Fried Rice with Lavender, ham, sweet peppers, and cashews is a delicious spin on a classic dish. Lavender adds a pleasant and subtle herbal note, and it goes so well with all other ingredients. If you like fried rice, then you should try this variation.
Hello folks – I hope you all doing well!
July is the month to enjoy lavender recipes, and today I am excited to share another tasty idea.
Cooking with Lavender
I’ve already mentioned on a few occasions the book “Cooking with Lavender” by Nancy Baggett. This this the only book I have tried multiple recipes from and shared the results on the Havoc In The Kitchen. Previously, I posted Lavender Kir Royale, Corn Lavender Chowder, Pasta Salad with Creamy Lavender Sauce, Lavender Barbeque Sauce Meatballs, Lavender Roasted Potatoes adapted from this book. And I am not going to stop! I have made another two recipes this summer…but I will only post them next year, as I am dealing with a backlog of older photos from 2022 (just a few) and 2023 (the majority) lol
Ingredients Lavender Goes Well With
Probably the best part of this book to me was the section about pairings. Even though I’d been cooking with lavender for many years, I did not know it pairs well with SO MANY things. Some of them might sound quite peculiar. The list is truly endless including:
– Meats, poultry, and seafood (Chicken, ham, lamb, pork, smoked fish, etc.)
– Dairy products like like butter and cheeses including mozzarella, brie, etc. Try this Lavender Lemon Honey Butter and Lavender Chive Thyme Butter.
– Vegetables including potatoes, corn, and tomatoes. Yes, corn and tomatoes. Try this Lavender Tomato Chickpea Spread and Sun-Dried Tomato Lavender Spread.
– Starchy ingredients such as rice, pasta, chickpeas, couscous, etc. Try this Couscous Salad with Apricots and Lavender.
Fried Rice with Lavender
This Fried Rice with Lavender combines cooked rice (you can use blended with wild rice), lean ham, sweet peppers, celery, cashews, and lavender. You will also need a little of soy sauce and ginger as the aromatics. Be sure to use culinary lavender. I slightly adapted the original recipe to my liking – for example, I did not add raisins. Lastly, it gets sprinkled with some green onions or chives.
So, this dish has a meat element, vegetables (sweet peppers and celery), and a starchy element (rice). According to the section above, that’s a win-win in terms of flavour pairing. By the way, the raisins I omitted also have a strong affinity.
I hope you like this Fried Rice with Lavender, and you will give it a try. If you try it, let me know in this post or send me an Instagram message or share you photos adding the hashtag #havocinthekitchen.
Cheers!

What a great combination of flavors in this — not just the lavender but the ham, bell pepper, ginger and — the real surprise — the cashews! I will be trying this!
Thanks David – I hope you’ll like it!
What a fun twist on fried rice! I’ve never played around with fried rice using different ingredients like this, so I’m particularly intrigued here. Looks like you’ve been having fun with the lavender!!
Yes, after a few-year break, I am again into lavender a lot! :)
Wow what a great idea! I bet Uncle Roger would like this 🤣
Haha thanks Raymund!
This is probably the most unusual fried rice that I have ever seen (mind you, I grew up eating RICE 3 meals a day, including lots of different kinds of fried rice)! Very unique, flavourful and moreish, Ben.
Thanks Angie!
I’ve never thought to use lavender to season rice with. Sounds very interesting.
Thank you Tandy!