Turn holiday ham leftovers and basic veggies into a quick, delicious and easy ham fried rice. Get creative – supermarket ham, bacon, diced chicken, or shrimp all work beautifully for any time of the year.
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My Go-To Ham Fried Rice
This is an easy ham fried rice recipe using up staple veggies and freezer corn and peas. I made this rice with leftover glazed ham from the weekend but you can use any good ham from the supermarket as well as bacon, diced rotisserie chicken or shrimp.
You can use this recipe as a template to use up leftover ingredients and veggies. It’s my go-to meal when I am running out of fresh produce as I almost always have some onions, garlic, carrots, frozen corn and peas, rice and bacon or ham in the fridge. I often have some frozen leftover ham too, especially after the holidays.
It’s a tasty, budget-friendly dish that everyone in my family loves. I serve it with a side of garlic broccoli or leafy greens or a simple side salad. I love a little garlic chili oil on top.
💡You can use this recipe combined with my cauliflower egg fried rice to make a low-carb version of this dish.
Ingredients
Here is what you need to make this ham fried rice:
- Leftover ham or regular smoked ham – diced into cubes. If you don’t eat ham, you can make this dish with leftovers from a simple corned beef recipe or some cooked chicken.
- Rice – I really like medium-grain white rice for fried rice but you can use long-grain, Basmati, Jasmine or brown rice if you wish. Rice can be cooked ahead of time but do not store it for more than 24 hours in the fridge before using!
- Onions, celery, carrots – I almost always have these as they go into so many meals – and I like to throw in some frozen peas and corn.
- For flavour: garlic, ginger, salt, white pepper (this is more traditional for Asian recipes), soy sauce or Tamari, sesame oil and a little butter, which I love in rice dishes.
- Egg – you gotta have an egg in fried rice! – of course, omit if you can’t have eggs.
How To Make Ham Fried Rice
Find the full list of ingredients, nutritional info, and instructions in the recipe card below. Here are some step-by-step pictures to guide you along. The process is simple:
Step 1. Cook white rice on a stovetop, in a rice cooker or in the Instant Pot (see all instructions below). Let it cool off on a flat plate before using the rice, this will give you the best texture.
Step 2. Saute veggies, ham and aromatics in a skillet. Add frozen corn and peas (don’t bother with thawing them out, they will defrost in the skillet).
Step 3. Add the cooked rice and sauces and stir through. Scramble the egg in the middle and fold it into the fried rice.
Garnish with green onions (scallions) and fried shallots.
Watch The Video
Recipe Tips
- Medium-grain rice works best in my opinion. Make sure it’s cooled down before adding to the skillet. Leftover cold rice works great too, it has a bit more bite to it but make sure it hasn’t been stored for longer than 24 hours.
- You can use leftover glazed or baked ham or regular deli ham, bacon, leftover chicken, diced shrimp or diced tofu for a vegetarian version.
- Fresh garlic and ginger are best but if in a pinch, ground-up powders could be used.
- This is a great recipe for using up all kinds of leftovers – you can throw in various veggies, leftover sausage, steak, and so on.
What To Serve With Ham Fried Rice
This dish is pretty good on its own but it will pair nicely with some vegetables. I love simple stir-fried or steamed broccoli or bok choy with a little garlic, a fresh cucumber salad or a simple Asian slaw to freshen it up and add some tang to the meal.
I recommend a little chili oil or Sriracha to serve to add some heat.
More Ham Recipes
Full Recipe
Find the full list of ingredients, instructions, and a nutritional breakdown below. If you have questions or cook this recipe, please let me know in the comments, and make sure to rate this recipe so it’s easy for others to find.
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Ingredients
To Cook Rice
- 1.5 cups uncooked medium-grain rice about 250 g | 8.8 oz
- 2.25 cups water
- 1 tsp salt
To Make Fried Rice
- 1.5 tbsp olive oil
- 1/2 tbsp butter
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 onion finely diced
- 1 celery stick finely diced
- 1 small carrot finely diced
- 1/2 tsp white pepper
- 1.5 tsp ginger grated or minced
- 1/5 tsp garlic grated or minced, about 2 large cloves
- 1 cup ham finely diced into cubes, leftover or regular
- 1/2 cup frozen sweet corn
- 1/2 cup frozen baby peas
- 2 tbsp soy sauce or Tamari
- 1 tsp sesame oil
- 1 egg
- 2 tbsp green onions scallions, diced, for garnish
- Also for garnish: chili oil fried shallots, extra soy sauce
Instructions
- Rinse the rice under cold running water about 5 times until water is no longer cloudy. Add rice to a pot and cover with water and add salt. Bring to a boil, then cook on medium for 10 minutes. Once most of the water is absorbed, turn the heat off and leave the rice under the lid to finish cooking off the heat.
- Transfer the rice onto a flat plate and spread to cook down.
- In a large skillet, wok or frying pan, add 1.5 tablespoons of olive oil and 1/2 tablespoon of butter, as well as onions, carrots and celery; season with salt. Saute over medium heat for 5-6 minutes, until softened.
- Add garlic, ginger and white pepper and stir through for 15-20 seconds. Follow with diced ham, frozen peas and corn (no need to thaw) and turn the heat up to high. Cook for 2-3 minutes, stirring a few times. Then, turn the heat back down to medium.
- Add soy sauce and sesame oil and stir through. Then add the cooled rice and stir through until incorporated.
- Make a small well in the middle and add raw egg. Scramble it with a spatula, then fold the rice through to incorporate. Stir everything together for 30 more seconds and remove the heat.
- Garnish with green onions and serve with chili oil, fried shallots and extra soy sauce on the side.
Oh yum! Such a delicious and easy use for holiday leftovers. I especially love the minimal prep.
I always love finding tasty leftover ham recipes and this one is just perfect. Thanks for a great idea.
Oh my goodness this was amazing! I loved making it in my cast iron skillet too. Thank you for the recipe!
This is such an easy, budget-friendly dinner option, especially on a busy weeknights. We doubled the fresh ginger and it really made it pop.
This is such a great (and simple) dinner! Full of flavors and textures, and very filling! I’ll make this one again, thank you!
Delicious and works really well!