Korean BBQ Fried Rice
Looking for a unique fried rice recipe that is full of bold flavors? This Korean BBQ fried rice will totally satisfy. Hearty enough for your main course. Fun enough for a special weekend meal.
You know how fried rice can be kind of blah sometimes?
This is not one of those recipes.
This fried rice recipe is a little bit sweet and a little bit spicy. The best part? There’s a good amount of crunch to it (thanks to a secret ingredient) making it totally irresistible.
And if you have a well-stocked freezer and fridge, you may just have all the ingredients for this dish in your kitchen right now.
The Trick To Making Amazing Fried Rice
If you like fried rice that really crisps up, almost like a rice fritter, try using frozen rice.
In the past, I made fried rice using rice that had been cooked and cooled, and the results were fine. But lately I have been using frozen rice packets from Trader Joe’s. With this simple change, my fried rice has gone from fine to amaaazing.
One other trick to making really great fried rice is to add the sauce right at the end.
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The sauce for this fried rice has a bit of sugar in it. The heat of the frying pan is enough so that the sugar caramelizes just a bit. This adds extra flavor and a bit of crunch to the final dish.
Korean BBQ-Inspired Fried Rice: What You’ll Need
The ingredient list for this Korean BBQ-inspired fried rice is quite accessible. You’ll need:
- Rice: See recommendation for using frozen rice packets, above. You can also use cooked and cooled rice or leftover rice.
- Vegetables: Lots of veggies help make this fried rice meal-worthy. You’ll need chopped onion, carrots cut into matchsticks, frozen sweet corn, and red bell pepper.
- Chicken sausage links: When I originally made this recipe in 2014, Trader Joe’s was selling Spicy Chicken Sausage, a Korean Inspired Kalbi BBQ Recipe. They don’t appear to still carry this flavor of chicken sausage, so feel free to substitute another flavor of sausage.
- Green onion: For topping!
- Gochujang sauce: Love Korean flavors but intimidated by the sheer number of sauces used in Korean cooking? I know I am! Keep it simple by using a multipurpose gochujang sauce like Annie Chun’s Korean Style Go-Chu-Jang, Good & Gather’s Korean Gochujang or another brand.
- Sugar: Adding a bit of extra sugar to the sauce helps caramelize the fried rice, resulting in the addictive crispiness of the dish.
- Spice: If you’re a spice lover, add the recommended sriracha sauce and hot pepper flakes.
Love Korean Flavors?
Try these Korean ground beef bowls.
Consider making both or having a Korean potluck dinner, complete with banchan, kimchi, bulgogi, bingsu – and even some Korean gifts if you’re celebrating a holiday!
Bacon lovers: Check out this bacon fried rice that I previously made.
Try another great fried rice recipe: Ring bologna and sweet corn fried rice.
Korean BBQ Fried Rice
Ingredients
For fried rice:
- Cooking oil
- 3 cups cooked rice (I used frozen brown rice packets from Trader Joe's)
- 1/2 small onion, chopped
- 1/2 cup frozen corn
- 1 carrot, cut into matchsticks
- 1/2 red pepper, chopped
- 2 Korean-style or Asian-style chicken sausage links, cut into coins (Trader Joe's sells many flavors)
- Chopped green onion
For sauce:
- 1/3 cup Gochujang Sauce (see notes above)
- 1 1/2 tablespoons sugar
- 2 teaspoons sriracha sauce
- Hot pepper flakes, optional
Instructions
- Whisk sauce ingredients together in a small mixing bowl. Set aside.
- Place a large frying pan over high heat. Add a couple tablespoons of cooking oil. Cook onions for a couple of minutes, until they begin to soften. Add corn, carrot, and red pepper. Cook for a minute or so, stirring often. Add rice and continue stirring. Add sausage.
- Once everything is cooked and rice becomes crispy (total cooking time of about 10 minutes), remove from heat and immediately add sauce. Stir to evenly incorporate. Top with chopped green onions.