Easy Garlic Fried Rice (Sinangag)

Sinangag, or Garlic Fried Rice, is a popular Filipino breakfast. This easy garlic fried rice is often served with a fried egg on top, a side of protein, and a drizzle of vinegar sauce. It is a simple but flavorful Filipino rice dish that you’ll want to make every day.

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What’s the first thing that comes to mind when you hear leftover rice? For me, fried rice! Garlic fried rice. Pinoy garlic rice. Sinangag rice. Or whatever you call it, this recipe is a must-try.

Growing up, weekend supper means fried rice because it’s so easy to make and this recipe only requires two main ingredients: garlic and rice. I found out years later that it’s sinangag in the Philippines. And like them, people in Indonesia eat rice every single time. From breakfast, lunch, dinner, and yes, even for snacking like this bubur ketan hitam. So, there will always be rice at home.

What is sinangag

Sinangag is Filipino garlic fried rice. You can find it easily for breakfast with a side of fried egg and called Filipino breakfast silog. Often times, silog is also served with a protein, such as spam, tocino (sweet and savory pork), or longanisa (sweet and savory sausage). Hence, the names are spamsilog, tocilog, or longsilog.

Why do you need to make Filipino garlic fried rice

• Simply delicious in every bite!
• Easy to make
• Inexpensive

The ingredients for sinangag

• Rice. Day-old rice (refrigerated left-over rice) is the best for fried rice
• Oil. Use either olive oil or vegetable oil
• Garlic. There is definitely no limit to how much garlic you can put in this recipe, but you will want lots of fresh, minced garlic
• Salt. Soy sauce will add color to this garlic rice; however, soy sauce is never used in sinangag; hence, I prefer salt or fish sauce

How to make easy garlic fried rice

1. First, make the garlic-infused oil. Heat the oil in a pan or wok. Saute the garlic until aromatic. Don’t let the garlic burn.
2. When the garlic starts to turn light brown, remove them from the oil using a fine mesh strainer and reserve the oil for fried rice
3. Then, make the garlic fried rice. Add the cold rice and break any sticky clumps, stirring often. Add in reserved fried garlic and continue tossing until the rice is evenly coated in garlic
4. Season with a little salt and mix the rice until most of the grains are coated. Serve immediately

Best type of rice for sinangag

Jasmine rice is the most popular type of rice for frying; however, any types work and I shared all about rice here if you’re not familiar with rice.

Cauliflower rice sinangag

You can use cauliflower rice instead of white rice if you’re looking for low-carb fried rice. The result is delicious and full of flavors

Brown rice sinangag

Cooking brown rice sinangag is similar to the original recipe. Just swab the rice with brown rice and you’re done!

Variations

Other than adding spam, sausage, and fried egg; you can add peas or diced carrot to the mix. Another way to add colors is by adding green onion or Thai basil.

Best way to enjoy garlic rice

 I could probably eat an entire wok full of garlic rice and enjoy it with minced meat satay, fried chicken, or water spinach salad.

If you’re worried about the garlic in there, don’t be. It’s not an overpowering ingredient. So, give sinangag a try! And oh, be sure to make this fried egg sandwich with longsilog.