Spanakorizo: A traditional Greek rice and spinach dish that will become a winter comfort food, thanks to its wonderful flavor and texture.
Ah the spanakorizo … This dish was a winter staple in our home. My mom would make it once a week, all winter long. She would usually accompany it with a small cheese pie (tiropitaki) or one or two Greek meatballs, and while you may think that as children we would hate it because of the spinach, it actually was a comfort food.
It is soft and creamy, and along with plenty of lemon juice, a bit of olive oil and of course feta, it was delicious (and still is).
Spanakorizo is such a simple dish as many Greek ones are, but yet delicious and easy to make. Oh, and did I mention its nutritional value? Spinach full of antioxidants and fiber, the lemon helps with some absorption of the iron in the spinach and the rice is a source of carbohydrates to provide sustenance. The actual recipe has little olive oil during the cooking stage, but adding some olive oil while serving makes it even more delicious and the addition of fat helps with the absorption of antioxidants. Now this recipe makes about 2 main course servings, so basically you are getting ½ pound of vegetables in one sitting. The beauty of the Greek diet… getting your vegetables effortlessly.
The rice
A note about the rice: It is important to use the right type which in this case is medium grain rice. You do not want short grain rice which may end up giving your dish a sticky texture, but not long grain either as you will not have the smooth texture we are looking for in this recipe. As for brown rice, it takes a while longer to cook, it will not have the same texture will not cook to the point of being creamy and as a result you may be overcooking the spinach as well.
*Most traditional Greek recipes require medium grain rice, here in Greece it is called “Carolina” but you may use Arborio if you are unable to find medium grain. From a quick search on Google there are several brands that carry medium grain rice.
Serve it with
This can be enjoyed plain (without feta) for a vegan dish or with feta. And this is considered a main course, but you may serve it as a side dish. It goes well with fish or beef patties (biftekia).
You may also like these recipes
Greek cuisine has numerous delicious rice-vegetable combo recipes. Check out some of my favorites:
Greek Leeks and Rice – Prasorizo
Greek Cabbage with Rice – Lahanorizo
One-Pot Greek Zucchini Rice
Want More Mediterranean Diet Guidance + 100 Recipes?
Get my top-rated book!
Get it here >> The Mediterranean Diet Cookbook for Beginners
Greek Spinach and Rice – Spanakokorizo
Ingredients
- 1 pound (450 g) fresh spinach rinsed
- Juice of half lemon
- 1 onion chopped or 2-3 spring onions chopped
- 2 ½ tablespoons olive oil plus more for drizzling
- I teaspoon dry mint (preferably spearmint)
- 1-2 tablespoons chopped dill
- 2/3 cups water
- 1/3 cup (60 g) medium grain rice
- Salt/Pepper
- 1 tablespoon tomato paste optional
Instructions
- In a large pot wilt the spinach with the lemon juice and 1 teaspoon olive oil. Set aside to drain.
- In another pot sauté the onion with the rest of the olive oil until soft.
- Add the spinach, dry mint, dill and 2/3 cup warm water and bring to a boil.
- Add the rice, salt (as needed) and pepper and simmer, covered for about 20 minutes until rice is soft. Add additional warm water as needed.
- Serve warm or at room temperature with a squeeze of lemon juice and a bit of olive oil and feta.
Notes
PIN IT AND SAVE FOR LATER
Image by Elena Paravantes © All Rights Reserved
Delicious!! We loved it warm and room temperature
This is a fabulous recipe and very easy to make. It is like eating a spinach pie without the crust. Will definitely be making this one on a regular basis.
Thank you Joyce!
Asking Yall to advise if this could work in a rice cooker?
Thanks.
This was delicious and my 6 and 8 year olds gobbled it up…. I couldn’t believe it! Spinach for the win!
This was easy to make and good. My only issue was that I don’t have a pan big enough for 1 pound of spinach! Because it is good and easy I will make it again and figure out how to avoid a spinach explosion.
How do you think kale would taste in this instead of spinach?
I made this for dinner tonight and absolutely loved it. I made it with Arborio because that was the only medium grain rice I could find in my store. I used about 1/3 of a large onion. I’ll definitely make again!
Was yummy! I was pleasantly surprised on the flavor and how easy it was to make.
Yes this is a delicious comfort food that is healthy!
I made the recipe yesterday and because the weather was so hot here, 27C I put the dish in the refrigerator for later. When having a salad lunch I thought to add two heaped tablespoons of the cold spinach and rice and found it a yummy addition to the salad. delicious.
I made a horta version tonight. Had lots of beet greens leftover from yesterday’s lunch (beets) and todays breakfast (roasted beet stems). Would typically make the whole recipe annd save leftovers for lunch, but only had haf a pound of greens. Used instant brown rice, but didn’t change any amounts or times. Had dry dill and fresh mint, so thought I’d adjusted the recipe accordingly, but ended up with full amount of both. Also added tomato paste. Feta replaced need for salt, but added pepper. Very good. Will have to try it again and follow the directions.
Brown instant rice absorbs different amounts of water. This recipe works best and the method is best using medium grain white rice.
I will use brown rice. I find that as long as I give it a good long soak prior to cooking it takes the same amount of time as white rice
Tracy, I like your suggestion of soaking the brown rice beforehand. Can I ask how long you soak it for? Do you have a favorite brand? Thanks so much!
I made it with brown rice today and didn’t soak it at all, just put it in a bowl, filled it with water, and moved it around with my fingers until the water was cloudy, poured through a strainer, and repeated. When the water is no longer cloudy in a new rinse of water, that’s good enough. (I learned this technique from having a Zojirushi rice cooker that died after ten days.) 🙂
So what I did was made the recipe pretty much as is, but cooked the brown rice in water for 20 minutes first and THEN added the spinach for another 20 minutes (and followed along with the recipe as written).
I used frozen chopped spinach and squeezed a bit at a time in my hands as hard as I could to get out as much excess water as I could (a trick from Julia Child’s braised spinach recipe in Masatering the Art of French COoking [creamed spinach]).
Growing up Greek, mom always made this dish at least twice a week as a main dish or as a side. Delicious with lots of lemon squeezed on it and feta crumbled on top. Oh such beautiful memories!!
Thank for sharing Konstantina!
Excellent! I make this every week! It is so good!
I love this! Reminds me of my childhood… If I made a big batch (and manage to not eat the whole lot in one go) would it freeze?