Arroz Chino

This Arroz Chino Recipe will take you step by step through making a quick, easy and very delicious Cuban fried rice.

What is Arroz Chino

Arroz Chino or Oriental is the marriage of two beautiful cultures – Cuban and Chinese. It’s fried rice loaded with diced ham, bacon and the veggies all married together making something so comforting.

Although it may seem out of place, fried rice fits right into our traditional Cuban dishes. Chinese influence has been prominent in Cuba for more than a century. In the late 19th century, Chinese men were brought to the island to work in the sugarcane and tobacco fields. Like so many immigrants, they brought their culture and delicious dishes along with their work ethic. 

El Barrio Chino, Havana’s Chinatown, was established by the early 1800’s with restaurants, shops and Chinese businesses. Arroz Oriental, lo mein and miso soup all left their mark on Cuban cooking. 

This Cuban Arroz Frito is our version but other countries like Venezuela and Peru have their own versions. (Check out our Arroz Chaufa from Peru on the site).

How to Make Arroz Chino

Arroz Chino is fried rice. It is traditionally packed with things that were commonly found in Cuban neighborhoods and would be leftover or on hand. It has ham (of course) carrots, peas, onions, garlic and it comes together with Soy Sauce and eggs.

We wanted to keep it as traditional as possible, but also give it a modern refresh. We added a few extra vegetables like green beans and green onions, but you can use what you have.

The thing that really sets this recipe apart is our “secret”. We have added an unexpected ingredient that helps take it to another level by giving the rice so much color and flavor. It’s onion soup. The richness from the onion soup gives the rice an unmistakable taste. 

Arroz Chino is The Perfect Leftover Plan

This recipe is the quintessential leftover plan. If you happen to be making Sopa de Cebolla, you can use the leftover broth for this recipe. However, not many of us will have Sopa de Cebolla just laying around. We are not really sure how Abuela just casually threw that together so often.

It also seemed like Abuela was always boiling some sort of meat. Whether it was for Boliche or Vaca Frita, she always just seemed to have beef broth on hand. But don’t worry if you don’t have a casual onion soup laying around, homemade beef broth or you don’t want to make it for this recipe. We highly encourage using store bought beef broth or even canned soup. Abuela loved a good short cut! Just go with the canned stuff and keep it simple.

You can definitely use leftover rice for this recipe as well. In fact we encourage it! All you would do is fry the bacon then add all the other ingredients as specified. Add the rice and 1 ½ cups of onion soup last just to warm through. You really just want to fortify the flavor of the rice as much as possible. 

One of the simplest but one of the best things my grandmother, Alita Oliva made was arroz oriental. This is the last Sunday meal I remember her preparing at her house. She made a gigantic batch and served it with pork chops smothered in onions as she always did. I remember the whole family was together and devouring every bite. We ate on the fancy dining table and snaked crispy wontons on the blue shag rug. We were together eating something we all loved. It’s a perfect memory.  

Ani

It wasn’t until years later my grandmother finally told me some of her cooking secrets and thankfully my aunt wrote down this recipe. We’ve added a few more veggies and kept it light on the soy sauce so everyone can add as much as they want after it is served. 

What to serve with your Arroz Chino

The choices are endless. It makes the perfect side for almost any main course. Whether you are in a mood for pork chops or fish, keep this arroz chino up your sleeve.