Pineapple fried rice is a delicious recipe with savory, stir-fried rice paired with sweet pineapple, making a delicious meal. It can also be served in the pineapple itself, making it an especially fun dish. While its definitely delicious, is pineapple fried rice healthy?
Pineapple fried rice can be a very healthy dish given that it predominantly consists of protein from the shrimp and egg, nutrients from the veggies, and carbs from the rice, making it a well-balanced, nutritious meal. A serving of the dish is 350 calories, with 31 grams of protein, 6 grams of fat, and 42 grams of carbs, following the recipe and portions below. The key to making this dish low calorie is to select the right ingredients and portion correctly.
Calories and Nutrition – Is Pineapple Fried Rice Healthy?
To understand the calorie and nutrition content of pineapple fried rice, it’s useful to look at the core ingredients that make up the fried rice recipe. The main four main components include: the protein, vegetables, rice, and the sauce.
- Protein: Pineapple fried rice is often served with chicken, seafood, beef or pork or pork products such as spam, and is often mixed with an egg. If your goal is to keep calorie count low, using a lean protein, such as boneless chicken thigh or chicken breast is ideal. A 4oz serving of chicken thigh meat is 140 calories vs. 380 calories for spam, so choose wisely!
- Stir Fry Sauce: The sauce for pineapple fried rice can consist of a variety of condiments, including oyster sauce, sesame oil, soy sauce, fish sauce, and sugar to name a few. None of these are calorie bombs besides the sesame oil (140 calories for 2 tablespoons). Just be sure to portion whichever sauce you choose mindfully.
- Vegetables: Vegetables often added to the dish include onions, garlic, or carrots and will not add a significant amount of calories to the dish. The pineapple, while sweet, only runs at 21 calories per quarter cup.
- Rice: Rice is a vital part of this dish and carbs are an essential part of our diet. However, it’s important to portion this mindfully as carbs can easily add up calorie-wise if not portioned correctly, hindering progress towards your fitness goals.
Looking at each component, it’s easy to see that pineapple fried rice can easily be made a high calorie dish if the protein and sauce are not chosen and/or portioned mindfully, making it less than ideal for dieting purposes.
Additionally, it's easy to run the risk of using too much rice if you don't measure how much you use. Thankfully, it’s not hard to make it low calorie and macro conscious — this recipe will show you some tweaks that will make pineapple fried rice easy to fit into your everyday diet.
How to Make It Healthy – The Fitsian Method
In this recipe, I use a more protein heavy ratio to make this a more macro friendly and calorie conscious dish. Here are some key tweaks I made:
- Used 4oz shrimp for a lean protein source
- Bulked up the dish with vegetables including carrots, garlic, and onions to make it more nutritious and satisfying
- Used a simple authentic Thai sauce consisting of 1 tablespoon of fish sauce and 1 teaspoon of sugar at only 31 calories
For a detailed breakdown of each ingredients, their portioning, and how they make up the nutrition profile of this Thai pineapple fried rice recipe, you may refer to the table below:
If you liked this recipe, check out the following:
- Tom Yum Fried Rice
- Lemongrass Fried Rice
- Crab Fried Rice
- Salted Egg Yolk Fried Rice
- Is Thai Food Healthy? (My Top 20 Healthy Low Calorie Thai Recipes)
- Top 10 Favorite Low Calorie Fried Rice Recipes
FAQ's, Tips, and Tricks
Yes, fried rice is good for weight loss as long as it is consumed at a moderate portion and mixed with lean meats and veggies to make a more well rounded dish. The best way to ensure this is to cook the fried rice yourself so you can portion the ingredients accurately.
Yes, fried rice is healthier than white rice given that fried rice has a mixture of vegetables and protein that make it a more well rounded dish. The key thing to watch out is oil usage. By swapping out cooking oil with cooking spray, you can cut more than 120 calories per tablespoon of oil used.
Yes, you can make pineapple fried rice with leftover rice or brown rice. In fact, it's recommended to make pineapple fried rice with leftover rice that has had time to harden in the fridge. It makes for a better texture when frying in the pan.
To carve a pineapple into a bowl, cut the pineapple in half lengthwise. Then cut cubes on the face of the pineapple, similar to how you would cube a mango or avocado, and scoop out. For more details on this technique, check out this article on how to carve a pineapple.
Ingredient Notes, Variations, and Substitutions
Fried Rice
- ¼ cup Brown Rice: Preferably cooked ahead of time and left in the fridge overnight. You can also use white rice - the difference in calories is insignificant so it's a matter of personal preference.
- 4 ounces Shrimp: You can also opt to use skinless chicken thigh, breast, or other seafoods as a lean meat source
- Salt and Pepper: To season the shrimp
- 1 clove Garlic (Minced)
- ¼ Onion (Minced)
- 1 Carrot (Cut in cubes)
- ¼ cup Pineapple: Fresh pineapple works best here but you can also use canned pineapple
- 1 egg
- Scallions and lime (Optional, for garnish)
Stir Fry Sauce
- 1 tablespoon Fish sauce
- 1 teaspoon Sugar: Brown sugar also works
Step By Step Instructions
- Begin by gathering all the ingredients. Make the rice ahead of time if possible, but this recipe still works without doing so.
- Prepare the ingredients by cutting or mincing the vegetables, peeling the shrimp, and hollowing out the pineapple, cutting it into small bite sized pieces. Season the shrimp with the salt.
- Spray a saucepan with cooking spray and cook the shrimp, laying them in a single layer. Cook each side for about 1-2 minutes. Once the shrimp is done, remove them from the pan and set aside. Given how quickly shrimp cooks, it's best to cook them first and mix them in at the end of the recipe to prevent overcooking.
- Add the vegetables into the pan and sauté for about 3-4 minutes, or until the vegetables begin to soften. Add in the fried rice and stir fry sauce and mix thoroughly.
- Crack the egg into the pan and let it cook for about a minute before mixing it in with the fried rice.
- Add in the pineapple pieces and mix thoroughly.
- Remove the fried from the saucepan and top with scallions, and lime, and enjoy your delicious healthy and authentic pineapple fried rice!
Pineapple Fried Rice with Shrimp
Ingredients
Fried Rice
- ¼ cup Brown rice
- 4 ounces Shrimp
- Salt and pepper
- 1 clove Garlic (Minced)
- 1 Carrot (Cut in cubes)
- ¼ cup Pineapple
- 1 Egg
- Scallions and lime (Optional, for garnish)
Stir Fry Sauce
- 1 tablespoon Fish sauce
- 1 teaspoon Sugar
Nutrition & Macros
- 379 Calories
- 31 g Protein
- 6 g Fats
- 39 g Carbs
Instructions
- Begin by gathering all the ingredients. Make the rice ahead of time if possible, but this recipe still works without doing so.
- Prepare the ingredients by cutting or mincing the vegetables, peeling the shrimp, and hollowing out the pineapple, cutting it into small bite sized pieces. Season the shrimp with the salt.
- Spray a saucepan with cooking spray and cook the shrimp, laying them in a single layer. Cook each side for about 1-2 minutes. Once the shrimp is done, remove them from the pan and set aside. Given how quickly shrimp cooks, it's best to cook them first and mix them in at the end of the recipe to prevent overcooking.
- Add the vegetables into the pan and sauté for about 3-4 minutes, or until the vegetables begin to soften. Add in the fried rice and stir fry sauce and mix thoroughly.
- Crack the egg into the pan and let it cook for about a minute before mixing it in with the fried rice.
- Add in the pineapple pieces and mix thoroughly.
- Remove the fried from the saucepan and top with scallions, and lime, and enjoy your delicious healthy and authentic pineapple fried rice!
Bec
This was such a delicious recipe! Love the pineapple bowl idea