Recipe
🍽️ DINNER
Nasi Goreng Kampung
Village-style fried rice, smoky and sweet with kecap manis, crowned with a crisp-edged fried egg.
Indonesian · easy · serves 2
prep 15 min · cook 10 min
~865 cal · 39g protein · 104g carbs · 32g fat · 4g fiber · 7g sugars · 6g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
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Nasi goreng, Indonesian fried rice, is so beloved it's often called the national dish, and the 'kampung' (village) style is the rustic, homey heart of it: day-old rice fried with garlic, shallot, and chili, lacquered smoky-sweet with kecap manis. Born of the practical need to use up leftover rice, it became a national icon.
The defining ingredient is kecap manis, the thick sweet soy sauce that gives the rice its dark color and caramelized savor-sweetness, often deepened with a spoonful of terasi . Every cook and warung has their own version, from simple to studded with chicken, egg, or seafood.
Crowned with a fried egg and served with prawn crackers, sliced cucumber, and tomato, nasi goreng is eaten any time of day across Java and the archipelago, breakfast, midnight snack, or full meal.
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Make it yours
✓ Naturally dairy-, nut- and pork-free. No swaps needed.
Toggle a diet and the ingredients rewrite themselves with regional substitutes.
🥕 Vegetarian
🌱 Vegan
🌾 Gluten-Free
🥛 Dairy-Free
🥜 Nut-Free
🥚 Egg-Free
🐖 Pork-Free
Dietary labels are a cooking guide, not allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish; we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, read the label on every product you use, and note that a kitchen can cross-contaminate in ways a recipe cannot control.
Ingredients
US
Metric
Serves 2
3 cups day-old cooked jasmine rice, chilled
3 tbsp kecap manis (sweet soy sauce)
4 shallots
3 cloves garlic
2-3 red chilies
1 tsp (terasi)
6 oz chicken thigh, small dice
2 eggs
3 tbsp
1/2 cucumber, sliced, to serve
1/2 tomato, sliced, to serve
Instructions
1
Pound the shallots, garlic, chilies, and shrimp paste (or tauco) into a rough paste.
2
Fry the eggs crisp in hot oil; set aside. Then fry the chicken (or tempeh) until golden.
3
Fry the paste in the same wok until it smells irresistible, about 2 minutes.
4
Add the cold rice, breaking clumps, and toss hard over the highest heat. Stream in the kecap manis and keep tossing until every grain is lacquered.
5
Plate with the fried egg on top and cucumber and tomato alongside.
Yogyakarta street-cart style.
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🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
📍
Yogyakarta (Java). Gudeg takes hours and looks like nothing else. Young unripe jackfruit is simmered with palm sugar and coconut milk until it collapses, teak leaves turning it deep brown, and it is served with egg, chicken and a fiery krecek of buffalo skin to cut the sweetness. It comes dry, kering, for daytime and eating later, or wet, basah, for the evening.
🗺️
Indonesia. Indonesia's seventeen thousand islands each guard their own sambal, uniting a vast archipelago through chili heat, coconut, and aromatic spice pastes. Rich rendang, fragrant nasi goreng, and satay skewers showcase a cuisine shaped by the original Spice Islands.
🌍
Asia. Fermentation is the thread that runs the whole way across: soy sauce and miso, Korean doenjang and kimchi, Southeast Asian fish sauces, the soured batter behind an idli. Chilli is the newcomer among them, arriving only after 1500 with Portuguese and Spanish traders, which makes the heat in Sichuan, Thai and Korean cooking far younger than the fermenting underneath it.
The story behind this dish is up top, worth a read while the pot works.
More from Indonesia
Gado-GadoJakarta’s "mix-mix": blanched vegetables, tofu, tempeh, and egg under warm peanut sauce.
Beef RendangBeef simmered for hours in coconut milk and spice paste until the liquid vanishes and the meat turns dark, dry, and intense.
Bubur SumsumA soft rice-flour and coconut porridge pooled with dark palm-sugar syrup.
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Good to know
You’ll need: Wok.
Storing it: Cool leftover rice quickly and refrigerate within an hour. Keep up to 2 days and reheat until piping hot all the way through.
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Frequently asked questions
What is Nasi Goreng Kampung?
Village-style fried rice, smoky and sweet with kecap manis, crowned with a crisp-edged fried egg.
Where does Nasi Goreng Kampung come from?
Nasi Goreng Kampung is a Indonesian dish from Yogyakarta (Java), Indonesia.
Can Nasi Goreng Kampung be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Nasi Goreng Kampung recipe includes substitution suggestions for vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free, egg-free, and pork-free versions, including several at once such as gluten-free and dairy-free together. Treat them as a starting guide rather than a guarantee, and see the allergen note below.
Is Nasi Goreng Kampung safe for people with food allergies?
Our dietary labels and substitutions are a cooking guide, not medical or allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish, but we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, always read the label on every product you use, and remember a home or commercial kitchen can cross-contaminate ingredients in ways a recipe cannot control.
How long does Nasi Goreng Kampung take to make?
About 25 minutes total (15 minutes prep, 10 minutes cooking), serving 2.
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