Hushwee (or hashweh) is a staple in Middle Eastern cuisine as a humble, flavor-packed dish made of ground meat cooked in clarified butter.
Lebanese Hushwee (or hashweh) is a simple, modest Middle-Eastern recipe made with ground meat, cinnamon, and toasted pine nuts. Every family has a staple, comfort food that they go to over and over. For my family? That’s Lebanese Hushwee or Ground Beef with Pine Nuts. Packed full of flavor, but done quickly, we use it in a handful of different dishes, but also enjoy it on it’s own!
Ingredients
- Clarified butter: Also called ghee, it has more of a roasted, nutty taste than normal butter, and also stores and lasts longer than typical butter.
- Onion: I use a white onion, as it’s mild and palatable to most, but still adds great flavor.
- Ground beef: I use ground sirloin, but you can use ground chuck or even a different ground meat that you have on hand!
- Lebanese spice blend: My Lebanese spice blend is a blend of cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, salt, and pepper.
- Pine nuts: Mild and sweet in flavor, and buttery in texture, they’re flavir is greatly enhanced when roasted or toasted.
How to Make Lebanese Hushwee
Start by melting your clarified butter over medium-high heat, then add in your diced onion and sauté until slightly translucent.
Add your ground beef and season with some salt and pepper, breaking up with a wooden spoon or potato masher.
Add your Lebanese spice blend and continue cooking until ground beef is all browned and crumbled.
Finish by adding your toasted pine nuts and minced parsley (if you have it).
Serve with pita bread and brown rice, and enjoy your Lebanese Hushwee!
Frequently Asked Questions:
What is hushwee?
Hushwee (or hashweh) is a one-pot dish full of warm spices and flavor that comes from the Middle-East. I make it the way my family did, which stems from Lebanon, but there are variations from many countries!
What do you serve with hushwee?
We love eating it with creamy, cucumber laban and a giant Syrian salad. To eat, ditch the fork and scoop up your bites with pieces of pita bread!
What type of meat do you use with hushwee?
This recipe works with any type of ground meat you have on hand, but I prefer beef sirloin, ground lamb, or a combination of the two.
Recipes with Hushwee
- Sfeehas (Lebanese Meat Pies)
- Lebanese Hushwee Rice
- Hummus and Hushwee Pinwheels
- Lebanese Hushwee Rice with Chicken
More MIddle Eastern Recipes
- Lebanese Hindbeh
- Classic Hummus with Toasted Pine Nuts
- Beef Shawarma with Cucumber Yogurt Sauce
- Greek Herb Salad with Feta
- Arabic Lentil Soup
Did you try this recipe and like it? The next time you make it, snap a picture and share it to your socials! Tag @thelemonbowl and #thelemonbowl so we can admire and share your dish.
What family recipes always bring you back to special times in the kitchen? Lebanese Hushwee is one that we always come back to in my family.
No fork required.
Lebanese Hushwee – Ground Beef with Pine Nuts
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon clarified butter (also known as ghee)
- 1 medium onion (minced – use frozen diced onions to save time)
- 20 ounces ground sirloin (lamb or bison work well too)
- 2 tablespoons All Purpose Lebanese Spice Blend
- ¼ cup pine nuts (toasted)
- fresh minced parsley (garnish)
Instructions
- In a deep pan, melt butter over medium high heat then add the minced onion. Sautee until translucent, 4-5 minutes.
- Add ground sirloin and spices. Cook 8-10 minutes or until meat is browned, stirring occasionally with a wooden spoon to break up meat. Check for seasoning and add salt and pepper to taste. Stir in toasted pine nuts and set aside.
Toasting the Pine Nuts:
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. On a small cookie sheet place raw pine nuts and cook for 5-7 minutes or until they are at a light brown in color. Keep a careful eye on them as they can burn quickly.
My husband made this for our family tonight. My grandmother was Lebanese and I have missed the food immensely since I had to pack up my Lebanese cookbook several months ago. So glad I found you today; there’s no telling how mediocre our meal would have been without your hushwee! Thank you very much!
Oh I’m so thrilled you enjoyed it!!!
Made it…Loved it. And, it’s so easy. It’s all about those spices.
So glad you enjoyed it!! The spices are the best aren’t they?
Lovely recipe, perfect for some of our spices, nutmeg and beef always go great together a little Chipotle Chilli Powder would add to the taste too!
Good idea!!!
My mom was pretty much a plain Jane when it came to cooking but was a wonderful baker. My favorite cookie of hers was the Brown Christmas cookie. It is a cutout ginger/molasses cookie. It was “brown” and made at Christmas time….thus the name!! I think my mom got the recipe from these little holiday cookbooks that the Michigan Consolidated Gas Company published WAY back in the day (like the ’50s and ’60s). I was the “froster” and even when I had moved out of the house and had a “big girl” job, I took a day off of work in December to perform my frosting job!! I miss those days!! I am making your hushwee recipe tonight and am thankful for the Beirut Baking in Redford, MI for scooping out some ghee from their giant can in the kitchen and putting it in a little container for me :) Serving it on hummus with pita bread and fattoush salad!!
Oh my goodness this makes me so happy!! I love the memory of baking with your mom and I love that you found ghee!! How did it turn out?!
It turned out amazing and so easy to make! Everyone loved it! I posted it on Instagram if you are interesting (suebunton5)!!
I’m so thrilled!
Reminds me of my Grandma’s cooking! I just love this dish and toasted pine nuts make everything better in my book!
Oh I’m so thrilled you approve of this one!!
Liz,
We’re getting one step closer to the ground meat and rice dish I’d get, along with some chicken shawarma and hummus, at the Lebanese butcher down the road from my son’s wheelchair basketball practice gym. It’s on the list of foods I crave since we moved to Ohio.
I’ve got plenty of ground beef in the freezer (and leeks in the freezer too, wonder if they would sub for frozen onions) as well as a few more weekly trips to sled hockey (7 minutes away from the closest Costco, which is down in Cincinnati). This is on the list. Thanks!
Let me know if you try the leeks!! I bet it would be good!
Love love love the sound of this recipe! And you made it look so pretty! I also have a love for toasted pine nuts, so i’m definitely going to add this to the dinners-to-make list!
Who hasn’t over toasted pine nuts??! :)
Liz, this looks fantastic!
For me, that meal is my mom’s mac and cheese…but I could totally see this being a CRAZY COMFORT FOOD. I love cinnamon in savory places.
So amazing!
I hope you try it!!
So, is this the same recipe your Aunt uses? I am so curious as to what she does different and why they come out different? It looks pretty amazing to me Liz!
The biggest difference is the amount of clarified butter we use. ;-) Let’s just say she isn’t watching her waistline like I am these days – haha. Also she uses frozen onions which I swear make a difference but I never have them around (can’t find them!)
Try chopping your onions first and soaking them in cold water until you need them. That might reproduce the mildness of frozen onions without any extra work. And none of us want any extra work.
Thanks for the pine nuts tip. I needed that.
Good idea!
Oh yes, I love hushwee! I’m drooling now just thinking of it with hummus. Pass the pita.
I have got to serve it over hummus soon!! I want that right now!
I’ve been craving this since you originally told me about it. Looks so delicious!
Ps…I’m the queen of burnt pine nuts.
I have burnt so many batches!!! So easy to do. :)
You know I am madly in love with this dish. And I never ever use pine nuts! I don’t know why..they’re v=pretty amazing.
I am obsessed with pine nuts!! I buy them in bulk at Costco. :)
I’m loving the sound of this. (I think I must have lived in the middle east in a previous life. All the food from there just speaks to me.)
I completely get it!! It’s my favorite food ever!!
This looks delicious Liz! Definitely going to try it with lamb one of these days.
Lamb is the best!!! Definitely a little fattier but so so good.
I absolutely love the cinnamon in this dish! It reminds me of so many of my moms Greek dishes.
Oh my goodness I adore Greek food for that reason!! Do you have many Greek recipes on your site??
Only a few adaptations of my mom’s Greek cooking. As with many good dishes, they take so long to prepare!
I wish we were neighbors so I could benefit from your amazing Lebanese cuisine!
I wish you were too – I need more taste testers!!
This looks wonderful Liz, how original! I would love to give this a try! Toasted pine nuts are looovveellly! Thanks for the recipe :) Excited to try it!
You would love this protein-packed dish!! Great for running!!
I LOVE finding new dishes to make my family. Your Slow Cooker Chicken Curry was a HUGE (https://thelemonbowl.com/2013/05/slow-cooker-chicken-curry.html) hit in my family – and curry was something I’d never made before. So I’m anxious to make this one! Thanks for all the tips (including the frozen onions). I agree on the pine nuts… in a matter of seconds they go from being “done” to “DONE”. :-)
Oh I love that curry too!!! I’m so glad you guys like it!!!