Tom Yum Fried Rice (A Low Calorie Fried Rice Recipe)

If you're a fan of Tom Yum Soup, you're going to love this Tom Yum fried rice! Complete with juicy prawns and chewy rice coated with a creamy egg, this fried rice recipe that will satisfy your taste buds as well as your macros. Taking only 15 minute to put together, it's also a great meal to whip up in a pinch.

Jump to:

• 🍎 Calories and Nutrition – Is Tom Yum Fried Rice Healthy?
• 🍏 How to Make It Healthy – The Fitsian Method
• 💡Tips, Tricks, and FAQs
• 📋 Ingredient Notes
• 🔪 Step by Step Instructions
• 🍳 Recipe

🍎 Calories and Nutrition – Is Tom Yum Fried Rice Healthy?

To understand the calorie and nutrition content of tom yum recipe, it’s useful to look at the core ingredients that make up the dish. The fried rice recipe is made of four main components: protein, vegetables, tom yum sauce, and of course, the rice.

• Protein: This dish can be served with a wide variety of proteins including pork, chicken, and/or shrimp. To keep calories consumption low and protein consumption high, it's best to opt for a leaner protein. Eggs are also a great addition to the fried rice.
• Tom Yum Sauce: 1 standard serving of tom yum block is 40 calories, which is not much additional calories.
• Vegetables: The vegetables are not going to add a significant amount of calories to the dish.
• Rice: Can a fried rice really be a fried rice without rice? Carbs are a necessary part of our diet, but should ideally be portioned mindfully to keep calories consumed at a minimum.

Looking at each component, it’s easy to see that Tom Yum fried rice can easily be made to be a high calorie dish if not portioned correctly. However, it’s not hard to make it low calorie and macro conscious — this recipe will show you some tweaks that will make Tom Yum fried rice easy to fit into your everyday diet.

🍏 How to Make It Healthy – The Fitsian Method

While Tom Yum fried rice is naturally a very well-balanced recipe, without any smoking gun calorie culprits, it's still important to keep portion control in mind in order to make this dish fit your calorie budget.  Here are some of the key adjustments and portions I used for this recipe:

• I used only one serving of brown rice (¼ cup uncooked), adding only 150 calories
• Bulk up the meal with lean proteins -- in this recipe I used 3oz shrimp and mixed in an egg with the rice
• Used half a block of Tom Yum Paste cube (less than 20 calories)

For a detailed breakdown of each ingredients, their portioning, and how they make up the nutrition profile of this tom yum fried rice recipe, you may refer to the table below:

💡Tips, Tricks, and FAQs

Is Tom Yum Healthy?

Yes - tom yum is flavorful and spicy without packing much calories -- an entire Tom Yum cube is only 37 calories! In this recipe, we only use half, using under 20 calories to pack the strong flavor we all know and love.  

Make Rice Beforehand

This recipe calls for 1 serving of brown rice, which is ¼ cup uncooked. You can also opt for other types of rice if you'd like. They key to optimizing the texture of the rice is to make it a day or two in advance and keeping it in the fridge overnight. Otherwise, the rice can be overly moist and soggy. You can also make bigger portions of rice to prep for various recipes throughout the week to save time.  

How many Thai chilis should I use?

Thai chilis may be small, but are quite fiery. I would recommend using 1 for a mild spice, and 2-3 for a relatively heavier spice level. Anything above that is at your own risk! You can pick up Thai chilis at your local Asian grocery store, or order dried Thai chilis on Amazon. 

If you liked this recipe, check out the following:

• Tom Yum pasta recipe I made, which incorporates the Tom Yum flavor mixed with some delicious and chewy pasta
• Pineapple Fried Rice recipe another beloved Thai fried rice dish
• Low Calorie Thai Foods Guide for my favorite low calorie Thai food recipes that are still high in protein
• Fast and Fit recipe collection to see more of my favorite recipes that take less than 20 minutes to make 
• Scallop Fried Rice recipe for another delicious fried rice recipe
• Top 10 Favorite Low Calorie Fried Rice Recipes for more healthy and low calorie fried rice recipe

📋 Ingredient Notes

Shrimp and Marinade

• 3oz Shrimp
• 1 teaspoon Fish sauce
• 1 clove Garlic (Minced)
• 1 teaspoon Salt

Fried Rice

• 1 serving Brown rice (¼ cup uncooked)
• 2 teaspoon Salt
• 1 tablespoon Onions (Chopped)
• 1 teaspoon Lemongrass (ground)
• 1 teaspoon White pepper
• 1-2 Thai chilis
• 1 clove Garlic (Minced)
• 1 Mushroom
• ½ Tom Yum cube
• ¼ cup Chicken stock
• 1 egg
• Cilantro (To garnish)

🔪 Step by Step Instructions

1. Begin by preparing the rice according to instructions based on rice type. I used brown rice which took about 20-25 minutes to cook in boiling, salted water. Put in fridge overnight for optimal texture.
2. Combine the shrimp with the marinade ingredients. Set aside and let marinade for 5-10 minutes while you prepare the rest of the recipe.
3. Spray skillet with cooking spray and sauté garlic, onions, Thai chilis, and mushroom, and ground lemongrass. Season with white pepper.
4. Cook the shrimp by adding them to the skillet in a single layer. Cook for about 1-2 minutes on each side.
5. Add in the Tom Yum block and break it down in the pan using a spatula or wooden spoon. Mix in the chicken stock as needed to help dissolve it. Then mix in the rice and mix everything in the skillet together thoroughly. 
6. Once everything is well mixed together, move the rice to the one side and break in an egg on the other side. Once the egg begins to solidify a little, mix it into the rice to coat a delicious, cream-like texture with the rice.
7. Garnish with cilantro if desired and enjoy your mouthwatering fried rice!

🍳 Recipe