Quick 15-minute classic garlic fried rice recipe, loaded with fresh garlic, spring onions, and fluffy scrambled egg. You can serve it along with other main dishes or simply tasty on its own. Perfect as a quick lunch or a light dinner!
Asian cuisine and fried rice are inseparable and it’s a staple in our weekly meal rotations. I love cooking fried rice as it is a quick one-pan dish that all kids and adults can enjoy. I’ve shared loads of our family's favourite fried rice dishes. Chicken Fried Rice, Spam Fried Rice, Mushroom Fried Rice, Thai Basil Fried Rice, and Prawn Fried Rice are popular recipes that you don’t want to miss!
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Asian's Staple Garlic Rice
Garlic fried rice is one of the simplest and tastiest Asian rice dishes and requires minimum ingredients. The basic ingredients you need are rice, garlic, egg, green onion, and a couple of cupboard-friendly seasonings.
There are so many different versions of this garlicky fried rice; Filipino garlic fried rice ( Sinangag ), Indian burnt garlic rice, Chinese, Korean, Japanese garlic rice, etc. From Chinese to Indian, every Asian family has their version of this garlic rice. I find all of these versions are similar in general.
In this post, I am sharing our family's firm favourite simple garlic fried rice with egg and spring onions.
Perfect Fried Garlic for Rice
Fried garlic is the star of this dish and it’s important to keep the garlic texture crispy. You need to remove the garlic from the wok once it's fried, before adding rice. Then place it back in the rice just right before serving.
Garlic should be cut uniformly for an even colour and texture and also prevent it from getting burnt unevenly. You can either cut it into thin slices or finely chopped.
It’s important to fry the garlic with medium heat to fry every piece evenly for the best crispy golden result. Frying with hot oil can result the burnt bitter garlic.
What do we need
Following are the basic ingredients with photos and please find the detailed measurements on the recipe card.
Cooked Rice: Use a day-old leftover cooked rice to prevent the fried rice from turning mushy when stir-frying. A day-old rice is drier and firmer than freshly cooked rice.
If you have to use freshly cooked rice, spread the cooked rice on a tray and let it chill for a few hours before adding it to your stir fry.
Garlic: Highly recommend using fresh garlic because it brings the best garlicky aroma.
Eggs: Fluffy scrambled eggs can’t be missed when making fried rice.
Green onion ( spring onion ): The mild sweet onion flavour of spring onion goes really well together with garlic and rice. They are a perfect combo!
Seasonings: Soy sauce, salt, and black pepper are the 3 basic ingredients you need. Adding additional chicken powder brings a more delicious umami flavour and we love it!
Oil: Neutral flavour oil is best for making garlic oil and garlic rice. Neutral oil does not ruin the flavour of garlic. We usually use sunflower, canola, peanut, or vegetable oil.
How to cook this classic garlic fried rice?
Prepare Fried Garlic:
- Heat the large wok or pan to medium heat and add oil. Once the oil is hot add garlic slices and fry for 2-3 minutes or until crispy golden brown.
- Remove fried garlic and garlic oil from the pan and set it aside. Leave a couple of tablespoons of garlic oil in the pan to fry the egg and rice.
Make Fried Rice:
- Heat the remaining oil over medium-high heat and add the whisked egg. Stir fry the egg and scramble it into small pieces.
- Push the fried egg to one side of the pan and add the white part of spring onions. Stir fry the spring onions for a few seconds until fragrant.
- Next, add the cooked rice. Season the rice with soy sauce, salt, and chicken powder. Stir it well and cook for 1-2 minutes.
- Finish with green onions, black pepper, and sesame oil. Sprinkle half of the reserved fried garlic and toss everything well. ( Keep the rest of the fried garlic for garnish. )
- Transfer to a serving plate and garnish with more crispy garlic on top.
Cooking Note
You can make extra crispy garlic and garlic oil and keep it in a dry, clean, air-tight jar for later use. It usually lasts for a month if you keep it dry and scoop it with a clean dry spoon.
You can easily customize the flavour and ingredients because there is no precise rule to make this garlic rice.
Sprinkle the leftover fried garlic over other stir-fry dishes, soups, and noodles like my Pak Choy with Garlic Sauce.
FAQ
Thai jasmine rice, Chinese long-grain rice, and regular long-grain rice are my favourite choices. Feel free to use brown rice or Japanese short-grain to your preference.
It is delicious on its own without any add-ons, but you can add extra toppings and side dishes like fried prawns, grilled chicken, stir-fried vegetables, etc.
Yes, absolutely! Green peas, sweetcorn, carrots, mushrooms, or a choice of seafood or meat can be also added.
More Fantastic Fried Rice Recipes
Make it a complete dinner
You can pair garlic fried rice with other Asian appetizers and main dishes for a complete dinner. Here are my favourites:
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📖 Recipe
Garlic Fried Rice
Ingredients
- 3 cup Cooked rice A day-old cold rice, About 200 g or 2 serving rice.
- 6-7 cloves Garlic Cut thin slices or finely chopped
- 2 Eggs Whisked in a bowl with a pinch of salt
- 3-4 tbsp Oil Sunflower, vegetable or neutral flavour oil, Add more oil if needed.
- 3-4 Spring Onions Green onions, Cut thin slices and separate white part and green part.
- ½ tsp Salt Add less or more salt according to your taste
- 1 Tbsp Soy sauce Regular soy sauce or light soy sauce
- 1 tsp Chicken bouillion powder Or msg
- 1 Tsp Black pepper Or to taste
- 1 Tsp Sesame oil optional
Instructions
- Cut garlic and spring onions into thin slices. Separate spring onion white part and green part.
- Heat the large wok or pan on medium heat, add oil, and stir fry the garlic until light golden brown. Remove fried garlic and oil from pan and set aside.
- Leave 2 tbsp of garlic oil in the pan and bring it to over medium high heat. Add the whisked egg, set it for a few seconds, then stir and crumble it into small pieces. Then push the egg to one side of the pan.
- Add white part of spring onions and stir it well until fragrant, then add the cooked rice and seasonings, soy sauce, salt, and chicken powder. Stir it well.
- Now add spring onions, black pepper, and sesame oil. At the final stage add the reserved fried crispy garlic.
- Toss everything well and transfer to a serving plate. Garnish with fried garlic and spring onions.
Video
Notes
- Long-grain rice, jasmine rice, or basmati rice are the best to make fried rice but it's absoloutely fine to use any day-old cooked rice.
- You can add some chilli oil for a kick of heat.
- Increase the garlic if you love more fried garlic in the rice.
- You can store the leftover garlic rice in the fridge in an air-tight container.
- 1 tsp chicken bouillon powder can be swapped with 1 tsp msg or a tablespoon of oyster sauce. If you cannot find chicken powder, smash the regular chicken bouillon into a powder.
- To serve, you can enjoy it on its own or pair it with other main dishes, salads, or soups.
Jimmy says
Thank you for the recipe Khin. Can I use Garlic flakes for this fried rice? Keep up your good work.
Khin says
Fresh garlic is ideal to use this recipe however If you would like to use garlic flake, please make sure to soak it before you fry them. Thanks