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Our Spam Fried Rice is the perfect way to use up leftover rice to create a flavorful, budget-friendly meal the whole family will love. Loaded with crispy bits of Spam, fluffy scrambled eggs, and plenty of veggies, this spam fried rice recipe is always a hit with my kids.
Friends, my kids have been obsessed with take out lately.
I think it’s because I’ve been kind of obsessed with not getting take out. We were in a slump there for awhile where we were eating out 3 or 4 times a week.
I mean, I homeschool my kids so we’re all here for 3 meals a day, 7 days a week. I guess 3 or 4 out of 21 meals isn’t terrible, but it’s not great and it was sure getting expensive.
I’ve been trying to come up with creative and easy lunch ideas because that’s where I usually get stuck.
When the kids asked to hit up our local Asian joint, I compromised with this easy spam fried rice recipe instead. It was a hit!
Homemade fried rice is so darn easy and my kids LOVE it. We usually go for Bacon Fried Rice, or even my cauliflower chicken fried rice, but I’ll be honest…I’m having a moment with Spam lately. Weird, but true.
Let me show you how we do this!
Fried Rice Ingredients:
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Rice – Use a medium or long grain rice. See the FAQs below for more info!
Spam – I like Spam because of how crispy the outsides get, it’s cheap, and I can always keep a can in the pantry so it’s ready to go when I need it! You can absolutely swap in ham if you have it on hand. Smoked sausage would work here too!
Onion – We like adding diced onion to our fried rice, but you can leave it out if it’s not something you enjoy.
Garlic & Ginger – Some minced garlic and ginger will add loads of flavor. Use fresh or buy the squeeze tube in the produce section – either works.
Peas & Carrots – Highly recommend using frozen over canned veggies in your fried rice. The flavors are more fresh and the colors are more vibrant.
Soy Sauce – You’ll use some of this for cooking with the rice and veggies, but we also stir a bit into the raw egg to add loads of savory flavor there.
Egg – We usually go for 2 large eggs, but you can easily stretch this dish further or up the protein by cracking in additional eggs.
Scallions – Some chopped scallions/green onion adds a nice touch of flavor to the dish.
Sriracha – This is totally optional but we love to drizzle some Sriracha sauce on our spam fried rice before serving!
What Readers are Saying!
“This was delicious! The kids and I had never had spam before. Even my picky eater wanted more spam! Everyone in the family loved it. I will be making this again.” – Cindy
How To Make Fried Rice with Spam:
Spam: To start, you’ll want to heat a wok or large, deep skillet. Add a little oil and your diced Spam. Cook until the outsides are crispy.
Veggies: Stir in the onions and cook those until softened, along with a little garlic and ginger. Next, I like to add frozen peas and carrots. Once they have cooked down a bit, it’s time for rice.
Rice: Add the rice and stir fry with the vegetables in a little soy sauce until good and hot.
Eggs: Push everything in the pan off to one side and add a little bit of oil to the pan. Break your eggs in, hit them with a little soy sauce, and start scrambling.
Finish: When the eggs are cooked through, stir everything back together, sprinkle on some chopped scallions, squirt on some sriracha and serve!
What To Serve With Fried Rice:
Homemade egg rolls, of course!
Korean BBQ Pork Chops go great with fried rice, and so does this pork stir fry!
If you’re looking for a low carb main dish to go along with your fried rice, try this chicken stir fry.
Some air fryer orange chicken or air fryer Mongolian beef are also solid choices for a main dish. I hope you’ll give this easy fried rice recipe a try! I know Spam fried rice might seem a little out there, but it’s seriously so good!
FAQ’s:
Be sure to grab either medium or long grain rice. Jasmine rice works really well in fried rice too! Pretty much any variety of medium or long grain will work.
Yes, it CAN be made with fresh rice, but you’ll need to give it a little love first.
I take my freshly made rice and spread it out on a sheet pan and let it cool down for 30 minutes or so at room temperature. This allows some the moisture to evaporate and helps keep your rice from turning to mush.
If you’d prefer to use day old rice, that works great too and is my preferred method. I just don’t always have day old rice on hand when the craving hits.
If you’ve got leftovers you can keep them stored in an airtight container in the fridge for about 3 days. The rice will dry out even more in the fridge so you may need to add a little water when reheating.
MORE ASIAN INSPIRED RECIPES!
Spam Fried Rice
Ingredients
- 3 cups cold, cooked white rice medium or long grain
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 12 ounces Spam diced
- 1/2 cup diced onion
- 3 cloves garlic minced
- 2 teaspoons minced ginger
- 1 1/2 cups frozen peas and carrots
- 3 tablespoons soy sauce divided
- 2 large eggs
- 2 tablespoons chopped scallions
- 1 tablepoon sesame oil optional
- 1 tablespoon sriracha optional
Instructions
- Heat the oil in a large deep skillet or wok over medium high heat.
- Add the Spam to the skillet and cook, stirring often, until browned, about 5 minutes.
- Add the onions and cook for 2 more minutes.
- Add the garlic and ginger and continue cooking for 30 seconds.
- Add the peas and carrots to the skillet and cook, stirring often, for 5 minutes.
- Add rice to the skillet, sprinkle with 2 tablespoons of soy sauce, and cook for 3 minutes, stirring often.
- Push everything in the pan off to the side and crack the eggs into the empty space of the pan. Sprinkle with remaining tablespoon soy sauce and stir to break up the eggs. When eggs are cooked through, stir them into the rice mixture.
- Remove from the heat and top with scallions. Add a drizzle of sesame oil and sriracha, if desired.
Tips & Notes:
Nutrition Information:
This recipe was originally published in April 2018. It was updated with new photos in June 2023. Original photos below.
Kimberly Mayfield says
This was a first for me! I love fried rice but had never had it with Spam. Being a child of the 1970’s, we ate enough of the stuff but I left it behind long ago. Just for fun, I decided to make this and it was an instant hit! I couldn’t stop eating it right out of the skillet. I did add extra ginger but that’s just to my liking. Super recipe – thanks a million!
Karly says
So glad you enjoyed it! 🙂
em Schmidt says
this recipe is awesome. a lot of prep work but grate to eat. I used stir fry sauce instead of siracha. I put a tablespoon at the beginning in the spam just to camel lize it a bit and I made alot more rice than it said to. but this is our new favorite recipe for supper
Karly says
Sounds delicious with stir fry sauce! Thanks for sharing!
Anne Vickers says
Amazing and easy – thank you!
CATHERINE ROSE BALLARDO-WATSON says
You know this is a good recipe when you have left over rice. That’s what my dad use to make. He never added ginger.
Cindy says
This was delicious! The kids and I had never had spam before. Even my picky eater wanted more spam! Everyone in the family loved it. I will be mailing this again.
Jere says
I’ve made this 5+ times, always turns out awesome! Simple and delicious!
Karly says
Love to hear that! 🙂
Karen Kent says
This was so good!!! As we are still in lockdown, I was looking for a way to use some leftover rice from last night’s curry. I found your recipe and had everything but sriracha on hand. I look forward to eating this as left overs too (which if you knew me, would be almost miraculous)
This recipe is a keeper!!
Karly says
Love to hear that!
Asia says
Make this all the time. My secret is adding 1T of Oyster Sauce at the end and mix it in. Takes on this amazing taste. Hands down I got the best fried rice.
Kim Espina says
I used maggi and a little oyster sauce. ?
bobby says
This makes the stuff from the Chinese restaurant pale in comparison. I substituted beef broth instead of water for the rice and teriyaki instead of soy. Almost couldn’t stop eating it. The sriracha at the end is also much recommended.
GRANT K says
Being half Thai and American my dad used spam a lot! I can say I’ve never had it in fried rice but will be making your recipe soon! I’m sure I will have a flood of memories come back to me once I start opening those cans. Thank you for all your recipes. Just made the Alfredo sauce last night. It’s a keeper!
Sabrina B. says
love fried rice but don’t allow myself to eat it too often, but when I do I like the idea of controlling my ingredients, so thank you for this recipe!
Mitja says
I just love fried rice, we often make it. We hardly ever make the same recipe twice though, since we just use whatever we find in the fridge 🙂
Liz N. says
As an Asian American, I grew up eating Spam (a Hawaiian and Filipino favorite). I’m so glad to see Spam becoming more mainstream and more accepted. I still get friends who will turn up their nose to it until they try my Spam Fried Rice or Spam musubi (Spam sushi). I love it so much that I buy Spam by the case at Sam’s Club! It’s not something I eat all the time but when I’m pressed for time, it is easy, quick and delicious.
Catherine says
This looks incredibly delicious! I have never tried spam before, but after seeing your recipe, I am totally sold!! 😀
Emilee Johnson says
I made this tonight and we all loved it! I had never had spam before, and was feeling brave enough to try it. So glad I did! The husband and 7yo and 4yo all gave it 2 thumbs up, which doesn’t happen often!
Christina says
You should add ketchup and make omurice!
Karly says
Never heard of that!
christina says
you make a thin egg crepe ish sort of thing and you put it over the rice like a cover and then you draw a picture with ketchup on the egg!
Kim Espina says
My mom always put ketchup on my fried rice when I was a kid. I still eat it that way lol. Didn’t know it was an actual thing!
Laura Reigel says
I agree that is the Hawaii Ono way 🙂 ketchup on rice and eggs always.