Beef and Broccoli Fried Rice

Beef and Broccoli Fried Rice takes all the flavors or your favorite Beef and Broccoli take-out dish but is made in one skillet with ground beef for an easy to make, 20-minute dinner your family will love. It's a favorite Asian dish along with this Healthy Fried Rice and Healthy Kung Pao Chicken.

Like almost everyone, I am always on the lookout for easy weeknight meals that come together in less than 30 minutes. Plus they need to be something that everyone will eat because no one has time to make more than one dinner. Enter this amazing Beef and Broccoli Fried Rice. It combines the best flavors of Beef and Broccoli with fried rice - delish! Plus it is really easy to make. And it uses ground beef, which is a lot more forgiving and affordable than the traditional sirloin steak used in beef and broccoli.

So let's talk about this dish. It starts with the ground beef, which is browned with some garlic, ginger, soy sauce, and sesame oil so we can start to build flavor. Then the broccoli is added and cooked until it is just tender crisp. Be careful not to overcook the broccoli as you want it to have some texture and crunch.

Next up is the rice. You are going to use leftover cooked brown rice or white rice, whatever you prefer. If you don't have an cooked rice, you can buy pre-cooked frozen rice. Just cook it less time than the package recommendations so it is just heated through and is close to room temperature. The rice is cooked with some additional soy sauce and sesame oil to continue deepening the flavor. Then all that's left to do is scramble a couple of eggs, right in the pan with the rice, and add the sauce.

What is the best rice for fried rice?

When it comes to making crispy fried rice, almost any rice will work. It can be brown rice or white rice, jasmine rice or Basmati rice, anything goes. However, what does matter is that the rice is previously cooked and ideally has been in the fridge for a couple of days. The reason older rice is best for fried rice is that as it cools and sits, moisture is released and the rice dries out slightly. This allows the rice to get nice and crispy when it is fried instead of staying moist, like happens with freshly cooked rice.

If you don't have any previously cooked rice, let you freshly cooked rice fully cool before using it for fried rice. Many people will spread it out on a baking sheet to help this process happen more quickly.

Recipe Ideas for Beef and Broccoli Fried Rice

• If you need a gluten free version of this recipe make sure to look for gluten free soy sauce and gluten free oyster sauce. You could also use coconut aminos instead of the soy sauce. You could also use a gluten free hoisin sauce if you can't find an oyster sauce that works.
• To get the most authentic beef and broccoli flavor, I made this with ground beef. However, you could also use ground turkey, chicken, or vegetarian crumbles as well. You could also use thinly slice sirloin if you want it to more closely resemble the restaurant dish.
• It is important to use pre-cooked rice for this recipe so that you get some crispy, fried rice. The best option is making rice a few days ahead of time so that it is fully cooked and doesn't have any excess moisture. The next best thing is using frozen rice since you can control how hot it gets. Cook it for less time than the directions suggest so that it is just cooked through and as close to room temperature as possible.
• If you don't have broccoli on hand or prefer a different vegetable, you can use almost anything here. I have made it with asparagus, bok choy, cabbage, and sugar snap peas and loved it each time.

Looking for more healthy Asian recipes?

• Broiled Asian Chicken Thighs
• Sheet Pan Asian Chicken Stir Fry
• Sesame Chicken with Broccoli
• Healthier Mongolian Beef

Here are some of the products and tools I used in creating this recipe:

• Skillet: I am in love with this pan that I use to prepare this dish but you could use any heavy bottomed pan or cast iron. A wok would also work great for this recipe.
• Low sodium soy sauce or coconut aminos: When it comes to soy sauce, I always opt for low sodium soy sauce and many times use coconut aminos instead which have lower sodium and are gluten free.