Mediterranean lemon rice with chickpeas, spinach, tomatoes, and feta is a 30-minute meatless meal or a side dish that features traditional ingredients, such as garlic, fresh lemon juice, olive oil, dried and fresh herbs. Serve this with your favorite Mediterranean meals, such as salmon, shrimp, or chicken. It's healthy and gluten-free. Easy enough to make on a busy weeknight and fancy enough to entertain guests.
Mediterranean lemon rice
There are so many ways to prepare Mediterranean rice. My version includes traditional ingredients that we associate with the Mediterranean diet, such as lemon, oregano, feta cheese, tomatoes, spinach, and chickpeas. This flavorful rice makes a great presentation and will pair beautifully with your favorite meals! It's gluten-free, meatless, vegetarian, and can be easily made dairy-free using dairy-free feta cheese. Important: rinse the uncooked rice thoroughly under running water before cooking it to get rid of extra starch. That will ensure that your Mediterranean rice is light and fluffy (and not starchy, sticky, or mushy). More helpful tips on that are below. Need more meatless side dishes? You might like these family favorites: Greek orzo or refreshing pesto orzo,
Why you'll love it
- Easy 30-minute dinner. This delicious recipe takes only 30 minutes! And, if you precook the rice in advance (or use cooked rice), it becomes a one-pan meal, so the cleanup is minimal. It's healthy, gluten-free, and can be easily made dairy-free (use vegan feta cheese).
- Freezer-friendly recipe. Mediterranean rice is great for meal prep. Make it ahead and freeze for up to 1 month in an airtight container.
- Beautiful presentation. This is not your average boring rice side dish. It's a restaurant-quality meal that is as pretty as it's delicious. Try it and it might become a new family favorite!
- It's a Spring and Summer recipe you can make year-round. This colorful side dish will bring Summer into your home even on the coldest day of the year. It's made with easily accessible ingredients that are available year-round.
What kind of rice to use?
- Jasmine or basmati rice. Long-grain rice works the best here.
- Brown rice will cook a little bit longer, but would work great, too.
- Wild rice will take even longer to cook, but it will certainly fit well with the rest of the ingredients!
How to rinse rice
It's very important to rinse the rice for this recipe to get rid of excess starch that you don't need in a light and fluffy Mediterranean rice.
- Place a fine mesh strainer set over a large bowl in a kitchen sink.
- Add rice to the strainer and run cold water over the rice, using your hands to move it, fluff it around, and wash it.
- Dump the water from the bowl occasionally.
- The water will initially be murky but should get clearer and clearer as you get rid of more starch.
- When the water is clear, you're done washing the rice. Drain it and cook it according to the recipe instructions.
How to make Mediterranean lemon rice
The best thing about this recipe is that it's so easy, flexible, and versatile. Here is the overview of the directions (more detailed amounts and instructions are in the recipe card below).
1) First, you will rinse uncooked rice well under running cold water to get rid of extra starch. Then, cook rice with chicken broth in a medium saucepan. Refer to the rice package instructions for cooking times and rice to liquid proportions. Proceed with the rest of the recipe while the rice is cooking.
2) Next, you will cook half of the tomatoes with minced garlic, dried oregano, salt, and olive oil for 2 minutes in a large, high-sided skillet until the tomatoes soften and release juices. Stir in fresh spinach until it wilts.
3) Then, add cooked rice, drained chickpeas, lemon juice, and the remaining uncooked halved grape tomatoes.
4) In a medium bowl, toss cubed Feta cheese with olive oil, lemon juice, and dried oregano.
6) Add this flavored feta cheese mixture to the skillet with the lemon rice, tomatoes, and chickpeas, stirring it in. Season with salt and black pepper, to taste. This is it! Simplicity at its best.
Traditional Mediterranean seasonings
To keep things simple, I used freshly squeezed lemon juice, fresh and dried oregano, minced, garlic, salt, and pepper to make this lemon rice. It's a very flexible and versatile recipe with many variations possible. You can use a wide variety of spices and herbs to elevate this dish. Some of the most popular Mediterranean seasonings are listed below:
- Herbs. Basil, oregano, rosemary, marjoram, lavender, bay leaf, sage, tarragon, thyme, dill, and cilantro.
- Spices. Smoked paprika, dried parsley, red pepper flakes, turmeric, saffron, coriander, cumin, fennel, cinnamon, and black pepper.
How to make it dairy-free and vegan
Use vegan feta cheese. Replace chicken broth with vegetable broth.
Substitutions and variations
- Rice. I used jasmine rice. You can also use basmati rice, any long-grain rice, or Arborio rice.
- Pasta. If you're looking for other popular Mediterranean diet choices in place of rice, I recommend orzo or couscous.
- Beans. I recommend garbanzo beans (chickpeas) or cannellini beans. You can even use cooked lentils.
- Lime or lemon will work great. Freshly squeezed juice is always the best!
- Veggies. My favorite veggies to add to the Mediterranean lemon rice are chopped tomatoes, bell peppers, artichokes, sun-dried tomatoes, asparagus, green beans, cucumber, zucchini, arugula, and spinach. Pick and choose YOUR favorites!
- Cheese. You can use grated Parmesan or fresh Mozzarella cheese instead of or in addition to Feta cheese.
Storage Tips
- Fridge. Store leftover Mediterranean rice refrigerated, in an air-tight container for up to 4 days.
- Freezer. This recipe is freezer-friendly and perfect for meal prep! Freeze this dish for up to 2 months.
How to reheat
- Stove-top. Reheat the leftovers over low-medium heat in any kind of appropriately sized cooking pan. Add a small amount of olive oil and just a touch of water when reheating, and stir the rice often.
- Microwave oven. Reheat the leftovers in a deep, high-sided microwave-safe dish (bowl) for about 30 seconds. Remove from the microwave oven, and stir the rice mixture well. Return to the oven and reheat for 30 more seconds or more, until heated through.
What to serve with it
This lemon rice pairs beautifully with any of your favorite meals, including grilled steak, chicken, salmon, shrimp, meatballs, lamb, or lemon cod. You can serve it with many Mediterranean dishes - here are my suggestions:
- Chicken Stir-Fry with Vegetables
- Mediterranean Chicken with Sun-Dried Tomatoes, Artichokes, and Capers
- Pan-Seared Salmon with Spinach
- Shrimp Scampi
- Greek Chicken
Other Mediterranean side dishes you might like
Mediterranean Lemon Rice with Chickpeas, Spinach, Tomatoes, and Feta
Ingredients
Lemon rice
- 1 cup uncooked jasmine rice
- 1.5 cups chicken broth
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 8 oz grape tomatoes sliced in half
- 5 cloves garlic minced
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 5 oz fresh spinach chopped
- 3 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
- 15 oz chickpeas canned
Feta cheese mixture
- 6 oz feta cheese diced into small cubes
- 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
- 1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
- ½ teaspoon dried oregano
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh oregano optional
- fresh oregano for garnish
Instructions
Cook rice
- First, rinse the uncooked rice. Place a fine mesh strainer over a large bowl in a kitchen sink. Add rice to the strainer and run cold water over the rice, using your hands to move it and wash it. Dump the water from the bowl occasionally. The water will initially be murky but should get clearer and clearer as you get rid of more starch. When the water is clear, you're done washing the rice.
- Add 1 cup of uncooked rice and 1.5 cups of chicken broth to a medium size saucepan. The proportion of liquid to rice will depend on the type of rice you use (refer to the package instructions).
- Bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer, and cook the rice for about 20 minutes (again, verify the times with the package instructions), occasionally stirring, until the liquid is absorbed and the rice is tender. Remove the rice from heat and let it rest covered while you proceed with the rest of the recipe.
How to make lemon rice
- In a large, high-sided skillet, combine half of the halved grape tomatoes, minced garlic, 1 teaspoon of dried oregano, ¼ teaspoon of salt, and 1 tablespoon of olive oil. Cook the tomatoes on medium heat for about 2 minutes until they soften and release juices.
- Stir in fresh spinach and cook until it wilts.
- Add cooked rice and drained chickpeas.
- Add 3 tablespoons of freshly squeezed lemon juice and the remaining uncooked halved grape tomatoes. Reheat on medium heat, stirring everything to combine. Add 1 extra tablespoon of olive oil if you like.
How to make a feta cheese mixture
- In a medium bowl, combine cubed Feta cheese with 1 tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil, 1 tablespoon of freshly squeezed lemon juice, ½ teaspoon of dried oregano (add more to taste), 2 tablespoons of chopped fresh oregano (if using).
- Mix so that the herbs and olive oil coat the cubed Feta cheese.
Assembly
- Mix half of the feta cheese mixture into the skillet with lemon rice. Reheat gently to warm it and soften the cheese with heat. Remove from heat. Season with salt and black pepper to taste.
- When serving, top the Mediterranean lemon rice with the remaining feta mixture and sprinkle fresh oregano on top.
Notes
- Rinse the rice before cooking it. This is to get rid of excess starch, which is present as fine white powder around raw rice. If you don't rinse it off, the rice will have a sticky, mushy texture, not light and fluffy like in this recipe.
- Use pre-cooked rice if you have it; in that case, use 2 cups of cooked rice.
- Use pasta instead of rice. I recommend orzo or couscous.
- Make it dairy-free and vegan. Use vegan feta cheese and vegetarian broth or water to cook the rice.
- Veggies. My favorite veggies to add to the Mediterranean lemon rice are chopped tomatoes, bell peppers, artichokes, sun-dried tomatoes, asparagus, green beans, cucumber, zucchini, arugula, and spinach. Pick YOUR favorites!
- Cheese. You can use grated Parmesan or fresh Mozzarella cheese instead of or in addition to Feta cheese.
- My other favorite Mediterranean-style rice side dishes are:
- Cilantro-Lime Black Bean Rice
- Parmesan Sun-Dried Tomato Basil Rice
Nutrition
Nutrition Disclaimer:
The nutritional information on this website is only an estimate and is provided for convenience and as a courtesy only. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed. It should not be used as a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
Love the flavor of this dish. I will definitely make it again! Thank you!
Thank you, JoAnn, for taking the time to share your review - it's always appreciated! 🙂
Just made this. Smells amazing and tastes so good!
Thanks for the recipe
Thank you, Barb, for your review! 🙂 So glad you enjoyed it!