Italian Sausage Fried Rice is a fast weeknight dinner that we all love. This is a very easy recipe, and it's a great way to use up leftover Italian sausages.
Our Easy Italian Sausage Fried Rice Recipe
This Italian Sausage Fried Rice is perfect for a quick family weeknight meal. I can get this on the table in about 15 minutes and it takes just one pan. Plus, it's filled with vegetables and protein.
Jump to:
- Our Easy Italian Sausage Fried Rice Recipe
- Italian Sausage Fried Rice Ingredients
- What Type of Sausage To Use For Fried Rice
- What Kind of Rice to Use in Sausage Fried Rice
- Ingredient Substitutions
- How to Make Italian Sausage Fried Rice
- Cook it Even Faster
- The Perfect Italian Sausage Leftover Recipe
- More Quick Last Minute Family Meals
- Italian Sausage Fried Rice
Italian Sausage Fried Rice Ingredients
- Italian Sausage
- Carrots
- Celery
- Peas
- Rice
The full ingredients are in the complete recipe below. First, I'll share a few helpful tips about the ingredients.
What Type of Sausage To Use For Fried Rice
Sweet Italian ground sausage is my favorite to use for fried rice.
- It's easy to break apart into bite size pieces when cooking
- Has all the seasoning you need to make fried rice
- Can be portioned and leftovers frozen
You can buy sweet Italian ground sausage either in plastic rolls or in a tray with cellophane wrapping.
To keep things all in your own kitchen, you can also use my Homemade Breakfast Sausage Recipe. It gives a different taste, but so delicious!
Sweet Italian Sausage vs. Mild Italian Sausage
Alternatively, mild Italian ground sausage also works well. I don't taste a difference between the two when making fried rice. But generally, looking at the ingredients, sweet Italian sausage contains basil and mild Italian sausage does not.
Do I Need Ground Italian Sausage for this Recipe?
Using ground sausage is faster for this recipe, so I prefer it. It's essentially sausages without the casing. As such, it's easy break the sausage meat into bite size crumbles as it cooks.
However, you can also use regular cased sausages for this recipe. If doing so, simply slice the casing open and remove it before cooking. It's one extra step, but easy and simple.
What Kind of Rice to Use in Sausage Fried Rice
The most common question I receive about making fried rice is: What kind of rice do you use?
I like to use ½ white rice and ½ brown rice when making fried rice.
We most often use a mix of the two medium grain rice I linked above. They work deliciously for fried rice. The rice clumps just enough to make it easy to scoop and eat with a spoon. Moreover, the rice grains retain the ideal amount of chew.
Ingredient Substitutions
Don't have the exact ingredients I use in this recipe? No worries!
I love the combination of carrots, celery and peas in this sausage fried rice. However, you can substitute the vegetables for other ones.
For example, other vegetables that would work well in this recipe:
- frozen corn
- red bell peppers
- green bell peppers
- broccoli florets
- chopped leafy greens such as spinach, kale, chard or even basil
How to Make Italian Sausage Fried Rice
The full recipe and directions are below. However, here's a quick summary to show you how easy it is to make:
- Sauté the ground sausage, carrots and celery. Next, add the peas and sauté until everything is cooked.
- Lastly, add in the rice and stir-fry until everything is heated and mixed.
As you can see, making Italian Sausage Fried Rice is very quick one pan meal that you can get on the table in about 15 minutes.
Cook it Even Faster
To get this meal on the table even faster, you can use frozen vegetables instead of fresh vegetables. A generic frozen vegetable blend would work well.
When we need super speedy dinners cooked, we have also made fried rice using these cupboard friendly pre-packaged cooked sticky rice. We use 2-3 packs for the entire family, depending on how hungry we are.
The Perfect Italian Sausage Leftover Recipe
This Sausage Fried Rice is the ideal recipe for any leftover Italian sausage you may have.
Often, we buy a 1 lb pack of ground sausage and use half of it for pizza topping and half of it in this fried rice. To cut down on the meat we eat, sometimes we use ⅓ as pizza topping, ⅓ in pasta sauce and ⅓ for this sausage fried rice.
To have meals ready, I simply portion a 1 lb pack of sausage in thirds and freeze the leftover ground sausage.
More Quick Last Minute Family Meals
Love this recipe? Here are a few other quick last minute meals that our kids love:
- Hot Dog Fried Rice
- Kids Tuna Pasta
- Pasta with Peas and Bacon
- Rotisserie Chicken Fried Rice
- Meatball and Potato Soup
Italian Sausage Fried Rice
Equipment
- 12-inch sauté pan, skillet or wok
Ingredients
- cooking oil
- ⅓-1/2 lbs Italian ground sausage sweet or mild varieties work best
- ½ cup diced carrots (from about 2 medium carrots)
- ½ cup diced celery (from about 3 stalks)
- ½ cup frozen peas
- 2-3 cups cooked rice
Instructions
- Heat oil in the pan over medium heat. You only need a tiny bit to start because the sausage will release oils as it cooks.cooking oil
- Add in the sweet Italian ground sausage, carrots, and celery. Cook for about 5-7 minutes, breaking apart the Italian sausage with a spatula. When the sausage is nearly cooked, add in the frozen peas.⅓-1/2 lbs Italian ground sausage, ½ cup diced carrots, ½ cup diced celery, ½ cup frozen peas
- After the sausage is cooked, and the vegetables are soft, turn up the heat and stir-fry for about 2 minutes to get some darker browning on the sausage crumbles and vegetables.
- Turn the heat down to medium again and add in the rice. Break apart the rice with the spatula as needed.2-3 cups cooked rice
- When the rice is fully heated up, serve and enjoy.
Any questions? If so, feel free to ask in the comments below. Also, I'd love to hear if you made any substitutions that worked.
Wendy says
Great recipe and the kids liked it!
Jacky says
Kids loved it and it was quick to make