Introducing this delicious Thai Pineapple Fried Rice dish! A delicious fried rice recipe made with chicken, pineapples, mixed veggies, and eggs, tossed in a savory stir fry sauce with incredible umami flavors.
Thai Pineapple Fried Rice is a Thai food favorite of mine. It has lovely flavors and textures and everything is ready under 30 minutes, making it the perfect easy weeknight dinner.
If you love fried rice, you’ll want to try Spam Fried Rice, Steak Fried Rice, Tofu Fried Rice and Easy Chicken Fried Rice! They are all so delicious!
Easy 30-minute Pineapple Fried Rice
If you have never had a taste of Thai Pineapple Fried Rice…oh you are in for a treat!
Thai style fried rice is often made with fish sauce (don’t be frighten by it! fish sauce is GOOD! Plus you’ve probably had it if you’ve had Thai or Vietnamese food) that brings a complex umami flavor to the rice.
We are recreating the classic Pineapple Fried Rice that you get from your favorite Thai restaurant right in the comfort of your home. And making it super simple and straight-forward.
What I love about Thai pineapple fried rice is the beautiful combination of ingredients…the sweet juicy pineapples setting in the savory fried rice, along with tender chicken pieces, fluffy eggs and mixed veggies.
All the satisfying flavors and textures come together to create a magical one-bowl meal where you can savor the taste of each ingredient in every bite.
I will admit I am super picky about my fried rice. It is not one of the things I typically I order at Asian restaurants.
Not because I don’t like fried rice, but because they are often mediocre at many restaurants or takeout places. They are never awful, are totally edible, but I’ll be honest, they are typically not amazing.
Fried rice isn’t just about pouring soy sauce onto rice and adding protein and some veggies. A delicious serving of fried rice is typically where the rice is fluffy (not wet and soaked in sauce) and oh-so-flavorful. That’s how we put together this amazing Thai Pineapple Fried Rice recipe!
Ingredients
Here are the key ingredients needed to make this yummy pineapple fried rice:
- Cooked rice – use day old rice that has been refrigerated because dryer rice that is not soggy is key to making good pineapple fried rice (or any fried rice for that matter). When you make fried rice with freshly cooked rice, it will be gooey in texture. Traditionally, jasmine rice is used for fried rice in Thai cooking, and works the best for this dish.
- Fish sauce – this classic Thai ingredient IS the secret ingredient to make GOOD Thai Pineapple Fried Rice. It is not meant to be used a lot at one time (yes, a little goes a long way), but the slight hints of fish sauce in your fried rice adds a lot of umami flavors to the fried rice. Fish sauce is a key ingredient in popular Thai dishes such as Pad Thai and Pad See Ew as well.
- Soy sauce – use a regular or low sodium soy sauce.
- Chicken – I used chicken tenderloin but boneless, skinless chicken breast or chicken thighs work great as well.
- Pineapple – I typically use fresh pineapple because I think the texture and taste is just better in this dish. For convenience, you can use canned pineapples as well. Make sure to pat dry and remove excess moisture.
- Veggies – honestly, use whatever you have at hand. Frozen works great as well. I typically use either mixed veggies or peas and carrots, because that’s what I usually have at hand
- Eggs – eggs will be scrambled and adds a nice fluffy texture along with added protein to the dish.
- Green onions – another simple ingredient that helps elevate the flavors and brings out the freshness of the dish.
How to Make Thai Pineapple Fried Rice
Kitchen Appliances
A wok is definitely very convenient for making fried rice. It heats up well and is large enough that we can easily stir the fried rice around the wok when cooking, which enables it to cook evenly. This is the wok that I use and love (affiliate link).
However, if you do not own a wok, I highly recommend a large (as large as possible) skillet, especially non-stick ones where the sides are taller.
Instructions
Prepare ingredients – slice chicken into smaller pieces, mince garlic and onions, dice pineapple, and slice green onions.
Also, remove cold rice from refrigerator, and fluff it using a fork or spoon so that the rice isn’t sticking together.
Make the sauce – bring together all the sauce ingredients into a small bowl. This is so when you are ready to use the sauce, you can grab it quickly so that sauce does not sit on the heat for too long.
Make eggs – whisk eggs, heat wok/skillet with vegetable oil, and add eggs. Once the bottom layer of eggs are cooked and non-runny, flip the eggs over. Break eggs into smaller pieces once they no longer runny but are still soft. Remove eggs from skillet promptly. We will add it back to rice later.
Sear garlic, onion and chicken – bring wok/skillet on medium high heat and sear garlic and onion until fragrant, then add sliced chicken pieces and cook until they are no longer pink. If skillet is not oiled, add vegetable oil beforehand.
Cook the rice – Add cold jasmine rice onto wok/skillet. Use spatula to break clumps of rice to reach the desired texture. Fry rice for ~2 minutes. Add half of the sauce to rice, and stir to coat rice. Let rice cook in sauce for another minute or two. This will ensure that the jasmine rice truly soak up the sauce and obtain the beautiful brown color we want.
Bring everything together – add veggies, pineapples, eggs, green onions and the rest of the sauce. Stir to combine everything. Let everything sear in the skillet for another 30 seconds.
This dish come together pretty quickly once we start cooking, so make sure you have everything you need by your stove before you start cooking.
And that’s it! Thai style Pineapple Fried Rice in under 30 minutes! Easy access to some seriously delicious Thai food whenever you and your tastebuds desire!
Tips and Tricks
- Use day old rice: refrigerated old rice is the key to cooking up the perfect pineapple fried rice. Day old rice is typically dryer and not soggy, which is important because we don’t want the excess moisture when stir frying the fried rice.
- Fluff/break up cold rice before cooking: If refrigerated rice is clump up, break it up gently using a spatula before cooking it in the wok or skillet.
- Fish sauce is the secret ingredient: fish sauce can be omitted if you do not like them…BUT YOU REALLY SHOULD TRY IT TRY IT!. You can, however, substitute oyster sauce for fish sauce. Soy sauce itself will not bring the complex flavor you find in pineapple fried rice from authentic Thai restaurants.
- The stir-frying process goes FAST: Prep all your ingredients and line them up next to your stove top before you start cooking. Because once the process starts…you will want your ingredients within arms’ reached (chopped and ready to go).
- Cook under high heat: turn your heat up as high as possible. Yep, until it feels like you are heating up the house. But please, practice caution. 🙂 Fried rice tastes the BEST when it is cooked under high heat, because the slightly charred flavor is achieved through high heat. Using appliances that retain heat well will help!
- Do not crowd the wok/skillet: if you don’t have a large enough wok or skillet, consider cooking this in two batches. If you are doubling this recipe, definitely cook them in two batches. You want to have enough room to move the fried rice around while it cooks.
- Add sriracha or chili oil: If you like your fried rice spicy, add sriracha or chili oil to give it a little kick.
For more general stir frying tips, where some tips are more applicable to this Thai Pineapple Fried Rice recipe than others, check out my article – 8 Tips to a Great Stir Fry.
Storage and Reheating
Pineapple fried rice makes great leftovers! They reheat easily and taste just as good the next day!
Store leftover fried rice in an air tight container for up to 5 days.
To reheat, drizzle with some water before reheating in the microwave to prevent drying out
Frequently Asked Questions
Fish sauce can be substituted with oyster sauce, but the flavor would be slightly different. Oyster sauce will still give you a complex flavor just like fish sauce would, but it’s a slightly different complex flavor. There’s really no direct substitute for fish sauce, so try to incorporate it for the most authentic taste!
Day-old rice (or a-few-day-old rice) are dryer and not soggy, which is key to getting the perfect fried rice texture. The access moisture in freshly cooked rice is not suitable for stir frying.
Add a few tablespoons of water to the fried rice before microwaving, so that it doesn’t taste too dry.
ENJOYED THIS RECIPE? Tell us what you think by leaving a rating and review below! 🤍
Other Rice Dishes
- Steak Fried Rice
- Easy Mixed Vegetable Rice
- Chicken Fried Rice
- Hawaiian Chicken with Coconut Rice
- Lemon Chicken and Rice Soup
Other Thai/Southeast Asian Recipes
- Pad Thai
- Pad See Ew Noodles
- Malaysian Curry Puff
- Mee Goreng Mamak (Malaysian Fried Noodles)
- Tom Yum Fried Noodles
- Vietnamese Noodle Bowl with Grilled Pork
- Vietnamese Egg Rolls
- Thai Mango Sweet Stick Rice
Thai Pineapple Fried Rice
Equipment
Ingredients
- 3 cups cooked jasmine rice refrigerated overnight
- 2 large eggs
- 1/3 cup minced white onions
- 2-3 tbsp minced garlic
- 2 strips raw chicken tenderloins
- 1 cup pineapple diced
- 1 cup peas and carrots
- 2 tbsp vegetable oil more if needed
- 1-2 tbsp chopped green onions garnish
Sauce
- 1 1/4 tbsp fish sauce
- 1 tbsp soy sauce
- 1 tbsp sugar
- 1/4 tsp black or white pepper
- 1/4 tsp salt or to taste
Instructions
- Cut up ingredients – slice chicken tenderloins, mince garlic and onions, dice pineapple, and slice green onions. Remove cooked rice from refrigerator and fluff using a spoon or fork so that it is not clump up together.
- Combine all sauce ingredients in a small bowl. In another small bowl, beat up the two eggs.
- Prep all ingredients and move them next to the stove. Add 1 tbsp vegetable oil to a large wok or skillet, and heat wok or skillet on medium.
- Add eggs to wok/skillet, once they are fairly cooked at the bottom (should still be runny on top), flip and cook the other side. Break eggs into smaller pieces and once eggs are no longer runny but still soft, remove from heat promptly.
- Add 1 tbsp (or more) of vegetable oil to wok/skillet and heat wok on high heat.
- Once oil is heated up, add minced garlic and onions. Stir for ~10 seconds or until fragrant (do not brown or burn), then immediately add slices of chicken.
- Once chicken is cooked, add rice and let it cook for a few minutes. Keep stirring.
- Next add sauce and stir to coat rice evenly with sauce. Cook for another minute or so.
- Then add mixed veggies and cooked eggs. Stir to combine. Then add pineapples. Stir to combine again. Taste and add salt if needed.
- Remove fried rice from heat. Garnish with green onions. Serve and enjoy!
This sounds wonderful. My husband loves fried rice so much he volunteers to cook it. He does not normally cook. How many eggs? The recipe does not list eggs in the ingredients.
Oops – it’s two eggs! I just added it on there!
Is the amount of garlic supposed to be in table spoons? That’s a LOT of garlic.
It is correct. It is a lot more than usual but it’s what brings flavor to the rice. It will not make it spicy. If you prefer, reduce it to 1 tbsp or even 2 tsp. Make sure to not skim on the onions if you reduce the garlic to ensure that the rice is flavored well. Let me know what you end up doing and how it goes! 🙂
We are HUGE pineapple fans here, so you have to know that this recipe was D E V O U R E D!!!! We loved every bite!
Yay! Thanks for the comment, Michaela!