This easy vegan pineapple fried rice lets you turn leftover rice into a delicious meal by adding scrambled tofu, sweet pineapples, tomatoes, and green peas seasoned with a mild green curry. If you have 30 minutes, skip ordering take-out and make this protein-packed meal.
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Do you also love Thai recipes? Check out Tom Yum fried rice or Thai green curry fried rice recipes if you need more ideas for utilizing leftover rice.
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What to expect from this recipe?
Have you heard of khao pad sapparod? It is a Thai dish where “khao” means rice, “pad” means stir fry, and “sapparod” means pineapple. It is spicy fried rice with sweet pineapples, usually cooked with shrimp or chicken, as well as scrambled eggs.
When you taste our vegan pineapple fried rice, you can expect a combination of sweet and savory flavors. The pineapple provides a natural sweetness, while the rice and the other vegetables are savory.
Green curry powder gives the dish a distinctively fragrant and spicy aroma, with a hint of sweetness and sourness. The main flavors are cumin, turmeric, coriander, nutmeg, clove, ginger, and garlic.
Scrambled tofu is a perfect substitute for scrambled eggs. Our recipe does not include any fake vegan meat, only vegetables. But it is easy to customize depending on what you have on hand or what you like.
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Ingredients
When searching for Thai recipes, you usually expect a long list of ingredients. However, this vegan pineapple fried rice recipe is simple. You will need:
- Jasmine rice – The best rice for fried rice is long-grain white rice. We chose jasmine rice since it is more aromatic than basmati rice, but either one works.
- Fresh pineapple – The best option is fresh pineapple with a mix of green-yellow skin. We don’t recommend overripe pineapples (with yellow skin) since they can be syrupy sweet, which isn’t ideal for this savory dish. Canned ones are also very sweet, which will impact the overall flavor.
- Tomatoes – We recommend large deseeded tomatoes, which are less water and more flesh (like aroma or san marzano). However, if you only have cherry tomatoes, those can work too.
- Green peas – Fresh or frozen.
- Onion
- Green onion – It is more of a topping than a main ingredient, but adds a nice color and taste to the overall dish.
- Garlic – Use fresh if you can.
- Tofu – We recommend using a firm or extra-firm tofu.
- Soy sauce – This is an alternative to fish sauce, which is not vegan. To make it gluten-free, choose tamari.
- Sugar – It is optional to add if the pineapple is not sweet enough for you. Honey is not vegan, but any of these honey substitutes work as well.
- Black salt – You need this to turn tofu into eggs.
- Turmeric – This will turn white tofu yellow.
- Curry powder – We use a spice mix of coriander, fenugreek, turmeric, cumin, black pepper, bay leaves, celery seed, nutmeg, clove, onion, ginger, and red pepper.
- Salt and black pepper
- Coconut oil – You can use any vegetable oil, but coconut oil is perfect for high-heat frying. And no, it doesn’t have any coconut flavor.
🛒 You can find detailed measurements for all ingredients in the printable version of the recipe card at the bottom of this post.
Instructions
Pressing tofu
Use firm tofu and press it. I used my trusted TofuBud*, but you can choose any DIY method or tofu press. For more information, tips, and steps, read my complete guide on how to press tofu and my honest review of TofuBud.
Preparing the ingredients
- Peel and cut the pineapple into bite-size chunks.
- Peel and chop onion and garlic.
- Wash and slice green onion.
- Wash and slice tomatoes. Deseed them for better visual presentation.
- Precook rice or use leftover rice. It is better if the rice is a day old.
- We recommend frozen peas, which you can add without thawing.
- Pat pressed tofu gently with a paper towel to dry it. Then scramble it with your fingers.
- Measure out all ingredients. Since stir-frying is a quick process, you will want to have all ingredients on hand.
Making vegan pineapple fried rice
- Take a large nonstick skillet or wok and preheat it to medium-high heat. Add 1 tablespoon of coconut oil and chopped onion. Fry it for 3-4 minutes until tender and opaque.
- Add minced garlic and fry it for 1-2 minutes, stirring continuously.
- Add tofu scrambles, turmeric, and black salt. Stir until well combined.
- Fry for 2 minutes.
- Add another tablespoon of coconut oil. Wait for it to melt.
- Add leftover long-grain rice, soy sauce (or tamari), sugar, and curry powder. Stir well and fry them for 3-4 minutes. The rice should sizzle.
- Add pineapple chunks, tomato slices, and green peas. Stir well. Fry until warm. Don’t overcook them. Top off the dish with green onions. Give it a good stir, and it will be ready to eat!
Cooking tips
- Day-old rice is better than freshly made – For the best fried rice, use day-old rice. Freshly cooked rice can be too sticky and soggy, making it harder to work with. Using rice that has been made the day before or cooled after cooking ensures that it will hold its texture and shape when added to the wok.
- Frying is about high heat – This recipe is not meant to be sautéed, but rather fried. Cooking the rice and vegetables at high heat keeps them crispy and flavorful, resulting in a delicious and easy meal.
Variations
- Mango instead of pineapple: To keep the sweet, tropical vibe, you can substitute mangoes for pineapple. If you have access to it, try this fried rice recipe with papaya, guava, or even apricot.
- Adding vegan shredded chicken: The authentic, non-vegan Thai pineapple fried rice recipe usually calls for shrimp or chicken. Shrimp is not easy to make vegan, but we have the best vegan shredded chicken recipe, made of oyster mushrooms. We have many oyster mushroom recipes that use it in place of chicken. They could be perfect for this recipe to add more substance.
- Veggie-loaded version: This recipe is very flexible with what kind of vegetables you can add. You can use red bell pepper, shredded or julienned carrots, snap peas, mushrooms, broccoli, spinach, or even kale.
Serving ideas
We know that serving pineapple fried rice in its peel looks spectacular, but here are some reasons why we don’t recommend it:
- You can only make two servings since you can make only two bowls out of one pineapple. To serve this dish to more people, you will need to carve out multiple boats. You can save the remaining pulp from the fruit and freeze it for smoothies, but you definitely don’t need a lot to make this recipe. We suggest using half of the pineapple per 2 servings.
- The rice will soak up more pineapple flavor than you want. Unless you serve this dish immediately, leaving it inside the pineapple boats for a long time will impact the flavor. Consider placing a piece of parchment paper underneath to control the pineapple flavor in your dish.
- It looks nice in the photos, but may not look that way in the store. The pineapple peel can have brown spots, indentations, or leaves that are starting to brown. It can be difficult to find perfect and fresh pineapples in stores without flaws.
Toppings
If you want to know what else you can add to your vegan pineapple fried rice, here are some recommendations:
- Sprinkle it with some chopped scallions instead of green onions.
- Roasted cashews and peanuts are the most popular choices but use any nuts you like.
- Chopped fresh cilantro is also a featured topping in many Thai dishes.
- Shredded coconut goes perfectly together with pineapple, even better when toasted.
- Chili flakes if you like spicy food.
- Lime wedges or its juice to drizzle over.
- Thai non-vegan recipes like to top it with pork floss. The closest vegan thing would be TVP (texture vegetable protein), which we used in this Vietnamese pizza recipe to imitate the sweet and savory flavors of meat floss.
Equipment
- Wok – A wok is essential for cooking a perfect stir-fry for several reasons: The high and even heat it generates cooks the dish efficiently, its large shape and sloping sides allow for easy movement of food as it cooks without burning or spilling, it uses less oil than a traditional frying pan, and it can hold more food.
- Cast-iron skillet – If you don’t have a wok, cast-iron skillet can be a great alternative. We recommend the cast-iron Skillet by UnoCasa, it is perfect for high-heat dishes and it holds heat well during and after cooking.
Storing tips
- Refrigerator – To prevent bacteria growth, store leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator as soon as the dish has cooled. It will keep for up to three days, but the sooner you use it, the better, as the rice will dry out over time.
- Freezer – We do not recommend freezing this dish as it already uses leftover rice and freezing can affect the texture of the vegetables.
- Reheating – Add a little water to help revive the moisture in the rice before heating it on the stove, in the microwave, or in the oven. Make sure the rice is hot throughout before serving. Remember, it is not safe to reheat the rice more than once.
FAQs
What is the secret to good pineapple fried rice?
Use leftover rice (at least a day old), a large wok, and high heat. These are the three most important tips you can do to make this fried rice dish perfect.
Can you skip sugar?
The pineapple provides natural sweetness to the dish, and sugar is often added to balance out the flavors and make the dish sweeter. However, you can adjust the amount of sugar or skip it entirely to suit your taste.
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Vegan Pineapple Fried Rice With Tofu
Equipment
Ingredients
- 2 Tbsp Coconut oil
- 1 Onion
- 2 cloves Garlic
- 8 oz Firm tofu
- ⅛ tsp Turmeric
- ½ tsp Black salt
- 2 cup Jasmine rice measured as cooked
- 1+½ Tbsp Soy sauce or tamari for gluten-free
- 2 tsp Granulated sugar optional depeding on sweetness of the pineapple
- 2 tsp Curry powder
- 9 oz Pineapple measured in chunks
- 6 oz Tomatoes
- 1 cup Green peas
- 1 Green onion
- ½ tsp Salt
- ⅛ tsp Black pepper
Instructions
Preparing the ingredients
- Use firm tofu and press it.
- Peel and cut the pineapple into bite-size chunks.
- Peel and chop onion and garlic.
- Wash and slice green onion.
- Wash and slice tomatoes. Deseed them for better visual presentation.
- Precook rice or use leftover rice. It is better if the rice is a day old.
- We recommend frozen green peas, which you can add without thawing. So nothing to do there in this regard.
- Pat pressed tofu gently with a paper towel to dry it. Then scramble it with your fingers.
- Measure out all ingredients. Since stir-frying is quick, you will want to have all ingredients on hand.
Making vegan pineapple fried rice
- Take a large skillet, wok, or non-stick frying pan and preheat it to medium-high heat. Add 1 Tablespoon of coconut oil and chopped onion. Fry it for 3-4 minutes until tender and opaque.
- Add minced garlic and fry it for 1-2 minutes, stirring continuously.
- Add tofu scrambles, turmeric, and black salt. Stir until well combined. Add some black pepper and salt. Fry for 2 minutes.
- Add 1 Tablespoon of coconut oil. Wait for it to melt.
- Add leftover long-grain rice, soy sauce (or tamari), sugar, and curry powder. Stir well and fry them for 3-4 minutes. The rice should sizzle.
- Add pineapple chunks, tomato slices, and green peas. Stir well. Fry until warm. Don’t overcook them.
- Top off the dish with green onions. Give it a good stir, and it will be ready to eat.
Notes
- Day-old rice is better than freshly made – Fried rice recipes are ideal for using leftover rice and making something quick for a weeknight lunch or dinner. If you precook the rice and add it to the wok while it is still hot, it will be sticky and soggy. It is also easier to burn. We recommend using cooled rice made the day of or the day before.
- Frying is about high heat – It is not a sauteed rice recipe but a fried one. The vegetables will stay crunchy at the end rather than soft. It also makes for an easy and quick dish!
- Why not serve it in a pineapple boat? See all our reasons above the recipe card.
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