This wild rice salad recipe is straightforward and bursting with taste, with crunchy veggies, pecans, cranberries, a zingy dressing, and feta cheese!
Right here’s a hearty fall and winter 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 good for any event, from the vacations to a easy cozy dinner. A maple Dijon French dressing dressing infuses a tangy taste all through, punctuated by bursts of recent parsley. It’s fairly easy to place collectively, and straightforward to make forward. Aspect dish issues, solved!
What you want for wild rice salad
Wild rice is ideal for fall and winter recipes, however do you know it’s 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 appears a lot prefer it, wild rice is handled as rice in most cuisines. It was an necessary staple to Native People within the higher Nice Lakes space of the US. (I’m from Minnesota initially, so wild rice was 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 mixes wild rice with varied kinds of rice (most frequently brown). This makes it each extra economical 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 (omit for vegan and add extra salt to style)
Notes on utilizing wild rice mix
A wild rice mix is ideal for utilizing in a salad, as a result of the feel of untamed rice by itself will be fairly heavy. Typically wild rice blends will use brown rice, and typically different sorts like pink and black rice. This makes the mix less expensive to supply and it has a softer total texture, making it simpler to eat than straight wild rice.
On this recipe, you should utilize any package deal marked “wild rice mix.” Cooking directions might differ relying on the model, so use the timing and liquid specified on the package deal if it differs from this recipe.
Does this work with 100% wild rice?
This wild rice salad additionally works with pure wild rice! If all you’ve gotten is pure wild rice, you should utilize that too. The cook dinner time is actually the identical, however you’ll use extra water and drain extra liquid after cooking (vs letting the water soak up within the wild rice mix methodology). Merely make the next modifications:
- Use 2 ½ cups water as an alternative of 1 ¾ cups.
- Simmer 45 to 50 minutes, till the rice is cut up and tender. (Many of the grains will cut up, however not all: see this picture.) If a lot of the grains are usually not cut up, proceed to cook dinner, including extra water if essential.
- 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. Wish to swap out among the elements to make it your personal, or add a few of your favourite objects to the combo? Listed below are a number of concepts:
- Chopped apple
- Pomegranate seeds (add or use instead of cranberries)
- Dried cherries
- Pumpkin seeds
- Walnuts
- Child arugula
- Recent rosemary or sage (use solely very small quantities, to style)
Extra grain salads and facet dishes
This wild rice salad is the most effective fall and winter facet. It’s an ideal fall salad or Thanksgiving facet dish, it really works for Christmas, and it’s versatile to make use of at any type of dinner. Pair it with rooster, baked salmon or vegetarian dinners for a hearty, filling facet. Listed below are a number of extra nice facet dishes to strive:
This wild rice salad recipe is…
Vegetarian and gluten-free. For vegan, omit the feta cheese crumbles.
Description
This wild rice salad recipe is straightforward 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 recent 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 (elective; omit for vegan)
- ½ cup dried cranberries
- ½ cup chopped pecans
- Rinse the rice in a high-quality mesh strainer below chilly water. Add the rice to a saucepan with 1 ¾ cup water and if desired, 1 tablespoon olive oil or butter (elective). Carry to a boil, then scale back to a low simmer and cook dinner for 45 minutes or till all of the liquid is absorbed (see notes* and **). Cowl and permit to face and steam for 10 minutes. Stir in ¼ teaspoon kosher salt. Then pour the rice onto a sheet pan in a single layer and place it within the freezer for five minutes till the rice is room temperature. (Or, you may make the rice forward and refrigerate till serving, as much as 2 days.)
- In the meantime, put together the celery, inexperienced onion, and parsley as famous within the directions above.
- In a small bowl, whisk collectively 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, add a number of feta crumbles and pecans to the highest for serving.
- The salad tastes finest recent, however shops as much as 3 days refrigerated. For make forward, cook dinner the rice and blend the dressing upfront and refrigerate. Add all salad elements collectively earlier than serving.
Notes
*You need to use any package deal marked “wild rice mix” that incorporates a mixture of wild rice with different kinds of rice, together with brown, pink and black. Cooking directions might differ relying on the model, so use the timing and liquid specified on the package deal if it differs from this recipe.
**If all you’ve gotten is pure wild rice, you should utilize that too. Use 2 ½ cups water as an alternative of 1 3/4. Simmer 45 to 50 minutes, till the rice is cut up and tender. (Many of the grains will cut up, however not all: see the picture.) If not, proceed to cook dinner till most grains are cut up, including extra water if essential. When the rice is cooked, drain extra liquid.
- Class: Aspect dish
- Technique: Stovetop
- Delicacies: American
- Eating regimen: Vegetarian
Key phrases: Wild rice salad, wild rice salad recipe
