I’m honored to be a part of the 2013 Kraft Tastemaker Community, where I am teaming up with Kraft Foods to bring you family friendly recipes using common ingredients found in your pantry!
Friends, I currently have two dilemmas in my life. #1 school starts in less than 2 weeks. #2 I am currently swimming in zucchini.
School starting in 2 weeks makes me sad. I love having my kids home during the summer and I really enjoy the more laid back schedule. We are trying to implement the “school time schedule” this week, but it isn’t going so well. After a couple of months of eating dinners late, staying up until the sun is more than set, and just kind of flying by the seats of our pants, the school schedule adjustment is going to be brutal. Brutal, I tell ya!
My zucchini troubles are typical this time of year. I go a little overboard at the farmers market, or the neighborhood veggie stand, and then I remember that I’ve kind of taken a little cooking hiatus over the summer and have all this zucchini to use up and nothing planned to take care of it.
The good news is my two dilemmas can be somewhat solved together. In an attempt to get “school time ready” I am back to planning our menus for the week. I know very well I can’t go into the crazy schedule of the school year without some kind of plan in place. So, I sat down to make my first menu plan since May and guess what I made sure to implement in just about every meal somehow… zucchini!
This Bacon Fried Rice recipe is one of my all time favorite recipes. It’s simple, full of great tasting veggies, and has Oscar Mayer Bacon in it to make it over the top amazing. It’s a great back to school night dinner (you can use leftover rice and scrambled eggs if you have them, to make it even easier!). I usually put cubed up Chicken Thighs with my fried rice, but I love how bacon completely changes it to a whole new, delicious meal.
So, are you ready for summer to be over? What are some of your solutions to keep things organized and together as your schedule becomes busier? I would love to see some of your favorite school time recipes…and will you please come help me eat some of this zucchini?!
Two Dilemmas {Recipe: Bacon Fried Rice}
Ingredients
- 3 cups water
- 2 cups instant rice brown or white
- 3 Tablespoons vegetable oil divided
- 1 small yellow onion chopped
- 1 small zucchini coarsely chopped
- ¼ cup petite baby carrots if you use bigger carrots, just peel and dice
- 2 Tablespoons minced garlic
- ½ teaspoon red pepper flakes
- 3 Tablespoons soy sauce
- 1 cup frozen peas
- 12 slices Oscar Mayer Fully Cooked Bacon cut into bite sized pieces
- 2 eggs
Instructions
- Bring water to a boil in a medium saucepan. Stir in rice.
- Cover and reduce heat to low and simmer for 20 minutes.
- In the meantime, heat 2 Tablespoons vegetable oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add onions, zucchini, petite baby carrots and red pepper flakes. Cook for 3-5 minutes, stirring occasionally, until vegetables become tender. Add minced garlic and cook for an additional minute.
- Add cooked rice, soy sauce and bacon to the skillet. Cook for 1 minute. Add frozen peas and cook for an additional minute.
- Scrape fried rice mixture to the side of the pan and add 1 Tablespoon of vegetable oil to the empty space in the pan. Heat the oil for 1 minute.
- Add the two eggs to the oil and allow to cook through, scrambling as they cook.
- Once the eggs are cooked, remove from heat and stir the entire fried mixture together. Serve and enjoy!
Disclosure: This post is brought to you by KraftFoods. I am honored to be a compensated contributor to their Kraft Tastemaker community. All opinions expressed are my own.
It’s so hard to believe that the first day of school is almost here. Where did the summer go?! And we are not even close to getting back on a decent schedule. This fried rice (with bacon!) is something that my family would happily gobble up.
Great back-to-school, weeknight recipe, Kristen!!
If I lived closer I would definitely be helping you wit the zucchini. Loving the rice salad with smoky, salty bacon.
We love making fried rice but I haven’t done it in ages – thank you for the reminder!! PS: I just came home to an empty fridge with the exception of 5 zucchinis/squashes in my veggie drawer – lol.
You had me at “Bacon Fried”. This looks relish! Definitely a must try.
Bacon + fried rice? All I need is a glass of wine and I’ve got three of my favorite foods/drinks in one meal! 🙂
Kristen, any fried rice that starts with bacon is the perfect fried rice. We’ve been eating a LOT of zucchini this summer because we’re getting it nearly every week in our CSA box. One of my favorite ways to enjoy it? Diced, with mushrooms and yellow squash, tossed with olive or canola oil, salt, pepper and garlic, and then grilled or sauteed. There have been some nights we’ve simply added a baked potato and called it dinner.
I love the vegetables that you used in this fried rice recipe.
Ohhh did you say BACON fried rice? Serioulsy stunning… I agree with Meagan, I love the veggies too!
I haven’t made fried rice in a long while. Time to ad it to the rotation! I still can’t believe school is starting. Boo
I think i need a giant bowl of this for dinner!!!
I’m all over this one! It’s a lot like one of our weeknight favorites growing up, except my mom used ham instead of bacon. And the addition of zucchini sounds wonderful!
Yum! I love the flavor combination. Everything is better with bacon!
Bacon is the “secret” ingredient in my husband’s fried rice–never thought of adding it myself, but WOW what a difference it makes!
Fried rice has been on our weekly menu this whole summer. Love this version with zucchini!
If you used regular Oscar Meyer bacon and fried it, using the grease instead of the cooking oil, I bet it would add to the bacon flavor. Yummy…..even if not quite so healthy. But I love Oscar Meyer bacon flavor!
Ugh, I enjoy no school either! And my boys at 11 & 13..well, they’ve really been staying up late and kind-of-doing-whatever….and I’ve let them!!! We go back September 3rd and poop is all.
I love this inspired dish, it’s beautiful too. Sometimes it’s hard to get my kids to eat the zucchini but they love it thinly sliced on pizza with bacon, sausage and shallot. it’s super yummy that way!
I may need this to convince my kids to get ready for school again. There isn’t enough bacon around to satisfy them!
Bacon fried rice?? Oh wow! My family would devour this and then some!!
I cannot believe school is starting again. Summer went way to fast!
I’m with you, finding our routine will make for a rough couple of weeks. I’m ready for it though AND for this fried rice!
I saw this on Instagram and have been waiting; all I can think is FINALLY!
I LOVE bacon in fried rice and you’re right – it’s a perfect dish to use up rice. Instead of soy sauce I use fish sauce – sometimes I find that soy sauce makes my rice discoloured but fish sauce is very light so you still get the saltiness but without colouring the rice!
You had me at “bacon!” Looks delicious, Kristen! 🙂
A great way to use bacon!! And I am sad to be back at school – I love the leisurely cooking that I can do over the summer.
Pam
Sidewalk Shoes
I can’t believe I never thought of this before – I grew up eating a ton of bacon and fried rice!
Everything’s better with BACON. Sounds quick and easy and a great way to get some veggies too.
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That first week of school schedule is always brutal. I’m not looking forward to it either! Perhaps some bacon would take my mind off it.
I have not menu planned since May, either. I sat down yesterday to start trying to get some meals and menus put together for August and September because I know that I will need to be as organized as possible to keep my head above water once school starts in just over a week.
I am just dying to make this recipe, it seriously looks so delicious 🙂 loving it!
Love this recipe and have made another version of it in the past. Thank you.