Roasted Garlic Rice

Easy 5-Ingredient Side Dish

This recipe starts with Roasted Garlic. Roasting garlic mellows out its harsh notes, but keeps the aromatic flavour. Roasted garlic is soft and caramelized and almost melts into the rice.

The other key is good vegetable or chicken stock. You can also use Better Than Bouillon. (We’re in love with this bouillon paste by the way. SO flavourful.)

Throw in a pat of butter to bump up the flavour.

Then, it’s just a matter of combining rice, stock, and roasted garlic, and cooking!

Ingredient Notes

You only need five ingredients to make this simple Roasted Garlic Rice recipe:

Roasted Garlic: Buttery soft, caramelized roast garlic cloves are the perfect complement to rich chicken stock. You can also use Garlic Confit instead. We do not recommend substituting raw garlic.

It’s pretty easy to roast garlic. Just slice the top off a bulb of garlic, drizzle with a bit of oil, and wrap in aluminum foil. Roast at 400 °F for 45 minutes in the oven or 20 minutes in the air fryer. If you prefer not to use aluminum foil, see our guide on How to Roast Garlic Without Foil.

White Rice: Any kind of white rice works here, just make sure it’s not minute rice. We’ve tested this recipe with everything from short-grain koshihikari rice, to medium-grain calrose rice, to long-grain basmati rice.

Chicken Stock: You can use a homemade or storebought chicken stock, or—our personal favourite—a spoonful or two of chicken bouillon. We like Better Than Bouillon Roasted Chicken Base. It’s so damn savoury.

Butter or Oil: Optional but adds a rich flavour. It also helps keep the grains light and fluffy and stops them from sticking to each other. Highly recommend.

Variations

• Herbs: Throw in any wilting herbs in the fridge like parsley, basil, or even cilantro to add a fresh flavour.
• Spicy: Add a teaspoon or two of chili flakes.
• Beef Flavour: Use beef stock instead of chicken stock to take this rice in a different direction.

Directions

Step 1. Add all ingredients to a small stockpot. Turn the heat up to high and bring it to a simmer. Don’t cover the pot at all during this step.

Step 2. Once it starts to bubble, give it a stir and turn the heat down to very low. Now put the lid on and set a timer for 15 minutes.

Step 3. Once 15 minutes are up, turn off the stove. Keep the lid on (you can take a quick peek—it should look like the below). Let the rice rest, covered, for 10 minutes.

Step 4. Uncover the rice. Use a fork or rice paddle to fluff the rice by going all the way to the bottom of the pot and scooping upwards to loosen all the grains.

Equipment

For evenly cooked rice, best to use a pot with thick walls like a Dutch oven or clay pot. Or a specialized vessel for rice like donabe.

Storage

Fridge: Refrigerate roasted garlic rice for three to five days.

Freezer: Freeze leftover rice for up to six months.

Reheat on the stove: Add to a saucepan and heat on the stovetop on medium-low heat for approximately 5 minutes.

Reheat in the microwave: Cover with a microwave lid and heat on HIGH for about 1 minute per cup. For frozen rice, microwave on HIGH for 2 minutes per cup. Once heated, fluff the rice with a fork.

More Garlic Recipes

Looking for other recipes like this? Try these: