Many people think Yangzhou fried rice is just egg fried rice—but that’s far from the truth. Yes, it includes eggs, but it’s a highly refined dish backed by an official recipe standard issued by the Yangzhou Bureau of Quality and Technical Supervision. In fact, if a local restaurant doesn’t follow these regulations, they can’t legally call their dish “Yangzhou Fried Rice.” The result? A deceptively simple dish that actually requires precision, preparation, and balance.
Note: While this recipe standard applies to restaurants, you’re welcome to adapt it freely when cooking at home.
Ingredients
- 3 cups (600g) day-old rice
- 2 eggs
- 3 tbsp cooking oil
- 40g bamboo shoots, diced
- 40g carrots, diced
- 40g green peas
- 3 soaked dried shiitake mushrooms, diced
- 3–5 soaked dried scallops
- 40g Jinhua ham, diced
- 40g chicken thigh meat (or breast), diced
- 1.5 tbsp cooking wine
- 40g shrimp, diced
- 40g rehydrated sea cucumber, diced (optional)
- 20g scallions, chopped
- 1¼ tsp salt
Rice Tips
Leftover or day-old rice is ideal. If you don’t have any, cook rice the day before and let it rest. The fluffiness of the rice will make or break the dish.
Ingredient Notes
- Sea cucumber: Preparing dried sea cucumber takes days—48 hours of soaking, a few hours of simmering, then another 48 hours of soaking. It's rare to find this process done outside of historic restaurants. Scallops are a great substitute for a similar texture and flavor.
- Jinhua ham: A prized cured meat from Jinhua, Zhejiang, known as an imperial tribute since the Song Dynasty. If unavailable, thick-cut Italian prosciutto works well.
- Bamboo shoots: Feel free to swap with other firm vegetables like celery, asparagus, or green beans.
Instructions
- Soak dried shiitake mushrooms and scallops at least 2 hours in advance. Squeeze out excess water from mushrooms and dice. Blend scallops for about 10 seconds until fluffy.
- Steam the Jinhua ham and chicken with a splash of cooking wine for 20 minutes. Reserve the flavorful liquid. Dice the meats.
- Dice the rehydrated sea cucumber and shrimp. Set aside.
- Blanch bamboo shoots, carrots, and peas for about 40 seconds. Set aside.
- Beat the eggs until no streaks of white remain.
- Heat a wok until smoking, then add oil and the beaten eggs. Stir rapidly with chopsticks to break them into small pieces. Remove and set aside.
- Add more oil if needed. Stir-fry the ham, shredded scallops, mushrooms, sea cucumber, shrimp, and chicken over high heat.
- Add the cooked rice and stir-fry on high until you see grains bouncing in the pan.
- Add the blanched vegetables and scrambled eggs. Pour in the reserved steaming liquid. Stir continuously until evenly combined.
- Season with salt. Toss one final time. Garnish with chopped scallions and serve hot.
Pro Tips
Dice all ingredients finely to distribute evenly with every bite. The rice should remain the star of the show—complemented, not overwhelmed, by the rest.
Ingredient amounts are small by design. This is based on a restaurant-standard recipe where large ingredient batches are prepped and portioned to order. Feel free to scale up or simplify when cooking at home.
For those looking to recreate the perfect Yangzhou Fried Rice at home, Chefco offers professional-grade stir fry woks, vegetable slicers, meat slicers, and more to help you prep every ingredient with ease and precision.
