. Love it!!
Made this for dinner tonight and it was great! The store was out of ground pork, but thanks to previous reviewers I felt brave enough to try with ground turkey. It was awesome. Thanks Jenn for another great recipe.
This dish was yummy! The only change I made was to season the pork with just a little salt; it was flavorful and my husband and I both went back for seconds. I’ll definitely make this again!
Hi Jen,
This recipe and the photos call for peas, but the instructions (both in the recipe and in the photo narrative) do not mention when to add the peas. Not too hard to figure out, of course, but wanted to let you know of this minor omission. Cheers and thank you for such wonderful recipes that always taste fantastic, and are easy to put together!
Hi Teresa, thanks for your nice words about the recipes and sorry for any confusion with this one! I mentioned in the recipe to add the rice vegetables (which include the peas and broccoli), and several other ingredients, but I think I will update the recipe to specify the vegetables that need to be added are the peas and broccoli. Thanks for pointing that out!
I absolutely loved this. So good! So easy! Thank you for sharing this one 🙂
Yum! Easy weeknight dinner for sure. Didn’t have cilantro so topped mine with chopped basil. Also subbed hoisin for the oyster sauce since I didn’t have any. Would
definitely make it again.
Jenn, you’ve done it again—another fabulous recipe of yours! Made this tonight and it was a hit, even amongst picky toddlers! I threw in some sautéed bok choy for even more variety. Will be making this again.
Excellent. Everyone loved it and easy to make.
This recipe is absolutely delicious. I am diabetic, I used only a cup of rice and used riced cauliflower. It was very quick to make and very satisfying. The flavor is wonderful with a nice sweet heat. Thank you so much for the recipe. I will absolutely keep this again.
I made this Thai Pork Fried Rice TONIGHT!!! I was a tad bit skeptical of the ground pork, BUT it was DELISH!!! The ONLY place I messed up was, I missed cooking the broccoli florets so they were…um crunchy!! My fault! I also added peas and carrots, instead of just frozen/thawed peas, otherwise I followed this recipe to a T!! Like Jenn said, it’s best to have everything chopped up and ready to go, beforehand!!
GREAT Recipe Jenn, thanks!!
Super easy and delicious! I switched up the green onions with shallots because I do not always have green onions but always have shallots. I think the shallots add a little bit more flavour than the green onions.
If you wanted to make this vegetarian, would you add anything else to keep it tasty, other than add more vegetables?
No, Barbara, I don’t think you’d need to add anything else to the recipe — I’d love to hear how a vegetarian version turns out!
We love this dish! Easy to make and delicious
This was very good – the only thing I would add would be some color besides green vegetables – like a red pepper or carrots. With just broccoli, peas, cilantro and green onions, there is not enough different colored vegetables to make it more eye appealing. That being said – it is still delicious!
I made it with ground chicken (white meat) and whole grain rice and it was delicious. Thanks!
Delicious, fast and easy! We whipped this up in less than thirty minutes and we were so surprised by the complexity of flavors! Would love to try it with different ground meats and perhaps some chili’s for a pop of heat and color. Great base recipe to get creative! Will definitely make this again.
Just washed up the dishes from this wonderful meal. My husband and I throughly enjoyed it. Husband was a little skeptical on this one but agreed it was worth 5 stars. Thanks Jen for another winner!!
Yum. Yum. Yum. We loved this and it came together very fast. I used brown rice that I made the day before and 1/2 the sugar. Everything else I did exactly as written. Has anyone tried adding shiitakes?
My family loves fried rice and this was a great addition to our meal
Rotation!
Hello!!! This is a great recipe. I decided to try a paleo/whole 30 version and it turned out great. I first substituted ground pork for ground turkey but of course you can choose any ground meat. Then I substituted the rice for cauliflower rice. I didn’t just add a bag of riced cauliflower, I first sautéed it in a little avocado oil, salt and pepper until it was browned. Lastly, I left out the sugar.
What’s so nice about Once upon a chef is that you can take her awesome recipes and make it your own depending on your diet. Now this recipe is perfect the way it is but if you need to make it a little lighter you can. Thank you for all of your recipes!!! The family loves them😊
The Thai Pork Fried Rice was delicious! My husband and I are previewing recipes in advance of our children and grandchildren visiting us during the Christmas holidays. This recipe is a real crowd pleaser and one that will make even our littlest grandson happy and satisfied. We added carrots since we didn’t have broccoli on hand, but otherwise followed the recipe as written. Thanks so much for this excellent recipe.
This dish, as all of Jenn’s dishes, is amazing! I added a ton of veggies! Great way to get the house smelling good, and the little ones to eat veggies!
The only Thai recipes I have made have come from this website! I followed the recipe but used brown basmati rice and only 2 eggs, as I am not fond of scrambled eggs. I added chopped and steamed carrots as I thought the dish needed color. (Everything seemed to be brown-colored, except the broccoli and peas). My family loved it – that’s why the 5 stars and have asked me to put this into our dinner rotation. I prepped everything while the rice cooked and easily made this dish in 40 minutes – from start to table. The recipe is ample – there were 2 lunch servings left from serving 3 people for dinner.
This is so good !! Every recipie I try from your site or your cook book is amazing !! Made this yesterday and it turned out great ! Thank you !
DELICIOUS! I love fried rice & never thought I could make it so well at home. The whole family loved it. Made as recipe was written.
If you are making this earlier in the day, would you wait to add the egg until just before dinner? Does it matter? Thank you!
It really doesn’t matter – I’ve reheated it the next day with the egg already in it and it’s still delicious. Enjoy!
This is great for quickly reheated lunches and dinners in the microwave. I made a lot because the smallest pork package was 1 1/2 lbs. so I added more broccoli, rice and peas. I did not add the sugar, nor the cilantro at the end. Everyone really enjoyed it, and I will definitely make it again!
If one does not use oyster or/fish sauce, what should one use instead? 5 Tablespoons of soy sauce or a combo of hoisin and soy sauce? This looks delicious and I can’t wait to try it!
Hi Becky, I’d start with 3 tablespoons soy sauce and 1 tablespoon hoisin and add more hoisin sauce to taste, if necessary. I’d love to know how it turns out.
Hey Jenn-
Looks amazing! Do you think it will go well with cauliflower rice??
Hi Laura, I haven’t tried it with cauliflower rice, but I think it would work nicely. Please LMK how it turns out if you try it this way!
Made this tonight just as noted. Everyone loved it and I will definitely be adding this meal to our dinner rotation. Thanks Jenn
I cooked the pork first before the vegetables- pork tends to have a lot of fat. I drained it off and the meal was great. I do agree the key is to have everything chopped and ready for cooking.
Delicious! I used basmati rice, and added diced carrots, onions and jalapeńo and it turned out marvelous. Subbed basil for cilantro. Next time, I plan to double this recipe and freeze additional portions— it was eaten far too quickly!
It was very good meal. I really appreciate the recipes with moderate amount of the spice and using condiment to warm it up if needed. That way all tha family can enjoy the dish.
We loved this meal-in-a-bowl recipe. The flavor was excellent! I might try reducing the rice a bit and adding more veggies as we are trying to be lower-carb. My only other comment in that unless you have everything prepped, there is no way this comes together in 30 minutes.
“Oh, this is gooood. You can make this part of the rotation.”—persnickety son, who even ate the broccoli. Due to the aforementioned son, I made it with double pork and 1.5 times the sauce. This is savory, quick and should reheat nicely for after school fueling. Thanks Jenn!
Absolutely delicious, so quick and easy. Thank you.
I don’t think it needs the cilantro though, feels out of place. Otherwise I’ll be making this over and over!
I added pineapple to this. It nicely balanced off the salty fish sauce. Very nice recipe. Even better the 2nd day!
Hi Jenn,
Love your recipies! Can this be made with brown rice?
Sure!
Hi Jenn, I absolutely love your recipes. We don’t eat pork or shellfish in our family. I will use ground chicken as you have suggested to others, but is there something I could use to replace the oyster sauce?
Hi Amarilys, You can replace the oyster sauce with soy sauce and then a bit more sugar to taste at the end, if necessary.
Another awesome recipe Jen! I used ground chicken because the store did not have any ground pork. Also added some diced jalepeno and a squeeze of lime when serving. Delicious! Thank you for continuing to create amazing dishes!
I love your recipes
Can I substitute beef or chicken for pork?
Thanks
Hi Sohair, this is best with pork, but you could substitute ground chicken (but not extra-lean all breast meat). Because the chicken contains less fat than pork, I’d increase the second addition of oil to two tablespoons. I’d love to hear how it turns out if you make it this way!
Hi Jenn,
I’m so excited to try this! We don’t eat pork – I assume ground turkey would work ok with it as an alternative? Is there anything else I should add with the turkey? Thanks.
Hi Elizabeth, I’d go with ground chicken (preferably not extra-lean all breast meat) over turkey, if possible. If you use turkey, just be sure it’s not too lean. Either way, I’d increase the second addition of oil to two tablespoons. I’d love to know how it turns out.
What do you suggest as a substitute for the cilantro – we all hate it!
Hi Lisa, Thai basil would be good or a combination of Thai basil and mint — or you could just omit the fresh herbs. It will still be delish. 😊