No Chinese dinner would be complete without fried rice. If you love making this dish yourself, you already know how tasty it is and how easy it is to make. The thing is, you can sometimes have problems with the rice becoming too sticky.
To keep fried rice from sticking to the pan, coat the pan with hot oil before adding the rice to the pan.
How To Make Fried Rice That Doesn’t Stick to the Pan
If you’re tired of using a rice cooker, try making fried rice instead! It’s not that complicated. Here’s all you have to do in four easy steps:
1. Heat Your Pan
Make sure you use a high flame to heat the pan. The pan can be aluminum or any other type.
2. Add Your Oil
Add some oil to the pan and keep the heat on high. Add just a small amount of oil to the pan, then gently roll the pan around so that the oil spreads all across the pan.
3. Keep the Oil Hot
Keep heating the oil until it reaches its smoke point, then drain the oil and set it aside for now. Next, reduce the heat of the pan.
4. Cook Your Rice
Heat up your pan once again, then place the rice and other ingredients in the pan. When you start to cook the fried rice, you’ll see that it isn’t sticking.
Why Does This Work?
In order to keep rice from sticking to the pan when you’re frying it, there has to be some type of barrier between the rice and the pan. Most people use some type of butter or oil, and even if the above steps recommend heating the oil until it gets very hot, this is only temporary. As soon as the pan is coated with the oil, you’ll want to make sure the heat is turned down a bit so the oil and pan do not burn. When you’re frying the rice, the heat has to be relatively high but not enough to burn the rice.
As a general rule, if you start to fry your rice and it starts to stick, it’s usually due to one of two things: either you don’t have the pan hot enough, or you didn’t use enough butter or oil. If the pan is nice and hot and it is greasy enough, the rice should not stick. This is true for other foods as well, including noodles and even fried chicken.
How To Get the Perfect Fried Rice
Perfect fried rice is not that difficult to make, and it starts with the actual rice you’re using. First of all, try to use white rice that is cold and already cooked for your recipe. (You might even try using microwave rice if you’re feeling bold.) Second, use only medium- to long-grain rice for the best results, instead of other types of rice such as short-grain rice, glutinous, or sushi rice. Finally, make sure your wok, skillet, or frying pan is nice and hot and you’re using enough oil or butter.
Making fried rice is not all that difficult once you learn a few simple rules, and at least now you’ll have some idea of what to look for if you end up with sticky rice.