Nigerian Fried Rice puts a spicy, flavorful spin on the traditional fried rice and is appealing on its own or served with a variety of other African foods.
I would say it is a complete meal on it’s own…don’t worry about sides or protein unless you are going all out!
I love making fried rice at home because it is easy to put together and with the money you could spend ordering out. You can make this dish at home and everyone would love it -even the picky eaters.
So what sets this fried rice apart? The addition of thyme, curry, and liver (which is completely optional) but I love it in here. I grew up eating cow liver and chicken liver so I am a fan of ovals.
Now the best part about this fried rice is that it is completely customizable to your taste. Can’t stand liver? Swap it out for beef or chicken or just double the shrimp.
If you are a vegetarian, leave out the meat completely and increase the vegetables.
Enjoy!
Watch How to Make It
Nigerian Fried Rice puts a spicy, flavorful spin on the traditional fried rice and is appealing on its own or served with a variety of other African food.
- 6 cups cooked rice I used Basmati
- 1/4- 1/2 cup canola oil
- 1 medium onion sliced
- 2 teaspoons minced garlic
- 1/2- pound liver cut bite size
- 1 pound large shrimp peeled and deveined
- 1 teaspoon pepper sauce chili sauce
- 1/2 teaspoon thyme
- 1 teaspoon white pepper
- 1 teaspoon curry powder
- 1-2 teaspoon maggie powder or chicken bouillon optional
- 1 tablespoon maggie liquid or soy sauce optional
- salt to taste
- 12-16 oz vegetables peas, carrots, green beans
- Break up the clumpy rice before starting.
- Heat a large wok or skillet on medium high heat with about a tablespoon of canola or vegetable oil.
- Add the rice stir vigorously for about 2-3 minutes adding Maggie liquid and a tablespoon or more of water or chicken/beef stock as need to moistened rice. Set aside. Quickly wipe the wok or skillet with a clean paper towel or cloth.
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Heat 1 teaspoon of oil in the wok; add shrimp, lightly season with salt. Sauté until just cooked through. Remove and add to the fried rice.
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Next add another tablespoon of oil, let it heat up, then add the liver or beef lightly season with salt and pepper, quickly stir fry for about a 2 minutes. Remove and add to the rice. Quickly wipe the wok or skillet with a clean paper towel or cloth.
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Then add a tablespoon of oil into the wok, followed by onions, thyme, garlic, peas, carrots, pepper sauce,white pepper, curry powder, and chicken bouillon powder. Stir until fragrant for about 2 minutes.
- Finally return the combination of rice, liver, and shrimp to the wok. Stir until everything has been fully combined. Adjust seasoning salt, pepper if necessary.
- Garnish with chopped scallion and serve
This was amazing. My Nigerian family (very critical) by the way said it’s the best. And it was so easy to make. Thank you
Awesome!! I am so glad this was a hit with your family :)!
My 3rd time making it. We love this recipe. Comes out soo yummy.
Awesome! Glad you like this as much as I do.
AWESOME!!! I USED CHICKEN, HAM AND SHRIMP AND IT WAS SO GOOD!!!
Awesome! Thank you for letting me know and sharing your thoughts.
Can I just say that it’s amazing that you can change the number of people it serves to suit your needs – amazing tough to your food blog. I’m a fellow foodie myself. Making Fried rice this evening too. Brilliant!
Glad you find it helpful, Diane. Happy cooking!
Looking forward to try this dish. yum
Can’t wait for you to try it, Freida! You’ll have seconds of this for sure. 😉 Please let me know how it turns out for you. Happy cooking!
Hi, this look nice and easy. I am planning to cook this tomorrow. The onions used here is it the spring onions?
To saute, you can use either white, yellow or red onions. And garnish it with chopped scallion. Please let me know how it turns out for you. Happy cooking!
It was SO good!! Your pictures are absolutely stunning and I am so jealous!
Thank you so much, Donna! My pictures back then weren’t as good as these. It gets better over the time. 🙂
I just finished preparing all the things I need for my fried rice and came up to the internet to find out ways of cooking it and stumbled on this.
I am off to the kitchen again. With this recipe, my fried rice is gonna be delicious.
Thanks Imma
Tried the fried rice over Easter and it was awesome! Thank you
Happy to hear it turned out great, Nikki!
Hello Imma!
What if I don’t have the complete ingredients and still wish to chop fried rice
Hello Oloriajayi! Give it a try with what you have ! And see how you like it .
Hi
I am making this a meat free dish so was wondering if I could add fried egg to this dish instead?
Ola
Hi Ola! You sure can. Fried egg would give it the added protein.
I can’t wait to make this for the hubby tonight.
Awesome! Do let me know how it works out for you.
Please I want know when to add the sop sauce into the fried rice
You add the soy sauce when you fry the rice . And you can always add it at the end . Adjust to suit tastebuds.
Thanks for the recipe I’m going to the market right away.
Awesome! Do let me know how it works out for you. Thanks !
Question- We dont parboil the basmati rice or anything like that before putting it on the skillet right?
I’ve had experiences where people boiled the rice a little at first before putting it on the skillet and frying it with other ingredients. I am planning on using chicken as opposed to liver because i don’t really know where to get liver when i am or how to cook it haha
Yes you do. It’s fully cooked, you have to cook the rice first before making this rice . If using chicken you have cook it a little more , so it’s fully cooked . Oh and Chicken livers are easy to cook . Salt and saute for a few minutes and it’s ready to go. Hope this helps
I am preparing this recipe tomorrow evening for two Nigerian Dominican priests….they do not eat meat on Friday so I will not use liver…they eat very little but would you suggest something else in addition to this. I was considering grilled salmon….also I am lost for a dessert to offer…,any suggestions?…thank you
Grilled Salmon would be perfect. For dessert, I would go with this condensed milk cake here
The rice, is the 6 cups before or after cooking.
It is 6 cups of boiled rice(after cooking)
I have tried for several years to do fried rice the Nigerian style until i stumbled upon this recipe by Imma.What a relief.My family loves it.It came out so well.I used long grain rice rather than the basmati.I must say Imma keep up the good job.If i need something different to cook for my family i just log on to immaculate bites
You are a sweet heart Maggie! Am so happy it worked out well for you and the family approves too! Thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts with me.
Hi Imma.Just a quick question.Do we need to cook the rice full or half way before adding the ingredients?I would love to do this over the weekend.
Thank you wonderful lady.
Hi Magareth, the rice needs to be fully cooked.Before proceeding with the steps. Also make sure the rice is not mushy. Please let me know how it works for you!
Quick and easy to make-Love all the flavor combination.
I added Chicken and beef to this and it was a hit. Thanks!
This was really good- it was eaten it in no time and my family kept asking for more . You are a really Good Cook. Thanks.
Yaba, you are too kind.
I am so excited to try this! I love fried rice and I love making other culture’s versions of it. I was hoping you could clarify what these are: 1-2 teaspoon maggie polder(optional)
1 tablespoon maggie liquid(optional) ?? Thanks!
Laura,maggie powder is Chicken Bouillon and maggie liquid is soy sauce. I have updated recipe. Let me know how it works out for you. Thanks for stopping by!
Miss Immaculate…… Thou art immaculate indeed. Just when I was getting comfy with the oven baked jollof rice and chicken wings . Oh my my weeknights are starting to get easier and tastier. Thank you. Surely trying this tomorrow. The chin chin was superb.
I have made all your J0llof rice and it great . I will definitely make this one. In Nigeria we sometimes call it party rice. Thanks for the recipe.
Wow!!! Looks delic…can’t wait to try this!!
I just tried it… for the first time and omg it taste soo good, steps are very easy to follow. Before my rice will always get tight for some reason I don’t know
Awesome! Glad to hear it worked out well for you.