This wild rice salad recipe is inconspicuous and bursting with taste, with crunchy veggies, pecans, cranberries, a zingy dressing, and feta cheese!
Right here’s a hearty fall and iciness facet dish that’s simply begging to leap onto your desk: wild rice salad! This mixture of rice with crunchy veggies, pecans, cranberries, and feta cheese crumbles is perfect for any instance, from the vacations to a easy comfortable dinner. A maple Dijon French dressing dressing infuses a tangy taste right through, punctuated via bursts of unpolluted parsley. It’s beautiful easy to position in combination, and simple to make forward. Aspect dish issues, solved!
What you wish to have for wild rice salad
Wild rice is best for fall and iciness recipes, however did you realize it’s now not technically rice? It’s the seed from a local grass that grows in lakes and streams within the Northern US and Canada. However because it seems such a lot love it, wild rice is handled as rice in maximum cuisines. It used to be crucial staple to Local American citizens within the higher Nice Lakes space of america. (I’m from Minnesota at the start, so wild rice used to be a part of the heritage and historical past of the place I lived rising up!)
This wild rice salad makes use of a wild rice mix, which combines wild rice with quite a lot of kinds of rice (maximum ceaselessly brown). This makes it each more cost effective and a greater texture for a salad! Right here’s what you’ll want for wild rice salad:
- Pantry elements: Wild rice mix, salt, white wine vinegar, Dijon mustard, maple syrup or sugar, olive oil, pecans, dried cranberries
- Recent elements: Celery, inexperienced onions, Italian parsley
- Dairy: Feta cheese crumbles (overlook for vegan and upload extra salt to style)
Notes on the use of wild rice mix
A wild rice mix is best for the use of in a salad, for the reason that texture of untamed rice by itself can also be relatively heavy. Ceaselessly wild rice blends will use brown rice, and now and again different varieties like pink and black rice. This makes the mix a lot inexpensive to supply and it has a softer general texture, making it more uncomplicated to devour than instantly wild rice.
On this recipe, you’ll be able to use any package deal marked “wild rice mix.” Cooking directions would possibly range relying at the emblem, so use the timing and liquid specified at the package deal if it differs from this recipe.
Does this paintings with 100% wild rice?
This wild rice salad additionally works with natural wild rice! If all you’ve is natural wild rice, you’ll be able to use that too. The cook dinner time is basically the similar, however you’ll use extra water and drain extra liquid after cooking (vs letting the water soak up within the wild rice mix way). Merely make the next adjustments:
- Use 2 ½ cups water as a substitute of one ¾ cups.
- Simmer 45 to 50 mins, till the rice is divided and smooth. (Lots of the grains will cut up, however now not all: see this photograph.) If lots of the grains don’t seem to be cut up, proceed to cook dinner, including extra water if important.
- As soon as cooked, drain any extra liquid.
Customizing this wild rice salad recipe
This wild rice salad recipe is stuffed with goodness, that includes the autumnal flavors of celery, inexperienced onion and parsley in opposition to nutty pecans and candy cranberries. Need to change out one of the most elements to make it your individual, or upload a few of your favourite pieces to the combo? Listed below are a couple of concepts:
- Chopped apple
- Pomegranate seeds (upload or use rather than cranberries)
- Dried cherries
- Pumpkin seeds
- Walnuts
- Child arugula
- Recent rosemary or sage (use best very small quantities, to style)
Extra grain salads and facet dishes
This wild rice salad is the most productive fall and iciness facet. It’s an ideal fall salad or Thanksgiving facet dish, it really works for Christmas, and it’s flexible to make use of at any type of dinner. Pair it with hen, baked salmon or vegetarian dinners for a hearty, filling facet. Listed below are a couple of extra nice facet dishes to check out:
This wild rice salad recipe is…
Vegetarian and gluten-free. For vegan, overlook the feta cheese crumbles.
Description
This wild rice salad recipe is inconspicuous and bursting with taste, with crunchy veggies, pecans, cranberries, a zingy dressing, and feta cheese!
- 1 cup raw wild rice mix (mixture of brown and wild**)
- ¾ teaspoon kosher salt, divided
- 2 ribs celery, thinly sliced
- 2 inexperienced onions, thinly sliced
- 2 tablespoons chopped contemporary Italian parsley
- 1 tablespoon white wine vinegar
- 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
- 1 tablespoon maple syrup or sugar
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- ½ cup feta cheese crumbles (non-compulsory; overlook for vegan)
- ½ cup dried cranberries
- ½ cup chopped pecans
- Rinse the rice in a effective mesh strainer beneath chilly water. Upload the rice to a saucepan with 1 ¾ cup water and if desired, 1 tablespoon olive oil or butter (non-compulsory). Deliver to a boil, then cut back to a low simmer and cook dinner for 45 mins or till all of the liquid is absorbed (see notes* and **). Duvet and make allowance to face and steam for 10 mins. Stir in ¼ teaspoon kosher salt. Then pour the rice onto a sheet pan in one layer and position it within the freezer for five mins till the rice is room temperature. (Or, you’ll be able to make the rice forward and refrigerate till serving, as much as 2 days.)
- In the meantime, get ready the celery, inexperienced onion, and parsley as famous within the directions above.
- In a small bowl, whisk in combination the white wine vinegar, Dijon mustard, maple syrup, olive oil, and ½ teaspoon kosher salt.
- When the rice is cooked and cooled, combine it in a big bowl with the chopped greens, dressing, feta cheese crumbles, dried cranberries, and chopped pecans. If desired, upload a couple of feta crumbles and pecans to the highest for serving.
- The salad tastes very best contemporary, however retail outlets as much as 3 days refrigerated. For make forward, cook dinner the rice and blend the dressing upfront and refrigerate. Upload all salad elements in combination ahead of serving.
Notes
*You’ll be able to use any package deal marked “wild rice mix” that accommodates a mixture of wild rice with different kinds of rice, together with brown, pink and black. Cooking directions would possibly range relying at the emblem, so use the timing and liquid specified at the package deal if it differs from this recipe.
**If all you’ve is natural wild rice, you’ll be able to use that too. Use 2 ½ cups water as a substitute of one 3/4. Simmer 45 to 50 mins, till the rice is divided and smooth. (Lots of the grains will cut up, however now not all: see the photograph.) If now not, proceed to cook dinner till maximum grains are cut up, including extra water if important. When the rice is cooked, drain extra liquid.
- Class: Aspect dish
- Way: Stovetop
- Delicacies: American
- Nutrition: Vegetarian
Key phrases: Wild rice salad, wild rice salad recipe