Our family’s traditional lugaw recipe is the go-to for rainy or cold days. Topped with toasted garlic, scallions, a boiled egg, and crushed pork rinds for crunch, it’s the ultimate Filipino comfort food!
My mom would always make this for us during particularly snowy days or rainy seasons here in Canada (sometimes she’d even use leftover rice to clean out the fridge as the perfect excuse to make lugaw!)
Lugaw can be comparable to Congee, a Chinese rice porridge consisting of rice, water, and salt.
Recipe Rundown
Ingredients
This recipe uses a base of onions, garlic, and ginger. We then use long or short-grain white rice, chicken stock, fish sauce, salt and pepper to taste, and optionally, safflower for color.
instructions
Start by sautéing the onion, garlic, and ginger. Add in the rice, chicken stock, black pepper, and fish sauce. Let this simmer for 30 minutes, then adjust with more chicken stock and salt to preference. Add in the safflower for color, if desired, then garnish with the toppings and serve!
Quick Tips
You can always adjust the consistency by adding more or less chicken stock. Be sure to stir occasionally while cooking to prevent the bottom from burning.
Storage
Leftovers can be refrigerated for up to 4-5 days in an airtight container.
Instructions
In a pot over medium heat, sauté the onions with oil until translucent, about 2-3 minutes. Then add in the garlic and ginger, and continue to sauté for another 2-3 minutes until fragrant.
Add in the rinsed rice and 3 cups of stock. Season with black pepper and fish sauce. Stir to combine.
Bring to a boil, then simmer with a lid for 30 minutes on medium-low, stirring occasionally to prevent the bottom from sticking/burning.
After 30 minutes, pour in the remaining 1 cup of stock and the safflower. Stir to combine and season with more salt and/or pepper to taste, if needed. Add additional stock or water to achieve your desired porridge consistency.
Scoop portions of the lugaw into serving bowls. Top with the boiled egg, toasted garlic, green onion, and chicharron. Squeeze a generous amount of calamansi juice on top to taste. Enjoy!
Ingredients and Substitutions
*The Recipe Card below includes all the full measurements for these ingredients!
Onion, garlic, ginger: You can’t go wrong with these three, they’re guaranteed flavor!
Rice: Any long or short-grain white rice should work. For reference, my family typically uses Jasmine.
Chicken stock: Simmering the rice grains in the stock will ensure every bite is perfectly savory and hearty.
- Substitutions: Feel free to use plain water, vegetable stock, or even mushroom stock if you’d like. I wouldn’t recommend pork or beef broth, as this would be an entirely different dish (i.e., Goto, or Beef Rice Porridge).
Black pepper, fish sauce, salt: You can adjust these seasonings according to preference.
- Substitutions: Fish sauce can be omitted if allergic or if you have no access to it. Simply replace this with salt to taste (I’d start with about half a teaspoon of kosher salt and adjust accordingly).
Toppings (egg, garlic, green onions, calamansi, chicharron): I truly think that the toppings complete this dish. Not all toppings have to be included if you prefer to omit some of them.
- Substitutions: You can replace the crispy garlic with crispy shallots/onions if you’d like (these can be store-bought). Calamansi can simply be substituted with lemon or lime. Chicharron is a crispy, Filipino pork rind snack that you can purchase in most Filipino or Asian groceries -this can also be omitted if desired.
Cooking Tips
Prepare your toppings while the lugaw is simmering: To save on time, you can prepare the toppings while the rice is softening, which gives you around 30 minutes of free time to do so. If you’d rather not multitask, you can also do this before or after you’ve finished cooking.
Adjust to preference: Once cooked, taste and adjust accordingly. If you’d like it a tad more salty, add more salt or fish sauce accordingly. If you want to change the consistency of the porridge, either add more stock to make it more liquid, or continue simmering for a few more minutes to achieve a thicker consistency.
You can customize!: I like to think of this rice porridge as a blank slate -feel free to experiment with other flavors or toppings to add some variety! Ideas could include chili oil drizzled on top or adding extra aromatics such as lemongrass.
FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions)
How do I store leftovers?
Leftovers can be refrigerated for up to 4-5 days in an airtight container.
To reheat, simply warm the porridge in the microwave or in a saucepan, adjusting with more water or chicken stock if necessary to adjust its consistency.
What’s the difference between Lugaw, Arroz Caldo, and Goto?
I like to think of Arroz Caldo as the more complex sibling of Lugaw. Arroz Caldo is slightly more heartier, containing chunks of chicken in the porridge, and with a deeper, heavier chicken taste.
Goto is essentially the beef version of lugaw. It consists of beef stock and beef tripe as the protein component.
Looking for more easy Filipino dishes? Try some of our favorites:
Lugaw (Filipino Rice Porridge)
3
servings30
minutes20
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minutesOur family’s traditional lugaw recipe is the go-to for rainy or cold days. Topped with toasted garlic, scallions, a boiled egg, and crushed pork rinds for crunch, it’s the ultimate Filipino comfort food!
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Ingredients
1 small onion, chopped
3 garlic cloves, minced
2 tbsp ginger, julienned
1 tbsp oil, for sautéing
1/2 cup long or short-grain rice, rinsed at least 3 times 1
4 cups chicken stock, reserving
1 cup for later 21/2 tsp ground black pepper
1 tbsp fish sauce 3
Salt, to taste
1/4 tsp safflower, optional
- Toppings
Large egg, boiled (1 egg per person) 4
Toasted/fried minced garlic
Green onion, chopped
Calamansi (may also use lemon or lime), for squeezing on top
Chicharron, crushed
Directions
- In a pot over medium heat, sauté the onions with oil until translucent, about 2-3 minutes. Then add in the garlic and ginger, and continue to sauté for another 2-3 minutes until fragrant.
- Add in the rinsed rice and 3 cups of stock. Season with black pepper and fish sauce. Stir to combine.
- Bring to a boil, then simmer with a lid for 30 minutes on medium-low, stirring occasionally to prevent the bottom from sticking/burning.
- After 30 minutes, pour in the remaining 1 cup of stock and the safflower. Stir to combine and season with more salt and/or pepper to taste, if needed. Add additional stock or water to achieve your desired porridge consistency.
- Scoop portions of the lugaw into serving bowls. Top with the boiled egg, toasted garlic, green onion, and chicharron. Squeeze a generous amount of calamansi juice on top to taste. Enjoy!
Notes
- 1. My family typically uses Jasmine rice whenever making lugaw. You could also use sticky/glutinous rice, just be sure to adjust the liquid content accordingly (adding more as needed) if the porridge becomes too sticky or thick.
- 2. Feel free to use plain water, vegetable stock, or even mushroom stock as substitutes if you’d like. I wouldn’t recommend pork or beef broth, as this would be an entirely different dish (i.e., Goto, or Beef Rice Porridge).
- 3. Fish sauce can be omitted if allergic or if you have no access to it. Simply replace this with salt to taste (I’d start with about half a teaspoon of kosher salt and adjust accordingly). Some may recommend replacing the fish sauce with soy sauce, though the soy may overpower the overall taste of the dish, which is typically more on the fragrant, light side.
- 4. Jammy eggs typically take anywhere from 7-8 minutes of boiling time (my personal favorite). Hard-boiled eggs (more traditional) usually take 10-12 minutes.
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I’ve been dying to eat and make arroz caldo since I moved out of aunts house. THANKS FOR THE RECIPE
Ofcourse! I hope you enjoy it as much as I do 🙂
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Just made this and it turned out great! If I wanted to make a larger portion would I just double or triple everything?
Hi Cynthia,
I’m glad you enjoyed the recipe 🙂 Yes, to make a larger portion, you can simply double or triple the ingredients in a larger pot!
Just like moms used to make it. Garlicky creaminess
Mom’s cooking is always the best!
So good!! I always forget the water to rice ratio and this recipe is my go to. Some times i even add chayote just to have some veggie. But this is a huge comfort food for me, so quick and simple
Hi Maliyah, thanks for giving the recipe a try 🙂 Chayote sounds delicious!