Fried Rice Carbonara

This fun recipe for fried rice carbonara blends two old classics for a great new suppertime taste! The perfect way to use leftover rice, too.

Jump to:

• 🔎 A quick look at this recipe
• ⭐️ Why this recipe works
• 🧐 What is carbonara sauce?
• 🧐 What is fried rice?
• 💡 Ingredient substitution ideas
• 👩🏻‍🍳 How to make this recipe
• Fried Rice Carbonara

🔎 A quick look at this recipe

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⭐️ Why this recipe works

This mash-up recipe marries the creamy, cheesy flavors of carbonara with the classic take-out ingredients of fried rice.

Instead of pasta, leftover cooked rice is tossed with eggs, Parmesan cheese, bacon, parsley, scallions, butter, soy sauce and rice wine to create a rich, satisfying one-pan meal.

And this all came about because I had a container of leftover rice hanging around in my fridge.

I get some of my favorite recipe brainstorms while looking into the depths of my fridge. There are always bits and pieces hanging around in those containers that fall into the No Ingredient Left Behind category and in the case of this recipe for fried rice carbonara, there was a container of leftover rice that was calling my name.

And when that happens I usually think, time for fried rice!

But you know how I like to mash up recipes, and the word “carbonara” always brings them to the table in my house, and so I decided to take the best of two recipes to see how it would work. This worked like a charm with my recipe for chicken carbonara, so I was hopeful!

🧐 What is carbonara sauce?

Carbonara is an Italian classic dish that features beaten eggs, pancetta or bacon, Parmesan cheese and heavy cream, all mixed together with warm pasta to make an eggy, creamy, cheese sauce. It’s heaven on a plate.

🧐 What is fried rice?

Fried rice usually features cooked rice that is stir-fried with eggs, veggies, soy sauce and rice wine to give it a little zing. It is also heaven on a plate.

So I took the common ingredient – eggs – and added the Parmesan and bacon from the carbonara recipe and the rice and rice wine and soy sauce from the fried rice recipe and smooshed them together in a skillet. Would it work?

It worked!

💡 Ingredient substitution ideas

Missing something or want to swap in something different? Check out the links below to find more ingredient substitution ideas. 👇🏻

See the recipe card for full information on ingredients and quantities and nutritional information

👩🏻‍🍳 How to make this recipe

Put a couple of eggs in a bowl with ½ cup of grated Parmesan cheese, and a handful of fresh chopped parsley.  Whisk it all up together and set aside.

Meanwhile, cook a few pieces of chopped up bacon in a large deep skillet until it’s nice and crispy.  Scoop it out with a slotted spoon and drain on paper towels, leaving the drippings in the skillet.

Pour in a little rice wine and soy sauce and cook it over medium high heat for a couple of minutes, scraping all the delightful stuck-on bits of bacon off the bottom of the pan.

Add a couple of cups of cooked rice to the skillet with the bacon drippings and stir for a few minutes until it is hot.

Add a little butter, the egg mixture and the bacon and toss to coat – the heat of the rice is going to cook that egg mixture just the right amount.  

Add some chopped scallions and toss.  Give it a taste and add some salt and pepper if you think it needs it.

Divide among bowls, garnish with Parmesan and the rest of the parsley and serve it up!