Sheet Pan Vegan Fried Rice with Butternut Squash, Edamame and Crispy Garlic
Hands-off sheet pan vegan fried rice: roasted butternut squash, edamame and bell pepper baked with brown rice until crisp, finished with crispy garlic.
- Prep
- 20 min
- Cook
- 40 min
- Serves
- 4
Sheet Pan Vegan Fried Rice with Butternut Squash, Edamame and Crispy Garlic is a vegan dinner recipe made with neutral oil, garlic, butternut squash. It takes 60 minutes of hands-on time, serves 4, and each serving has 589 calories, 16 g of protein and 10 g of fiber.
This version skips the wok. Cold brown rice goes into a hot oven in a thin layer and gets crisp at the edges while you do something else. The squash gets a head start on its own pan so it caramelizes instead of steaming. The garlic is fried separately first, which gives you crunchy chips for the top and garlic-infused oil for coating the rice. Most of the soy sauce goes in after baking, so the rice browns instead of going soggy.
A cooking method + seasonal produce (hands-off oven-baked sheet pan fried rice with roasted butternut squash and edamame for batch meal prep instead of a quick skillet stir-fry with tofu and broccoli) take on our Crispy Tofu Fried Rice with Broccoli, Sweet Corn and Green Onion.
Ingredients
Crispy garlic
- ¼ cup56 gneutral oil, for frying the garlic
- 8 cloves24 ggarlic, thinly and evenly sliced
Sheet pan
- 3 cups420 gbutternut squash, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch cubes
- 1 tbsp14 gneutral oil, for the squash
- ¼ tsp1.5 gsalt
- 4 cups808 gcooked brown rice, chilled overnight
- 1 tbsp16 gsoy sauce, for the rice
- 1½ cups233 gfrozen shelled edamame, thawed and patted dry
- 1 large155 gred bell pepper, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
- 6 90 ggreen onions, thinly sliced, whites and greens kept separate
Finishing sauce
- 2 tbsp32 gsoy sauce
- 1 tbsp14 gtoasted sesame oil
- 1 tbsp15 grice vinegar
- 1 tsp6.7 gmaple syrup
- 1 tbsp6 gfresh ginger, finely grated
- ¼ tsp0.6 gblack pepper
To serve
- 1 tbsp9 gtoasted sesame seeds, for serving (optional)
- 2 tsp13 gsriracha, for serving (optional)
Kit: 2 large rimmed baking sheets, small skillet, fine-mesh strainer, large mixing bowl
Tips
- Use rice that's been chilled overnight. Freshly cooked rice is too moist to crisp and turns gummy in the oven.
- Don't crowd the rice. Two pans in thin layers give you crisp edges, while one heaped pan steams.
- Slice the garlic as evenly as you can so it all browns at the same rate, and take it off the heat as soon as it's pale gold.
Swap ideas
- Tamari instead of soy sauce
- Makes it gluten-free, with a slightly richer, less salty taste.
- Sweet potato or acorn squash instead of butternut
- Roasts in about the same time. Sweet potato comes out a bit sweeter and softer.
- Cold cooked white rice instead of brown
- Crisps faster and tastes more like takeout. Check it 2–3 minutes early.
- Cubed firm tofu instead of edamame
- Press it, toss it with a little cornstarch and roast it on the squash pan from the start for chewy, golden cubes.
The numbers
Nutrition per serving
589kcal per serving
Everything else · 4 servings per recipe
- Saturated fat
- 2.7 g 14%
- Sugars
- 7.4 g
- Sodium
- 827 mg 36%
- Potassium
- 1028 mg 22%
- Calcium
- 130 mg 10%
- Iron
- 4 mg 22%
- Vitamin C
- 81 mg 90%
- Vitamin B12
- 0 µg 0%
% Daily Value on a 2,000 calorie diet. Calculated from USDA FoodData Central values for each ingredient; optional ingredients are excluded. Estimates vary with brands and portions.
Sources: Oil, canola, Garlic, raw, Squash, winter, butternut, raw, Salt, table, Rice, brown, long-grain, cooked (Includes foods for USDA's Food Distribution Program), Soy sauce made from soy and wheat (shoyu), Edamame, frozen, prepared, Peppers, sweet, red, raw, Onions, spring or scallions (includes tops and bulb), raw, Oil, sesame, salad or cooking, RICE VINEGAR (Branded, Mizkan America, Inc.) - unseasoned; 0 kcal, 0 g protein, carbs, sugar, fat and 0 mg sodium per 15 ml serving, Syrups, maple, Ginger root, raw, Spices, pepper, black
Method
Heat the oven to 425°F with racks in the upper and lower thirds. Toss the squash with 1 tbsp neutral oil and the salt on a rimmed baking sheet, spread it in one layer and roast on the lower rack for 15 minutes, until it's starting to brown underneath.
While the squash roasts, put the 1/4 cup oil and the sliced garlic in a cold small skillet. Set it over medium-low heat and cook, stirring often, until the garlic is pale golden and the bubbling slows, 4–6 minutes. Pour it through a fine-mesh strainer set over a bowl and spread the chips on a paper towel. They keep crisping and darken a little as they cool, so pull them before they turn brown.
Break up any clumps in the cold rice with your fingers. Toss it on the second baking sheet with 3 tbsp of the garlic oil and 1 tbsp soy sauce. Scatter the edamame, bell pepper and green onion whites over it and spread everything into a thin, even layer.
Put the rice pan on the upper rack and stir the squash. Roast both pans for 12 minutes.
Stir the rice with a spatula, scraping up any browned bits, then spread it out again. Swap the pans between racks and roast 8–10 minutes more, until the rice is golden and crisp at the edges and the squash is tender and caramelized.
While it finishes, whisk together 2 tbsp soy sauce, the sesame oil, rice vinegar, maple syrup, ginger and black pepper.
Tip the rice and squash into a large bowl, pour the sauce over and fold gently so the squash stays in cubes. Taste and add more soy sauce if needed.
Serve topped with the green onion greens, crispy garlic and sesame seeds, with the rest of the garlic oil and some sriracha on the side.
Storage: Cool quickly and refrigerate within an hour in airtight containers for up to 4 days. Store the crispy garlic in a separate airtight jar at room temperature so it stays crunchy, and add it after reheating. Reheat until steaming hot throughout, in a skillet or at 400°F on a sheet pan, which brings back some crispness.
Questions
- How much protein is in sheet pan vegan fried rice with butternut squash, edamame and crispy garlic?
- Each of the 4 servings has 16 g of protein, 10 g of fiber and 589 calories, calculated from USDA FoodData Central values for every ingredient.
- Is sheet pan vegan fried rice with butternut squash, edamame and crispy garlic vegan?
- Yes. It contains no dairy, eggs, honey or other animal products.
- How long does sheet pan vegan fried rice with butternut squash, edamame and crispy garlic take to make?
- 20 minutes of prep and 40 minutes of cooking, so 60 minutes of hands-on time.
- Can you make sheet pan vegan fried rice with butternut squash, edamame and crispy garlic ahead?
- Cool quickly and refrigerate within an hour in airtight containers for up to 4 days. Store the crispy garlic in a separate airtight jar at room temperature so it stays crunchy, and add it after reheating. Reheat until steaming hot throughout, in a skillet or at 400°F on a sheet pan, which brings back some crispness.
- What can I substitute in sheet pan vegan fried rice with butternut squash, edamame and crispy garlic?
- Tamari instead of soy sauce — makes it gluten-free, with a slightly richer, less salty taste.. Sweet potato or acorn squash instead of butternut — roasts in about the same time. sweet potato comes out a bit sweeter and softer.. Cold cooked white rice instead of brown — crisps faster and tastes more like takeout. check it 2–3 minutes early.. Cubed firm tofu instead of edamame — press it, toss it with a little cornstarch and roast it on the squash pan from the start for chewy, golden cubes..
- Does sheet pan vegan fried rice with butternut squash, edamame and crispy garlic contain gluten?
- Yes — the ingredient list includes gluten. Check the labels on the products you buy if you're cooking for an allergy.
Nutrition is calculated from USDA data for every ingredient — how we work it out.
Published September 28, 2026 ·Chinese-American
