Name: Filipino Garlic Rice
Prep time: 5 min
Cook time: 5 min
Total time: 10 min
Cuisine: Filipino
Ingredients: 2 tablespoons vegetable or grapeseed oil; 5 garlic cloves, thinly sliced; 2 cups cooked cold leftover long grain white rice, such as jasmine rice; ¼ teaspoon rock salt; 2 scallions, finely chopped

This Filipino garlic rice is infused with fragrant garlic oil and loaded with crispy garlic chips. A breakfast staple in the Philippines, sinangag is a great use for that leftover Jasmine rice sitting in your fridge right now. And it’s ready in just 10 minutes from start to finish. Garlic lovers rejoice!

In my opinion, there’s nothing more instantly appetizing than the smell of garlic cooking in oil. Those two kitchen staples are the starter ingredients to so many of the foods I love – that I have a literal Pavlovian response to the scent.

Well, this Filipino garlic rice recipe will have the garlic lovers in your house running to the kitchen to see what you’re working on. Trust me.

Vampires beware!

What is Filipino Garlic Rice?

Filipino garlic fried rice (sinangag) is long grain Jasmine rice stir fried in a simple mixture of garlic and oil.

Loaded with crispy garlic chips, it’s a traditional breakfast dish in the Philippines.

Those garlic chips not only caramelize to perfection in the cooking oil, they also infuse the oil with garlic flavor. That flavor then is then absorbed by the rice grains.

It’s the perfect kitchen alchemy, producing a ton of flavor from a short ingredients list – most of which you probably have sitting in your pantry right now!

Ingredients for Filipino Garlic Rice

Scroll all the way down for the full recipe.

Neutral Cooking Oil: For this delicious garlic fried rice recipe, I like using grapeseed oil. But really you can use vegetable oil – or any other neutral flavored oil that’s in your pantry. However, I recommend that you steer clear of olive oil for this recipe – as it has too much flavor of its own. Pick up grapeseed oil here on Amazon.
Garlic: 5 large cloves should have you sitting pretty. Take your whole cloves and slice your garlic into thin chips. (Note: if you prefer minced garlic, you can run your cloves through a garlic press instead. That said, I think the recipe works best with larger chips). This is the main flavor element in this simple Filipino garlic rice – and we’ll talk about exactly how to prepare the garlic chips in a sec.
Leftover Rice: Long grain Jasmine rice is best. I recommend you use leftover rice (at least day-old cooked rice) that has been sitting in the refrigerator. We’ll talk more about why this is important a little later in the post.
Rock Salt: You’ll want to use coarse salt in this simple dish. Kosher salt or coarse sea salt are great options.
Scallions: Chopped green onions add a crispness and an earthy, verdant note to the rice with fried garlic.

How to Fry Garlic

We’re essentially frying garlic in oil to create a garlic oil. This oil will be so infused with garlic flavor that it will coat and permeate the rice grains so that every bite is bursting with assertive flavor.

However, the garlic flavored oil is only part of it. The second purpose of frying the garlic is to have toasted crunchy bits scattered throughout the finished fried rice.

To start, add your oil and thinly sliced garlic to a large skillet, pan or wok over medium low heat. You want the heat on the lower side so the garlic doesn’t overcook, and the oil has plenty of time to be completely saturated with garlicky goodness.
Cook for about 4-5 minutes – or until the oil becomes fragrant and the garlic turns a golden color.

A word to the wise: there’s a very fine line between perfectly golden garlic chips – and burned, acrid charcoal. Keeping the heat on the lower side of things will help you register the color change and see when it’s perfect!

How to Make Garlic Rice

Gather all of your kitchen tools and equipment.
Prepare your garlic chips and garlic oil according to the steps I outlined in the section above. It’s ready when the garlic turns a golden color the oil is fragrant.
Add your leftover cooked rice to the pan and gently break up any clumps using a spatula or rice paddle. Mix with the garlic and oil well – and cook for 2-3 minutes, until the rice is hot.
Turn the heat off, but keep everything in the pan. Top the Filipino garlic rice with your chopped scallions and coarse salt and mix well. Serve it while it’s hot!

What’s the Best Rice for Fried Rice?

Jasmine rice is my favorite rice to use for this delicious Filipino recipe. However, there’s something much more important to getting this recipe right than simply using long grain rice.

When it comes to whipping up fried rice at home, I have one hard and fast rule: I only make fried rice with leftover rice.

And that’s simply because freshly cooked rice is usually too pliant and loaded with moisture to be added to a hot pan and stir fried on the spot.

When making this Filipino fried rice, we’re introducing moisture in the form of the garlic oil. If I took rice straight from the rice cooker and tossed it into the wok, the texture would be too soft, and possibly too wet.

On the other hand, placing cooked rice in the refrigerator for a day or two dries up some of the moisture in the grains – preparing it to perfectly soak in the garlic oil and retain its perfect texture.

Storing Options

FRIDGE

Transfer the garlic rice to an airtight storage container and refrigerate for 5 to 7 days. Reheat in the microwave for 1 to 2 minutes, or in a pan with a little oil, stirring constantly, for a couple of minutes.

FREEZER

Let the rice cool to room temperature and divide it into single servings. Put each serving into a freezer friendly storage bag and freeze for 4 to 6 months.

To reheat, take the rice out of the freezer and thaw it in the fridge overnight. Reheat in a skillet over medium low heat for about 5 minutes.

What to Serve with Garlic Rice

This yummy Filipino sinangag recipe is delicious on its own. Or you could dress it up like Ben does – with a fried egg and chili oil.

While it’s a typically a breakfast staple in the Philippines – you can serve it anytime alongside a savory and sour salmon na sinigang.

It would also be a great side dish to accompany chicken tinola (tinolang manok) – or this tomatoey afritada.

What do you like to eat fried rice with? Let me hear about your favorites in the comments section below!

TABLEWARE

The pink and grey flower bowl, cutlery rest, and rabbit teacup used in the images are from Musubi Kiln.
Musubi Kiln is an online store specializing in high quality handmade Japanese tableware and dinnerware. Each product is made by Japanese craftsmen using traditional techniques that have been passed down from generation to generation.
Received 10% off your purchase when using the code CAROLINE at checkout.

Other Delicious and Easy Fried Rice Recipes

When it comes to easy comfort food you can whip up in your home kitchen, I usually automatically default to Asian rice recipes. And fried rice is always high on that list.

Here are a few reader favorites:

Did you like this Filipino garlic rice recipe? Are there changes you made that you would like to share? Share your tips and recommendations in the comments section below!