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    Ham and Pineapple Fried Rice

    Our ham fried rice recipe is one the entire family loves. It’s salty. It’s sweet. And perhaps best of all—it’s easy.

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    Ham and Pineapple Fried Rice in a bowl with chop sticks

    A Tastebud Trip to the Tropics

    Our Hawaiian fried rice recipe is like sunshine on your dinner table in the best of ways. Hawaiian pineapple fried rice’s bright, savory-sweet flavors are like little forkfuls of awesome, and the recipe itself is simple and entirely doable even in the midst of midweek mayhem. And there are a million more reasons to make our Hawaiian pineapple rice recipe, like:

    • Hawaiian fried rice is our favorite use for leftover ham. Split pea soup is awesome, but ham fried rice is next-level leftovers.
    • Speaking of leftovers, leftover ham fried rice is also really good for breakfast (and even cold)! Add a runny fried egg and a squeeze of Sriracha and you’re off to a great start.
    • The finished fried rice is topped with a delicious homemade sweet and sour honey sauce using the juice from the canned pineapple (genius, right?) that you’ll want to put on absolutely everything. Double the sauce recipe and save it for drizzling and dunking all week long.
    Flame crafted Ham in a baking dish
    ingredients laid out for Ham and Pineapple Fried Rice, eggs, onions, day old rice, bell peppers and green onions

    Ingredients to Make Hawaiian Fried Rice

    Our ham fried rice recipe is one the entire family loves. It’s salty. It’s sweet. And perhaps best of all—it’s easy. Got ham and rice? You’re nearly halfway there.

    • Chopped ham. Got holiday ham leftovers laying around? This Hawaiian fried rice recipe is perfect for them.
    • Canned pineapple. We went and made it way easy for you, okay? No need to peel and chop a fresh one. Plus—you’ll need the juice from the canned pineapple to make the sweet-sour sauce.
    • Cooked white rice. Got leftovers in the fridge? Use em.
    • Eggs. In our opinion, fried rice is not fried rice if it doesn’t have ribbons of cooked egg scattered throughout it. Though you can omit if you must.
    • Yellow onion + red bell pepper. Serving of veggies, coming up!
    • Vegetable oil + sesame oil. The vegetable is for frying and the sesame for flavor.
    • Rice vinegar + soy sauce. To season.
    • Honey, pineapple juice, more soy sauce + rice vinegar, fresh ginger, and cornstarch. To make the tastiest sweet and sour honey sauce, basically, ever.
    • Cilantro + green onions + sesame seeds. To garnish.
    Ham and Pineapple Fried Rice in a bowl with chopsticks
    3 bowls of Ham and Pineapple Fried Rice with chili sauce and cilantro
    3 bowls of Ham and Pineapple Fried Rice with chili paste, green onions and chopsticks
    a bowl of Ham and Pineapple Fried Rice with chopsticks

    Tools to Make Ham Fried Rice

    This is one of those recipes where you can really use the kitchen tools you already have on hand. That said, we still have some favorites:

    • Small saucepan. To make the sauce. Don’t skip the sauce—it’s SO good!
    • Large frying pan (or wok). This is one of those random wedding gifts and you know what? We use it all. the. time.
    • Spatula or wooden spoon. We adore this flat-edged wooden turner for making fried rice.

    How to Make Hawaiian Fried Rice

    If you’ve never made fried rice before, don’t be intimidated! It’s pretty easy once you get the hang of it. That said, we do a decent amount of cooking with hot oil here, so it’s not the best one to make with the super-little kids.

    • Get everything chopped and ready ahead of time. Once your cooking oil gets hot things move fast, so having your ham, onion, and bell pepper prepped and ready is key.
    • Make the homemade sweet and sour sauce ahead of time, so it’s also ready to go. In fact, you can even make it a day or so ahead of time and simply reheat when you’re ready.
    • Fry ingredients in batches. Frying in stages allows everything to cook evenly, and only for the amount of time it needs—no accidental over-cooking!
    • Garnish generously. We love topping our homemade fried rice with chopped cilantro, green onion, and sesame seeds. And lots and lots of homemade pineapple sweet and sour sauce!
    3 bowls of Ham and Pineapple Fried Rice

    Want More Tasty Family Favorites?

    These recipes all score high marks from everyone in our household:

    Say Pineapple!

    How’d your Hawaiian fried rice turn out? Tag us @themodernproper and #themodernproper and let us know!

    This is a sponsored post written by TMP on behalf of Fred Meyer/Kroger. The opinions and text are all ours.

    Related Recipes

    Ham and Pineapple Fried Rice

    Originally published: November 9, 2016

    • Serves: 6
    • Prep Time:  20 min
    • Cook Time:  40 min
    • Calories: 601
    Print Recipe Pin Recipe

    Ingredients

    • 1 tbsp + 1 tsp vegetable oil
    • 1 tbsp + 1 tsp sesame oil
    • 1 small yellow onion, diced
    • 1 red bell pepper, diced
    • 2 eggs, beaten in a bowl with 1/4 tsp sesame oil and 1/4 tsp soy sauce
    • 2 cups ham, chopped (a great way to use up leftover ham or 3/4 lb 1/2 inch thick cut from deli counter)
    • 1 (20 oz) can pineapple, chunks or slices
    • 3 cups cooked rice, preferably day old rice
    • 2 tbsp pineapple juice, from can of pineapples
    • 2-3 tbsp soy sauce (or gluten-free tamari)
    • 1 tsp rice vinegar
    • 2 green onions, chopped
    • 1/2 cup cilantro, optional
    • sesame seeds, optional

    Sweet and Sour Honey Sauce

    • 1/4 cup honey
    • 1/3 cup pineapple juice, from can of pineapple
    • 1/3 cup soy sauce (or gluten-free tamari)
    • 1 tsp ginger, grated
    • 2 tbsp rice vinegar
    • 1 tsp cornstarch

    Method

    1. Make the sweet and sour sauce: Mix the honey, pineapple juice, soy sauce, ginger and rice vinegar in a sauce pan. Whisk until fully combined. Bring to a slow boil. In a small bowl mix 1 tablespoon water with 2 teaspoons cornstarch. Add this slurry to the simmering sauce. Simmer for 5 minutes longer until slightly thickened. Remove the sauce from the heat and allow to cool.
    2. In a large frying pan, or wok, heat 1 tablespoon vegetable oil along with 1 teaspoon sesame oil over medium-high heat. Add onion and red pepper and cook for 5 minutes until softened. Remove onions and red pepper from the pan into a medium bowl.
    3. Add remaining teaspoon vegetable oil to the pan, swirl to coat. Pour in the eggs. Cook eggs in a thin layer swirling constantly until soft cooked. Remove from the pan chop into chunks. Add the ham and pineapple to the hot pan, just until heated through, about 2 minutes. Remove from pan to the bowl with the onions.
    4. Heat remaining tablespoon sesame oil in the pan. Add the rice and cook without disturbing for 2 minutes flip the rice and cook for 2 minutes longer. Add 2 tablespoons pineapple juice, 2-3 tablespoons soy sauce to taste and rice vinegar stirring constantly. Add onion, bell pepper, egg, pineapple chunks and ham in with the rice, toss until fully incorporated.
    5. Drizzle with sweet and sour honey sauce and toss to coat completely.
    6. Garnish with green onions, cilantro and sesame seeds.

    Nutrition Info

    • Per Serving
    • Amount
    • Calories601
    • Protein17 g
    • Carbohydrates108 g
    • Total Fat10 g
    • Dietary Fiber4 g
    • Cholesterol80 mg
    • sodium922 mg
    • Total Sugars25 g

    Ham and Pineapple Fried Rice

    Questions & Reviews

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    • Karen Reed

      I was too tired to stop by the store and pick up some pineapple, so I used orange juice and increased the amount of ginger used. It was wonderful.

      Thanks Karen, so glad you liked it and glad the orange juice worked!

    • Mark Culshaw

      After reading through the recipe a few times, I wasn't sure where to add the pineapple slices.... I ended up frying them up before the ham and tossed them in with everything else at the end.It tasted great thanks!

      Yes! That is perfect. Glad you enjoyed it!