The salad itself is served cold or room temperature so it is as great for lunches as it is for a holiday table, where it’s nice to have at least one dish that doesn’t require reheating!
Wild Rice Salad with Cranberries & Pecans
Prep time
Cook time
Total time
This salad will take you from lunch to a holiday table. It's savory, a touch sweet, a touch tangy, has a little bit of crunch and is addictively delicious! Serve cold or room temperature. Stays well in a sealed container in the refrigerator for up to a week. NOTE: this is a cold salad but total time includes cooking the rice.
Author: Healthy Gluten-Free Family
Recipe type: Salad, Side, Holidays
Cuisine: Gluten-Free, Vegan
Serves: 4-6 servings
Ingredients
Salad
- 1⅔ cups wild rice or wild rice blend (we used Lundberg wild rice blend ) (This translates to 5 cups cooked)
- ½ cup dried cranberries
- ½ cup dried apricots, cut into bite size pieces
- ½ cup pecan halves, broken into pieces
- ½ cup roasted and salted pistachios
- ½ cup celery, diced
- ¼ cup red onion, diced
- ¼ cup green part of green onions, sliced thin
Lemon Honey Dijon Vinaigrette
- ¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
- 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
- 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
- 1 teaspoon honey
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- ⅛ teaspoon kosher salt (or more to taste -- NOTE: the pistachios we used were salted; use more salt if unsalted pistachios)
- ⅛ teaspoon pepper or more to taste
Instructions
Cook the rice
- Bring a large pot of water to a boil.
- While waiting for water to boil, rinse rice to remove some of the starch.
- When water is boiling, add rice to water and cook rice as you would pasta. Cook in boiling water for 30 minutes. Taste the rice, should be cooked but firm. You do not want a mushy rice. As cooking times vary by brand, you may need to cook a few minutes longer but we have always been good with 30 minutes.
- Drain rice into a strainer with small holes (you don't want to lose the rice!) and run cold water over it to remove any remaining starch.
- Set aside and let cool.
Lemon Honey Dijon Vinaigrette
- Whisk all ingredient together until well combined.
Salad
- Add all ingredients in a large bowl. Add dressing and toss to combine. PRO Tip: When making as part of meal prep, I sometimes like to keep the dressing separate until serving so that it stays fresher. And when you add dressing, a little goes a long way!
- Serve cold or room temperature.
- Store in a sealed container in the refrigerator for 4-5 days.
I made this as a side dish for my Sunday family dinner night and it was a HUGE hit! I got compliments from everyone (even the kids!!). I used Trader Joe’s Brown Rice Medley and it made a little more than 5 cups of rice so I made a little extra dressing and it was still delicious. Thanks for the awesome recipes!
So happy you all loved it! Love the way you adapted the recipe so that it worked and was easy! Thanks for sharing 🙂
Loved this. It was perfect for Thanksgiving. I replaced the pistachios with pinons because that was what I had on hand.
Happy you loved it! It’s one of my favorites! Pine nuts are a great substitution — did it need extra salt? The pistachios definitely add some salty flavor to the salad…
Big hit!! Will be making this again, likely for thanksgiving! 😁
Oh, I replaced the apricots with mandarin oranges, cuz it’s what I had in the house! It was really delicious!
Yay! So happy you love this salad as much as we do! I think we may make it for Thanksgiving too!