Garlic Fried Rice Recipe

A perfect accompaniment to chicken adobo, or any other super-savory, super-saucy food.

By
Sho Spaeth
Sho Spaeth
Sho Spaeth
Senior Editor
Sho Spaeth has worked in publishing and media for 16 years. Prior to joining Serious Eats, he worked at The New York Times for a decade. Sho has written for Time Magazine, The New York Times, The Baffler Magazine, Conde Nast Traveler, among other publications.
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Updated May 18, 2022
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Vicky Wasik

Why It Works

  • Straining the garlic out of the cooking oil and adding it back at the end ensures the garlic won't burn, which can give the dish an unpleasantly bitter taste.

Oily garlic fried rice is the perfect complement to chicken adobo, but it's also a great side dish in its own right. In this recipe, we've chosen to include an additional step in which the oil used to fry the rice is infused with garlic beforehand, after which the garlic bits are strained out and added back to the rice at the end. This process prevents the garlic from burning, which can give the rice an unpleasantly bitter taste.

November 2019

Recipe Details

Garlic Fried Rice Recipe

Active 5 mins
Total 5 mins
Serves 4 servings
Cook Mode (Keep screen awake)

Ingredients

  • 1/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon (75ml) canola oil or other neutral oil

  • 8 garlic cloves, crushed and sliced thinly

  • 4 cups cooked white rice (24 ounces; 700g), preferably long-grain, but any variety will do

Directions

  1. In a small saucepan, heat oil over medium heat until shimmering. Add garlic and cook, stirring constantly, until garlic softens, becomes very aromatic, and turns lightly golden, 30 seconds to 1 minute. Strain oil through a fine-mesh strainer directly into a wok; reserve cooked garlic and set aside.

    20191023-chicken-adobo-vicky-wasik-16

  2. Heat wok over high heat until oil is shimmering. Add rice, breaking up larger clumps with a spatula and tossing to coat with garlic-flavored oil. Cook, stirring and tossing frequently, until no clumps of rice remain and rice is warmed through, about 4 minutes. Add reserved garlic to rice and toss to combine. Serve immediately.

    20191023-chicken-adobo-vicky-wasik-17

Special Equipment

Wok, fine-mesh strainer

Make-Ahead and Storage

Like all fried rice, this dish is best eaten immediately.

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Nutrition Facts (per serving)
267Calories
4gFat
51gCarbs
5gProtein
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Nutrition Facts
Servings: 4
Amount per serving
Calories267
% Daily Value*
Total Fat 4g5%
Saturated Fat 0g2%
Cholesterol 0mg0%
Sodium 3mg0%
Total Carbohydrate 51g19%
Dietary Fiber 1g3%
Total Sugars 0g
Protein 5g
Vitamin C 2mg9%
Calcium 28mg2%
Iron 2mg12%
Potassium 85mg2%
*The % Daily Value (DV) tells you how much a nutrient in a food serving contributes to a daily diet. 2,000 calories a day is used for general nutrition advice.
(Nutrition information is calculated using an ingredient database and should be considered an estimate.)

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