Gluten-Free Leftover Night: Fried Rice Recipe

No matter how well your family likes your cooking, there will sometimes be leftovers. You may have noticed as that a lot of the gluten-free flour products leave leftovers with soggy or gritty textures that make them nearly unpalatable. Rice itself dries out swiftly, but this recipe restores the moisture and maximizes flavor. In fact, if your family is not in the habit of leaving leftovers, you may need to put back some “planned overs,” just so you can put together this tasty dish.

Much like refrigerator soup, this dish relies primarily on whatever you have available, but you will need a few items to start:

Cooked rice (a minimum of 4 cups)

An egg or two

Green onions, chopped (diced white or yellow onions will work in a pinch)

Cooking oil

Tamari (gluten-free soy sauce)

Now for the scavenger hunt. Check your refrigerator for those niggling bits of leftover food. Get out the leftover rice or cook some up. Look for some veggies that need to be used. I prefer peas and carrots, but you should stay away from the canned varieties. Mushrooms are yummy, if you have any to use up. Bits of leftover chicken, pork, fish or steak will be a nice addition for the meat eaters.

Proportion is important. Make sure you have about twice as much rice as you include of all other ingredients.

Warm a couple tablespoons of cooking oil over medium heat in a skillet. Add onions, followed by rice. When rice is warm and coated with oil, begin adding other ingredients. If you are using any raw vegetables such as mushrooms or celery add them. I will often add the last bit of a package of frozen peas at this point as well. Next, add any meat.

I also like to add a clove of fresh garlic or some garlic powder for flavor. A pinch of ginger also adds some dimension to the dish, but be careful not to add too much. Once all other ingredients are warm, crack one or two eggs into the skillet to fry and scramble into the mixture. When the eggs are fully cooked, remove from heat and add tamari to taste. I usually add only a little to the skillet before serving and let individuals add more to their own plate if they wish.

Tamari is a gluten-free soy sauce that provides the flavorful finishing touch for GF Asian dishes. Be sure to read labels--some products marketed as tamari still include wheat products.