My sister, who spent a significant amount of time living in Louisville, Kentucky, sent me a recipe for a great cold rice salad. In the spring and summer, it ranks as one of my favorite side dishes. This recipe is fairly adaptable. The chives and tarragon may be replaced with any fresh herbs you have on hand, and you can switch up the nuts and raisins by using dark or golden raisins. I don’t think there’s a version of this recipe we’ve tried that we didn’t like.
| Prep Time: | 20 mins |
| Cook Time: | 20 mins |
| Additional Time: | 1 hr 30 mins |
| Total Time: | 2 hrs 10 mins |
| Servings: | 6 |
| Yield: | 6 servings |
Ingredients
- 1 cup uncooked white rice
- 2 cups water
- ½ cup vegetable oil
- ¼ cup lemon juice
- ¼ cup wine vinegar
- 1 teaspoon white sugar
- 1 tablespoon chopped fresh chives
- 1 tablespoon chopped fresh tarragon
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup toasted slivered almonds (Optional)
- ½ cup raisins (Optional)
- ½ cup mandarin orange segments, drained and coarsely chopped (Optional)
- ½ cup finely chopped onion (Optional)
- ½ cup finely chopped celery (Optional)
- ½ cup finely chopped green bell pepper (Optional)
- ½ cup green peas (Optional)
Instructions
- Bring rice and water to a boil in a saucepan over high heat. Reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer until the rice is tender and the liquid has been absorbed, 20 to 25 minutes.
- Let rice cool for at least 30 minutes, stirring several times as it cools. Transfer to a large salad bowl.
- Mix vegetable oil, lemon juice, wine vinegar, sugar, chives, tarragon, and salt together in a bowl until the sugar and salt have dissolved.
- Pour dressing over the cooled rice and stir to combine.
- Mix your choice of slivered almonds, raisins, mandarin orange segments, onion, celery, bell pepper, and peas into the rice mixture and lightly toss to combine.
- Cover salad and refrigerate until chilled, at least 1 hour.
- Use your favorite color of bell pepper; use at least 2 of the optional ingredients.
Reviews
I used garden peas, celery, red pepper, red onion, and shredded carrots. I added a bit more sugar as I increased the size for a pot luck. It is delicious!
Used a mix of brown rices, wild and white .Added an Asian pear and red grapes and onion. This has possibilities of being great by doing a more flavorful dressing. Might try an Asian type of dressing next time, using soy sauce and sesame oil. An excellent way to use leftover rice.
Really good. I substituted with sunflower seeds and added sweet peppers. Quick and easy.
Excellent, so light and flavorful. One major change – the oil can be reduced by half. I omitted raisins and peas and used red onion.
Made this for a family dinner and everyone loved it and wanted the recipe. I added toasted almonds, raisins, peas, bell pepper and onion. Thanks for sharing the recipe!
I think this is my new go to recipe for when I have leftover rice to use up. Easy, versatile, and tasty. This time I used white vinegar instead of wine (cause I mis-read directions), dried herbs d’ provence instead of tarragon (personal preference), peas, mandarines and raisins. I’ll report back on my favorite variations after I’ve made this a few times.
Great alternative for a nice salad. I used apples and dried cranberries as I had no mandarin oranges or raisins in the house. Served it with cinnamon rubbed chicken and some sauted zucchini. Made for a wonderful light summer meal.
I really liked this rice salad! I used my lemon olive oil for the oil, but then later I was thinking that my blood orange olive oil would have made it even better—so next time. I chose to use red onion, slivered almonds, red bell pepper, and celery for dinner tonight. When I eat the leftovers for lunch tomorrow, I’ll add some golden raisins. This has all kinds of possibilities, and that’s my favorite thing about this recipe! Thanks!
This is a nice light side dish. Added peas, red onion, red pepper, and mango. Served with salmon. Very nice