Garlic Rice is the easiest, best tasting side dish that you can serve with anything! From roast chicken to chops, stir fries to fish, Middle Eastern to Mexican food, this buttery rice is so flavourful you can eat it plain. Have some tonight, freeze some for later!
Garlic rice
Garlic Rice is one of my most-used side dish recipes and I feel a little selfish for keeping it to myself all these years! It’s a rice side dish that’s quick to make and literally goes with anything. Any cuisine, any food type. From an Argentinian Chimichurri steak to Chinese Char Sui Pork, French Ratatouille to Moroccan lamb meatballs, a slow roasted Greek Lamb Leg to Vietnamese Lemongrass Chicken, I challenge you to think of a dish that this Garlic Rice wouldn’t go with!
Think of it like mashed potato. Or the rice version of everybody’s favourite garlic bread! Or – an easier version of fried rice. Make it today and heat it up tomorrow, keep a stash in your freezer. It’s just as much at home on your dinner plate as it is as part of a big buffet.
No sauce required
One specific thing about this Garlic Rice is that it’s flavoured enough to eat without smothering with sauce, like saucy stir fries and plain white rice. Here’s an example of what I mean – a dinner plate with Lime Chicken. I’d ordinarily serve it with something that stands on its own two feet, like Mac and Cheese, Potato Salad, or maybe some roast vegetables or hefty salad like my favourite Quinoa Salad.
But Garlic Rice is much faster to make!
Ingredients in garlic rice
So – hard sell done. 😂 Here’s all you need to make Garlic Rice!
Rice types – This recipe will work with long grain (my default), medium grain, short grain (sushi rice) or basmati.
Not suitable as written for brown rice, jasmine rice, wild rice, black rice or faux rice (cauliflower rice, quinoa etc). Jasmine rice can be made as Garlic Rice but you’ll need to follow the preparation steps per the recipe (rinse + less water).
Butter (unsalted) – The cooking fat of choice, for lovely buttery flavour. We use half to sauté the garlic that the rice is then cooked in, then the other half is stirred in at the end. Maximum butter flavour!
I used unsalted butter which is my default for cooking because then I can control the amount of salt from other ingredients. If you only have salted butter, skip the salt in the recipe.
Extra virgin olive oil makes a lovely alternative to butter. Use 4 tablespoons.
Garlic – Garlic minced with a knife will sauté better. A garlic press/crusher works ok here because we are using enough butter (garlic is wetter so doesn’t sauté quite as well unless you use plenty of fat). Jar garlic paste, however……don’t talk to me about that stuff! Sour, wet and barely resembles the flavour of real garlic!
Liquid chicken stock/broth OR water + stock powder – This rice really is tastiest made with liquid chicken stock/broth. It’s a standard pantry item for me which I stock up on when it’s on sale because I use it so much in my cooking.
However, as a cost effective alternative, stock powder plus water can be used. Use whatever amount the jar specifies. Usually it’s 1 teaspoon of powder plus 1 cup of water = 1 cup of liquid stock.
My favourite stock powders for this recipe:
1. Vegeta vegetable seasoning
2. Knorr Chinese chicken bouillon powder – cleaner, less “fake” chicken flavour than Western ones
3. Any other chicken or vegetable stock powder
How to cook garlic rice
It’s just like cooking plain rice – except we start with garlic butter, and finish with more butter. 😇 You know this is going to be good!
❗️No need to rinse the rice unless you are worried about cleanness which, if you purchase rice in packets from grocery stores, should not be a concern. Rinsing is not required for fluffy rice. What you need is the correct water to rice ratio: 1 1/2 cups of liquid for 1 cup of rice. Most recipes get it wrong! Read more about why you don’t need to rinse in How to Cook Rice.
If you insist on rinsing then reduce the stock by 1/4 cup – to account for the waterlogged rice. Else your rice will be overly soft and not as fluffy as it should be.
My default way to cook rice is on the stove but the recipe notes includes directions for rice cooker and oven.
Sauté the garlic in half the butter for 30 seconds or until it turns light golden and smells amazing.
Coat rice in that awesome garlic butter until it becomes a little translucent, like we do with risotto!
Steam 15 minutes – Add the stock and salt, turn up the heat and bring to a simmer. Once you see bubbles on the surface of the water, immediately put the lid on and turn the stove down to low (or medium low if you’re using a weak/small burner). Then cook for 15 minutes.
Rest 10 minutes – Take a quick peek to ensure the water has been absorbed. Then remove off the stove – lid still on – and rest for 10 minutes.
Butter and fluff – Fluff the rice, then toss the butter in and fluff through until melted.
Optional parsley – Also fluff the parsley through, if using. Little green specks looks pretty but doesn’t add anything for flavour, so it’s optional. Then it’s ready to serve!
Quick tips
Use a large saucepan or small pot (~24 cm / 10″) – we’re making 2 cups of rice which is 6 cups cooked. If your cooking vessel is too small, the depth of the rice will be too high which means it will take longer to cook and the rice will cook unevenly (the bottom layer is soggier).
A clear lid saucepan is super useful for rice cooking because you can see what’s going on! ie Ensure water is simmering, can check to ensure the water has been absorbed without lifting the lid.
DO NOT STIR, DO NOT LIFT LID while the rice is cooking! That is the surefire path to mushy, unevenly cooked rice.
DO NOT skip the resting time! This is super important – the rice is actually not fully cooked even once the water is absorbed (try some, you’ll see). Also, the rice is wet. During the resting time, the rice finishes cooking and the water on the surface of each grain gets absorbed. There is no shortcut for this!
The most versatile recipe I’ve ever shared?
This really may be the most universal recipe I’ve ever shared. I honestly can’t think of a single dish that it wouldn’t go with – except, of course, recipes where starch is already built in, like pasta, pizza etc.
Make this tonight and freeze some for later.
I hope you love it as much as I do. And use it Forever! – Nagi x
Watch how to make it
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Garlic rice
Ingredients
- 50 – 75g/ 4 – 5 tbsp unsalted butter , divided (Note 1)
- 5 garlic cloves , finely minced (Note 2)
- 2 cups white rice (uncooked) – long grain, medium grain, short grain (sushi rice) or basmati (Note 3)
- 3 cups chicken stock/broth , low sodium (stock powder option – see Note 4)
- 3/4 tsp cooking/kosher salt (or 1/2 tsp table salt)
- 1 tbsp parsley , finely chopped, plus extra for garnish (optional)
Instructions
- No need to rinse the rice. The rice will be fluffy because this recipe uses the right ratio: 1.5 cups liquid for every 1 cup of rice.
- Sauté garlic – Melt half the butter in a large saucepan over medium high heat. Once foamy, add the garlic and cook for 30 seconds until it turns light golden.
- Coat rice – Add the rice and stir for 30 seconds or until the grains turn translucent.
- Simmer – Add stock and salt. Turn heat up to high, then once the water starts bubbling, put the lid on and immediately turn the stove down to low (or medium low, if your stove is weak/small). (Note 5)
- Cook 15 minutes – Cook the rice for 15 minutes. No stirring, don't lift the lid.
- Rest 10 minutes – Tilt the saucepan and have a quick peek to ensure all the water is absorbed. Then remove off the stove, with the lid still on, and rest for 10 minutes.
- Fluff rice, then fluff through remaining butter until melted. Toss through parsley, then tumble into serving dish. Sprinkle with extra parsley then serve!
Recipe Notes:
1. Butter – I provide a range because more is tastier (and I fully endorse it), but the lower end of the scale is the minimum for a tasty dish that some might consider to be more sensible for a Monday night dinner. 🙂 2. Garlic minced with a knife will sauté better but a garlic press/crusher works ok too – garlic is wetter so doesn’t sauté quite as well. Jar garlic paste, however, don’t talk to me about that sour stuff! 3. Rice types – This recipe will work with the listed rice grains. Not suitable for brown rice, jasmine rice (you can add garlic butter to the jasmine rice recipe), wild rice, black rice or faux rice (cauliflower rice, quinoa etc). Alternative method – Cook brown rice etc per recipe. Sauté the garlic in butter, then tip the cooked rice in and toss in the garlic butter. Flavour infusion not quite as good but still extremely tasty! 4. Liquid stock will give a better flavour but a good substitute is to use stock powder plus water. My favourite is Vegeta, a vegetable stock powder. Chicken stock and other brands of vegetable is also suitable. To use stock powder, make this recipe with 3 cups water (750 ml) + stock powder for this amount of water per the jar instructions (usually 1 teaspoon per 1 cup water) + 1/4 tsp salt (NOT 3/4 tsp per recipe, rice too salty). 5. Rinsing is not the secret to fluffy rice, the correct liquid to rice ratio is (1.5 cups liquid: 1 cup rice). However, you should rinse if you are concerned about rice cleanliness (if you buy in packs at grocery stores, you shouldn’t be) or if you just can’t break the habit. But if you do, you MUST reduce the stock by 1/4 cup, to account for the water logged in the rice. If you don’t, your rice will end up overly soft and slightly mushy. 6. The liquid should have small bubbles / actively rippling when the lid is on and the stove is on low/medium low. If the heat is too low and the water is doing nothing, then the rice is just sitting there, bloating in hot water instead of cooking! 7. Other cook methods:
- Rice cooker – Follow the recipe up to stirring the rice in the garlic butter. Then scrape it all into the rice cooker, add the stock and salt and cook per the rice cooker instructions.
- Oven – Follow the recipe up to bringing the stock to a boil in a pot. Then pour it all into a casserole pot with a lid. Bake for 35 minutes until liquid all absorbed. Rest 10 min with lid on, then fluff, stir through butter and parsley.
Nutrition Information:
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I shared a fun little RecipeTin Meals organisation diagram on Instagram over the weekend. Everybody reports to CEO Dozer! 😂
Hi l wondering with the garlic rice could I use brown rice as a family member has diabetes and can’t have white rice.
Hi David…You could try this with converted brown rice (sometimes called parboiled BUT NOT INSTANT!!). I have blood sugar issues as well and I find that the converted brown rice works well for all of my rice dishes…including fried rice!
David, have you tried using an instant pot or other pressure cooker (not a non-pressured ‘rice cooker’) for brown rice? Since it releases no steam you can follow this same basic method (I do this all the time.) Use the Saute button to melt the first butter and saute the garlic. Use 1.5 cups water for 1 cup rice. Low pressure for 24 minutes, let pressure release naturally and let sit for an extra 10. Add the rest of the butter and fluff. Comes out perfect. Good luck!
Thank you ContraryMary for this info for brown rice in instant pot; I never considered using low pressure. I’ll give it a try for sure.
Hi David! I’m afraid not, I’d have to alter the recipe quite substantially to make it work for brown rice – because I find it’s best to cook brown rice using the boil-and-drain method. What I’d do is cook brown rice per my recipe, then sauté the garlic in butter, then pour it all over the rice and toss 🙂 Hope that helps! N x
Actually, no, I’d toss the brown rice into the butter and stir it on the stove for a bit, I think you’ll get better flavour infusion that way! N x
I love the simplicity of the recipe, but too much rice so a little dry. Still enjoyed it though.
Fantastic recipe. I am nearing 78 years and this is the best rice I have cooked/eaten. Serve with anything, I know, but I could enjoy it with “nothing” .
I can’t believe the mean comments from some people here….. Nagi has been a lifesaver and my inspiration for the past three years; I am sure it’s the same for thousands of her devoted followers. Her recipes are fantastic, yummy and easy to follow, and yes, some of them are not ‘healthy’, but plenty of other bloggers do ‘healthy’… go and follow them; you don’t need to be rude and nasty.
Thanks for the recipe. Will really have to try to leave the rice cooker in the cupboard! Already thinking of the yummy add-ins. Ps. Usually read others’ reviews for tips. Tonight was a surprisingly, on this site – first ever, Jerry Springeresque journey 🙂 Loving your book! In our family group, more than one person has a motto – if it’s not on Nagi’s site it doesn’t get made!
Thanks Nagi for a great recipe. To all you detractors out there: Just stop whinging and bitching about recipes. If you don’t want to cook it, then don’t. Find something else!
Well said!
Nagi, you call your food ” healthy eating. It isn’t. I’ve UNSUBSCRIBED. Don’t like liars.
Hi Emma, I hope you haven’t applied to be Nagi’s personal assistant, as I think you might be culled for calling your potential boss a liar.🤔
I’m sure I speak for the millions of subscribers to Nagi’s (free) recipes when I say that we are sorry to see you go………………NOT.👏
Anyhow, enjoy your KFC, or McDonalds, while the rest of us enjoy Nagi’s delicious recipes.🙂
what a terrible shame.
Harsh
Jog on! 👋
Read Nagi’s “about me” section…
“I do not sacrifice taste just for the sake of reducing calories (or following a trend). My healthy recipes are accidentally healthy”.
Pretty clear to me! 🤗
Neither butter, nor rice, certainly not garlic, is unhealthy. She is using real food (butter over margarine, real garlic over jarred) and lists the nutritional info in detail so readers can decide if they want to have a go at it and how much to make. Also, it’s up to you how much you choose to consume and there are notes on keeping it in the fridge or freezer to portion down and enjoy or over time. If you’re looking for a diet recipe blog, or low-fat or paleo, there are an infinite number of those to choose from. Nagi is focused on delicious food without sacrificing taste for dietary needs but also very conscious of fake and chemical-laden ingredients that don’t add to the flavour and also aren’t good for you.
Emma – I’ve been watching your remarks this afternoon and am sooo pleased you’ve unsubscribed. Nagi describes her recipes as ‘ and (mostly) pretty healthy.’. She fully admits there is cheese, salt and fat in them. It’s what most of us enjoy eating and when we don’t want it we go and cook something else. No harm, no foul.
Can you use clever rice?
No, Cathy. Only daft rice will do.
Thanks CHRIS. I’ll ‘fix’ it myself, just as you suggest. In case you missed it, this is yet another recipe sold on the basis it is ‘buttery’. Most are sold to us that they are ‘ooey-gooey cheese- laden’. What it should say is these dinner recipes are laden with saturated FAT & salt. Bet Nagi doesn’t dare eat them herself😉
Emma – Pretty disappointed to pop in to read and answer questions from readers and see this thread. I’m going to assume you just got out of the wrong side of your bed this morning. If you dislike my recipes for whatever reason, don’t read them. There’s no need to come here and throw out all this slander on my website. – Nagi
PS I eat everything I make. I never post anything I wouldn’t eat myself in the ordinary course of my diet. This rice is damn delicious and I ate more than my fair share of the 5+ batches we made in the course of testing, photographing and filming it.
Hey Nagi,
Don’t take her comments to heart. I think she’s in a not-so-good place, and is just lashing out on the internet.
Looking forward to more of your delicious recipes! ❤
🤌🤌🤌💦💦💦
Hi Nagie , what would be the proportions to cook garlic rice for only 2 people .
I love your recipes
Martine
Hi Martine! Just halve the recipe to 1 cup of rice. If you click on Servings you can slide the scaler down from 6 to 3, and it will halve everything for you. 1 cup of uncooked rice will make 3 cups of cooked rice which is enough for 3 people, but it’s a little hard to cook less than 1 cup of rice. Hope that helps! N x
Could I use rice cooker after step 2?
Hi Nagi! Any hacks for doing this using a rice cooker? ☺️ Like many Asians, am not used to cooking rice on stove 😅
Hi Dee,
I’ve been making a variation of this rice for years in the rice cooker. I just chuck everything in, cube the butter and pop it on top and turn the rice cooker on. I do the same as Nagi and stir some fresh parsley through once it’s cooked and it’s amazing.
I usually use jar garlic to save time (I think the butter mellows out the sourness you can often get from jar garlic) but I’ve made it with fresh garlic too and it cooked fine and wasn’t raw.
I follow the rice and liquid ratios as directed by the rice cooker manufacturer.
I would recommend you rinse the rice so the starchy water doesn’t bubble out the top of the rice cooker.
Thanks heaps Teye, will give that a go! 😍 I noticed too that Nagi has updated recipe to include notes on how to cook it using a rice cooker as well
Hi Nagi
Im curious after you’ve added the butter, parsley and given the rice a spooning with fork, etc, do I leave the lid off if its going to be served in 20/30 minutes’ time? I never know whats the best way to keep it warm, but don’t want to restart the cooking process. Cheers
That’s a lot of fat, especially SATURATED fat, as well as too high salt. Can you fix this recipe so that it is healthy?
Perhaps it’s not the recipe that needs fixing emma!
Forgot to add Nagi specifically mentioned in the notes to use Olive oil if you don’t want to use butter.
Hmmm. Just ‘fix’ it yourself if you don’t like it. It’s hardly difficult. Or use plain rice.
Easy, don’t make it 😊
Thanks Sonya, I won’t make it. Like most of the recipes on here, they taste good because of all the fat & salt. Not real- life dinners & definitely not healthy. I won’t be eating these fat & salt- laden recipes or feeding them to my family.
ANYTHING can taste good if you add enough butter and salt.
I feel really bad for your family if they never get anything with fat, salt, or cheese, and to need to deal with your atrocious personality on top of it. 🐓🍭
Then why do you follow the page?
Well I beg to differ Emma, I use Nagi’s recipes for dinner – real life dinner! I live a balanced lifestyle and use common sense to decide what I’m cooking and eating. Nagi does not promote herself as a nutritionist, she does however develop beautiful, flavoursome recipes.
No one is forcing you to cook this!
Sorry you’re going through a hard time Emma. The world wide web is a big place, I’m sure there’s plenty of sites that have recipes right up your alley, and most likely you’ll find like minded people there too.
If a website annoys me, I stop visiting it – that’s a choice you could make too…
I hope things get easier for you.
That’s a really nice, respectful comment, Daniel. Good on you and thanks for taking the high road. I wish I was that tolerant!
Its 75 gr for 6 people. That’s less than you would put on toast! But, if you wanted to make it healthy you could always use olive oil. Olive oil and garlic are a match made in heaven. For example spaghetti aglio e olio, in italy. In which there is also chilli. It would give it a nice kick. 🙂
Can you make this in a rice cooker? I’m thinking chuck the garlic and half the butter and rice and stock in, the rice cooker does its thing, then stir the remaining half of the butter in once it’s finished. Would this work?
I’m wondering the same thing, I only ever cook rice in a rice cooker. I was thinking maybe sauté the garlic in a pan first for flavour?