Greek Spinach Rice (Spanakorizo)

Spanakorizo Recipe – A traditional Greek Spinach Rice recipe made with rice, spinach, onion, olive oil and lemon and garnished with feta cheese. A quick and healthy lunch or dinner recipe. Just skip feta cheese garnish if you are vegan.

What is Spanakorizo?

Spanakorizo is a traditional Greek Spinach Rice recipe. It one of the healthy and simplest greek recipes prepared with just a handful of ingredients. It is a classic combination of rice and spinach, flavored with olive oil, garlic, lemon and feta.

It is super flavorful and comforting dish and perfect for those who are looking for a quick dinner or lunch recipes.

Ingredients you will need:

Rice: Any medium-long grain rice would work best for this recipe. I would suggest using basmati rice, it tastes good and can cook quickly.

Spinach: You will need 5 cups of fresh spinach with every cup of rice. I recommend using fresh spinach if possible.

Garlic: Mince or chop garlic cloves as fine as possible for the best flavor.

Lemon: Use freshly squeezed lemon juice.

Feta Cheese: You will need it while serving. Top the dish with few cubes of feta cheese and serve. If you are vegan or don’t have it handy, skip it.

Olive Oil

Salt & Pepper

How to make it vegan?

The recipe is naturally vegan, just skip feta cheese garnish if you are vegan.

What kind of rice to use?

Do not use short grain rice. Medium or long grain rice will work for this recipe. I personally love it with basmati rice. If you are a novice cook, I recommend using basmati rice as it is so much easier to work.

Can I use frozen spinach?

Fresh spinach will give the better taste and flavor. However, if you can’t find it, you can replace it with frozen spinach. Swap 5 cups of fresh spinach with ½ cup of frozen spinach.

Spanakorizo variations:

There are so many variations of making greek spinach rice. Some people make it soupy by adding little more water. There is an another variation with tomato, add a tablespoon of tomato paste along with rice for the tomato spanakorizo.

If you want to elaborate the flavors, a little bit of dill or mint leaves can also be added.

Storage suggestions:

Store it in the refrigerator for up to 2 days.

Serving suggestions:

Serve spanakorizo warm by drizzling some extra-virgin olive oil on top and with feta cheese or greek yogurt.

It can also be enjoyed as a vegan dish without feta or greek yogurt.

It can be a great lunch or dinner dish.

Step by step instructions:

Heat olive oil in a heavy bottomed pan and add finely chopped onions.

Sauté until onions are translucent.

Add two tablespoons of finely chopped garlic.

Sauté for a minute.

Add 5 cups of chopped spinach to the pan.

Sauté it for about 3-4 minutes.

Rise rice a couple of times and drain completely.

Add rinsed rice to the pan.

Add water, salt and ground black pepper and mix everything well.

Cover it with a lid and let it cook completely over a low flame.

Stir every now and then while cooking.

Once rice is soft and cooked, turn off the flame.

Add freshly squeezed lemon juice and give it a stir.

Serve warm with olive oil and feta cheese.