The garlic is golden brown but not crunchy.
This is also due to the heat being too high. You took it out with the right, nice color, but the garlic reached that color too quickly and not enough moisture evaporated.
The crunchiness comes from the lack of moisture, if something is moist, it won’t be crispy. Frying removes moisture, so you need to give it enough time for most of the moisture to evaporate. This is another reason to keep the heat low.
One sign that the garlic is crunchy is that the bubbling has slowed significantly because the bubbling occurs due to water evaporating from the oil. When the bubbles are weak or have stopped completely, the garlic has lost enough moisture to become crunchy.
Cutting garlic too large will also cause this problem because there is simply too much moisture so the garlic can’t lose it all before turning golden. Keeping the pieces small enough is important!
