An easy one-pan meal, Hushwee Rice is a beef and rice mixture and is a Lebanese staple made with cinnamon, toasted pine nuts and rice pilaf cooked in clarified butter. Naturally gluten-free, this is the ultimate comfort food!
This easy, 30-minute dinner recipe is a standard in Middle Eastern households. One of my go-to’s on a busy weeknight, this recipe is simply a mashup of two of my most popular recipes: hashwee and Syrian rice pilaf.
Frequently asked questions:
Hashweh (or hushwee) is a simple, modest recipe made with ground meat, cinnamon, and toasted pine nuts. It is the foundation of many classic Lebanese dishes such as Stuffed Eggplant or my husband’s favorite, Sfeehas (Lebanese Meat Pies). At Christmas, we love eating it on top of mashed potatoes with a drizzle of homemade gravy. It also tastes great served over hummus and eaten with pita bread.
Like most Lebanese recipes, this dish is made with cinnamon, nutmeg and allspice. If you haven’t already, I highly recommend you made a stash of my All-Purpose Lebanese Spice Blend. Similar to my easy taco seasoning, I like to make a big batch of the Lebanese spice blend so that I can sprinkle it on meats, roast chicken, veggies and more.
It can be made up to three days in advance. To store, keep refrigerated in an air-tight container. It is also freezer friendly and will last in the freezer up to three months.
When serving, we like to top with a dollop of plain yogurt. You can also serve with my Lebanese cucumber laban.
Your fork is waiting.
📖 Recipe
Lebanese Hushwee Rice
Ingredients
Meat 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
Lebanese Rice Pilaf
- 1 ½ cups long-grain enriched white rice such as Uncle Ben's
- ¼ cup clarified butter or ghee
- ½ cup vermicelli pasta broken in 2-inch pieces
- 3 cups boiling water
- 1 ½ teaspoons salt
- ½ teaspoon pepper
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.
- While the hushwee is cooking, start making the rice pilaf.
Lebanese Rice Pilaf
- Place the rice in a fine mesh strainer and rinse thoroughly using your fingers to rub off as much starch as possible. You'll know the rice is properly rinsed when the water comes out clear from the bottom. Set aside.
- In a large, deep pan heat the butter over medium heat until melted. Add the broken vermicelli pasta and brown, stirring frequently, until it is golden/dark brown. Be careful to not let burn – don't walk away from the pan. This takes about 4-5 minutes.
- Add rinsed rice to the pan and stir into the vermicelli and butter. Toast the rice for 2-3 minutes, stirring frequently. Carefully pour boiling water into the pan and stir once. Add salt and pepper then stir again.
- Bring to a boil, stir once, then reduce heat to low and cover with a lid. Cook for 15 minutes. Remove pan from the heat and fluff rice with a fork before sprinkling with fresh parsley to serve.
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.
Video
Chef’s Notes
Nutrition
Want more healthy recipes? Head over to Pinterest!
Joanie Faddol Gruber
A few varients from another Lebanese:
We never rinse Uncle Ben rice! No need as it is parboiled. Rinsing it will make it mushy. Always boil the water first and add that to the rice.
Also a tip for the pine nuts and vermicelli- toast them in the microwave! 1 minute or so for the noodles and 2-3 for the nuts. Slivered almonds with or instead of pine nuts can be used.
Our spice blend is usually cumin, allspice and cinnamon.
Baking this instead of on stove top makes a lovely crunchy top and sides. Mix everything in a glass or metal baking pan and cover with foil, baking at 400. Remove the foil after 20 minutes and bake further 10-15 minutes. Love the crunchy bits.
Liz DellaCroce
This sounds delicious as well! We are Syrian so maybe that’s the difference. We’ve never used cumin, for example. Bit your version sounds INCREDIBLE!
karen carrick
I made this as written using gluten free vermicelli and it worked without any problem. Yum!!! made the whole meal with cucumber and salad. Very satisfying.
Liz DellaCroce
GREAT idea Karen!
r.a.
If this has pasta in it then it is not gluten free unless a gluten free pasta is used.
Liz DellaCroce
Sorry for the mistake – it’s been revised! :) To keep gluten free just skip vermicelli. Recipe is same otherwise!