My grandmother’s breakfast fried rice, stuffed with bacon and eggs for a quick and hearty meal.
The recipe I’m posting today is one of those family-favorite, special-occasions recipes. Growing up, we always served this fried rice for birthdays and New Year’s day breakfast. It’s white rice, fried up in bacon drippings, with chopped bacon, mushrooms, and scrambled eggs throughout. Top it with some shoyu or, like my father, slather it in ketchup, and you are starting this year off right!
When I decided to post this recipe, I titled it “Authentic Japanese-American Breakfast Fried Rice,” because I thought that it was a fun play on the fact that this is a recipe taught to my German mother (and then to me) by my Japanese father and grandparents, containing decidedly un-Japanese, very-American things like ketchup and American-style bacon. I always thought it was the perfect natural evolution of a traditional recipe to one more suited to the tastes of its current country. But when I went to my father to double check the recipe’s provenance, he told me that wasn’t actually the case.
According to him, the use of non-traditional meats, and condiments like ketchup, stemmed not from a natural evolution, but from the time my grandparents spent interned at Tule Lake during WWII. These were the ingredients they were served in the camps and that’s where they acquired a taste for them. Unfortunately, neither of my grandparents are still living, so I while I have so many questions, I can’t ask them. But I did a little research and there’s a fascinating write up and short audio story from NPR here with other first-hand accounts about the effect of the Japanese internment camps on traditional Japanese dishes.
I debated changing the recipe name since it wasn’t really all that funny anymore, but recipes have histories, and changing the title felt like deleting this one’s. So I’m leaving the “Authentic Japanese-American” part, because that’s what it is. For better or for worse, it’s Japanese food that America helped shape.
Have you ever had any unexpected discoveries when it comes to family recipes? This is a first for me!
Authentic Japanese-American Fried Rice
Ingredients
- 3 eggs beaten
- 8 strips of bacon cut into 1-inch pieces
- 8 ounces mushrooms sliced
- 2 green onions sliced + more for garnish
- 4 cups cooked rice* (day-old is best, but just-cooked is fine)
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce
Instructions
- Heat a large wok or skillet over medium heat. Spray pan with cooking spray (or coat with a little oil) and scramble eggs. Place cooked eggs on a plate and set aside.
- In the same pan, over medium-high heat, fry bacon, mushrooms, and green onions until bacon is cooked through and mushrooms are caramelized.
- Add the rice to the pan and stir. Continue until rice is toasted. Stir in eggs and soy sauce and cook until the eggs are hot.
- Remove from heat and serve. Garnish with sliced green onions.
Notes
Nutritional Information (4 servings)
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Carol says
I love this recipe because it reminds me of my childhood. My mom used to make this for us and both my brother and I make similar versions. Mom and her family were interned in Poston, AZ as a child. I was 10 when my cousin introduced us to ketchup on scrambled eggs , I was dumbstruck by the idea but still enjoy it.
Tracy says
I refused to use ketchup as a kid because it sounded so gross to me, but now I always use it!!
Beata says
I love fried rice, I’m more into traditional breakfasts but this looks like a great dinner dish.
Tracy says
Thanks. It does make a great dinner. Fast and easy!
Hauke Fox says
Wow, this is a cool fusion!! Love the idea of fried rice for breakfast! You just expanded my horizon 😀
Tracy says
Thanks! Always glad to expand a horizon or two. 😉
Revathi Palani says
Love the idea of having fried rice for breakfast. Looks easy to make and super flavorful. Bookmarking so that I can give it a try 🙂
Tracy says
Thank you! Let me know how it turns out for you!
Kathryn @ FoodieGirlChicago says
Fried rice and breakfast – two things I would not have thought of together, but WOW does this look good. Brilliant combo!!
Tracy says
Thank you, Kathryn!
Michele says
Rice for breakfast is brilliant 🙂 Comforting and filling. Your family story about its creation is so fun to hear!
Tracy says
I agree, it’s such good fuel for the day.
Thanks for your lovely comment, Michele!
Sherri @ Watch Learn Eat says
I loooove fried rice but I have never had a breakfast fried rice. This looks absolutely amazing! Bacon, eggs, rice, mushrooms – you have me drooling! Yum!! 🙂
Tracy says
Thanks, Sherri!
Rachel @ Simple Seasonal says
I love this! I thought I was weird for liking ketchup on my rice! Putting it with eggs and bacon is awesome. I’m so making this!
Tracy says
Thanks, Rachel! Ha, as a kid, I hated ketchup on rice and thought my family was weird for liking it. Now that I’m an adult though, I’m weirdly addicted to it!
Christine | Vermilion Roots says
That looks so good I’ll have it anytime! 🙂
Tracy says
Aw, thanks!
Claire | Sprinkles and Sprouts says
Food that tells a story is the best food.
I love this one 🙂
And the dish looks amaaaaazing!
Tracy says
Thanks, Claire! It’s really good. 😉
Nellie says
I never thought to make rice for breakfast but I’m loving this!! I also love how you combined your nationalities in your food!
Tracy says
Thank you, Nellie!
Ange @ Little Kitchen Blue says
I love that this fried rice has only a few ingredients. I love food stories too 🙂 perhaps it is why we blog lol
Tracy says
Thanks! Agreed! I didn’t even know I was going to enjoy this part so much until I started blogging. I love knowing that all these stories are written down for our kids and their kids. That way, if they want to know someday, everything’s there, all ready for them.
Kathleen | Hapa Nom Nom says
I love this post! My father is also Japanese and he was born in the internment camps during WWII (Heart Mountain, WY). He also made breakfast fried rice all the time when we were kids and to this day it’s one of my favorite dishes. In fact, they’re here visiting for the New Year so we plan on listening to the NPR story you attached. Thanks so much for this and the BFR looks delicious!
Tracy says
Thanks so much, Kathleen! This comment really means so much to me. I was really nervous about writing this post!
Kristine | Kristine's Kitchen says
This looks like a delicious and hearty breakfast! Family recipes, and the stories that go along with them, are the best. 🙂
Tracy says
Thanks! That’s been my favorite part of starting a blog, getting to learn the stories behind some of these recipes.