Hashweh (Spiced Beef & Rice)
Lebanese-style rice with cinnamon-warmed ground beef, golden onions, and toasted nuts.
Ingredients
- 400 g Ground beef
- 300 g Rice
- 1 Onion
- 3 cloves Garlic
- 600 ml Chicken stock
- 3 tbsp Extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 Cinnamon stick
- 1 tsp Ground cumin
- 1 tsp Ground coriander
- 1 tsp Salt
- ½ tsp Black pepper
- 1 Bay leaves (optional)
- 30 g Pine nuts (optional)
- 2 tbsp Parsley (optional)
- 200 g Yogurt (optional)
Method
- Finely dice the onion and mince the garlic.
- If using pine nuts, toast them in a dry pan over medium heat, shaking often, until golden, about 3 minutes. Set aside. (optional)
- Heat the olive oil in a wide pot over medium-high. Sweat the onion, stirring often, until deeply golden, about 8 minutes.
- Add the beef and brown it hard, breaking it up with a spoon, until well coloured, about 5 minutes.
- Stir in the garlic, cinnamon stick, cumin, coriander, bay leaves, salt, and pepper and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute.
- Stir in the rice so every grain is coated in the spiced fat.
- Pour in the stock and bring to a boil, then cover and cook on low until the rice is tender, about 15 minutes. Rest covered for 5 minutes.
- Fluff the rice with a fork, scatter the pine nuts and parsley over, and serve with the yogurt alongside.
Tap “Start cooking” for live timers that flag what to get ahead on while something simmers.
About Hashweh (Spiced Beef & Rice)
Hashweh is a Levantine spiced beef and rice dish whose Arabic name means "stuffing" — it began as the aromatic filling for roast chicken or lamb before becoming a beloved standalone one-pot meal in Lebanese and Palestinian kitchens. What defines it is the marriage of cinnamon, cumin and coriander with ground beef and deeply golden onions, all folded into rice that has been toasted in the spiced fat so every grain carries the flavor. The result is warmly spiced and savory, the cinnamon lending a sweetness that reads as festive rather than fiery.
The details make it. Sweating the onions until they are properly golden builds a base of sweetness, browning the beef hard adds depth, and coating the raw rice in the spiced fat before the stock goes in gives it a pilaf-like separateness. A crown of toasted pine nuts brings buttery crunch and a scatter of parsley freshness, while a spoonful of yogurt on the side cools and balances the richness. Traditionally served on a platter for family gatherings and occasions, hashweh is a complete meal in one pot that looks generous and eats even better.
Hashweh (Spiced Beef & Rice): frequently asked questions
How many calories are in Hashweh (Spiced Beef & Rice)?
A serving has about 754 calories — 32g protein, 75.5g carbs, 35.1g fat, 3.3g fiber. Figures are estimated from the ingredient amounts and will shift with your portions and brands.
Is it high in protein?
Each serving has about 32g of protein, roughly 17% of its calories.
Is Hashweh (Spiced Beef & Rice) gluten-free?
Based on its ingredients, Hashweh (Spiced Beef & Rice) has no gluten-containing components, so it's naturally gluten-free — as always, check that any packaged ingredients you use are certified gluten-free to be safe.
Is Hashweh (Spiced Beef & Rice) dairy-free?
Not as written — it uses Yogurt. Swapping it for a plant-based alternative makes it dairy-free.
How long does Hashweh (Spiced Beef & Rice) take to make?
About 40 minutes start to finish, but only around 23 of those are hands-on — the rest is largely unattended cooking time you can step away from. In the Homecooked app the timers and parallel steps are sequenced for you so the hands-on part feels even shorter.
Do I need every ingredient to make Hashweh (Spiced Beef & Rice)?
The core ingredients are essential, but you can leave out bay leaves, pine nuts, parsley — they're optional and mainly there for extra flavor or finish.
How many servings does Hashweh (Spiced Beef & Rice) make?
This recipe makes 4 servings. In the app you can scale it up or down and the ingredient amounts adjust automatically.