Looking for a simple, healthy, quick and delicious weeknight meal? Spanakorizo (spinach & rice) is an authentic, traditional Greek meal consisting of just a few ingredients. This dish is very popular in Greece as it incorporates low-cost ingredients, easy preparation and is so yummy. Growing up this was a dish my mother would prepare on those long winter days as it was great comfort food, filling, and satisfying! Just like my mother did, I also make spanakorizo for my family during our cold Ohio winters! Brr, not looking forward to that!! Make a double recipe and you’ll have a great meal and lots of leftovers. A perfect workweek lunch prep! There are two variations of spanakorizo the “white” and the “red,” the difference is only adding tomato sauce to the red version. Today we are making the red version, our favorite. I think adding the tomato sauce brings a warmer flavor to the dish.
Let’s talk about health benefits… packed with the “superfood” spinach, this dish has an abundance of vitamins (K, C & A). Additionally, spinach has iron, calcium, folic acid, magnesium, fiber and potassium! Rice is low in saturated fats and cholesterol. It also is high in calcium and iron as well as vitamins like D, thiamine and riboflavin. You could also sub with brown rice which has more fiber and is great for digestion! This dish is also gluten-free. Positively heart healthy!!
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Spanakorizo
Ingredients
- 1 cup long grain rice
- 1 medium onion diced
- 1 8 ounce can tomato sauce
- 1 tbsp dill
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp pepper
- 1 10 ounce bag spinach
- 1 clove garlic minced
- 4 tbsp olive oil
- 2½ cups chicken broth (sub vegetable broth for vegetarian/vegan)
Instructions
- Heat 3 tablespoons of the olive oil in a large pot over medium heat.
- Add onions and saute until soft, about 5-8 minutes.
- Add the tomato sauce, garlic, dill, pepper, salt, spinach and rice. Stir in the chicken broth. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 20 minutes or until rice is soft.
- During cooking, stir the spanakorizo occasionally and if needed add additional liquid if the mixture is getting dry and rice is not completely cooked.
- Serve warm, drizzled with additional olive oil. Spanakorizo can also be served at room temperature.
Notes
- To make this recipe vegan, swap the chicken broth for vegetable broth or water
- This recipe calls for long grain rice, using short grain rice may cause the spanakorizo to become sticky.
I love spanakorizo and this is a great recipe. Thank you
I made this with long grain brown rice and it was mushy and the rice wasn’t completely tender even though it cooked for an hour.
The flavors were delicious.
Kristiana, Sorry to hear the brown rice did not work out. Sometimes brown rice can be rather tricky. We have only made it with a white long grain rice. Glad that you enjoyed the flavors. Wishing you a Happy Healthy New Year!
– Christina & Alexa
Hi Kristina~When the onions are being cooked add the rice and make sure to cover all the rice with olive oil. I might also suggest using Jasmine Rice. It’s makes a Beautiful dish and I also serve this with a half lemon at the table. I also use vegetable broth. Parsley and a bit of Basil also bring everything together. I’m 100%Greek American.
Janis, your recipe sounds delicious! It’s wonderful to hear about the many ways our grandparents and parents made all the wonderful Greek dishes so differently. Thank you for your suggestions, we may just have to try the Jasmine Rice!
– Christina & Alexa
This is a wonderfully cozy dish from my childhood. I made it recently with these variations: used orzo instead of rice and cooked it separately, then added it in after the spinach and red sauce had cooked for a bit. You barely need any spices – just a sprinkle of garlic powder, oregano and black pepper. The kick comes from the crumbled feta you put on top of each serving. Yasu!
Hey Jennifer,
Great idea! We will definitely try it with orzo next time.
You can’t go wrong with a sprinkle of feta!!
-Christina & Alexa
Delicious and easy! Wonderful flavors!! (My kids loved it when they were little too… at least the oldest two did!! Lol) Σε ευχαριστώ Πολύ
Many thanks!
-Christina & Alexa
Forgot to rate it!!!! 5 star all around for simplicity with wonderfully delicious payout!! I’ll probably double or even triple it next time as it was a serious hit and we have and everyone wanted more for leftovers!!! Thanks for sharing
Mary, you’re very welcome! We love that your family wanted seconds!! It’s definitely a favorite in our house too.
– Christina & Alexa
Grandma never put tomato sauce in it but it’s the most wonderful dish
There are many versions of the recipe, how fun and interesting to learn about the different ones! We agree it’s so good!
– Christina & Alexa
Since I was growing fresh collard greens, I decided to substitute it for the spinach. It is fabulous! Collard greens are popular in the Southern US. Tangy, packed full of vitamins, and a keeper!
That’s a great idea Lisa!
This is delicious! I did substitute Greek seasoning for the dill. I use frozen bagged spinach because it’s easy to keep on hand.
I am curious if 3 Tbsp. of dill is the amount of fresh dill you would use (vs. dried).
Hi Rhonda, Thank you, we love this recipe! We have never used a Greek seasoning blend in our Spanakorizo, but sounds interesting. Just wondering if the flavor was too intense? Would love to hear! As far as fresh versus dried dill the standard conversion is 3 teaspoons of fresh to 1 teaspoon dry. It’s always best to use fresh if it’s available, but sometimes we need to resort to the dry too.
-Christina & Alexa
Thank you. I’d like to try the fresh dill at some point. For a half-size recipe, I added 1/2 tsp. of Penzey’s Greek seasoning. It contains salt, oregano, garlic, lemon peel, Tellicherry black pepper and marjoram. It wasn’t too spicy for me, although I might cut back a bit on the fresh garlic. I could never be a Royal. 🙂
So glad you enjoyed this recipe Rhonda! The addition of the Greek seasoning sounds yummy!
– Christina & Alexa
Do you cover it when it is simmering?
Hi Cindi,
Yes you should cover the pot while the Spanakorizo is cooking. Enjoy
– Christina & Alexa
I made this a little simpler and quicker by using leftover rice. It was too delicious for words. I use water and tomato paste, but have also made it with the tomato sauce. Thanks for the recipe cause I was wondering about a few things because I’ve just made it by taste before. I eat it with bread and like someone else said, feta cheese.
Hi Mary,
That sounds wonderful! We’re glad you enjoyed the recipe. Experimenting with ingredients is part of the fun.
-Christina & Alexa