Is chicken fried rice ultra-processed?

Not when made from scratch with individual ingredients. This recipe uses whole chicken, fresh vegetables, eggs, and individual sauces (soy, oyster) in controlled quantities — all NOVA 1–3 with zero UPF markers. Swap the individual sauces for a single jar of cooking sauce and you introduce 3 UPF markers: maltodextrin, rapeseed oil, and palm fat.

How does a jar sauce compare to from-scratch?

Sharwood’s Chinese Curry Cooking Sauce contains 32 ingredients compared to the 3 individual sauces used in this recipe. It adds maltodextrin (an industrial sugar that spikes blood glucose), rapeseed oil, and palm fat — none of which exist when you use soy sauce, oyster sauce, and five spice separately.

What is the glucose impact of chicken fried rice?

The main glucose contributor is the rice itself (high GI). The chicken, vegetables, and eggs help moderate the overall glycemic load. If you swap to a jar sauce containing maltodextrin, you add a high-GI industrial carbohydrate on top of the rice’s existing glucose impact.

Glucose: Medium12 ingredients

Chicken & Rice — Ingredient Analysis: NOVA Scores, Hidden Sugars & Glucose Impact

We analysed every ingredient in this chicken fried rice recipe. 12 whole ingredients. Swap the individual sauces for a jar and you get 32 ingredients, maltodextrin, and palm fat.

Original recipe by

Chicken Fried Rice {Easy Fakeaway} by Sarah Rossi at Taming Twins · @tamingtwins

SpikeSaver Ingredient Analysis

Ingredient	Qty	NOVA	Hidden Sugars	Glucose	Protein
Cooked rice, cold	900g	NOVA 3	None	High	24.3g
Olive oil	1 tsp	NOVA 2	None	Negligible	—
Onion	1, chopped	NOVA 1	None	Low	1.5g
Chicken breasts	350g, diced	NOVA 1	None	Negligible	108.5g
Carrots	3 (300g), chopped	NOVA 1	None	Low	2.7g
Garlic	2 cloves, crushed	NOVA 1	None	Negligible	—
Ginger	1 tbsp	NOVA 1	None	Negligible	—
Chinese five spice	1 tbsp	NOVA 1	None	Negligible	—
Frozen peas	200g	NOVA 1	None	Low	10g
Dark soy sauce	2 tbsp	NOVA 3	None	Negligible	2.4g
Oyster sauce	2 tbsp	NOVA 3	None	Negligible	0.3g
Eggs	4	NOVA 1	None	Negligible	26g

Per serving (4 servings)

520

Calories

43.7g

Protein

62g

Carbs

10g

Fat

Fibre

Overall verdict

Mostly NOVA 1 with NOVA 3 staples (rice, soy sauce, oyster sauce)0 hidden sugarsGlucose: Medium

A clean fakeaway recipe. The chicken, vegetables, eggs, and spices are all NOVA 1 unprocessed. The soy sauce and oyster sauce are NOVA 3 (processed) but used in small controlled quantities. Zero hidden sugars. The rice is the main glucose contributor.

The swap comparison

What happens when you swap from-scratch ingredients for shop-bought shortcuts?

Individual sauces (soy, oyster, five spice) used in controlled quantities

→

Sharwood’s Chinese Curry Cooking Sauce 425g

NOVA 43 UPF markers2 sugar aliases32 ingredients

Lens	From Scratch	Shop-Bought	Delta
NOVA/UPF	NOVA 1–3, 0 UPF markers	NOVA 4, 3 UPF markers (maltodextrin, rapeseed oil, palm fat)	+3 UPF markers including industrial sugar and seed oils
Hidden Sugar	0 sugar aliases	2 aliases (sugar, maltodextrin)	+2 hidden sugar sources
Glucose Impact	Low (from individual sauces)	3.7g sugar/100g, 7.6g carbs/100g	Moderate sugar increase plus high-GI maltodextrin
Protein/Macros	12 controlled ingredients	32 ingredients, 0.9g protein, 0.85g salt/100g	Nearly 3x the ingredient count

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