Hawaiian Pineapple Fried Rice is studded with delicious salty spam and juicy, sweet pineapple. It’s a flavorful and easy main dish that’s perfect for family weeknight dinners.
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I love fried rice, especially because it is such a great way to use up leftovers like day-old rice and those random bits of veggies you have in the fridge. Pork Fried Rice is one of the most popular recipes on my blog, and one that makes an appearance on my family’s table at least once a month. Thai Fried Rice is also a favorite.
While fried rice studded with juicy, flavorful char siu pork is always welcome, sometimes we want to shake things up. That’s where this Hawaiian Fried Rice, loaded with cubes of crispy spam and juicy pineapple, comes in.
SPAM has enjoyed huge popularity in Hawaii since the military brought it there during World War II. Lots of dishes popular with locals include it, like spam and eggs, Spam Musubi, and, of course, this spam fried rice recipe. It’s best browned and crisped in a hot skillet before you add it to your rice.
Like its cousins Pork Fried Rice and Thai Fried Rice with Chicken and Cashews, Hawaiian Spam Fried Rice is easy, flavorful, and filling. The combination of salty, crispy chunks of spam and juicy, sweet pineapple is what really makes this the best fried rice recipe. It’s a winning combo if ever there was one.
This Hawaiian Fried Rice is studded with diced pineapple, spam, eggs, and vegetables and seasoned with soy sauce and sesame oil.
Ingredient Notes
The ingredients for this recipe are things you can find in any grocery store or supermarket. Here are a few notes.
- Rice – The best rice to use for any fried rice recipe is leftover rice, preferably medium-grain or long grain white rice, that was cooked yesterday and refrigerated overnight. The cold rice will be a bit dried out, which keeps it from getting mushy when you fry it.
- Cooking oil – You can use any neutral-flavored, high-smoke-point oil. I like avocado or safflower oil, but you can also use canola, grapeseed, peanut, or another vegetable oil.
- Sesame oil – Look for toasted sesame oil and check the label to make sure it is 100% sesame oil, and not a blend of soybean oil and sesame oil.
- Spam – You can choose either the regular variety or the reduced sodium version (it’s still plenty salty and flavorful!) Or you can substitute any diced pork or even leftover Honey Glazed Ham.
- Diced fresh pineapple – Juicy, fresh pineapple is what really gives this spam fried rice its Hawaiian flavor.
How To Make Hawaiian Pineapple Fried Rice with Spam
This fried rice cooks in a single skillet, but not all at once. I cook the eggs, then the carrots, then the Spam, one at a time, and move each to a plate before starting the next. Crowding everything into the pan together drops the temperature, and the Spam steams instead of crisping. Each batch gets a fresh splash of cooking oil and toasted sesame oil, so the sesame flavor builds through every layer.
The rice goes in last, and this is the step that makes or breaks the dish. Spread it out, break up any clumps (wet hands help), and then leave it alone long enough for the bottom to brown before you toss it. Stirring constantly keeps the rice pale and soft. Those browned, slightly crunchy spots are the difference between fried rice and warm rice with stuff in it.
Once the rice has some color, everything else goes back in, along with the pineapple and the white parts of the green onions. The pineapple only needs to heat through, so it stays juicy. I add the soy sauce at the very end and taste as I go, because Spam brings a lot of salt on its own and the right amount depends on whether you bought regular or reduced sodium. The green onion tops go on just before serving.
What to Serve With It
Spam fried rice is salty, rich, and a little sweet from the pineapple, so what it needs next to it is something cold, crunchy, and sharp. I skip fruity or sugary sides here because the pineapple already covers that. A sour, vinegary, or lime-heavy salad does more for this plate than anything else.
Thai Green Papaya Salad, or som tam, is the boldest option, with lime, fish sauce, garlic, and chiles pounded into shreds of crisp papaya. Green papaya is just unripe papaya, so it’s crunchy and mild rather than sweet, and it won’t pile more fruit flavor on top of the pineapple. Japanese Cucumber Salad, or sunomono, is the lightest choice, and Spicy Cucumber Salad brings chili crisp and garlic if you want heat without the fish sauce funk.
For a bigger spread, add Mochiko Chicken, the soy-marinated fried chicken that’s a fixture of Local Hawaii cooking. Rice alongside fried chicken is plate-lunch logic, and the crackly crust adds a texture the fried rice doesn’t have. Keep one of the salads on the table either way, because two rich dishes need something cold to reset your palate between bites.
Hawaiian Pineapple Fried Rice with Spam
Robin Donovan
Ingredients
- 3 tablespoons oil divided
- 4 large eggs beaten
- 1 12-ounce can SPAM, diced
- 3 to 5 tablespoons soy sauce I use lower-sodium soy sauce
- 2 teaspoons sesame oil
- 2 carrots peeled and diced
- 4 green onions sliced thin
- 5 cups cold cooked white or brown rice ideally at least 1 day old
- 1 cup diced pineapple
Instructions
- In a large skillet over medium-high heat, heat 1 tablespoon of the cooking oil and 1 teaspoon of the sesame oil. Add the beaten eggs and cook, stirring, until they are just set. Transfer to a bowl and cut up with a spatula into bite-size pieces.
- With the skillet over medium-high heat, add another 1 tablespoon of the cooking oil and 1 teaspoon of sesame oil. Add the carrots. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the carrots are tender, about 5 minutes. Remove the carrots from the pan, adding them to the plate with the eggs.
- Add the SPAM to the pan. Cook, stirring occasionally until nicely browned, 3 to 4 minutes. Remove the meat from the pan, transferring it to the bowl with the eggs.
- To the skillet (still over medium-high heat), add the remaining tablespoon of cooking oil and the remaining teaspoon of sesame oil. Add the rice, breaking up with wet hands if needed. Cook, tossing regularly until the rice begins to brown in some spots. Don’t stir it too often. You want to let the bottom brown before stirring it up. This will take 8 minutes or so.
- Add the cooked egg, carrots, and SPAM back to the skillet, along with the white parts of the scallions and the pineapple. Cook, stirring, until well mixed and heated through. Season generously with the soy sauce, tossing to incorporate it well.
- Serve hot, garnished with the green parts of the scallions.
I haven’t eaten spam for years but after seeing it with the pineapple fried rice, I just had to try it – it was delicious!
Great recipe and a delicious way to use spam!