Fragrant rice, grilled corn, fresh blueberries and juicy tomatoes make this Summer Rice Salad a super flavorful side dish for any summer picnic or BBQ. You can have the leftovers for lunch too!
When we were kids, our mom used make the most simple, yet delicious rice salad. I remember getting super excited every time I saw her preparing it, because it was one of my very favorites. The funny things is, it only had 3 ingredients: rice, corn and peas. Dressed with a super tangy lemon, olive oil and grain mustard dressing.
As simple as her salad is, it requires two things to turn out right :
- Good quality rice
- The rice has to be cooked to perfection, so it’s light, fluffy and loose and not a sticky mess (we’ve leaned that from experience!!)
Somehow our mom always managed to prepare the perfect salad. She’s always had a somewhat innate “magic touch” when it comes to rice. Something she didn’t really pass on to us… but after working on it enough we’ve gotten pretty close 😉
We love to experiment with different varieties of rice. Each one of them is a different world! They’re all unique as far as flavor and cooking method, and that definitely keeps our rice recipes interesting.
Like this one!
Inspired by our mom’s recipe, this salad is everything you need on a hot summer day. It’s light, it’s refreshing, it’s colorful and most importantly, it’s delicious!
Using the fragrant RiceSelect Texmati® rice as a base and a variety of fresh summer ingredients, like plump blueberries, juicy tomatoes and sweet corn, this salad has become one of our family’s favorites, and we’re pretty sure you’ll love it too!
If you’re not familiar with it, Texmati White Rice combines the qualities of basmati with that of traditional American long grain rice. It has a wonderful popcorn like fragrance and delicious nutty flavor and after it’s cooked, it’s loose and fluffy. Exactly what we need for this salad! It’s also gluten free, low in fat, cholesterol and sodium, non-GMO and certified kosher.
Curious to try it? Enter our giveaway for a chance to win a full size canister of RiceSelect Texmati and a fabulous shopping bag!
- 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 1 cup RiceSelect Texmati White Rice
- 1¼ cups water
- 1 tsp salt
- 2 ears fresh corn
- 2 cups micro greens or Sprouts (you can also use Spring Mix or your favorite greens)
- 1 cup fresh blueberries
- 20 cherry tomatoes, sliced in half
- 4 tbsp roasted and salted sunflower seeds
- 1 Hass avocado, sliced
- Cumin Salad Dressing
- Heat 1 tablespoons of olive oil in a deep, non stick skillet with a lid. Add rice and cook over medium heat for 3-4 minutes, stirring constantly and making sure the rice gets well coated with the oil
- Add 1¼ cups of water and salt. Bring to a boil, cover and reduce heat to low. Cook for 20 minutes, remove from heat and let it sit, covered for 15 minutes. Set aside to cool
- In the meantime, brush corn with olive oil and place in a hot grill pan or hot grill. Cook 2-3 minutes per side. Let it cool and cut corn kernels off the cob
- To assemble the salad, combine cooked rice, corn, greens, blueberries, tomatoes, sunflower seeds and sliced avocado. Add dressing right before serving
So many of my favorites in this salad! Between the rice, the sunflower seeds, the avocado! Sounds delicious!
So packed with flavors and delicious!
brown rice
I’ve tried several different methods of cooking rice. Some with success, some without! I think using a pressure cooker is best for me. I would love to see more rice salad recipes featured – warm or cold.
this looks yum!
I have the challenge of getting rice to be cooked enough, but not end up gummy and sticky.