Crab Fried Rice

5 from 1 vote

This Crab Fried Rice is so simple but surprisingly tasty with natural sweetness from crab meat and richness from eggs. It is great for daily meals as well as special occasions.

Prep Time5

Cook Time10

Total Time15

Course: Main Dish

Cuisine: Thai, Vietnamese

Keyword: crab meat fried rice, easy, quick

Servings: people

Calories: 335kcal

Author: Sophie Pham

Ingredients

2 cups cooked rice (day-old, refrigerated, about 10.5-12 oz)
1/2 teaspoon salt (to taste)
2 tablespoons cooking oil, divided
3-4 large eggs, beaten
1½ tablespoons thinly sliced scallions, white parts
1 tablespoon minced garlic, divided
¾-1 cup crab meat (about 5-5.5 oz. See Notes if using live crabs)
1 teaspoon fish sauce (to taste)
1½-2 teaspoons soy sauce, divided (to taste)
1-2 tablespoons thinly sliced scallions, green parts
black pepper

US Customary - Grams

Instructions

In a shallow plate, mix rice with ½ teaspoon salt and 1½ teaspoon of oil. While doing this, use your fingers to break up the rice.
Place a wok or pan over medium heat and add about 1 teaspoon of oil. Then add the beatened eggs, swirl and scramble briefly and remove from the heat while the eggs are still soft and a little runny. Transfer to a plate and set aside.
Heat another teaspoon oil in the same pan and add the white parts of scallions. Sauté briefly until fragrant, then add half of the garlic and also sauté briefly until fragrant.
Add crab meat, stir and cook for about 15 seconds and then add 1 teaspoon of fish sauce and ½ teaspoon of soy sauce. Stir and cook until crab meat is heated through and smells delicious, another 15-20 seconds or so. Transfer to a plate and set aside.
Heat the remaining oil in the pan and add the remaining garlic. Sauté briefly until fragrant and then increase the heat to medium high. Add rice, stir and toss constantly to break up the rice for about a minute. Add the remaining soy sauce and continue to stir and fry for another 1-2 minutes.
Add crab meat to the pan, stir and cook for 30-40 seconds to distribute the crab meat and let the flavors fuse. Then add scrambled eggs, break up the eggs into small bits and toss quickly with the rice for a few seconds.
Sprinkle the green parts of scallions and black pepper, give everything a stir to combine then transfer to serving plates immediately. Serve hot with some extra soy sauce on the side.

Video

Notes

You can toss the fried rice with some sate sauce before serving for additional heat and flavors.

If you have time, using live crabs will make the fried rice even tastier. For this recipe, you will need about 2 medium crabs. You can place them in the freezer for about an hour to put them to sleep, then steam for 15-18 minutes. Pick the meat and discard the shell.

I often use mud crabs and blue crabs. Dungeness crabs works great and I think snow crab may work too. You can also use a combination for some varieties in textures and flavors. The ratio of crab meat to rice is customizable.

I recommend using long-grain rice (such as jasmine rice) that is day-old and refrigerated. When cooking the rice, use 10-15% less water than you usually use.

If you don't have leftover rice, cook some fresh rice. Once time is up, open the rice cooker and let all the steam evaporate. Spread the rice thinly on a plate or tray to cool them a little more, and then either chill in your refrigerator or in the freezer if you need to make the dish soon.

Nutrition