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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.