Fried rice is such a simple yet satisfying dish. While it usually serves as a bed for a protein of some sort — a General Tso’s chicken or a meatless chicken substitute — it works just fine as a snack on its own. We can’t get enough of the stuff, which is why we’ll never say no to doing a fried rice review.
And today, we’re doing another one. We’re checking out the Ling Ling Chinese-Style Vegetable Fried Rice to see how it compares to some of our favorite frozen fried rice options.
The box this comes in is actually a bit larger than we expected. See, we’ve been getting a lot of our review food delivered ever since the COVID-19 pandemic began, so we can never be quite sure how big something is before it arrives. We were expecting something the size of maybe a Lean Cuisine dinner, when in reality, we got a pretty substantial-sized box. Hey, we’re not complaining! The more the merrier!
Anyway, you can cook this in the skillet if you’d like, but there are also microwave instructions on the box, which seemed easier and allowed us to make a softer batch of rice rather than a crispier one. So yes, we nuked this instead of pan (or wok) frying it. (If you want to read the full cooking instructions straight off the box, check out the package scans at the bottom of this review.)
We should point out that the box does contain two bags of rice, and pictured above we’re showing the contents of a single bag. That means this is only half the rice that comes in the box!
This is actually pretty standard stuff, as far as fried rice goes. There’s a little bit of a soy flavor here, but it’s certainly not as pronounced as some of the other fried riced we’ve tried here at Freezer Meal Frenzy. We think this is designed more as a base for other foods rather than a solo snack. And that’s totally fine; sometimes that’s exactly what you’re looking for.
Besides the rice, you’ve got some veggies thrown into the mix. This blend includes corn, carrots, edamame, and bell peppers. It’s the corn that really stands out. It’s roasted and loaded with flavor, making it a great complement to the rice portion. The edamame has a nice crunch to it, but the carrots and bell peppers stay mostly in the background.
Now, one tiny gripe we have with this is that there are no scrambled eggs in this mix. While that’s easy enough to fix, it’s always nice to have scrambled eggs in a fried rice. We actually fried up some eggs specifically for this rice, and they really completed the mix. We do recommend adding eggs to this if you can!
Despite the size of the box, this is said to contain just two servings. And that means that a full bag is a serving. That’s actually a really generous serving size — if you eat a bag of rice without adding anything, it’s practically a full meal on its own. That said, one bag contains 510 calories and 970 mg of sodium. Both of those numbers are pretty high considering this is a side dish and not a standalone meal. Then again, if you do eat it as a side, you’ll likely only need half that amount.
The Ling Ling Chinese-Style Vegetable Fried Rice makes a great base for a greater meal. While it’s not intended to be a standalone meal, you can always add some eggs and chicken. This isn’t our favorite frozen fried rice, but it’s certainly one of the better ones we’ve tried.
To learn more about the nutrition content, ingredients, or cooking instructions for this frozen fried rice, check out our package scans below.
