Easy Fried Garlic

Making crispy fried garlic at home is a fun and surprisingly simple way to add a burst of flavor to your dishes. Our recipe takes less than 15 minutes to make. Bonus! In addition to the garlic, you will be left with flavorful garlic oil that can be kept in the fridge for up to one month. Win-win! Jump to the Crispy Fried Garlic Recipe

How to Make Fried Garlic

The key to making this delicious crunchy garnish is to start with finely sliced or minced fresh garlic. I love using minced garlic when making this recipe, but it is entirely up to you!

Once your garlic is ready, gently heat some oil in a small frying pan or saucepan. You do not need much oil, just enough to cover the garlic.

Keep the heat low to medium, as garlic can quickly turn from golden brown to burnt, and burnt garlic tastes bitter.

Patience is important as you carefully watch and frequently stir the garlic until they are just barely starting to turn light brown.

When the garlic is a pale golden color, transfer it and the oil to a colander set over a bowl, then onto paper towels to drain even more excess oil. Voila! You now have your very own homemade crispy fried garlic ready to sprinkle over your favorite dishes, adding an almost addictive garlic flavor and a lovely crunch.

When the garlic has cooled down, you can transfer it to an air-tight container and keep it in the refrigerator or a cool dark area of your kitchen for up to one month.

Don’t forget the oil you used to cook the garlic. We can save it! Since it’s been sitting with the garlic over low heat, the fresh garlic flavor has seeped into the oil, making homemade garlic oil! Let the oil cool down, and then store it in an air-tight jar in the fridge for up to one month.

How to Use Fried Garlic

Fried garlic is a popular garnish for dishes in Southeast Asia (known as krathiem jiaw in Thai and tỏi phi in Vietnamese). We love it so much that we wanted to have it on hand at home. Adam and I reach for it often since we love the garlic crunch it adds.

I throw it over rice, salads, cooked vegetables, stir-fries, curries, and even tacos. Whenever we think a dish needs an extra savory pop of flavor, we reach for crispy fried garlic. If you love garlic like me, I bet you will add this to almost everything. Leave a comment below with your favorite ways to use it.

As I mentioned above, you can make fried minced garlic or fried garlic chips. We love both but find ourselves making it with minced more often. The garlic chips are slightly more tricky to make since you need to be careful when slicing them.

You want each slice of garlic to be pretty similar in thickness, or else some chips will brown more quickly than others. Therefore, using minced garlic is the quickest and easiest option. However, I must admit that the chips are beautiful.

More Garlic Recipes: If you love garlic, try our Oven Roasted Garlic. We roast whole heads of garlic in the oven until soft and sweet. Or, try making our Creamy Garlic Aioli. It’s divine.

How to Use Garlic Oil

In addition to the fried garlic, this easy recipe makes a delicious garlic oil that will last in your fridge for up to one month. Here are a few of my favorite ways to use it:

• Whip up some garlic rice — swap the oil for garlic oil in this Cilantro Lime Rice or make garlic fried rice.
• Make garlic-infused vinaigrettes and dressings. Swap the olive oil in your favorite dressings and use garlic oil. For example, I love using garlic oil when making our Homemade Italian Dressing.
• Make garlic mayo! Use our Homemade Mayonnaise Recipe, but swap the neutral oil for some or 100% garlic oil. We also have a recipe for Vegan Mayo if you prefer it.
• Use the garlic oil to make more fried garlic. There’s no need to start with a new batch of oil when making fried garlic again.
• Use the oil to sauté your favorite vegetables. I love sautéing cabbage, green beans, and zucchini. Garlic oil would take them to the next level.
• Toast or grill bread with the oil. I especially love this idea when making Tomato Bruschetta.

FAQ: My Garlic Tastes Bitter. What Should I Do?

Sometimes, fried garlic can take on a bitter flavor. Stopping the garlic from overcooking is essential to prevent it. However, it can taste slightly bitter even when you’ve done everything perfectly. Serious Eats has an intelligent tip to fix this (and since learning about it, we have tried it and love it).

At the same time as seasoning the cooked garlic with salt, dust on some powdered sugar (you don’t need much). Since you are using powdered sugar, it dissolves and balances any bitterness without making it taste sweet. Pretty clever, right?