Garlic Butter Rice is the perfect side for any meal. It’s full of flavor; buttery, garlicky – and so good you can eat it plain!
This is like the rice version of garlic bread. In my world, garlic bread goes with almost any meal except Asian food.
But this Garlic Butter Rice? Now this goes with anything. Western, Asian, Mexican, Mediterranean, French. I honestly can’t think of a single cuisine or dish this would not suit.
I love making rice in this way – seasoned and flavoured so that it’s so tasty, it can be eaten plain. I could eat a meals’ worth straight out of the pot – it’s that good!
Garlic rice is a dish that is found in some Asian countries. I think it’s quite common in the Philippines. This is my everyday version – yes it’s garlicky and buttery, but not insanely so. Definitely feel free to up the garlic and butter to your taste, but I’d suggest trying the base recipe first then adjusting it to your taste. Extra butter can be stirred in at the end to your taste.
Slicing garlic thinly then cooking it until golden and crispy is optional but honestly, I think it is the crowning glory of this rice. It doesn’t add strong garlic flavour, it’s more about adding crunch with sweet garlic flavour. Keep the slices whole, as pictured, or crumble it up and disperse it throughout the rice. Or for a shortcut, you could use Crispy Fried Shallots or Garlic that’s sold in jars at Asian stores and some supermarkets. They are so good, I always have a jar on hand – I use them in salads, soups, imagine the possibilities of what you can sprinkle it on! I even use it on pasta!
Sometimes I stir scallions throughout the rice, sometimes I just garnish it lightly, as pictured. I think it adds a nice touch of freshness to the rice.
This Garlic Butter Rice is one of those sides that can transform any every day recipe into something extra tasty. I really hope you try it one of these days – I think you’ll be as addicted as I am!
Ingredients
- 6-8 cloves garlic very finely sliced
- 2-3 tablespoons vegetable oil or canola, grapeseed or other neutral flavored oil
- 2 ½ teaspoons minced garlic
- 4 tablespoons butter salted or unsalted, divided
- 1 ½ cups long grain white rice
- 2 ½ cups chicken broth
- ¼-½ cup sliced green onions
- salt to taste
- white pepper to taste
Instructions
- Heat oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add garlic slices and saute, moving constantly, until golden and crisp. Transfer to paper towels to drain.
- Pour out excess oil then return to the stove.
- Add 2 tablespoons butter. Once melted, add the minced garlic. Cook for 1 ½ minutes or until the garlic starts to turn light golden and the butter is well infused with garlic flavour.
- Add rice, stir to coat in garlic butter.
- Add broth, place lid on saucepan. Bring to a boil then immediately turn down to medium low.
- Cook for 12 – 15 minutes or until liquid is all absorbed by the rice. Tilt saucepan to check.
- Remove from stove but leave lid on. Rest for 10 minutes.
- Fluff with fork, transfer into serving bowl. Stir through remaining butter and scallions, or garnish as per photos. Sprinkle with crispy garlic, salt, and pepper. Serve.
Nutrition Information
Nutrition information provided is an estimate and will vary based on cooking methods and brands of ingredients used.
Course Side Dish
Cuisine American© SpendWithPennies.com. Content and photographs are copyright protected. Sharing of this recipe is both encouraged and appreciated. Copying and/or pasting full recipes to any social media is strictly prohibited. Please view my photo use policy here.
More Recipes You’ll Love
How to Make Perfectly Fluffy Rice!
Yum! Super fluffy perfectly cooked tasty garlicky rice. I added whole garlic cloves to the rice as it was cooking for extra garlic flavour. Will definitely be using this recipe again and again
Made this rice a couple of times now, but it’s about twice as much as the two of can eat at one meal.
Curious to know if the cooking time changes if I reduce both rice and liquid amounts?
Thanks!
Happy New Years everyone
The cook time for the rice should remain the same.
Hi do I need to use chicken broth in this recipe? Do u have an alternative for that.
You can use any type of broth in this recipe.
This was sooo good ! I served it with some honey garlic chicken and used Thai rice because it was the only one I had but it was really nice ! Even my husband who is a picky eater loved it and asked for more ! Will definitely make this again.
I’d give it 5 stars. Flavor was great
The rice was not done in 15 minutes.
I cooked it for an hour but was still a little crunchy but everyone ate it so if someone has a trick to getting rice done in 20 minutes I’d like to know it.
Elevation maybe?
Hey Bonnie, the trick is to usually cook it until just tender (10-13minutes I find), turn the heat off, leave the lid on and let it sit for 10-15 minutes. It absorbs the remaining liquid and becomes fluffy! Hope this helps :)
Oh my gosh. This has become my all tIme favorite rice recipe. Thanks goodness we’re locked in. If we go out, masks have more than one reason. Seriously, we devoured every bit.
This was delicious. Buttery AND garlicky (but not too much of either!). The perfect dish served with mushroom pork chops.I used my usual Jasmine rice and it was yum yum yummy! Thank you for a change from regular ole rice with ingredients that I have on hand!
Is it alright if I skip the chicken broth? We don’t have that where I’m from
You can use whatever type of broth you prefer for this recipe. The flavor may change slightly, but it will still be delicious!
Threw a couple of cups frozen green peas in, full meal. Also added a tbl spoon good soya sauce into the butter at the last minute,
Truly flavourful recipe and so easy to get right! I stuck with the base recipe and didn’t alter anything – didn’t need any additional seasoning and certainly no extra butter (for our tastes). I’m not one to comment on recipes, but this was fantastic. For reference, I’m in Australia and your recipe works fine with Aussie cup and spoon sizes. Thanks!
Delicious and oh so easy to make. Thanks for sharing this. I have made this a few times and it’s a hit every time!
Hi, when do i add the salt and white pepper?
You can add salt and pepper to taste before serving.
Yep this is simple and delicious, my favourite kind of recipe.my family loved it and will be served as a side to our weekly curry from now on. Just for people who don’t know, stop cooking you’re rice when it’s slightly under, drain and let the residual heat finish it. Nothing worse than overcooked rice.
Great idea! Only thing I changed was I used butter first instead of oil. Crisps up fine and no need to waste the oil.
Thank you!
I really love this rice. I’ve made it 4-5 times now and its delicious and cooked perfectly every time! While the fried garlic is AMAZING, if I’m in a hurry, I start with the garlic butter and still end up with amazing rice! The fact that it doesnt need constant tending is awesome!
This was so good that when I ate it in a dish it almost brought tears to my eyes. It saved my life and I wasn’t even in danger. Its SO GOOD and absolutely becoming a regular dish at my house, ma’am thank you for posting this. I absolutely love rice, which might be why I feel so strongly about this
I made caramelized onions the day before and then in the morning, while the garlic rice was cooking, I sauteed onions with black beans. Eating them all together was the most wonderful, simple breakfast I’ve ever had.
So happy you enjoyed it Alex! Sounds like a delicious way to enjoy this recipe.
I love this recipe! It’s the only way I cook rice anymore. It goes with Asian, Cajun, just about any cuisine. Thanks for sharing!
Related: I get recipes from the web all the time, some I use often, but this is the first I have felt compelled to comment on.
Made this for the first time. Very easy to make and delicious. I made it with Minute Rice and it turned out great. Just follow the reduced cooking time as per the minute rice instructions. Really loved the toasted garlic slices; nice addition. The whole family loved it. This will now be a go-to side dish at our house.
Loved your butter rice recipe and it was so simple and easy to make. I found this recipe really delicious.
Hi, I only have Jasmine rice on hand. It generally uses less water to cook – 1 1/2 C water to 1 cup rice. How much liquid should I use in this recipe. Thanks very much. I look forward to trying this recipe!
We have not tried this recipe with jasmine rice but maybe another reader can offer some guidance. If you do try it with Jasmine rice I would reduce the liquid slightly. Let us know how it turns out!
Can you make this in a rice cooker instead of a sauce pan (except the sautéed garlic of course)? My lids aren’t tight enough for rice lol
Same liquid amounts and cook time?
Hi Chrissy, I haven’t tried this recipe in a rice cooker. Another reader has though, with great results – she recommends melting the butter and cooking with garlic on the stove. Transfer it to the rice cooker, stir in rice and add remaining ingredients. Give it a quick stir and cook as usual in the rice cooker.
This sounds delish and I’ll be trying to tonight but I’m confused – I’m supposed to add garlic in the first step, saute till golden and crisp and then remove. But then in the 3rd step I’m supposed to add (new? the same?) garlic back, and let it go till it’s light golden? Wouldn’t it have already passed the point of light golden? TIA!
Hi Emily, there are two different types of garlic added in this recipe. In step 1 you want to add 6-8 cloves of thinly sliced garlic. Then in step 3, you will add 2½ teaspoons of minced garlic. Hope that helps :)
I too am a bit confused… after you put the sliced garlic on the paper towel do you put that garlic back into the rice to cook?
Thanks
In step one, you want to saute the garlic and transfer to a paper towel to drain. Then in step 3, you add the garlic back into the recipe. Hope that helps Renee!
You put the minced garlic (2 1/2 t) in for step 3.