Burnt garlic fried rice is an Indo-Chinese dish made with plenty of garlic that is cooked until crisp, mixed veggies, and basmati rice. It’s my family’s favorite fried rice, quick and flavorful for a weeknight dinner!
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Food is my love language. One time my dad was watching one of the food and travel shows he loves and said he was craving burnt garlic fried rice, which is a popular Indo-Chinese dish, and I was like, ok I’ll make it. Still waiting for my daughter of the year award but I think this rice and chili tofu is good enough reward for now. Now this is pretty much the only fried rice my family eats. You start with a TON of garlic because it’s called burnt garlic fried rice for a reason. Then you use some staples of Indo-Chinese cuisine.
If you aren’t familiar with Indo-Chinese cuisine, it’s pretty much an Indian adaptation of Chinese food. The cuisine was founded by Chinese immigrants who founded restaurants to appeal to the taste buds of their Indian customers, with food that was possible to make with the ingredients available in India.
How to Make this Fried Rice
A ton of garlic.
You’ll need about 10 garlic cloves, which may or may not take you awhile to mince by hand, so I prefer to process it in a small food processor. The garlic is fried in some oil as the base of this recipe until it is crisp! When they call it burnt garlic fried rice, they mean it. Make sure to reserve some of the crispy garlic for topping later.
Add chopped veggies.
You can’t really go wrong with what you choose! I added crunchy veggies green beans, carrots, leeks, and bell peppers. If you’d like to add some protein, tofu would be perfect.
Sprinkle some flavor.
You’ll need soy sauce, chili garlic sauce, red chili flakes, and black pepper. If you don’t have chili garlic sauce, a hot sauce like sriracha works well! Just be careful if you’re sensitive to spice.
How to Serve this Fried Rice
I highly recommend serving this with a saucy Indo-Chinese dish, like chili tofu or gobhi manchurian! Pictured here is chili tofu.
I saved some crispy garlic to put on top, along with homemade chili oil (from Okonomi Kitchen) and green onions. The chili oil is not traditionally used in Indo-Chinese cuisine but it’s soooo good and definitely belongs on this fried rice.
Burnt Garlic Fried Rice
Ingredients
- 10 garlic cloves, minced in a processor
- 2 tbsp avocado oil or another neutral oil
- ¼ cup leek whites or green onion whites
- 1 carrot, finely chopped
- 6-8 green beans, finely chopped
- ½ green bell pepper, chopped
- ½ red bell pepper, chopped
- ½ cup leek greens, chopped
- ½ tsp black pepper
- ½ tsp red chili flakes
- 1 tbsp soy sauce *sub tamari
- 1 tbsp chili garlic sauce
- 3 cups rice, day-old or cooled down
- salt to taste
- ¼ cup chopped green onions (for topping)
- chili oil (optional, for topping)
Instructions
- Process the garlic cloves until they are roughly minced. Add 2 tbsp avocado oil to a pan or wok over medium heat. Fry the garlic until it is crisp and browned. Set 2 tsp of garlic aside for topping.
- In the oil remaining in the pan, add the leek whites or green onion whites. Cook for 3-4 minutes until they start to wilt and brown.
- Add all the chopped veggies: carrot, green beans, bell peppers, and leeks. Turn up the heat a little and stir occasionally until the veggies are softer and mostly cooked.
- Add pepper, red chili flakes, soy sauce, and chili garlic sauce. Mix well with the veggies before adding the rice, one cup at a time.
- Mix the rice so it combines nicely with the veggies. Taste and add another ½ tbsp soy sauce if needed as well as salt to taste.
- Top with the crispy garlic you set aside, green onions, and chili oil.
