Chinese Sausage Fried Rice

This Chinese Sausage Fried Rice or lop cheung chow fan 香肠炒饭 recipe is so easy to make and packed with Asian flavor. A homemade Asian rice dish that tastes better than take-out. It's the perfect quick recipe for a weeknight meal.

If you have recently purchased the Kam Yen Jan Chinese Sausage from Costco and don't know what to do with it, make this Chinese Sausage Fried Rice! With this recipe, you only need a few minutes to get dinner on the table! It's the best last-minute dish to satisfy your hunger!

This Chinese Sausage Fried Rice is made with leftover white rice, Chinese sausage, scallions, garlic, ginger, eggs, soy sauce, Shaoxing wine, and oyster sauce. It's customizable and adaptable to suit your taste! Also, feel free to add-in some mixed vegetables such as; diced carrots, corn, and peas to your fried rice.

You can serve this fried rice as a side with your favorite Chinese or Asian foods, or as a complete meal.

What is Chinese Sausage:

There are different kinds of Chinese sausages; those made using fresh pork to those made using pig livers, duck livers, and even turkey livers.

In this recipe, we are going to use the Chinese sausage, also known by its Cantonese name "Lap Cheong" or "Lap Chong", 腊肠. This type of sausage is usually made from pork and pork fat. It's dry-cured, hard to touch, sweetened, and seasoned with rose water, rice wine, and soy sauce.

Lap Cheong is great for any dish from fried rice, stir fry to traditional dim sum dishes. The most common ways to cook Chinese sausage are steaming and stir-frying it.

You can purchase Chinese sausage at any Asian grocer, Costco, or online at Amazon.com.  It lasts quite a long time! Once the package is opened, you can store it in the fridge for up to 2 months or keep in the freezer for up to 6 months. 

The Essential Chinese Seasoning Ingredients to Make Fried Rice:

Shaoxing wine (紹興酒): if you want to cook Chinese food at home, you have to stock your pantry with this traditional Chinese wine, fermented from rice. Shaoxing wine adds depth, flavor complexity, and fragrance to dishes. It's so versatile that every Chinese restaurant uses Shaoxing wine in almost every dish!

Shaoxing wine is available at any Asian supermarket or selects Kroger/Ralphs stores. It's often priced around $1.99 - $3.99 per bottle.

The best substitutions for Shaoxing Wine are dry sherry, mirin, or Japanese sake.

Soy Sauce: It's the most basic, essential seasoning and a must-have Chinese pantry item! In this recipe, I used low sodium soy sauce because it contains 40 percent less sodium than the original Premium Soy Sauce while all the flavor and quality characteristics remain because it is aged before extracting the salt. 

Soy sauce is used to add umami flavors and saltiness to a dish. A little bit of soy sauce goes a long way and is rarely used in large quantities in dishes. Therefore, to add saltiness to the dish, just add a small amount of salt. Do not go overboard with soy sauce or all you’ll taste is soy sauce.

Oyster Sauce: This dark brown Asian condiment is made from oyster extracts, sugar, salt, and water thickened with cornstarch. It has a slightly fishy, sweet, and salty taste.

Check Out More Fried Rice Recipes:

• INSTANT POT FRIED RICE (BETTER-THAN-TAKEOUT)
• KIMCHI FRIED RICE -BOKKEUMBAP (EASY AND FLAVORFUL)
• NASI GORENG RECIPE (INDONESIAN FRIED RICE)
• FRIED RICE RECIPE WITH EGG, HAM, AND SHRIMP

How to Make Chinese Sausage Fried Rice:

The cooking process of this fried rice is pretty simple. Here’s how:

• Render Sausage Fat: Cook the Chinese sausage over medium-low heat for about 4-5 minutes or until the fat is released.  Keep the rendered fat in the skillet and transfer the Chinese sausage to a plate and set aside.

• Sauté the aromatic vegetables: Use the rendered fat to sauté the onion, scallions, garlic, ginger until just translucent and fragrant.

• Cook the egg: First, you need to crack the eggs into a small bowl and beat them together. Then, push all the aromatic ingredients to the side to make room for the eggs. After that, add a small amount of oil to the pan and cook the egg. Let it set before breaking it apart. 
• Cook the rice and sauce: First, add about 1 tablespoon of butter into the pan then add cooked cold rice and sauce. Give it a toss and stir until the rice is pale brown and toasted.

• Add the Chinese sausage back into the skillet. Give it a quick stir and adjust the seasoning with salt/pepper if needed

Tips to Make the Perfect Fried Rice:

1. Use the best types of rice: Use long-grain rice. My favorite is Jasmine because it's extremely fragrant and has a slightly sweet taste. It also has the perfect texture, as it’s not too sticky and not to dry.  Alternatively, you can use medium-grain rice or sushi rice.
2. Wash the Rice: Washing the rice could reduce starches that cause the rice to clump and remove impurities from pesticides. Wash the rice 3-4 times or until the water runs clear.
3. Use cooked old day rice: You need to cook the rice at least a day ahead of time and refrigerate. It helps to dry the grains out enough to prevent soggy fried rice. If you don't have old day rice, feel free to use freshly cooked rice. To do this, you should first spread the rice on a baking sheet and let it cool down and allow some surface moisture to evaporate for a few hours before cooking. Check out this scrumptious Instant Pot Fried Rice recipe using freshly cooked rice here. 
4. Use a combination of oil and butter to keep the fried rice from drying out. The butter helps to retain moisture in the rice and to revive its flavor but without the extra grease.
5. How to Keep Rice from Sticking to Pan: You can cook this fried rice in a wok or non-stick pan. Be sure to preheat the wok until it begins to smoke before adding a high smoke point oil to prevent the rice from sticking to it.

I hope you’ll enjoy this Chinese Sausage Fried Rice recipe! If you try it out, please don’t forget to come back and rate the recipe card! 

CHECK OUT MORE ASIAN RECIPES:

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• VIETNAMESE CARAMELIZED PORK BOWLS
• CHICKEN IN BLACK BEAN SAUCE
• SPICY SICHUAN NOODLES
• SWEET AND SOUR FISH
• HUNAN BEEF WITH CUMIN
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• SINGAPORE NOODLES (XING ZHOU MI FEN)
• GENERAL TSO’S CHICKEN (SWEET AND SAVORY DEEP-FRIED CHICKEN)
• VEGETABLE STIR FRY WITH TOFU
• BEST PORK TENDERLOIN STIR FRY
• ASIAN GROUND BEEF STIR FRY
• THAI SALAD DRESSING
• MINCED PORK NOODLES WITH HOISIN SAUCE
• CHINESE EGGPLANT WITH MINCED PORK
• SHRIMP AND GREEN PEAS STIR FRY
• SESAME NOODLES (MA JIANG MIAN)