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Slow Cooked Lebanese Green Beans and Beef

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Tender beef slowly cooks with green beans, tomatoes and cinnamon to create a delicious Middle Eastern dish served traditionally over rice pilaf.

As anyone with a newborn can attest, slow cookers can be a real life saver for putting dinner on the table!  My little one is a 3 weeks old now and I am slowly but surely adjusting to my new life as a working mother.  With a little advance planning, I’ve managed to put dinner on the table most nights of the week including today’s dish which pays homage to one of my favorite Lebanese specialties: Stewed Greens Beans and Beef (“Lubia”).

This dish can also be made on the stove top if you don’t have a slow cooker.  Not counting calories? Brown the onion, beef and beans in a little clarified butter. You won’t regret it.

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Traditionally this dish is served over Syrian rice which is rice pilaf made with rendered, clarified butter.  It is a delicious special treat but also just as good with brown rice which we love making in our rice cooker.

To serve, we love dolloping a little laban on top, a Lebanese cucumber yogurt garlic sauce.

Your slow cooker is waiting.

Slow Cooked Lebanese Green Beans and Beef

Tender beef slowly cooks with green beans, tomatoes and cinnamon to create a delicious Middle Eastern dish served traditionally over rice pilaf.
4.14 from 38 votes
Print Pin Rate
Course: Entree
Cuisine: Lebanese, middle eastern
Keyword: beef, lubia
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 8 hours
Total Time: 8 hours 15 minutes
Servings: 4
Calories: 271kcal
Author: Liz DellaCroce

Ingredients

  • 1 lb beef stew meat cut in cubes
  • 1 lb green beans trimmed and cut in 2 in. pieces
  • 1 medium onion diced
  • 32 oz crushed tomatoes
  • 1 tablespoon cinnamon
  • 1/2 tablespoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon pepper
  • 1/4 c parsley chopped
  • rice pilaf and plain yogurt to serve optional

Instructions

  • Place beef, green beans, onion and tomatoes in slow cooker.
  • Stir in cinnamon, salt and pepper.
  • Cook on High Heat for 4 hours or Low Heat for 8 hours.
  • Serve over rice pilaf and a dollop of plain yogurt. Garnish with fresh parsley.

Video

Notes

Excellent source of Vitamin C, Iron, Vitamin A and Calcium
Nutrition Facts
Slow Cooked Lebanese Green Beans and Beef
Amount Per Serving
Calories 271 Calories from Fat 43
% Daily Value*
Total Fat 4.8g 7%
Saturated Fat 1.8g 9%
Cholesterol 48mg 16%
Sodium 637mg 27%
Total Carbohydrates 26.7g 9%
Dietary Fiber 5.4g 22%
Protein 30.9g 62%
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.
Tried this recipe?Mention @thelemonbowl

Take a look at my Pinterest board for more Lebanese recipes!

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  2. Do you have an idea of how long this would need to cook in an Instant Pot/pressure cooker (not including the time needed for the pot to come up to pressure – I’m asking about the number of minutes I should input).

    Reply

  3. Can you please confirm it is tablespoon cinnamon and not teaspoon? I doubled the green beans and still felt that the cinnamon overpowered the dish. Have you tried using the 7 spice in lieu of cinnamon? Thank you

    Reply

  4. I have been eating Lubieh for my entire life and never thought to prepare it in the slow cooker. I think my Sitto would approve! Thanks for the recipe!

    Reply

  5. My grandfather emigrated from Lebanon in 1908, so my mother grew upon these recipes. They called this recipe Ruz Loubieh. Unfortunately my mom had all her recipes in her head and took them with her when she passed away in 1998. I am so thrilled have found your site!! I am making this one tonight!! Thank you so much!!

    Reply

    • Oh wow that makes me so happy Kelly!! Are you familiar with the cookbook I just wrote? It’s called Food From Our Ancestors: The Ultimate Syrian Dinner. A self-funded passion project, my goal was to simply get in the kitchen with my aunts and mom and watch them cook while testing and writing down the specific measurements. It’s only $3.99 if you’re interested: https://gumroad.com/l/cahid

      Reply

  6. I am going to be making this dish tomorrow. I haven’t had it in 10 yrs. My nana passed and she took the recipe with her. Then I met a guy while I was disc golfing and his family is from Lebanon. We got to talking and made a date to cook. Can’t wait to smell the memories

    Reply


  7. My Armenian mother in law taught me this dish but she made it even quicker using a pressure cooker! She also substituted butternut squash for the green beans in the winter time. I make it now and it’s SO good on a cold winter night.

    Reply

  9. My mother made this for dinner. Thank you for your receipt and stirring memories of a dish I will cook as soon as I return from the store to get the ingredients.

    Reply


      • Liz, I’ve made a variation of this dish with either lamb, beef chuck or, as I’m currently doing, diced up raw chicken thighs. Also, my spicing may not be authentic but includes a bay leaf, fresh lemon zest & juice as well as typical garlic,cumin and cinnamon. I think the dish is best with fresh green beans added late in the stove top simmer. I’ll admit this version is fussier but worth it if you have the time.As with most slow braises, it’s even better next day.

        Reply

  10. Being of Middle eastern ancestry, I remember my Mother taking almost the whole day to make this dish. I started to use the slow cooker to do this many years ago. I used to make my own combo of Cinnamon, Allspice, etc but now I just but the prepared Baharat or 7 spice mixes that are readily available at most Lebanese grocery store. I also marinate, and then bake the lamb in the oven until browned before putting it in the crock pot. I use a mixture of butter and olive oil to saute the onions, garlic and fresh chopped tomatoes ( I don’t use canned anymore because of the health warnings), then put everything in the slow cooker (except the beans) for about 4-6 hours. I add the beans towards the end. Because my parents migrated from the Middle East to the Caribbean, we also add a whole Habanero Chili pepper to give it that added flavor!wadesglobalkitchen.blogspot.com

    Reply

    • Oh my goodness Wadih your version sounds absolutely incredible!! We made this dish last night for 30 for my sons 2nd birthday party but I’m wishing I had made your version! Thanks for writing in!

      Reply

  11. I wanted to drop you a note to say how wonderful it is to see other people such as yourself making these wonderful dishes. This is a great dish…one I have eaten my entire life. Your cooking this dish in a crock pot is a new twist for me….I have never seen it made that way, however it seems very logical to do so. I will have to try it….

    This is one of the products we hope to be in production with soon.

    Reply


  14. Awesome recipe! My mom and I have been trying to remember how she used to make this staple when I was a child, this was very close to how she made it. I did double the green beans (about 2 lbs fresh beans to 1 lb meat), and a tad more seasoning since there were more beans. I also added 1 tsp allspice, and juice of 1 whole lemon. I added the lemon in the last 2 hours of cooking. This taste about how I remember as a child, my mom thinks so too!

    SO good!
    Thanks so much!

    Reply


  16. Hi. Thanks for this. This is also very good for Christmas leftovers. I am a British man living in England with my American wife. We had a leftover beef silver side joint and a green bean casserole and we were searching for recipes that could make use of both of them. By using cooked meat and the casserole and following your recipe we created a lovely meal. We cooked it for 4 hours on low and it came out perfect. Thanks. :)

    Reply

  17. My mother is italian, my father is middle eastern (Assyrian). We grew up eating a version of this without the spices you put in. My mom actually puts in a package of lipton onion soup mix. My husband doesn’t like any of these spices (cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, all spice) so I used cumin instead which he tolerates. I leave out the onion soup mix because of the high sodium that’s in it. My mother makes Assyrian rice which is just steamed rice with melted butter. It’s fantastic! We have it at every holiday instead of mashed potatoes. I used brown rice. I try to cut down the fat wherever possible! Thanks for sharing and getting out some middle eastern recipes for people to try! let me know if you want some of my mom’s recipes….Christine

    Reply

      • Hi
        Just got a slow cooker so loving reading your recipes! I was wondering if I could use half and half Cinnamon & Cumin?
        You are doing a great job. we all want to eat really great clean tasty healthy food.. thanks for all the effort.
        Audrey in Ireland!!
        ps. LOVE Lebanese food!

        Reply


  18. I just made this tonight and it was a big hit! I can not believe how tasty this came out. I used to make a very similar stove-top version of this dish back home when I was in Baghdad (I am Iraqi). It is a very popular Iraqi dish too. But I never thought it would be that good in slow cooker without having to saute the vegetable first. Well I did not saute anything and followed your directions and the outcome is even better than the one I used to make with 1/4 amount of the work/time. It only took 10 mins to put the ingredients together in the slow cooker. Even my picky Icelandic in-laws loved it! Thank you for sharing this, your site is now one of my favorites :)

    Reply

    • Oh I’m so happy to hear this!! Thank you so much for letting me know – I’m so glad your family enjoyed it. My husband requests this dish all the time!!

      Reply

    • I love lamb too Debbie although I can’t always find it as easily as beef. I’m also Syrian. :-) Small world!

      Reply

  21. I’ve never tried cooking any Lebanese dishes, but this looks delicious! I am not a lamb eater, but the best lamb chops I’ve ever eaten were made by a Lebanese friend with just the perfect spices on top!

    Reply

  22. This was fantastic. I was a little shy of the amount of cinnamon, but had used some in mains in the past so went ahead and followed recipe. Awesome. Can't wait to make it again.

    Reply

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