Vegan Fried Rice

This Vegetable Fried Rice with a Tofu Scramble is one of my favorite “refrigerator clean-out” meals. I love to use this recipe when I need to get rid of the veggies in my produce drawer that might be on the verge of expiring. It’s also a great meal because I almost always have a spare tofu container by Mori-nu.

At the start of my week, I have an idea that I’ll be making this dish on a weekday nights. So, to prepare for it, I make sure to cook a meal that has rice or quinoa (or both) and make extra! It is super important that the rice for this dish be old, and a little dry. Moreover, 1 to 2, day-old, take-out, rice works wonders.

So, let’s uncover this recipe, discuss its ingredients, how to make it.

Ingredients for Vegan Fried Rice

Rice: One or two-day-old rice is the best best best for this dish. Alternatively, you can also use fresh rice prepared earlier that day and left uncovered in the fridge for a couple of hours.

Veggies: What do you have in your fridge? For this recipe, I used a variety of vegetables. These veggies include onion, frozen riced cauliflower, carrots, kale, and frozen peas.

Five Ingredients for Tofu Scramble

I have an entire post on how to make this amazing Tofu Scramble. For this recipe, the tofu scramble has just five ingredients, extra firm tofu, soy sauce, nutritional yeast, turmeric, and ginger.

Ingredients for Sauce

Soy Sauce: Providing this sauce with salty and umami flavors. You can’t have fried rice without soy sauce.

Toasted Sesame Oil: So nutty with just the right amount of roasty toasty goodness.

Water: This ingredient is more so, add as much as is needed. Water thins the sauce and thus helps to spread the sauce flavors evenly throughout the dish.

Ground Ginger: Ginger is spicy and flavorful. Option to use freshly grated ginger.

Minced Garlic: The ginger and garlic together make this sauce sing. Option to use garlic powder.

Chili Crisp: You could omit this ingredient. I like to add a bit of spiciness to most of my dishes. Chili crisp also adds a touch of chili oil, adding additional color and flavor.

How to Make Vegan Fried Rice

There are a few steps, but once you make this dish at least once, you will realize it’s not all that complicated.

For the Sauce:

• Add all sauce ingredients to a mason jar and shake until combined.

For the Tofu scramble:

• Add the tofu to a bowl. Using your hands, break up the tofu into smaller pieces. **This step is super fun for kids in the kitchen!
• Once you have finished breaking up the tofu, add the nutritional yeast, turmeric, soy sauce, and ginger, then mix.

For the fried rice:

• Start by sauteeing the vegetables. First goes in the avocado oil, carrots, and onion on medium heat for 5min.
• Then add in the remining veggies and sautee or wok fry on medium-low heat for 10min.

**Note: While waiting on your veggies to cook you can mix together the tofu and make your sauce (see below).

• After the veggies finish cooking add in your day-old rice and sauce. Cook for another 5min then fold in the Tofu scramble. Turn off the heat and place a lid on the skillet. Let rest for 5min before serving.

For the plating and garnish/toppings:

• Spoon the stir-fry into your bowl and add herbs and other toppings of your choice. Some options include mint, cilantro, chives, green onion, sunflower seeds, sesame seeds, or a drizzle of chili/sesame oil.

Like this recipe?

Check out my Tofu Scramble article and recipe.

Check out my Easy Coconut Rice article and recipe.