Garlic Fried Rice (Sinangag)

5 from 10 votes

This quick and easy garlic fried rice (sinangag) uses only few ingredients and is a must have in every meal. The buttery, garlicky and salty flavors in this garlic fried rice go with any meal you make and it's so simple you'll never serve plain rice again!

Prep Time5

Cook Time10

Course: Side Dish

Cuisine: Filipino

Servings:

Calories: 787kcal

Author: Joyce Lee

Ingredients

4 cups rice (day-old, leftover rice)
1 bulb garlic (minced) (approx. ¼ cup)
2-3 cloves garlic (for garlic chips) (optional)
2 tablespoons oil
2 tablespoons butter
¾ teaspoon salt

Instructions

Prepare the Garlic

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

Prepare the Day-Old Cooked Rice

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.

Make Garlic Chips (Optional)

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. (Approx. 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.

Make the Garlic Fried Rice

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. (Approx. 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!

Notes

Always Use Day Old Rice - Leftover cold rice always makes the best fried rice because it is drier, so it doesn't make soggy fried rice. If you don't have leftover white rice, you can make a fresh batch of rice, but you must put in less water to cook it and make sure it is completely cooled in the fridge or freezer before you use it.
Use Butter - To make the rice more flavorful, I like to use butter along with some oil. I like to use salted butter to add more flavor to the rice, but unsalted butter works as well.
Add Salt to the Oil for Better Flavor Distribution - By adding the salt to the oil, you flavor the oil which is a lot easier to spread evenly throughout the rice. If you add the salt directly to the rice, it can potentially just stick to a clump of rice and not season the whole dish evenly.
Rub Your Hands With a Bit of Oil - To prevent the rice from sticking to your hands, when you are breaking up the rice by hand, add a bit of oil to it.

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