- This recipe is a great way to use up leftover cooked rice, which absorbs the flavor of the ginger, scallions, soy sauce, and umami-rich mushrooms.
- A mix of cremini, shiitake, and white mushrooms adds variety and makes the dish filling without meat.
- A drizzle of toasted sesame oil at the end gives the dish a nutty, savory finishing touch.
The quickest way to make this mushroom fried rice is to use leftover rice, which is also ideal for soaking up the flavors while cooking. But even if you start completely from scratch, you’ll still be ready to eat in well under an hour. Our quick recipe has three kinds of mushrooms to add heft and make this fried rice a satisfying vegan main or side.
The best rice for fried rice
Here, we recommend using a long-grain rice with less starch, such as jasmine, which gets nice and fluffy without the grains sticking together too much. But you can really use all kinds of rice to make fried rice — that’s part of the beauty. Japanese-style fried rice, for example, tends to use Japanese short-grain rice, and medium-grain white rice is common in Chinese cooking.
Notes from the Food & Wine Test Kitchen
- Shiitake mushroom stems are tough, and some people choose to discard them — but you can simmer them gently in stock (or any liquid) until they’re tender, or just save them to add flavor to a future stock.
- Note that this recipe calls for two different kinds of oil. For the actual frying of the rice, it’s best to use a neutral cooking oil; you’ll also stir in toasted sesame oil just before serving, but it’s not great for cooking with.
