Partially Asian, Partially American: Bacon Fried Rice

What if I told you that you could satisfy a Chinese food craving and not have it covered in greasy oil? And...it has bacon in it?

Anything with bacon in it is automatically ten times better. Let's be real.

Now, this is one of my mother's favorite dishes to throw together when nobody can decide on what to have for dinner, because when in doubt, make bacon fried rice. I don't really know the origin of this recipe or if other people eat it too, but I love it and thought I would share our recipe because it's so easy to make.

First, grab some rice, doesn't matter what kind. Rice doesn't have gluten in general so there's no need to worry about it. We like to use Lundberg California Brown Basmati Rice for our cooking because it has a nice flavor and is good for making this recipe or a pilaf.

Plus, it's organic, which is always a plus in my book.

Prepare as much as you need to feed the amount of people in your household. Maybe make a little extra because my mother made the 4-6 serving amount and our family of 3 ate it all.

Beware, this bacon fried rice is going to make you want seconds.

It usually takes 30-45 minutes to cook the rice, so make it ahead of time so when you're ready to mix it in with the other ingredients, it'll be done.

Next, fry up some bacon. Use a big skillet when cooking it so that you only dirty one pan when you stir-fry the whole mix of goodness.

If you like your bacon chewy, you're going to have to go past your boundaries and cook it a little longer because you want crispy and crumbly bacon. It needs to be broken up in pieces later to go in the stir-fry so you don't want any fat still hanging around.

Either way, it's bacon and it's amazing. Don't be afraid of a few burnt pieces.

Once you've drained the grease from the bacon pan, pull out some eggs. We get ours from our neighbor's group of chickens so they're really fresh but store bought eggs are fine too.

One benefit to living in the country, fresh food.

Use as many eggs as the amount of rice you made. So if you made a 4-6 person serving of rice, scramble 4-6 eggs. My mother likes less yolk in her eggs so she used 2 normal eggs and 4 egg whites.

Scramble those eggs!

One tip I have for cooking with non-stick pans is to always use a non-metal "spatula" (or whatever you call it in your home, my home economics teacher called it a "turner") when you cook so that you don't scratch off the non-stick coating. Also, try and avoid leaving the spatula sitting in the pan or resting near a hot surface. It might seem like common sense but when there are multiple things cooking at the same time, it's easy to forget and then you have a melted dent in your utensil. Melting plastic never smells good so don't let it happen to you.

Hopefully, if you planned it right, your rice should be done cooking.

Now, it's time for the stir-frying part.

Fluff the rice a couple times before dumping it in the pan so that there aren't as many clumps. Even distribution is key because no one wants to feel like they don't have as much bacon or eggs as the person next to them.

Pour the rice into the pan. Simple.

Crumble up the bacon and sprinkle it on top of the other ingredients.

Next, add some soy sauce.

We use generic brand soy sauce, but we choose the "lite" version because it has less sodium.

It's still salty though, which is the flavor that makes this dish taste good.

Be careful that you taste the food when adding in the soy sauce because it can get really salty if you don't know what your preference is.

Pour it on, well shake it to be exact. It doesn't come out very quickly.

Turn up the heat to high, if you haven't already. Things are about to get serious.

Stir-fry the mixture for a minute or so, just enough to distribute the soy sauce but not long enough to burn anything.

Make sure to get everything well mixed.

When you're done, plate it and serve it hot! My mom likes to serve oranges with it to balance the saltiness of the bacon fried rice. I agree with her. It's a nice pop of color and it's got a tangy kick. Grab something to drink and enjoy!

It's fairly simple and believe me, it's yummy. Plus, it's not greasy and you knew where all of the ingredients came from. Hope you'll try it out some time and see if you like it.

Cross your fingers for another healthy day,
Kiki