For this tasty, economical dinner, minced beef is fried up with hoisin sauce, garlic, lemongrass and sesame oil until it’s beautifully caramelized, then it’s tossed together with easy egg fried rice – plus a good handful of frozen peas to add a bit of veg in there!
I love to serve this up topped with sriracha and spring onions.
It makes a great, simple and flavourful weeknight dinner!
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I’m a big fan of fried rice – chicken fried rice, Indonesian rice with lots of spicy flavour, or fried rice with meltingly tender chunks of sticky pork belly – I could eat it most days!
This is my way of making a lovely meaty fried rice, with loads of flavour, that doesn’t break the bank with expensive cuts of meat, and it’s quick to prepare too.
📋 What do we need?
- Minced beef – I use 10%-12% fat minced beef. I’ve made this recipe using 20% fat minced beef, but it makes the rice a little too oily (5% fat mince can make it taste a little dry), so it’s better to go with the 10-12% version, then add any extra oil in as needed.
- Rice – use cooked rice (I’ve got a simple tutorial here for how to boil rice in a pan perfectly), then cool it, so the rice dries out a little. Cooling the rice helps stop the rice from sticking together and will also help it to absorb more flavour.
- Peas – frozen peas (no need to defrost) make a great addition for a little bit of sweetness. They cook quickly, so they can go in the wok straight from frozen.
- Lemongrass paste – this adds a lovely flavour to the minced beef. I like to use the paste as it’s easier to mix into the beef without the risk of tough, woody bits that you can get with lemongrass sticks.
📺 Watch how to make it
Full recipe with detailed steps in the recipe card at the end of this post.
👩🍳PRO TIP Make sure your rice is cold when you add it to the wok, this will ensure it soaks up all the flavours and doesn’t go mushy
Minced beef is full of protein and with the rice and peas this is a complete and satisfying meal, ready in minutes and with minimal effort.
🍲 More fantastic rice-based recipes
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Minced Beef Fried Rice
Minced beef fried up with hoisin, lemongrass and garlic then tossed with easy egg fried rice – it makes a fantastic, easy and economical dinner for the whole family.
INSTRUCTIONS
Heat a wok over a high heat. When hot, add the minced beef and cook for 5 minutes, breaking up the mince with a spatula, until the beef is browned.
500 g (1.1lbs) minced beef
Add the sesame oil and brown sugar and fry for a further 5 minutes, moving the mince around the wok with the spatula. It should go a little bit darker.
1 tbsp sesame oil, 1 tbsp light brown sugar
Add in the hoisin sauce, soy sauce, garlic, lemongrass paste, white pepper and chilli flakes and stir fry for a further 5 minutes. Keep moving the mince around the pan regularly.
2 tbsp hoisin sauce, 1 tbsp dark soy sauce, 2 minced cloves garlic, ¼ tsp white pepper, 1 tsp lemongrass paste, ½ tsp chilli flakes
Spoon the minced beef out of the pan and place in a bowl.
Add the oil to the wok and heat through.
1.5 tbsp neutral oil
Add the rice and peas to the wok and fry for 3-4 minutes, constantly moving the rice around the wok with your spatula, until the rice and peas are hot.
800 g (4 cups) boiled and cooled long grain rice, 115 g (⅔ cup) frozen peas
Move the rice to one side of the wok and crack the two eggs in the space. Ensure the part of the wok with the eggs in is over the heat and fry the eggs, scrambling them with the spatula. This should take about a minute.
2 eggs
Stir the eggs into the rice.
Add in the soy sauce, salt and lemon juice and toss together.
1 tbsp dark soy sauce, ¼ tsp salt, 1 tbsp lemon juice
Add the minced beef back to the wok and fry, keeping everything moving with your spatula, for a further 2-3 minutes to heat the mince back through.
Serve topped with sriracha and spring onions.
Sriracha chili sauce, 3 spring onions (scallions)
✎ Notes
Can it be made ahead?
Yes, make the minced beef fried rice, then spread it out in a large dish (so it will cool quickly) cover and refrigerate for up to a day. Don’t leave cooked rice out at room temperature. Bacteria can grow on cooked rice very quickly, so it’s important to:
- Refrigerate it as quickly as possible
- Don’t store for more than 24 hours in the fridge, and
- Thoroughly reheat it.
Reheat in a wok, over a medium-high heat, moving it around the pan with a spatula, until piping hot throughout. You may need to add an extra splash of oil, as the rice will have absorbed the oil whilst in the fridge.
Can I freeze it?
Yes, you can freeze this minced beef fried rice.
Cook the rice, then spread it out in a large dish (so it will cool quickly) cover and freeze.
As per the instructions above – Don’t leave cooked rice out at room temperature. Bacteria can grow on cooked rice very quickly, so it’s important to:
- Freeze it as quickly as possible
- Defrost in the refrigerator overnight (and don’t store for more than 24 hours)
- Thoroughly reheat it.
Reheat in a wok, over a medium-high heat, moving it around the pan with a spatula, until piping hot throughout. You will need to add an extra splash of oil, as the rice will have absorbed the oil upon storing.
Ingredient swaps
This is a great dish for adding any leftovers or spare veg you have in the fridge.
- Swap out the minced beef for minced pork, turkey or chicken (note, you’ll need to add a splash of oil with minced turkey or minced chicken as they’re far lower in fat than beef and pork mince).
- You could also add ham, crispy bacon and/or cooked chorizo pieces.
- If you want more vegetables, add in cooked chopped carrots, sweetcorn, broccoli, mushrooms, sugar snap peas, canned beansprouts or canned bamboo shoots.
How to scale up and scale down this recipe
You can halve or double the recipe, sticking to the same ingredient ratios. If doubling the recipe, be aware that you’ll need a very LARGE wok, and it will take longer to heat the rice through.
Nutritional information is approximate, per serving. This recipe serves 4.
Nutrition
Calories: 605kcalCarbohydrates: 69gProtein: 38gFat: 18gSaturated Fat: 5gPolyunsaturated Fat: 4gMonounsaturated Fat: 8gTrans Fat: 0.5gCholesterol: 160mgSodium: 902mgPotassium: 677mgFiber: 3gSugar: 7gVitamin A: 503IUVitamin C: 15mgCalcium: 68mgIron: 5mg
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