How to Make Fried Rice on a Flat Top Grill

There’s a reason every rom-com features the protagonist kicking back with fried rice. It’s flavorful, savory and just a tad greasy. It’s also a great way to use up leftover vegetables and proteins. Bring the little white container of joy to your couch and customize it however you’d like. Learn how to make fried rice on your flat top grill!

Start with the rice, obviously!

To start, prepare approximately three cups of rice per the package instructions. If you can prepare the day before, the drier your rice is, the better it will fry. However, you can make fried rice with new rice. Just cook it as early as possible and spread it out on a sheet pan to help it dry out. 

Fire up the Flat Top!

Once you’re ready to begin cooking, turn on all but one section of the flat top grill. We will use most of the flattop for cooking and the remaining section for warming ingredients and staging cooked ingredients until ready to add them into the rice. We used our Blackstone, which is a three burner flattop, so we turned on just two burners and left the third off for staging. If you have four burners, you can turn three on and leave just one off for staging. 

Don’t have a flat top? I highly recommend them. It’s perfect for feeding the family. Check out our review of the best flat top grills to see which one is right for you!

Add the Veggies!

Season the whole flat top with olive oil and dump a bag of frozen stir fry vegetables right on the flattop. We used a 10.8oz bag of Birds Eye Asian Medley, which included carrots, baby corn, sugar snap peas, and broccoli. You can use whatever blend of vegetables you prefer, but you want about 3 cups of vegetables. We also added ½ cup of diced onion and sautéed the mixed vegetables and the onion for a few minutes. 

You don’t want to overcook the vegetables because you want to maintain that crunch and they’ll continue to cook later when mixed in with the rice. Once everything is  heated through, mix the veggies and onions together and move it to the section of the flattop without heat.

Fry that rice!

Next, add more olive oil to the flattop, and then add the rice. Spread the rice out with the spatula, but do not chop it. It’s fine if the rice is clumpy for now. 

Let the rice fry for a few minutes and then make a well in the center of the rice. Add about 2 tablespoons of butter then garlic and ginger, to taste. Let the butter melt and the garlic brown. 

Once the garlic and ginger are fragrant, start at the edges and scoop the rice and it should break apart. Scoop the rice toward the center to mix it with the butter, garlic, and ginger. 

Get saucy!

Once the butter mixture is well distributed, drizzle the rice with hoisin sauce and soy sauce. You want about a tablespoon of each at this stage. 

Add your protein!

Add 1 pound of pre-cooked protein to the vegetables in the staging area of the flattop. (NOTE: If using shrimp, do not add at this stage. Wait until about 2 minutes prior to removing the rice from the flat top to cook the shrimp as it cooks quickly and can get tough if overcooked. If you’re using leftover shrimp, check out this post to make sure it’s still safe to use. ) We used ground chicken and dumped it right onto our veggies to begin to warm up. 

Mix the protein together with some sweet soy sauce and add some sweet soy sauce to the rice as well. 

Continue to scoop and spread the rice to cook evenly. Add some more olive oil to the flat top between the rice and the waiting veggies/protein. 

Start scrambling those eggs!

Spread the scrambled eggs half on black top, and half on rice.

 The eggs will cook quickly, so begin scooping and fold into rice almost immediately. 

Mix it all together!

Once the eggs are cooked, fold in the veggie/protein mixture. 

Scoop the mixture to the center to evenly distribute eggs, veggies, and protein.

Add udon noodles directly onto the flattop and allow to cook. 

Add soy sauce, sweet soy sauce to the udon noodles and mix. Once the udon noodles are pliable, add salt, pepper and hoisin sauce. 

Add Sesame Oil for that Asian zing!

Finally, add liberal amounts of sesame oil to everything and mix the udon noodles into the fried rice mixture. 

Then, remove to a pan and ENJOY.

Final Tips

If you like this on the spicy side, add your favorite hot sauce. We garnished our fried rice with some Asian sweet chili sauce for a little kick and added flavor. The second best part about fried rice (the first obviously being its deliciousness) is its versatility. Use whatever vegetables you have the in the freezer and whatever protein you have leftover in the fridge. It’s also easy to make vegetarian friendly by omitting any protein other than the eggs. It’s comfort food at its finest! 

Fried Rice on a Flat Top Grill Recipe

How to make your own fried rice at home, on your flat top grill
Prep Time 30 minutes
Cook Time 15 minutes
Total Time 45 minutes
Course Main Course
Cuisine Chinese
Servings 4 servings

Ingredients
  

  • 3 cups rice
  • 2 tbsp olive oil
  • 3 cups Asian Vegetable Mix
  • 1/2 cup onions, diced
  • 2 tbsp butter
  • garlic to taste
  • ginger to taste
  • 2 tbsp hoisin sauce, divided
  • 2 tbsp soy sauce, divided
  • 1 lbs ground chicken, browned or other pre-cooked protein
  • 1 tbsp sweet soy sauce
  • 4 eggs, scrambled
  • 2 packages udon noodles
  • 2 tbsp sesame oil

Instructions
 

  • Prepare rice per package instructions and allow to dry out.
  • Heat up all but one burner on flat top grill and season entire flat top with olive oil.
  • Add Asian vegetables and onion to flat top and sauté until tender. Move vegetables to area of flat top which is not turned on.
  • Add more olive oil to the flat top and add the rice. Spread the rice out into an even layer, but do not chop the rice. Allow to fry for approximately 3 minutes.
  • Create a well in the center of the rice and add the butter, garlic, and ginger. Let the butter melt and the garlic brown. Once the butter and garlic are fragrant, scoop the rice towards the center to mix with the butter/garlic/ginger mixture.
  • Drizzle rice with hoisin and soy sauce.
  • Add ground chicken (or other protein) to the vegetables and allow to heat up. Drizzle sweet soy sauce on both rice and vegetables/protein. Continue to scoop and spread the rice to cook evenly.
  • Pour half the scrambled egg mixture on the rice and the rest directly on the flat top. Allow the eggs to cook through and flip them into the rice. Scoop the vegetable/protein mixture into the rice.
  • Add udon noodles directly to the flat top and drizzle with soy sauce, sweet soy sauce, and heat until soft and pliable. Then season with salt, pepper, and hoisin sauce.
  • Add sesame oil to everything and mix all together. Remove to a sheet pan and ENJOY!
Keyword fried rice
Photo of author

Adam Truhler

I am the resident Patio Daddy-o and outdoor chef for my wife and 5 children! I’ve been grilling for 15+ years and smoking meat for over 7 years. Grilling is a part of my family’s cooking culture. I have butchered and grilled Ribeye and New York Strip steaks and smoked brisket, ribs, pork butt, and sausage for multiple events with 70+ attendees.

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