If you thought rice is a benign, boring side dish, this Hashweh Lebanese Rice will change your mind! Adorned with meat, toasted nuts and raisins. And loaded with flavors from aromatics and warm Middle Eastern Spices. Hashweh makes a glorious holiday side dish, but it can be the star dish any day of the week.
See serving suggestions, and be sure to view the video tutorial for how to make hashweh.
What is Hashweh?
In our household, this Lebanese rice has been lovingly named, “dirty rice.” It is more properly known throughout the Middle East as hashweh, which literally means stuffing or stuffed.
Hashweh is a one-pot rice dish, loaded with ground or minced beef (or lamb), lots of toasted nuts and dried fruit like raisins. It is anything but bland. Expect layers of flavor in each bite, thanks to aromatics and warm Middle Eastern spices like cinnamon and allspice.
So as you can see, this loaded Lebanese rice is anything but an average “stuffing” to be tucked in or added as a side. Sure, it can be that. And it’s a must holiday side dish for me (think Thanksgiving and Christmas.)
But it can easily be the main star on any given night, don’t you agree?
How to Make Hashweh
(be sure to also watch the video tutorial below)
Hashweh is really simple to make. It takes only a few simple steps and a couple of pro tips:
1- A very important first step is to rinse and soak the rice in water for a few minutes. This helps get rid of excess starch so the rice is not sticky. It also allows the rice to cook more quickly and evenly (you end up using less water in cooking than you see in typical rice dishes.)
2- The cooking process for hashweh begin with browning the meat (you can use ground beef or lamb), along with aromatics and warm spices. We are layering flavors from the very start!
3- Once the meat is fully cooked, we add our drained rice right on top (all in one pot). We also make sure to add a little more of the same spices to carry the flavors through. Water and a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil are the last couple ingredients to add. Bring to a boil until the water reduces by a lot. Then cover and cook.
4- Important tip, once the hashweh rice is fully cooked through, the best thing you can do to it is to leave it covered and undisturbed for a few minutes before uncovering it. This is important for texture and flavor.
5- To serve the hashweh rice, simply turn it onto a plate (watch my video below to see how I do it), then add all the beautifully toasted nuts and raisins, maybe a little parsley for garnish. Glorious!
What to serve with Hashweh Lebanese Rice?
Sure, this gorgeous Lebanese rice makes a great side dish. And I do often serve it as a gluten-free stuffing alternative for Thanksgiving! But, I have no shame serving it as a main course with a couple of yummy sides.
I like to turn hashweh Lebanese rice into dinner bowls with a side salad like this chickpea salad or fattoush and a little creamy roasted garlic hummus! The kind of dinner bowl equal in awesomeness to these Greek Keftedes dinner bowls or this Lebanese Fatteh!
And if you have leftover ground lamb, use it to make Greek Lamb Burgers the next night!
Watch the Video Below for How to Make Hashweh Lebanese Rice:
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Loaded Lebanese Rice: Hashweh
- Total Time: 50 minutes
- Yield: Serves 6
Description
This Lebanese rice pilaf called hashweh is not your ordinary rice. Loaded with lean ground beef, toasted nuts, raisins. Seasoned to perfection! See step-by-step photos below the recipe
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups medium grain rice
- Olive oil
- 1 small red onion, finely chopped
- 1 lb lean ground beef or lean ground lamb
- 1 3/4 tsp ground allspice, divided
- 1/2 tsp minced garlic
- 3/4 tsp ground cloves, divided
- 3/4 tsp ground cinnamon, divided
- salt and pepper
- 1/2 cup fresh parsley leaves, roughly chopped
- 1/3 to 1/2 cup pine nuts, toasted
- 1/3 to 1/2 cup slivered almonds, toasted
- 1/2 cup dark raisins
Instructions
- Soak the rice in cold water for 15 minutes or until you are easily able to break one grain of rice between your thumb and index fingers. When ready, drain well.
- Meanwhile, heat 1 tbsp of olive oil in a heavy cooking pot. Add chopped red onions, cook on medium-high heat briefly, then add the ground beef. Season the meat mixture with 1 1/4 tsp allspice, minced garlic, 1/2 tsp ground cloves, 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon, salt and pepper. Toss together to combine. Cook until the meat is fully browned (8-10 minutes). Drain.
- Top the meat with rice. Season the rice with a little salt and the remainder of the allspice, ground cloves and cinnamon. Add 2 1/2 cups of water and 1 tbsp of olive oil to cover the rice.
- Turn heat to high and bring the liquid to a rolling boil. Let boil until the liquid has significantly reduced (see picture below).
- Now turn heat to low and cover; let cook for 20 minutes or until moisture has completely been absorbed and the rice is no longer hard nor sticky. Remove from heat and set aside for 10 minutes.
- Uncover the rice pot and place a large round serving platter on the opening of the rice pot. Carefully flip the pot contents onto the platter so that the meat layer now tops the rice.
- Garnish with parsley, toasted pine nuts, almonds and raisins. Enjoy.
Notes
- Pro Tips: Be sure to watch the video tutorial above this recipe. A couple of important of tips to remember: 1) before you do anything, make sure to rinse the rice well and let it soak for a few minutes.This will ensure the rice is not sticky and that it will cook quickly and evenly. 2) When the hashweh is ready, leave it covered and undisturbed for a few minutes before serving. Again, this ensures texture but also flavor.
- Recommended for this Recipe All-natural ground allspice and Private Reserve Greek extra virgin olive oil (from organically grown and processed Koroeniki olives)
- SAVE! Try our Ultimate Mediterranean Spice Bundle, or create your own 6-pack or 3-pack of fresh, all-natural and organic spices!
- Prep Time: 20 mins
- Cook Time: 30 mins
- Category: Side dish/entree
- Cuisine: Lebanese
More Recipes to Try
Egyptian Koshari: Rice and Lentils
*This post was originally published in 2014 and has been updated for readers benefit.
This looks incredibly flavorful and colorful. I bet your kitchen is so fragrant when you make it!
Yes, it smells heavenly 🙂
Excellent recipe. I stumbled upon your site and I love it. Thanks for sharing the Mediterranean spirit with me.
Thank you so much, Maddalena! I am so glad to have you here!
In the South, we also have dirty rice! These days most people call it rice dressing but growing up it was always dirty rice. It is a meat mixture of ground beef, pork, chicken livers & gizzards – browned; then additions of chopped onions, green peppers and garlic. It is then mixed with cooked white rice. Not dissimilar to your dish. Can’t wait to try your “dirty rice”! Seeing this description made me smile and brought me back to my childhood!
Thanks for sharing, Ann! I have never tried the dirty rice of the South…it sounds tasty! I hope you’ll enjoy this one.
My Father made this all the time with lamb cut into teeny bits, we used to call it “upsidedown rice”. Never knew what it was really called till a few years ago when I ran across the recipe like this one. LOL
Thanks for stopping in San! Appreciate you sharing about your dad’s recipe.
Hi from Melbourne Australia Suzy, thanks for all your delicious recipes. I love the Hashweh rice except the raisins. I have never been keen on savour and sweet in the same dish. Is there a substitute for the raisins? Thanks Helen
Hello, Helen! Thank you for your kind note. You can absolutely omit the raisins in the hashweh recipe. Enjoy!
Loved this! Can’t eat pine nuts (*sad, sad!*) but subbed some finely-chopped pecans along with the almonds and toasted them together in a hot, dry skillet. I, also, dislike raisins, but added some chopped dried dates and craisins. SO good! I’ve made your Lebanese rice many times, but this is a meal in itself! Thanks for posting!!
I am so glad you tried this hashweh dish, Chrissie! And I like your take on it with pecans, craisins and dried dates! I might try that too sometime 🙂
Helen, golden raisins aren’t as strong as the dark ones. More mellow. You could also use what I use to substitute for raisins in most recipes that list them: Craisins. They are dried cranberries and, to me, fruitier as well as sweeter than raisins.
Would i be able to make this a day before? Thank love your recipes
Yes, absolutely! You can reheat stove-top. Add just a little tiny bit of water. Heat on medium-low, and occasionally stir so the rice doesn’t stick to the bottom. Enjoy!
How do you recommend treating brown rice in this recipe?
Hi Leitisha. I haven’t tried it with brown rice myself, but I do know that brown rice may take more water or longer time to cook. I would follow the same method otherwise, and soaking in water before cooking will help.
I ‘am french Canadian from Quebec. I married a french-anglo-lebanese man and discovered the food from
his ancestral background. I felted in love with him and his culinary culture. I learned English and also
how to cook Lebanese food from his relatives. I just love it and I am curious to learn more from your site, book and video. Excuse my so so English writing.
Hello, Lisette! That is wonderful to hear! Lebanese food is delicious. Welcome to The Mediterranean Dish. So glad to have you. We post all sorts of Mediterranean style recipes here. Enjoy!
How may people will this recipe serve if using it as a side dish? Having a dinner for 12 people and wondering if this would be enough or if I should double it. Looks amazing!
Hi Mary! Great question, so it might serve 6-8 people if there are other side dishes. To be on the safe side, I would make double the amount. And if it’s easier for you, make the same recipe twice in two different pots to ensure the rice doesn’t get too mushy or sticky when doubling things.
I am so happy I found this! My grandpa has made what we call his “Lebanese rice” my entire life and he finally told me, after I asked for the recipe for years, that his is the modified version that my grandmother likes (she is polish and is a picky eater – weird!).
Anyways, he could never remember what exactly went in the original version that he ate growing up, but did mention raisins. I never had the correct name for the rice and knew there had to be more that went into the recipe since it was stripped down to my grandmothers liking. I am going to be making the rice for my family and I can’t wait to try this out!
Awesome, Josephine! I am so glad you found me it too! This is one of my favorite rice dishes. So festive and easy. Hope you enjoy it! can’t wait to hear more from you!
I *loved* this dish; your recipe was spot-on!! I personally hate raisins, so I substituted Craisins and it was awesome. It reminded me quite a bit of Maklooba (sp?), which I also adore – but with different vegetables, though a similar spice profile. When I made this, I used Basmati rice, didn’t soak it, but *did* saute it in a tablespoon of vegetable oil along with about a teaspoon of cumin seeds until the seeds were fragrant and the grains of rice were white. Then added the water, and added back the meat. Totally delish!!!
Chrissie, thanks so much for sharing! I am glad you enjoyed this Hashweh recipe. Yes, it has a similar flavor profile to Maqlooba (which will be making here in the fall/winter). You’re right, Basmati Rice does not require soaking. Hope you try other recipes here. Thank you!
I had this dish once at a Mid-East friend’s dinner party and I was immediately hooked. I can’t believe that all the ingredients that Americans use frequently are all there, just used in a completely different way, to make an incredibly delicious and unique (to us) dish. I have been searching the net to find the recipe, as I had forgotten the name of the dish, and this is the closest thing I could find. My friend had the addition of peas and carrots to it (not sure if that is because she was Turkish and not Lebanese). I am so glad I found it, thank you ! Making this tonight, can’t wait. It’s been toooo long.
Corinne, thank you so much for stopping in and for sharing! You are so right!!! Mediterranean and Middle Eastern dishes like this one use a lot of the same ingredients we are familiar with here in North America…only in a different way! Yes, there are other similar rice dishes where we use peas and carrots. Hope you enjoyed it!
I made this tonight & it was just DELICIOUS. I did just mix the rice all into the beef/red onion mixture and I tasted it when almost done for salt. A good pinch more & it was perfect. Used a grass fed ground sirloin and more nuts than in recipe to great results.
Thank you!
Great! I am glad you are making the recipes your own! Thank you for sharing!
Hi, Suzy. What is the purpose of the following step on the recipe : “Soak rice in cold water for 15-20 minutes or until you are easily able to break one grain of rice between your thumb and index fingers” ? Since the rice becomes much more breakable after the soaking, wouldn’t it make the final product (cooked rice) mushy? Thanks in advance for your clarification, Suzy.
Hi Jasmine…good question. This is a trick I learned from my mother. It is certainly optional. Depending on the kind of rice, I find that it helps cook evenly and quickly. I would say, if you use basmati rice, you should surely skip this step. If you don’t feel comfortable with it, just rinse the rice well, drain and move on to the next steps.
I can’t help but notice how this is really similar to a dish my mother in law makes that she learned from her mother in law from Palestine called Maclubi.. I can’t wait to try this tonight!!!!!
Ah, Maklooba! Yes, I can see that! My mother in law makes a mean maklooba rice with similar spices plus cauliflower, potatoes and chicken. Someday maklooba will make it here on the blog. I can’t wait to hear how you like this hashweh.
It must be serendipity, found your site today over the garlic shrimp recipe. I liked several of your recipes, even though I haven’t had a chance to try them yet/but when you like the spices and other ingredients you usually don’t go wrong. I hope you are enjoying Des Moines; I grew up there , and my husband and I lived there until his death. But if you feel la little boredom or wunderlust, you are in a great state for summer trips and also in between at least five great cities. I know Toronto a little too. The summer of the SARS Epidemic, I accompanied my Canadian sister for several weeks of brain surgery and recouperation. We have returned many times and we both love it(and sister, pat, is fine). I look forward to trying the recipes and reading your stories.. p.s. I have an only slightly biased tip, the D.M. Art Center is tops,and good for kid’s classes too/wonderful to belong there(if you’t already). Kay
Hi Kay! Welcome to my little corner of the web! So glad you found me! What a small world that you and I have Des Moines and Canada in common! Actually, I am in the middle of a big move across the country, so saying goodbye to beloved Des Moines soon. But it’s been a great place to live. Keep in touch!