This Chinese Shrimp Fried Rice Recipe 蝦仁蛋炒飯 is how we like to make it at my house! Stir fried Shrimp, fried rice with plenty of mixed veggies and eggs – it makes a great lunch or dinner!

Shrimp vs. Prawns

Shrimp and Prawns are actually two different animals, however, there is a lot of confusion between Shrimp vs. Prawns, and it’s partly because different regions use different names.

In the UK, Australia, New Zealand and Ireland, the name “prawn” is usually used to describe both prawns and shrimp.

While in North America, the name “shrimp” is used more frequently, and the name “prawn” is used to describe larger species.

Shrimp and prawns come from different branches of the crustacean family tree. Shrimp are members of the pleocyemata suborder, and prawns are part of the dendrobranchiata suborder. They have a few differences in anatomy.

Prawns’ shell segments overlap down their abdomen, and so they can’t be as flexible as shrimp. Prawns are usually also larger in size.

In general though, folks use these words interchangeably.

About the Ingredients

Frozen veggies

It’s up to you on the exact frozen veggies – I usually do a mixed veggie blend that has carrots, peas, and corn. However, you can also choose only peas. One time I switched it up and used a broccoli and cauliflower blend, and that turned out well too!

Mushrooms

Technically you do not need the mushrooms but I love adding mushrooms. If you opt out of the mushrooms, just an an extra half cup of the mixed veggies

Ham

We love adding ham in our fried rice, this is actually very common in Asian countries! If you do not have ham around, you can also use bacon. Both of these add an extra delicious flavor to the fried rice. Or you can totally skip it too – fried rice is SUPER customizable!

Eggs

You can beat the eggs first so that it is easily scrambled when we add the eggs. However, I am usually pretty lazy and don’t want to wash an extra dish, so I crack the eggs straight in to the pan and then scramble it with my spatula.

Also, if you already have leftover scrambled eggs, you can also just add that in to the rice when it’s time to fry with rice with the eggs.

Rice

Most important part – the rice! Make sure you are using leftover cooked rice that’s been refrigerated overnight. This will make stir frying the rice much easier, as it will be less sticky.

Soy Sauce

Soy sauce is commonly used in fried rice recipes, however, it is actually not a requirement! You will see it is not always used in home cooked fried rice and restaurants in Asian countries also. In my house, we actually prefer our shrimp fried rice without the soy sauce, but instead with white pepper and salt combination to flavor the fried rice.

How to make Chinese shrimp fried rice

First, gather your ingredients:

• 2 tbsp cooking oil of choice, separated
• 1 lb raw shrimp, tails and shells removed, deveined
• 2 tsp sesame oil
• 1 cup frozen mixed veggies (corn, peas, carrots, up to you!)
• 1/2 cup of diced ham
• 1/2 cup of chopped mushrooms
• 2 tsp minced garlic
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 4 cups of cold cooked rice
• 3 tbsp soy sauce (optional)
• Salt, to taste
• White pepper, to taste
• Green onions, chopped

In a cooking pan or wok, add 1 tbsp cooking oil, shrimp, and ham. Stir fry until shrimp is no longer translucent, and remove from heat.

Add 1 tbsp cooking oil, garlic, frozen veggies, mushrooms, in to wok/pan and cook for about 2 minutes, or until vegetables begin to soften, stirring occasionally.

With the spatula, move vegetables to one side of the skillet, if the pan is dry go ahead and add a little more oil. Then add the beaten eggs to the other side, and stir it to scramble.

Add the shrimp back in to cooking pan, along with rice, soy sauce, sesame oil, and salt to taste, and stir fry everything to blend together. Cook for about 3 minutes more minutes.

Sprinkle chopped green onions on top (optional), remove from heat and serve!

Looking for more Asian recipes? I got you covered – entrees, side dishes, veggies, meat seafood and more here!

By the way if you love fried rice recipes, check out this round up of 20+ delicious fried rice recipes from around the world! There’s kimchi fried rice, thai fried rice, chinese fried rice and more!

Pin for later!

Sharing is caring!