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Wooden spoon scooping white rice with fresh parsley in white bowl.

Garlic Butter Rice

Yield: 5 to 6 servings
Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cook Time: 20 minutes
Resting Time: 5 minutes

Ingredients

  • 4 tablespoons butter
  • 4 cloves garlic, finely minced, about 1 tablespoon (see note for variations)
  • 1 ½ cups long grain white rice or white jasmine rice (see note)
  • 2 ¼ cups low-sodium chicken broth or stock (see note)
  • 1 teaspoon table salt
  • Chopped, fresh parsley for garnish (optional)

Instructions 

  • Melt the butter in a 4- or 5-quart saucepan over medium heat. Add the garlic and cook for 30 to 45 seconds, stirring constantly, until it smells fragrant (don't let it burn or it can turn bitter-tasting).
  • Add the rice and cook, stirring constantly, for about a minute, until the grains are evenly coated in butter.
  • Add the broth/stock and salt and stir.
  • Increase the heat to medium-high, bring the liquid to a boil, stir once (scraping up any rice on the bottom of the pan), immediately cover the pan and reduce the heat to medium-low so the rice maintains a simmer but not a vigorous boil.
  • Cook for 16 minutes. At the end of cooking, DO NOT LIFT THE LID. Remove the pan from the heat and let it rest for 5 to 10 minutes. Fluff and serve, topping with chopped, fresh parsley, if desired.

Notes

Garlic: this recipe calls for fresh garlic, but it also works really well with the frozen cubes of fresh garlic (I buy them at Trader Joe's but they are in a lot of grocery stores). Garlic powder will also work in a pinch. The garlic flavor won't be quite as pungent, but it's still worth using if you don't have fresh garlic on hand. Sub in 1 to 1 1/2 teaspoons garlic powder for the garlic cloves.
Rice: this recipe will not work with brown rice without adjusting liquid and cooking time (feel free to experiment). I have tested the recipe with long grain white rice and jasmine rice, both of which work great. I have not tested it with basmati rice. There is no need to rinse the rice before using in the recipe.
Stock/Salt: if using full-sodium chicken broth/stock, you may want to decrease the salt amount to 1/2 teaspoon.