Wild Rice Salad
Here is my very best Wild Rice Salad recipe made with oranges, dried cranberries, apricots and avocado. It is a delicious make-ahead side dish for Thanksgiving, Christmas or Hanukkah (or any celebration really!) It’s naturally vegan friendly (just see the notes below) and it goes well with pork, fish and roasted meats.
This recipe was originally inspired by the concept of the Nutted Wild Rice Salad in the Silver Palate cookbook. I shared it here on December 16th, 2014. I have updated the text, added a video and added new images today. This post contains affiliate links.
Table of contents
Why We Love Wild Rice Salad Recipe
This Wild Rice Salad with oranges, pecans, avocado and dried friut is a wonderful side dish to serve for the holiday season, or for a summer side dish for a picnic or potluck party.
This salad made with whole grains will be the star of the table! The sweet and savory ingredients pair well with a variety of meals. It is great served cold so it also happens to be a great make-ahead dish to serve for entertaining.
Ingredients Notes For This Recipe
Wild Rice
- Wild rice is actually not the same type of plant as the brown rice and white rice we know, and it actually is the seeds of grasses native to North America.
- It has been wild-harvested since before European settlers came to the US.
- While wild rice continues to be wild harvested, it has also been commercially produced since the 1950s.
Read about shopping tips for Wild Rice here. If you cannot find it for this recipe or prefer a less expensive alternative, wild rice blend can be used instead. Follow the cooking instructions on the package for wild rice blend as it is different than wild rice.
Oranges or Tangerines
This recipe calls for three oranges (or tangerines.) The first one is zested and juiced for the dressing. The remaining two are segmented. Do so with a sharp knife over a small bowl to catch the juices. This way you can save the orange juice and add it to the salad too. If you missed my recipe for Cranberry Sauce with Orange, then you’ll want to review my tips on how to segment an orange on Youtube.
Pecans
Pecans and other nuts are harvested in the fall and winter, and are common additions to holiday foods. I love the buttery and nutty taste of pecans in this wild rice salad. To bring out their natural flavors, toast them. My prefered way to do this is to use the toaster oven, just make sure to set an additional timer, because they’re very easy to burn!
Dried Cranberries and Apricots
Look for natural dried fruit that’s sweetened with juice and made without sulphur if you are sensitive. Unsulphured apricots taste better in my opinion, but they are not as pretty as those with sulphur, since they turn brown when they’re dried. I like to take my time to cut the apricots into little squares. They look like jewels in this salad!
Parsley
This year I grew flat parsley in my garden, so that’s what kind I used today, but curly parsley would be great too. It’s quite a bit of parsley, almost like for tabbouleh, but it really adds a nice freshness to the salad and the green really makes the colors pop!
How to Make Wild Rice Salad
My wild rice salad recipe is made in stages. First you cook the wild rice and make the dressing. Once the rice is tender, drain it and toss it with the dressing and let it cool. Last stir in the fruits, herbs and nuts before serving. Here are some more details about how to cook the rice, about the dressing and how to make the wild rice salad in advance.
Step 1. Cook The Wild Rice
Simmer wild rice in a generous amount of gently boiling water until tender, about 45 minutes. Strain through a fine mesh sieve.
Step 2. Making The Dressing
While you’re waiting for the wild rice to simmer and soften, you can make the dressing. Add the orange zest and juice to a blender. Scoop ¼ avocado into the blender. Add shallot, oil, vinegar, mustard, honey or agave and salt and puree until smooth.
Step 3: Stir the Dressing and Hot Cooked Rice Together
While the rice is still steaming hot, stir it with the dressing and let it cool. The rice will absorb the flavors of the dressing and will make the overall taste of the wild rice salad better. This is the same technique I use with my potato salad and Italian pasta salad and it makes a big difference.
Tip: Spread the rice out on a large baking sheet lined with parchment to help it cool more quickly.
Step 4: Add the Salad Ingredients
Stir the cooled wild rice and dressing with the toasted pecans, dried fruits and orange segments. The avocado should be added last because it is so soft, so I like to stir everything else in first, then fold in the avocado at the end. Season salad with additional salt and pepper if necessary.
Expert Tips and FAQs For This Recipe
This salad can be made 1 day ahead. Bring to room temperature stirring occasionally for 30 minutes or so before serving. Wait until before serving to add the diced avocado.
Use agave or maple syrup instead of honey in the dressing.
Store leftovers in an airtight container up to 3 days. The avocado chunks will brown, but it will still taste delicious! If the flavors are slightly muted after a day or two, perk them up with a squeeze of citrus.
Wild rice is grown in the shallow waters of streams, and Native American harvesting methods included threshing the grasses into their canoes. A very labor intensive way to gather the seeds. Today this is a much more mechanized process, but it is still expensive to produce, and explains the high price tag at the market
Most varieties of wild rice take about 45 to 50 minutes to cook. Follow package instructions because there are at least four different species of wild rice, so they vary in cooking times.
After checking with the package instructions to get a guideline of cooking time, the best way to test if it is done is to look for the rice grains starting to split. You’ll see that they no longer look shiny black, but they will have a little line of tan running along the length of the grain. As they soften more and more they will start to bend. Be careful not to cook them so much that they curl up. The texture will no longer be pleasantly chewy, but will become watery and mushy.
Buying Wild Rice
Look for wild rice in the rice section of the supermarket. It is available in bags and boxes.
I recommend buying wild rice in bulk so that you only buy the amount you need for a given recipe. While it will store well in a cool dry pantry, because it is unrefined, the natural oils in it can go rancid over time, so plan to use it within a year. I like to store wild rice in a large dry wide mouth jar.
Lundberg Farms (my favorite brand of rice) now sells quick-cooking wild rice. If you find that, make sure you follow the cooking instructions on the packaging, as it cooks much faster.
What To Serve With Wild Rice Salad
- This recipe would be a great addition to your holiday meal and perfect with your Roast Turkey for Thanksgiving dinner.
- For Christmas or any other holiday or celebration, this Easy Pork Tenderloin and Apple Skillet with maple, mustard and shallots would be a starring main course with this wild rice salad. Or for a slightly fancier option my Brined Roasted Pork Loin with Apple Chutney
- For a Seafood focused meal, you could make these Lemon Caper Salmon Cakes and my simple skillet green beans on the side.
Variations To Try
- Add chopped cooked chicken or leftover turkey for a bit of protein to make this into a hearty salad for lunch.
- Serve over a bed of peppery arugula, watercress and romaine lettuce. Drizzle with additional salad dressing if desired or just squeeze on a little fresh lemon juice and olive oil to dress the greens. Top with goat cheese.
- Instead of dried cranberries use fresh pomegranate arils.
- Omit the avocado and use a creamy feta like goat feta instead. The orange and feta cheese are an amazing pairing!
- Use pinenuts, hazelnuts or walnuts instead of pecans.
- For an opulent touch, try using a gourmet nut oil instead of the olive oil. I love using walnut oil in dressings and adore the buttery flavor of hazelnut oil!
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
PrintWild Rice Salad
- Total Time: 1 hour 20 minutes
- Yield: 10 cups 1x
Description
Here is my very best Wild Rice Salad recipe, that’s made with dried cranberries and apricots, oranges, pecans and avocado. A perfect healthy, make-ahead side dish for Thanksgiving, Christmas or Hanukkah.
Ingredients
- 2 cups wild rice
- 3 oranges or tangerines, divided
- 1 avocado, cut in half and pit removed
- 1 small shallot, peeled and quartered
- 1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
- 3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
- 2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
- 2 teaspoons honey or agave
- 1 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup chopped parsley
- 1 cup chopped toasted pecans
- 1/2 cup dried sweetened cranberries
- 1/2 cup chopped dried apricots
Instructions
- Place rice in a large saucepan. Cover generously with water. Bring to a simmer over high heat. Reduce heat to medium-low or to maintain a simmer, and cook until the rice is just tender but not mushy, 45 to50 minutes.
- Zest and juice one orange. Segment the remaining two oranges, and set aside.
- Add the orange zest and juice to a blender. Scoop ¼ avocado into the blender. Add shallot, oil, vinegar, mustard, honey or agave and salt and puree until smooth. Pour into a large bowl.
- Stir the hot rice into the dressing and let cool to room temperature, 35 to 42 minutes.
- Stir in parsley, pecans, cranberries, apricots and the reserved orange segments.
- Dice the remaining avocado and gently stir into the salad.
Notes
Vegan Option: This recipe is vegan if you use agave instead of honey.
Wild rice is different from brown and white rice in that it is actually a wild grass. Look for it in the rice isle. Store it in a sealed container or jar at room temperature.
To cook wild rice, simmer it in water until the grains split and are tender (taste a small bite to check.) Most varieties take about 45 minutes, but check packaging where applicable. Make sure the water doesn’t dip below the surface level so that the rice cooks evenly. Drain it as you would pasta through a fine mesh sieve.
To segment the two oranges or tangerines, follow the instructions here in my step-by-step video.
To Make In Advance: Prepare through step four up to 2 days in advance. Continue with step 5 just before serving.
- Prep Time: 28 minutes
- Cook Time: 45 minutes
- Category: Side dish
- Method: Stove Top
- Cuisine: American
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 2/3 cup
- Calories: 236
- Sugar: 9 g
- Sodium: 179 mg
- Fat: 13 g
- Saturated Fat: 1 g
- Carbohydrates: 27 g
- Fiber: 4 g
- Protein: 2.6 g
This looks amazing.
Thank you Hollie
I’m making this but would like to make it a day ahead of time. Will the dressing turn brown from the avocado if I do this? I’m sure it doesn’t matter but just wondering.
You can certainly do it. You won’t be able to see the color of it. Prepare through step four up to 2 days in advance. Continue with step 5 just before serving.
tooooo salty!
I couldn’t toss it together. 🙁
I am confused. Pardon me. The dressing on its own is intense so maybe that is what you are saying. But when tossed with the salad, it shouldn’t taste too salty. I’m not sure I understand what prevented you from tossing it together. Once the rice is blended with the remaining unseasoned 4 cups of salad components the dressing is properly balanced.
Great recipe to change up. I used dried cherries and toasted almond slivers. No apricot, no oil, and no avocado in the salad (besides the dressing). Also added a little green onion Save yourself 1000 calories and skip the oil. It was excellent with just the fat from the avocado in the dressing.
Wowee! What an amazing recipe! I’m giving it 5 stars because the base salad and dressing themselves ROCK. I didn’t want to go out unnecessarily to the store, therefore I used what I had at home. Here were the changes I had to make, simply because I didn’t have all ingredients:
No oranges, therefore I put a full peach in the blender for the dressing! And a splash of OJ that I had in the frig. In lieu of oranges in the salad: cut up fresh peaches. I I didn’t have dried apricots, so I put in fresh red grapes. LOVED how the avocado in the dressing added such creaminess to it. I will absolutely follow the directions as written for the holidays, but adding the fresh fruit just gave it a summery flair. Thanks for an incredible recipe!
I am so happy you liked it! Thanks Chris!
This is so gorgeous and I bet it tastes even better than it looks! Also I love the addition of apricots, I often use cranberries in salads, but I really need to try apricots too!
this looks so good love it
Thanks Zuzuana! I am so glad you liked it.
I just love all of the textures and flavors in this wild rice salad! What a perfect accompaniment to Thanksgiving… but also hearty enough to eat as a meal on its own. Thank you!
Hi Meredith. Thanks so much! Have a great day!
If it’s possible, I can already taste the textures of this salad! 😉 Looks SO good. Love the nubbiness and delicious flavors. I also appreciated learning more about wild rice, so thanks for sharing those details.
Hey Megan! So glad you like it. Thanks for rating and commenting. Have a great day.
Such a beautiful and delicious salad! Love all the textures and flavors! Great for entertaining!
I love all the fruit included! This will be a delicious holiday side. Thanks!
Wow, the color combination in this makes it such a stunning rice dish! I’ll have to find wild rice!
I love all the colors and textures! I definitely would not wait just until Thanksgiving to make this.
Beautiful looking wild rice salad, love the addition of the dried fruits.
This salad is gorgeous! All the nuts and fruits and dark wild rice are exotic together.