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Lebanese Spinach Stew is a favorite recipe that I grew up eating and that I make for my family now every few weeks. In Arabic, this dish is called Sabanekh w Riz – which translates to spinach and rice. It’s a hearty, nutritious and wholesome meal made with simple inexpensive ingredients. While we often serve it with beef, you can make it vegan by serving it with chickpeas.
What I love about most of the Lebanese meals I make is how they’re made with simple inexpensive ingredients that are transformed to something so nourishing to feed a family! This spinach stew is no exception and its one of the simplest Middle Eastern stews you can make!
How to make spinach stew
- Toast the pine nuts with some olive oil. You want them to be golden and fragrant without burning, so watch them closely and set aside when toasted.
- In the same pan, cook the ground beef with 7 Spice, salt and pepper. Make sure the ground beef is browned, and then remove from the pan and set aside.
- In that same pan, using the olive oil and juice leftover from cooking the pine nuts and ground beef, you can start cooking the cilantro and garlic along with crushed red pepper. I use frozen cilantro and frozen garlic to make it quick.
- As soon as the cilantro and garlic become fragrant, you can add the frozen spinach to it. There’s no need to thaw the spinach in advance or drain any liquid. Just transfer it it straight from the bag and cook until it softens.
- Finally, you’ll return the toasted pine nuts and cooked beef on top of the spinach along with chicken broth or water and simmer the spinach stew for 20 minutes. You can save some toasted pine nuts to add on top when serving.
- After 20 minutes, the mixture will thicken and the spinach will become tender.
When you’re done cooking the spinach stew, you can eat it on its own with a splash of lemon juice. However, it’s very traditional for us to eat it with Lebanese Rice. You can serve it with any type of rice you’d like, or quinoa, couscous, Bulgur or even cauliflower rice.
Tips for making the recipe
- Cook the stew in a heavy bottomed sauté pan; they absorb and distribute the heat from the stovetop more evenly, so you don’t get hot spots which can cause burning the pine nuts or the garlic.
- Use frozen cilantro and frozen garlic to make it quicker. Since I make this stew and other stews so often, I buy fresh cilantro and fresh garlic and mince them both and freeze separately to use in recipes like this. It cuts the prep down so much!
- Don’t bother using fresh spinach. While I usually opt for fresh over frozen when possible, in this case it adds a lot more unnecessary prep work and you will need a lot more spinach – like two pounds of it! Frozen works perfectly here!
Frequently asked questions
Lebanese stews (which we call yakhneh) are always served with Vermicelli Rice, very similar to how curries are enjoyed with rice. For lower carb options, try it with quinoa!
As the spinach wilts, it will thicken the broth for this stew. You can control how much chicken broth you add though depending on your preference and keep in mind that it will thicken as it sits. If you want to thicken the stew even more, consider adding a starch like potatoes to it.
Once you make the stew, let it cool to room temperature, then transfer to an airtight container and it will keep in the fridge for around 4 days. The stew also freezes well, just defrost it in the fridge before reheating on the stovetop.
If you have extra frozen spinach and you’re looking for more Lebanese style recipes to make, you’ll have to try Arabic spinach pies which are filled with a spinach, onion and sumac mixture!
This stew is such a great comfort food dish, and one I grew up with! I’m sure you are going to love it just as much as we all do! If you have a large family, this spinach stew is a perfect easy meal you can make in 30 minutes with hardly any prep. You can double or triple the recipe because it stores so well and keeps for a few days!
For other similar dishes:
- Traditional Vegetable Stew
- Peas and Carrots Stew
- Okra Stew
- Peanut Soup
- Green Bean Tomato Stew
- Easy Butter Chicken
- Easy Beef Stew
If you’ve tried this healthy-ish feel good Spinach Stew recipe or any other recipe on FeelGoodFoodie, then don’t forget to rate the recipe and leave me a comment below! I would love to hear about your experience making it. And if you snapped some shots of it, share it with me on Instagram so I can repost on my stories!
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Lebanese Spinach Stew
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons olive oil divided
- ⅓ cup pine nuts
- 1 pound lean ground beef
- 2 teaspoons 7 Spice
- 2 teaspoons salt divided
- ½ teaspoon black pepper divided
- ¼ cup chopped cilantro
- 5 garlic cloves minced
- ½ teaspoon crushed red pepper
- 2 10-ounces frozen spinach
- 3 cups chicken broth
- Juice of one lemon
Instructions
- In a heavy bottomed saute pan over medium heat, heat 1 tablespoon olive oil and toast the pine nuts until golden, remove and set aside.
- In the same pan over medium high heat, heat the remaining tablespoon of olive oil and add the ground beef, season with 7 Spice, 1 teaspoon salt and ¼ teaspoon pepper. Cook until the meat is browned, about 5-7 minutes. Remove and set aside, keep any oil and juices in the pan.
- In the same pan, add the cilantro, garlic and crushed red pepper, cook for about 2-3 minutes until fragrant. Add the frozen spinach, remaining salt and cook with the cilantro mixture until softened, about 5 minutes.
- Add the chicken broth or water and bring mixture to a boil. Return the cooked ground beef and pine nuts to the pan. Lower heat and simmer for 20 minutes until stew thickens.
- Stir in the lemon juice and serve over traditional Arabic rice pilaf.
Equipment
Notes
- Instead of frozen spinach, you can use fresh spinach, but you will need 2 pounds to be the equivalent of 20 ounces frozen spinach.
- Instead of 7 Spice, you can substitute any mix of paprika, cumin, coriander, ground cloves, nutmeg, cardamom and cinnamon
- To make it vegan, just leave the beef out or substitute it for chickpeas.
Nutrition
Nutrition information provided is an estimate. It will vary based on cooking method and specific ingredients used.
This was delicious! I made some significant changes, based on diet and what I had on hand, so I’ll note them in case it’s helpful for anyone:
-I only had 12 oz of frozen spinach, so I used fresh shredded kale for the rest. It tasted great to me. I also used parsley as I didn’t have any cilantro, and I added an onion to the parsley/garlic/red pepper saute.
-Used impossible burger, as I’m a vegetarian. Note that I didn’t simmer the meat with the spinach, but added it at the end.
-I burned the pine nuts (of course), so I used some toasted almonds. I actually prefer almonds to pine nuts, so this was great
Some of these are big-ish changes so repeat at your own risk, but it was totally delicious and I’m excited to make it again for company. Thanks for the recipe!
Love the tweaks you made! Thank you so much for sharing, Miri. It sounds like your stew turned out amazing!!
Omg! This was fabulous! Simple and yet flavor packed. Due to health reasons I can not eat red meat, but substituted ground turkey (I always had a touch of Worcestershire sauce to make it taste more beefy). I also cannot eat white rice but used black rice. This was adaptable and will be a part of my rotation of healthy meals. Getting ready to enjoy your chocolate cherry chia pudding for dessert, I love it so. Your cookbook was my Mother’s Day gift and it’s the best gift. A good healthy way to eat. Thank you and blessings for making a difference in people’s lives.
Aww, I’m so happy you’ve been able to enjoy so many of my recipes! Love your Worcestershire sauce trick, so smart. Thank you for all your support, Karen!!
Can’t wait to make soup . But what rice is that in the picture? What kind and how to cook it?
Hi Dana, the rice in those photos is my Lebanese Rice recipe!
Thanks ☺️ I have eaten this before but needed a go-to recipe and this was perfect to adjust to whatever I have on hand. Substituted animal for vegan mince and used spices that I had on hand. I try not to consume garlic so just added onion and didn’t have spinach but had a local leaf that tastes pretty much the same that had to be used up. It came together so well. Thanks for such a versatile recipe with the same taste outcome.
Yay! So glad you liked how it turned out!!
Loved it! The smell was so authentic to how my mother would make it. Delicious!
So glad to hear, I love this!
Hi yumna will try this tomorrow. If I use fresh spinach what steps do I need to do? Also what’s a good brand for frozen?
Thank you!
So I’m Lebanese. Grew up in America but had Lebanese food daily. For the life of me I can’t get the recipes to taste how my mom cooks. I’ll be trying this family favorite to see how I do. Thanks for the step by steps.
I hope it turns out perfect for you!! You’ll have to let me know what you think after you make it.
I’ve made so many of your recipes and this may be my absolute favorite! It was so simple, but full of flavor. My family really enjoyed it as well!
This recipe super easy to make and delicious! Even my picky eater loved it and gave it a 9.5/10 …. soooooo gooood!
LOL Love it! Tell them I said thank you!
I did NOT expect this to be so good! I don’t know why I thought this should have onions and tomato sauce also, but nooo. It was just perfect simple as it is. I didn’t even have cilantro and used ground coriander instead, it still came out SO Good! You’re a a start Youmna, totally trust your taste to match our family’s
Meant to say star of course 🙂