My family loves Chinese takeout. There’s a little takeout place near our house that is on our short list of favorite local restaurants. Everything they make is good, but we especially like their fried rice. Because we can’t get takeout all the time, though, we often make our own Asian-inspired meals at home using kits and premade foods purchased at Aldi. One item I sometimes pick up at the discount grocer is their frozen chicken fried rice.
Fusia Asian Inspirations Chicken Fried Rice cost $4.59 for a 22-ounce package at the time of publication.
This is a Regular Buy, which means you can find it at Aldi any time of year.
The package describes this as “savory chicken fried rice featuring jasmine rice, eggs, vegetables, and chicken in a savory Asian fried rice sauce.”
The primary ingredients are jasmine rice, fried rice sauce, fully cooked grilled chicken breast strips with rib meat, edamame beans, carrots, onion, and egg.
If you’re trying to avoid allergens, this contains soy, oyster, egg, and wheat.
Fusia Asian Inspirations Chicken Fried Rice nutrition information and ingredients. (Click to enlarge.)
One bag has three 1-cup (208-gram) servings. One serving has 230 calories, 5 grams of total fat (7% DV), 2 grams of saturated fat (10% DV), 20 mg of cholesterol (7% DV), 730 mg of sodium (30% DV), 30 grams of total carbohydrates (11% DV), 3 grams of dietary fiber (12% DV), 4 grams of total sugars, 1 gram of added sugars (2% DV), and 15 gram of protein.
It’s sold frozen and should be kept frozen until you’re ready to prepare it. It can be prepared in a skillet (the preferred method) or in the microwave.
To prepare in a skillet, remove the sauce packet and thaw it under running water. Open the thawed packet and pour the sauce into a nonstick skillet and warm it. Add the contents of the package into the skillet, and stir to coat the rice, vegetables, and chicken. Cover and cook over medium-high heat for 8-10 minutes. Stir occasionally to blend ingredients. For best taste, serve immediately.
To microwave, remove the sauce packet and thaw it under running water. Pour the remaining contents of the package into a microwave-safe dish. Open the thawed sauce packet and pour over the contents of the bag in the microwave-safe dish. Cover and microwave on high power for 5 minutes. Uncover and stir, blending ingredients. Cover and microwave on high for an additional 4-5 minutes. For best taste, serve immediately.
Chicken fried rice after heating in the skillet.
I always prepare this in a skillet. It has a higher ratio of rice to vegetables, so if you’re expecting a dish that’s heavy on the rice, like what you’d get from a takeout restaurant, this is not quite the same. The rice also doesn’t have the same flavor as restaurant fried rice. It does have decent flavor, though, and you’ll definitely get a serving of vegetables and some protein with this.
Chicken fried rice with General Tso’s chicken, an egg roll, and pot stickers, all from Aldi.
Sometimes my family eats this on its own, and other times we mix it in with some of Aldi’s Asian chicken dishes like General Tso’s chicken or orange chicken.
It’s not a substitute for authentic takeout, but it will hopefully help take the edge off of your cravings.
The Verdict:
Fusia Asian Inspirations Chicken Fried Rice includes a mix of chicken and vegetables such as edamame and carrots. It’s not the same as fried rice you’d get from a restaurant, but it’s all right on its own merits.
Shameful to call this travesty “fried rice”