Easy vegan Lebanese spiced rice with toasted nuts and vegetables is one of my favorite ways to enjoy rice. It’s fluffy, filling, loaded with flavor and can be enjoyed as a side dish or a main. No more boring rice.
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Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- It's vegan and gluten free! I've adapted this recipe off my family’s Riz bi Djaj, which is rice with chicken. I was craving this rice and felt it would work well with peas, carrots and corn (the frozen variety) I am glad I made it, as not only do I think it's epic, but so does my family.
- Big Lebanese flavors fill this simple dish that’s also filled with texture, softness from the rice and vegetables and crunchiness from the golden nuts.
- Versatile - good enough to eat on it’s own or as a side.
- It's part of my specialty category of the best vegan Lebanese recipes.
Ingredients You'll Need
Notes on some of the ingredients, the full list of ingredients and their measurements can be found in the recipe card below.
White basmati rice, (you can use long grain rice instead) always cooks perfectly, it is hard to not have perfect single grains of rice when it's cooked.
Vegan butter and olive oil - the combination of these together result in silky rice.
Raw pine nuts, cashew nuts and almonds whilst this trio is fabulous, you can use one or two of these only. You can use slivered almonds or whole ones. I alternate between the two.
Brown onion is finely diced and then sweated to release their natural sweetness.
Frozen peas, carrots & corn is the easiest to work with. This is normally found as a trio in the frozen section of your local supermarket.
Lebanese 7 spice (affiliate link), cinnamon, salt and pepper are the spices and seasoning used in this recipe. The 7 spice can be swapped with all spice, however I highly recommend making your own fresh blend of 7 spices.
Optional: If you have a sweet tooth, you could add raisins. I personally love this, but the males in my family sadly do not. (I should just put it in there seen how I am the cook haha, they should deal with it!)
How To Make Lebanese Spiced Rice
Brown the nuts. In a pot, over medium - high heat, melt half of the vegan butter and olive oil. Add cashews and almonds and brown until golden and then set aside, using the leftover oils brown the pine nuts and set these aside too.
Sweat the onions. In the same pot, add the rest of the olive oil and vegan butter, on top of the oil left over from nuts, and sweat onion until soft and translucent.
Coat the rice with oil and spices. Add in white basmati rice on top of the onion and stir until completely coated in oil, then add the spices and salt to the rice and stir until completely coated.
Time for the water and frozen vegetables. Add water over rice and onion, then stir in the frozen vegetables, ensuring vegetables are evening dispersed.
Cook the rice by bringing it to a soft boil with the lid on, then turn the heat down to low - medium, allow rice to cook for 10 minutes or until rice is done. Turn off the heat and keep the lid on for another 5 minutes. Try to not open the lid prior to this.
Fluff and serve. Use a fork to fluff the rice and stir through the vegetables which now sit on top of the rice, then transfer to a serving bowl and top with the browned nuts, enjoy warm.
Flat Bottom Pot
Is ideal to make this Lebanese spiced rice as it ensures that the heat is distributed evenly, which is important for cooking rice evenly.
Tips
Toast the pine nuts separately to the cashews and almonds as they are smaller in size they will brown quicker. If you put them all together, the pine nuts will burn.
To ensure the nuts are browned evenly, continuously stir them around in the oil until the desired golden hue is achieved. Take the nuts out of the oil ASAP as the end stage is when they burn quickly.
Rice should be submerged in about ⅓ in / 1cm of water to cook, it should also be on the saltier side too as the rice will double in size.
Store any leftovers in an airtight container and place in the fridge for up to 5 days. You can also freeze it for up to 3 months, by transfer it to a freezer-safe bag. Thaw it to room temperature before reheating.
Serving Suggestions
As mentioned previously this Lebanese spiced rice is good enough to eat on its own, or try spicing it up, by adding a dash of shatta a mouthwatering Middle Eastern hot sauce.
Looking for a soup to start with, try my delicious adas bi hamod (Lebanese lemon lentil soup)
Serve a fresh salad on the side, a Middle Eastern garden salad is perfect, or, so is a Lebanese cabbage salad.
More Vegan Lebanese Rice Recipes
The best side of rice from Lebanon is rice with vermicelli, take a seat plain rice, this one is much better!
Mujadara is the famous rice and lentils dish that the Lebanese are proud of. It’s simple yet full of flavor.
Vegan Lebanese stuffed peppers with rice, you’ll want more of this.
Stuffed grape leaves are filled with rice and veggies.
It is customary to serve this pea stew called bazella w riz (the Arabic name literally translates to peas with rice).
Another amazing Arabic rice to try is Maqloubeh - rice is cooked on a bed of veggies and then flipped upside down to serve - it's so extravagant!
For other rice dishes try vegan biryani by Get Set Vegan or cranberry rice by Tia Clara.
Did you make this? I'd love to know! Leave me a comment below with a ★★★★★ rating or tag @plantbasedfolk on social media.
Lebanese Spiced Rice with Toasted Nuts and Vegetables
Ingredients
- 1½ cups Basmati Rice
- 1 tablespoon Vegan butter divided in 2
- 2 tablespoon Olive oil divided in 2
- ⅓ cup Pine Nuts
- ⅓ cup Raw cashew nuts
- ⅓ cup Raw almonds
- 1¼ medium Brown onion finely diced
- 2 cups Frozen peas, carrots & corn
- 1½ tablespoon Lebanese 7 spice
- ½ teaspoon Cinnamon
- 1½ teaspoon Salt to taste
- ½ teaspoon Cracked black pepper
- 2¼ cup Water
Instructions
- In a pot, over medium - high heat, melt half of the vegan butter and olive oil. Add cashews and almonds and brown until golden and then set aside, using the leftover oils brown the pine nuts and these aside too. Be sure to constantly stir the nuts to avoid burning.1 tablespoon Vegan butter, 2 tablespoon Olive oil, ⅓ cup Pine Nuts, ⅓ cup Raw almonds, ⅓ cup Raw cashew nuts
- In the same pot, heat up the remainder of the olive oil and vegan butter and sweat the finely diced onion until soft and translucent. Add the white basmati rice on top of the onion and stir until completely coated in oil. Then add all the spices and salt to the rice and stir until completely coated in the oil.1½ cups Basmati Rice, 1 tablespoon Vegan butter, 2 tablespoon Olive oil, 1¼ medium Brown onion, 1½ tablespoon Lebanese 7 spice, ½ teaspoon Cinnamon, 1½ teaspoon Salt, ½ teaspoon Cracked black pepper
- Now add the water and vegetables. Stir these through the rice, ensuring vegetables are evening dispersed. Taste test the water, it should be on the salty side as the rice will double in size.2 cups Frozen peas, carrots & corn, 2¼ cup Water
- Place the lid on the pot and bring the spiced rice and vegetables to a soft boil, then turn the heat down to low and allow rice cook for 10 minutes. Turn off the heat, keep the lid closed for at least 5 minutes (see note 1). Serve rice with browned nuts on top.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
N.B., nutrition info is an estimate based on an online nutrition calculator. This will vary based on the specific ingredients you use.
Shumaila
I made this last night and it was fabulous. I had too much of it though because I couldn't stop eating it. The nuts are a lovely addition.