Here’s a fun way to turn everyday rice into a classy side dish: Spinach Rice! After years of cooking, we’re discovering fun tricks like this. Take plain old white rice and cook up a pot with spinach and garlic, then flavor it with a pop of lemon and sprinkle of feta cheese. It’s an elegant Mediterranean-style side dish that you can serve for guests or just use to spice up weeknights. And, it’s a great way to load up on spinach. The savory, fresh flavors are unreal!
How to make spinach rice: the basic concept
Spinach rice is a mix of spinach and rice, and often other aromatic flavors like onion, garlic, dill and feta cheese. The traditional Greek version is called spanakorizo, which often has added tomatoes or tomato paste. This recipe is inspired by the Mediterranean flavors in that dish (if you want a more traditional spin, go to this spanakorizo recipe!). The basic concept is to cook rice with spinach and seasonings until the liquid is reduced. Note that spinach rice comes out a little more gooey than a traditional fluffy rice: which is what is intended here! Here’s the basic concept (or jump to the recipe below):
Sauté garlic in olive oil, then add spinach and wilt. This takes about 3 minutes total. Add water, rice and seasonings and cook 15 minutes. At this point the liquid should be reduced. Allow to rest 5 minutes. This helps the rice to cool and set. Fluff and add lemon juice, dill and feta. These additions brighten the flavors! See below for more.
A few notes on serving
One thing we love about this Mediterranean spinach rice: it packs in loads of spinach, which not only adds nutrients but helps to stretch the serving size. Often we can polish off a whole lot of rice, but adding spinach and flavorings helps it to be more satisfying. Don’t have fresh dill? That’s ok: you can skip it! But it does add quite a bit of fresh flavor (don’t bother adding dried dill). The fresh lemon juice adds quite a punch though: we’d recommend using it if possible.
Ways to serve spinach rice
Spinach rice is the ideal side dish to make your meal seem elegant and thoughtful! We love making it for guests but it also works to class up a weeknight meal. Here are some great ways to serve it:
Salmon like Pecan Crusted Salmon, Salmon Cakes, Salmon and Asparagus, Pesto Salmon, or Salmon with CapersShrimp like Easy Pesto Shrimp, Perfect Sauteed Shrimp or Easy Baked ShrimpVeggie mains like Easy Vegan Meatballs or Best-Ever Eggplant Meatballs Greek or Mediterranean style meals like Falafel Burgers or Classic FalafelBowl meals like Simple Salmon Bowl or Easy Grain Bowl
More spinach recipes
Love adding spinach to your recipes? Here are a few more tasty spinach recipes to enjoy this nutritious leafy green:
Go for Creamy Spinach PastaTry a Crustless Spinach Quiche or Spinach Egg Muffins, great for brunch or make ahead lunches Make the Perfect Spinach SaladTry soups like Spinach Soup, Spinach Tortellini Soup or Tofu Soup with SpinachSaute up a pan of Sauteed Spinach (That Tastes Amazing)Bake fan-favorite Spinach Artichoke Dip or Cold Spinach DipGo green with our Best Spinach Smoothie
This spinach rice recipe is…
Vegetarian and gluten-free. 5 from 3 reviews
