Instant Pot Thai Chicken Fried Rice

This restaurant style Instant pot Thai chicken fried rice recipe is the absolute best. It's quick and easily made in instant pot when you don't have any leftover rice and delicious plain with wedges of tomato and cucumber slices. 

I'm brining another Instant pot fried rice recipe. This one has got to be my favorite of all.

This instant pot Thai chicken fried rice is

• So delicious
• Succulent, tender chicken
• One pot 
• Easy clean up 
• Kid-friendly
• Perfect for meal prep
• Yummy leftovers for days 

Thai fried rice ingredients:

Boneless, skinless chicken thighs

White Basmati rice

Eggs

Onion, garlic, scallion

Chicken stock

Seasonings - Black pepper, oyster sauce, soy sauce and sugar

All pantry ingredients (may be except oyster sauce, but is available in major US grocery stores, Asian markets or conveniently in Amazon)

How to make Thai fried rice?

1. Heat vegetable oil in instant pot and add 2 eggs.

2. Scramble them. You don't have to continuously stir eggs. Stir 'em every 20 seconds or so, until slightly under cooked. This will yield larger pieces of very soft scrambled eggs.

3. Remove eggs to a bowl, heat a bit more oil and saute chopped onion for couple of minutes.

4. Add chopped chicken and let cook for a minute.

5. Add washed and drained rice.

6. Saute for about 20 seconds.

7. Add chicken stock and ground black pepper.

8. Stir well. and let cook according to instructions.

9. Finally finish with cooked eggs, scallions, oyster sauce, soy sauce and sugar.

Done and DONE.

So easy to make restaurant style Thai chicken fried rice at home.

This Thai fried rice recipe makes a great school lunch box. It's easy to be made ahead and stored in the refrigerator like these other meal prep recipe ideas.

Few notes to make delicious Thai fried rice recipe:

Rinse rice in a strainer and let it hang out for couple of minutes to drain as much water as possible. This step is important to not only wash the rice, as well as remove excess starch <— less mushier rice

Do not double the recipe. It’s just too much to work with and makes the rice overcooked in the process. 

I used 1 cup of 33% less sodium chicken stock and the salt was perfect along with oyster sauce and soy sauce. But, if you have NO sodium chicken stock, then I’d suggest adding a touch of salt. DO NOT USE REGULAR SODIUM CHICKEN STOCK, it might make the dish salty.

How to make non-mushy fried rice in Instant pot? 

It totally depends on your rice, yes! Many, many readers have had huge success with this recipe and there are a few who have had mushy rice. Reason? it depends on the basmati rice you are using. Not all brands, packages of rice are the same though they all say basmati rice in the package —> Some need more water and some less. Some need more cooking time and some less. 

How do we solve this? I came up with two different cooking methods for you (you are welcome!). So, which method is right for you? 

Cooking method-1 

• If you have tried this recipe already and you have had great success. Just stick to this. 
• If you cook different rice recipes in your Instant pot and use the rice setting and love the way the rice gets cooked , then this is right for you. 

Cooking method-2

• If you have tried this recipe before and had a mushy outcome, then go for this. 
• If you are not sure about your rice or cooking method. 

Another important note for cooking rice in instant pot —–> It depends on the size of your Instant pot. 

I tried making this recipe in a 3-quart Instant pot and a 8-quart Instant Pot. Result? Fried rice in 8-quart was much more firmer that the 3-quart. So, if you a own a larger Instant Pot, then use that for firmer rice. 

What is Thai chicken fried rice called?

Thai fried rice with chicken is called KAO PAD GAI. Kao means rice, Pad means stir fry and Gai is for chicken.

In Thailand, fried rice is often made with some type of protein, with shrimp or crab being more popular.

I'm certainly not of Thai origin, but thanks to these sources that helped me in learning and creating a more restaurant style Thai chicken fried rice recipe : Hot Thai kitchen / Eating Thai food / Curiouscuisiniere

What is the difference between Thai fried rice and Chinese fried rice?

Though both fried rice recipes include some protein, eggs and sauces,. Vegetables are not included in Thai rice (the only ones being onion, garlic, spicy chilies and sometimes sliced tomato towards the end) whereas Chinese fried rice is loaded with an assortment of different veggies.

Also, in authentic Thai fried rice, eggs are scrambled (almost under cooked) in the same pan with sautéed veggies being pushed to one side and stirred with rice which gives a more creamier finished dish.

A Chinese fried rice is made with soy sauce and sesame oil, whereas Thai rice includes fish sauce or a combination of both.

You might notice that the recipe below does not use fish sauce 😱. However, we have used oyster sauce which is more thick, sweet, salty and deeper fish notes. I did try this instant pot Thai rice with both sauces and the one made with oyster sauce got a unanimous thumbs up.

What to serve with Thai fried rice?

It is usually served with sliced cucumbers, lime wedge and tomato slices.

Although I added a lot more cucumber slices (more than you what you see in these pictures) when served to my family and called it a good dinner! You can find more dinner recipes here.

Some of the links above are affiliate links, which pay me a small commission for my referral at no extra cost to you! Thank you for supporting kitchenathoskins.com

All contents and images are my original work, unless and otherwise mentioned. Please do not use my recipes or images without linking back to www.kitchenathoskins.com. If you wish to republish a recipe, please rewrite in your own words and don’t forget to include a link back to the original recipe.