26 recipes using garlic — Beef noodle soup, scallion pancakes, stinky tofu — bold street food and comfort cooking.
These 26 taiwanese garlic recipes are ready in about 67 minutes on average, with 90–680 kcal per serving, and 38% are rated easy enough for a weeknight. Every recipe includes exact ingredient quantities, step-by-step instructions and full nutrition per serving.
Taiwanese cuisine — Beef noodle soup, scallion pancakes, stinky tofu — bold street food and comfort cooking — brings its own distinctive techniques and seasonings to every ingredient it touches. When Taiwanese cooks work with garlic, they reach for its own regional aromatics, fats and signature spice blends, and the techniques that come up most across these recipes are simmering, frying, steaming and boiling.
The aromatic foundation of savoury cooking almost everywhere — pungent raw, sweet and mellow when cooked. In this collection it's most often cooked with soy sauce, sesame oil, fresh ginger, neutral oil, dark soy sauce and five-spice powder. The dishes here span taiwanese classics ready in as little as 15 minutes to slower, more involved cooking that rewards a relaxed afternoon.
Meltingly tender soy-braised pork belly with five-spice, rice wine and crispy shallots over steamed rice — Taiwan's ultimate comfort food and the nation's most beloved bowl.
Sticky, intensely flavoured chicken with one cup each of soy sauce, sesame oil and rice wine, finished with a fragrant pile of Thai basil — Taiwan's most iconic home-cooked dish.
Thick rice vermicelli in a glossy sweet potato starch sauce with oysters, offal and coriander — Taipei's most iconic night market soup.
A Taiwanese street food specialty from central Taiwan — a large, translucent starchy dumpling filled with pork, bamboo shoots, and mushrooms, topped with sweet-savory sauce.
Intensely flavored Taiwanese braised chicken with equal parts sesame oil, soy sauce, and rice wine — finished with Thai basil.
Thick sweet potato vermicelli in a viscous soup with oysters, pork liver and a thick sweet and sour sauce — a Taiwanese night market icon.
Crispy marinated chicken pieces fried with basil leaves and chilli — Taiwan's most addictive street food from night markets.
Taiwan's iconic beef noodle soup — slow-braised beef shank in a deeply spiced broth of doubanjiang, soy and rice wine, served over hand-pulled wheat noodles.
Chilled wheat noodles tossed in a nutty sesame-soy dressing with julienned cucumber, a favorite hot-weather lunch across Taiwan.
Soft steamed folded buns stuffed with braised pork belly, pickled mustard greens, cilantro and crushed peanuts.
Pan-fried or boiled dumplings filled with seasoned ground pork and garlic chives, served with a soy-vinegar dipping sauce.
A small-bowl Tainan specialty of thin noodles in a light shrimp broth, topped with minced pork sauce and a single shrimp.
Silky braised pork belly simmered slowly with napa cabbage in a savory, slightly sweet soy braise, a homestyle winter favorite.
Gelatinous beef tendon slow-braised with daikon radish in a soy and star anise broth until meltingly soft.
Bouncy handmade fish balls simmered in a clear, gingery broth with cabbage — a coastal Taiwanese comfort soup found at every night market.
A whole white fish steamed until just cooked, topped with garlic, ginger and a hot lime-soy sauce — a coastal Taiwanese seafood classic.
Cracked cucumbers tossed in a punchy garlic-chili-vinegar dressing — a cooling, crunchy Taiwanese side found on nearly every home dinner table.
Chicken braised in equal parts soy sauce, rice wine and sesame oil with basil and garlic — Taiwan's most famous braised chicken dish.
Roasted eggplant tossed in a garlicky, spicy soy glaze — a quick Taiwanese vegetable dish that's become a favorite late-night dish alongside beer.
Taiwanese-style fried rice with minced pork, five-spice, soy sauce and fried shallots, built on day-old rice for a proper chewy-crisp texture.
Taiwan's iconic lu rou fan — pork belly slow-braised in soy, five-spice and rock sugar until silky, spooned over steamed rice.
Taiwanese three-cup style cod, simmered in equal parts soy sauce, rice wine and sesame oil with basil, served over steamed rice.
A comforting Taiwanese-style savory congee bowl made with mung beans and red lentils, seasoned with five-spice and topped with crispy shallots.
Bell peppers stuffed with a Taiwanese-seasoned pork and rice filling flavored with five-spice, soy sauce and rice wine, baked until tender.
A Taiwanese-style baked rice casserole (jiao kao fan), five-spice pork and rice topped with a savory tomato-cream sauce and melted cheese.
A Taiwanese yan su ji-style fried chicken burger, marinated in five-spice and soy, fried crisp and topped with Thai basil and melted cheese.
Pick firm, heavy heads with tight, papery skin and no green shoots or soft spots. Fresh garlic far outperforms jarred pre-minced, which tastes flat and slightly sour.
Crush to release more of its pungent compounds, slice for a milder bite, or roast whole until jammy and sweet. Add minced garlic late and keep it moving — it burns and turns bitter in seconds.
Eaten in small amounts, but a source of allicin and other sulphur compounds linked to heart and immune benefits.
Most of these 26 Taiwanese garlic recipes are ready in around 67 minutes from start to finish. The quickest, Smashed Cucumber Salad with Chili and Garlic, takes about 15 minutes, while the slower-cooked dishes run up to 205 minutes.
Across this collection they range from about 90 to 680 kcal per serving, averaging 418 kcal — Smashed Cucumber Salad with Chili and Garlic is the lightest option at 90 kcal.
Lu Rou Fan — Taiwanese Braised Pork Rice is a great place to start — it's rated easy and comes together in about 105 minutes. 38% of the recipes here are beginner-friendly.
In these recipes, garlic is most often paired with soy sauce, sesame oil, fresh ginger, neutral oil, dark soy sauce and five-spice powder. Taiwanese kitchens also lean on its own regional aromatics, fats and signature spice blends.
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