Garlic Fried Rice (Sinangag)

Prepare the Grated Garlic

Finely grate or mince the garlic and set it aside for later.

Rub a bit of oil into your hands so that the rice doesn't stick to your hands and take large chunks of cold rice and break them up into smaller rice grains by putting pressure on it with your thumbs.

Do this for all the large chunks of rice.

I like to get them into individual rice grains if possible. Set the rice aside for later.

Peel and remove the hard end from 2-3 cloves of garlic and thinly slice them as evenly as you can. The more even you cut them the more evenly they will cook together.

In a large skillet or a wok, add the oil and thin garlic slices and spread them out so they are in a single layer.

Set the stove to medium low heat and slowly toast them until they are golden in color. This will take about 7 minutes. Flip them to make sure they cook evenly on both sides. Make sure not to leave the stove for this because they burn quickly.

Don't worry they will continue to cook even after you remove them from the oil and they will turn crispy and light brown. Making garlic chips will also add additional garlic flavor to the oil. Set them aside for later.

Add oil (if you didn't previously make the garlic chips), and butter into the frying pan and set the stove to medium heat.

Don't wait for the oil and butter to get hot, add the garlic in right away. We want to slowly infuse the oil with garlic and toast it slowly so that it doesn't burn. I also add the salt in now so that the oil is seasoned, which makes it much easier to spread through the rice later.

Toast the garlic until it is golden brown. This will take about 5 minutes.

They may clump together, so use your spoon to separate them as best as you can.

Add in the cooked rice rice into the pan.

Mix everything together well, and continue to stir fry the garlic fried rice until the rice is hot, which is about 3-4 minutes. If you still have clumps of rice, you can use this time to break them into smaller pieces with your utensil.

Once the garlic fried rice has finished cooking, if you made garlic chips, you can sprinkle it on top of the rice as a garnish or stir fry them directly with the rice so that it's evenly mixed in. Alternatively, you can also add some finely chopped green onions/scallions or toasted sesame seeds on top as a garnish as well. Enjoy!

I love to drizzle garlic chili oil on all my fried rice dishes to give it some extra flavor. With chili oil, there's no extra heat, just an extra kick of garlic and spice flavor. That being said, I also love to drizzle a bit of sesame oil on it right before I eat it for an extra layer of nutty flavor as well!

This simple and quick garlic fried rice is also my favorite way to enjoy my Chinese takeout favorites like sweet and sour pork, sweet and sour chicken, lemon chicken and sesame chicken. The sweet and tangy sauces pair amazingly with the salty garlicky fried rice.

What really makes this fried rice shine is sweet meats like tocino (filipino sweet pork), and Chinese char siu (Chinese BBQ Pork). The sweet and savory combination is absolutely delicious and hits every single comfort spot.

As a shortcut to making tocino, I love to use tocino flavored spam! I love to slice it thinly and pan fry it until it is crispy and serve it with this flavorful garlicky fried rice.

Another amazing dish that goes beautifully with this rice is adobo chicken, especially if you drizzle some of the adobo sauce over the rice. The rice sops of all the amazing flavors and each bite is loaded with flavor.

Add Ground Meat - An quick and easy way to make it a hearty fried rice is to add some ground meat! Ground beef, chicken, pork, turkey or lamb will work very well in this dish. Add the ground meat in after you toast the garlic in the butter.

Add Chicken or Shrimp - Add thin slices of chicken breast or shrimp (thaw the shrimp first, if you're using from frozen) to make it a more hearty meal. Quickly stir-fry it after you toast the garlic for a few minutes until it is fully cooked before you add the rice.

Garlic Egg Fried Rice - Add an egg to to make this a garlicky scrambled egg fried rice! Once the garlic fried rice has finished cooking, push it aside and then add a bit more oil and add in some beaten eggs. Let the eggs cook to about 75% and then mix the rice over the eggs and cook it until all the egg is fully cooked and has dried up.

Spicy Chili Garlic Fried Rice - If you like your foods spicy, you can add chili flakes at the same time as the garlic to toast them together to create a spicy chili oil for the fried rice to cook in.

Vegetable Garlic Fried Rice - A simple way to make this a more hearty fried rice, is to add frozen veggies to it after the garlic has finished toasted. Cook the frozen vegetables for a few minutes until they are soft before adding in the rice.

Onion Garlic Fried Rice- To add even more flavor, toast finely minced onions (or shallots) with some garlic! Add it in the same time you add the garlic.

To store leftover garlic fried rice, wait for it to cool before putting it in an airtight container or covering it with plastic wrap. It can be stored up to a week in the fridge.

To reheat it, you can microwave it for 1-2 minutes, stirring every minute to ensure it is heated evenly, or you can heat it up in a skillet on medium heat with a bit of oil. Just be careful not to overcook it, because the garlic can burn.

To freeze garlic fried rice, store it in a freezer bag with all the air squeezed out. It can last in the freezer for up to 3 months. To reheat from frozen, simply microwave it or heat it up in a skillet again.

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