Brown Rice Salad with Berries
If you’re looking for a savory way to use up all your fresh blackberries and raspberries, this Brown Rice Salad with Berries, almonds and mint is it. It’s a great make-ahead recipe to serve as a summer lunch or dinner side.
Table of contents
Why We Love This Recipe For Brown Rice Salad with Berries
Fresh berries are a natural in sweets, or in dressings like this Raspberry Almond Vinaigrette. But pair them with brown rice, scallions, mint and sliced almonds and you’ve got a slightly surprising, delicious summer salad you’ll be making on repeat. This easy rice salad is a healthy and easy side dish to make for a summer barbecue, backyard cookout or casual family get together.
Recipe Highlights
- You can prepare it ahead of time.
- This recipe yields 8 cups so it’s great for entertaining.
- Can be adapted for the ingredients you have on hand
- Whole grain
- High in fiber
- Rich in vitamin C and other essential nutrients
- Served chilled-so it is great for hot days or evenings.
Key Ingredients For This Recipe
- Long-Grain Brown Rice: You could also use wild rice instead since it’s fairly firm, but stay away from short-grain brown rice as it’s softer and starchier.
- Produce: The zest and juice from an orange. Scallions and berries. I used a mix of fresh raspberries and blackberries for this.
- Pantry Staples: Extra-virgin olive oil, apple cider vinegar, Dijon mustard, water, salt and freshly ground pepper.
- Sliced Almonds: You could use toasted or non-toasted sliced almonds.
- Fresh mint: This provides an herbal counterpoint to the bright berries, but it’s OK to leave it out if you don’t have it.
How to Make This Brown Rice Salad with Berries
Step 1: Cook & cool rice
Bring water to a boil in a large saucepan over high heat. Add rice, return to a boil, cover, reduce heat to low and simmer until the water is absorbed and the rice is tender, 40 minutes. Remove from the heat, spread out on a sheet pan to speed cooling, or transfer to a metal bowl and refrigerate until cold, about 2 hours.
Step 2: Make dressing & serve
Whisk orange juice, orange zest, olive oil, vinegar, mustard, salt and pepper in a large bowl. Stir in scallions, almonds and rice. Fold in berries and garnish with mint.
FAQs and Expert Tips
Store the leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 2 days.
Cook and cool the rice and whisk together the dressing up to a day in advance. Store the rice in the fridge as directed in step 1, and store the dressing in a separate airtight container. Combine and assemble the brown rice salad with berries when you’re ready to serve.
Try this with any berries you like, or other summer fruit like diced peaches or plums. You could also mix in cheese such as crumbled feta or shaved parmesan.
Additional Rice Salad Recipes to Try
- If you like wild rice you have to try this Wild Rice Salad with Cranberries Apricots and Avocado. It’s delicious.
- This Brown Rice and Sweet Potato Salad is the perfect lunch. I love to meal prep it ahead for the week.
- My Easy Brown Rice Salad with Cranberries and Orange really is as easy as it sounds. Plus, who doesn’t love a cranberry-orange combo.
At Healthy Seasonal Recipes, we specialize in cooking with fresh veggies and creating weeknight meals. Sign up HERE to get more produce-forward dinner ideas for FREE! If you make this recipe, please come back and leave a star rating and review. I would love to hear what you thought! Happy Cooking! ~Katie
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Brown Rice Salad with Raspberries and Blackberries
- Total Time: 3 hours
- Yield: 8 cups 1x
Description
Brown Rice Salad with Raspberries and Blackberries with almonds and mint.
Ingredients
- 3 cups water
- 1 1/2 cup long-grain brown rice
- 1 orange, zested and juice
- 1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
- 2 tablespoons cider vinegar
- 2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
- 3/4 teaspoon salt
- Freshly ground pepper, to taste
- 3 scallions, minced
- 1/2 cup sliced almonds, toasted
- 1 1/2 cups berries
- Fresh mint for garnish
Instructions
- Bring water to a boil in a large saucepan over high heat. Add rice, return to a boil, cover, reduce heat to low and simmer until the water is absorbed and the rice is tender, 40 minutes. Remove from the heat, spread out on a sheet pan to speed cooling or transfer to a metal bowl and refrigerate until cold, about 2 hours.
- Whisk orange juice, orange zest, olive oil, vinegar, mustard, salt and pepper in a large bowl. Stir in scallions, almonds and the rice. Fold in berries and garnish with mint.
Notes
Make-Ahead:
Cook and cool the rice and whisk together the dressing up to a day in advance. Store the rice in the fridge as directed in step 1, and store the dressing in a separate airtight container. Do not combine and assemble the brown rice salad with berries until ready to serve.
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Category: Side dish
- Method: stove top
- Cuisine: American
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 cup
- Calories: 190
- Sugar: 6 g
- Sodium: 248 mg
- Fat: 55 g
- Saturated Fat: 5 g
- Carbohydrates: 14 g
- Fiber: 3 g
- Protein: 21 g
Donna,
Unfortunately the recipes aren’t set up to be printed alone. I will add that to my wish list of website improvements! For now, I guess the best way to print them alone is to cut and paste into a word doc.
How do I print just your recipe without the rest of the blog. It uses too much ink to print the whole blog.
(That was a very rude comment.) I am adamant about buying locally in the Summer and it’s so easy. People shucking corn in the grocery store in July makes me nuts! I don’t care a fig about carbon footprints and organic – the closest farmer to me cannot afford to be organic as they pay very high taxes and can’t let their fields sit fallow. (I grew up in the DDT era, so who knows what’s in my system anyway???)But a tomato warm from the sun, peach ice cream being churned while I whir up some pesto – is -heaven!!!
I love this. Completely agree!
Thanks Kelly. I appreciate the comment:)
Well said and well thought out! I could not agree more. I usually do not comment, but I thoroughly enjoy your blog and the time that you put into it.
Thanks!