Tropical Jerk Chicken Fried Rice
This tropical coconut fried rice tastes like vacation on a plate! With coconut-flavored Jasmine rice, fresh pineapple chunks, and spicy Jamaican Jerk marinated chicken, this delicious Caribbean fried rice has all the flavors of the tropics!
Servings: 4 people
Ingredients
- 6 boneless skinless chicken thighs, cut into 1" pieces
- 3 tablespoons high heat oil like avocado oil
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1½ cup fresh pineapple, chopped
- ½ cup frozen peas, thawed
- ½ bell pepper, chopped or sub 3 mini sweet peppers chopped
- 2 green onions, sliced whites and greens divided
- 2 tablespoons soy sauce
- 2 tablespoons Thai sweet chili sauce
- toasted coconut, sliced green onions for garnish
For Pre-Cooking the Coconut Rice:
- 2 cups Jasmine rice
- 14 oz can coconut milk like Thai Kitchen brand
- 1 cup water
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 1 tablespoon sugar
For the Jerk Chicken Marinade:
- 4-6 green onions ends removed and cut into thirds
- 1-3 habanero peppers stems removed
- 1 medium onion peeled and chopped
- 7 cloves garlic peeled
- juice of 1 lime
- ½ cup olive oil
- ¼ cup soy sauce
- ¼ cup apple cider vinegar
- 1 piece fresh ginger about 2" long peeled and cut into 3-4 pieces
- ¼ cup brown sugar
- 2 tablespoons all spice
- 2 tablespoons black pepper
- 2 tablespoons thyme
- 1 tablespoon salt
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon nutmeg
Instructions
- One day ahead: Make the coconut rice. Whisk together canned coconut milk, water, and sugar in a medium bowl until coconut milk is smooth. Add the mixture to a rice cooker with the jasmine rice and butter. Cook the rice until done. Then spread into an even layer on a large sheet tray. Cover the tray with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight. *You can also cook the rice about 3 hours in advance, and allow to cool on a sheet tray on the countertop.
- One day ahead: Make the jerk marinade. Add all jerk marinade ingredients to a large blender cup. Blend until smooth. Pour ½ of the jerk marinade into a large bowl with the cut chicken pieces. Mix together to evenly coat all pieces of chicken. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight, or at least 4 hours. *See notes on marinade.
- Heat griddle on medium heat until it reaches about 400-425℉. Then add about 2 tablespoons of oil and spread it around with your spatula.
- Add the cooked and cooled Jasmine rice to the oiled surface, spreading it out into a thin even layer to begin to warm and toast. Allow the rice to fry untouched for about 2-3 minutes, and then sauté together for about 1 minute. Then, spread the rice back out and make a “well” in the center. Add the butter and garlic to the rice well. Right before the garlic starts to burn, after about 1 minute, stir fry the rice, butter, and garlic together.
- Immediately after adding the rice to the griddle, add the chopped pineapple, bell peppers, onions, and whites of the green onions to a separate area of the griddle. Allow the veggies to start cooking and developing a slight char, then sauté together.
- Add the vegetables, pineapple, and fried rice together. Add the green peas. Pour on the soy sauce and Thai sweet chili sauce. Toss to combine all ingredients. Then move the tropical fried rice to the cooler side of the griddle while the chicken cooks, or remove from the griddle if needed.
- Add about 1 tablespoon of cooking oil to a clear area on the griddle. Place your marinated jerk chicken on the hot surface to cook, leaving space between each piece. Allow the chicken to cook untouched on the first side about 3-4 minutes to develop a char, and then flip the pieces to the second side. When the chicken is almost cooked through, you can sauté it together and continue cooking until done.
- Add your cooked chicken to the fried rice, toss everything together, and turn off the heat. Sprinkle in the green onion tops and toss the jerk chicken fried rice briefly to combine all ingredients.
- Transfer the jerk chicken fried rice to a plate, and sprinkle with the toasted coconut and green onion for garnish. Serve immediately.
Notes
- Leftover jerk marinade - This jerk marinade recipe makes enough for 2 whole chickens, which is much more than you need for this chicken fried rice recipe. I like to freeze half of the marinade in a zip top bag to use for the next time I make jerk chicken. You can also cut the ingredients for the marinade down by half instead if you wish.
- Customizing the spice level - This jerk marinade is spicy! For a milder version, only use 1 habanero pepper or substitute 1-2 fresh jalapeno peppers instead.