Wild Rice Salad

Wild Rice Salad is a delicious blend of wild rice, pecans, apricots, onions and golden raisins. It’s served cold as a salad, and has a savory curry dressing.

What’s Special About This Dish?

Wild Rice Salad is one of those recipes you can’t stop eating. I mean, as I write this blog post, I’m scarfing down spoonfuls every minute. Gosh, it’s soooooo good!

This rice dish goes with just about everything, so it’s my first choice when I want to serve a cold salad that’s packed with flavor. During holidays and special occasions, it tastes great with turkey or ham.

Why You’ll Love This Recipe

The curry in this dish also makes a nice accompaniment to chicken or salmon. When summer rolls around, it’s the perfect side for grilled pork tenderloin.

Wanna know the best part? It can be made ahead and kept for several days in the fridge, which allows room in the oven for holiday casseroles. Now, that’s a groovy dish!

How to Make Wild Rice Salad

Start by stirring a cup of wild rice with 4 cups of boiling water in a dutch oven. (ad) Cover and simmer for 30 minutes over medium low heat, stirring often. While the rice is cooking, chop a small onion, a few apricots, and a cup of pecans. Throw in some golden raisins for sweetness.

Next, gather the ingredients you’ll need for the dressing which includes apple cider vinegar, olive oil, sugar, curry and salt. Whisk the dressing ingredients together, then pour over cooked rice in the dutch oven. Add the other ingredients and give it a big stir. Garnish with parsley.

How Long Does it Have to Chill?

Once this salad chills in the fridge for at least 4 hours, it absorbs all of the flavors, which makes it taste amazing. It’s even better if refrigerated over night.

My sisters-in-law absolutely love this recipe and beg me to make it for ever holiday. Try Wild Rice Salad for your next holiday meal, or anytime in-between. If you do, please leave a comment below and let me know how it goes!

More Salads to Love

• Rainbow Salad
• Steak & Potato Salad
• Cranberry Pecan Salad
• Rock & Roll Chicken Salad
• Egg Salad Toast
• Toasted Pecan Peach Salad

Wild Rice Salad

Wild Rice Salad is served cold and keeps well in the refrigerator for holiday meals.  It's a great alternative to heavy sides at Thanksgiving or Christmas. 

5 from 2 votes

Print Pin Rate

Course: Salads

Cuisine: American

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 30 minutes

Total Time: 45 minutes

Servings: 8

Calories: 308kcal

Author: Debi | Quiche My Grits

*See notes in blog post for detailed tips, photos and instructions.

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Ingredients

RICE

• ▢ 1 cup wild rice
• ▢ 4 cups water
• ▢ 1 cup pecans chopped
• ▢ 1 small onion chopped
• ▢ 1 cup dried apricots chopped
• ▢ ½ cup golden raisins

DRESSING

• ▢ 2 Tbsp. apple cider vinegar
• ▢ ¼ cup olive oil
• ▢ 2 Tbsp. sugar
• ▢ 2 tsp. curry powder
• ▢ ½ tsp. salt
• ▢ 1 Tbsp. parsley minced

Instructions

• Bring wild rice to a boil in a dutch oven (ad) filled with 4 cups of water.
• Turn down heat, cover and simmer rice for 30 minutes until soft, stirring frequently.
• While rice is cooking, chop pecans, onion and apricots.  Place in a bowl and add golden raisins.
• To make dressing, whisk vinegar, olive oil, sugar, curry and salt together in a separate bowl.
• Pour dressing over cooked rice in dutch oven. (ad) Stir well.
• Add pecans, onion, apricots and raisins to rice and mix together.
• Garnish with parsley.
• Store rice in an air-tight container in the refrigerator for at least 4 hours before serving.

Notes

• Substitute dried cranberries or cherries for apricots if desired. It's fun to change the dried fruit depending on the season.

Nutrition

Calories: 308kcal | Carbohydrates: 40g | Protein: 5g | Fat: 16g | Saturated Fat: 2g | Sodium: 132mg | Potassium: 445mg | Fiber: 5g | Sugar: 19g | Vitamin C: 4mg | Calcium: 42mg | Iron: 2mg

Nutrition info is an auto generated estimate.

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