Greek spinach rice (spanakorizo)
Rice simmered with lots of spinach and soft onion and finished with lemon, a humble Greek one-pot dinner that tastes like spring even in January.
- 40 min total
- 15 min hands-on
- Anyone can make this
- Serves 4
- About $1.10 a serving
- 330 calories
- Good the next day
- Vegetarian
- Gluten-free
Dolly says: Make the full amount. It’s just as good for lunch the next day.
Ingredients
For 4 servings.
- 1 yellow onion, diced
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 cup long-grain white rice
- 1 package frozen chopped spinach, 10 oz, thawed
- 1 lemon, juiced
- 2 tbsp fresh dill, chopped (optional)
- ½ cup feta cheese, crumbled (optional)
From your pantry
- ¼ cup olive oil, plus more for serving
- 2½ cups water
- 1¼ tsp salt
- ½ tsp black pepper
Each serving has about 330 calories, 7 g protein, 46 g carbs and 14 g fat, and costs about $1.10 at typical US grocery prices. Both are estimates from what the recipe uses.
Missing something?
- No yellow onions? White onions or red onions work.
- No long-grain white rice? Jasmine rice or basmati rice works.
- No lemons? Limes work.
- No feta cheese? Goat cheese works.
Steps
Tap an underlined word for a quick explanation.
Heat the oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add the onion and cook, stirring, 6 minutes, until soft.
Medium heatTimer: 6 min
Stir in the garlic for 30 seconds, then add the rice and stir 1 minute, until every grain is shiny with oil.
Medium heatTimer: 1 min
Add the spinach with any liquid, 2½ cups water, the salt and pepper, and over high heat, breaking up the spinach with your spoon.
Bring to a boil. It means heating a liquid on high until it’s fully boiling before you move on. A lid on the pot gets it there faster, which makes it a good moment to chop something.
How you’ll know: Big bubbles break all over the surface, and they keep coming when you lift the lid.
High heat
Cover, turn the heat to low and 18 to 20 minutes, until the rice is tender and most of the liquid is gone.
Simmer. Simmering means keeping a liquid just below a boil, with small bubbles rising gently. It cooks food evenly and lets a sauce thicken without scorching on the bottom.
How you’ll know: Small, lazy bubbles break the surface every second or so, and nothing is churning.
Low heatTimer: 19 min
Dolly’s tip: Spanakorizo is meant to be soft and a little loose, not dry and fluffy.Take the pot off the heat, stir in the lemon juice and dill, and let it sit, covered, 5 minutes.
Timer: 5 min
Serve with more olive oil and with feta on top.
Drizzle. Drizzling means pouring a thin, slow stream over the top of something. A thin stream spreads a little flavor a long way.
How you’ll know: You see thin lines across the food, not a puddle collecting underneath.
Crumble. Crumbling means breaking food into small, rough bits with your fingers or a spoon, like feta or ground meat in the pan. Small bits spread through the dish, so there’s some in every bite.
How you’ll know: The pieces are small and uneven, about pea-size, with no big clumps left.
Plan this in Dollop, and get the grocery list
Dollop puts this dinner on a night that suits your week, lists only what you still need to buy, and walks you through each step while you cook.
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One-pan dinners ›Vegetarian dinners ›What to make with spinach and feta cheese ›