Italian Style Rice Salad

4.98 from 134 votes

Italian Style Rice Salad

Healthy, tasty Italian styled Rice Salad. Vegetarian friendly as it is or you can add cooked pancetta, tuna or mozzarella in the last step to make it more of a main meal? Great served up as side dish or served up as a sharing BBQ salad.

Prep Time10

Active Time18

Total Time28

Course: Dinner, Lunch, Salad, Sharing, Starter, Vegetarian

Cuisine: Italian

Keyword: BBQ salad, cold rice recipe, Cold rice salad, cooked rice recipe, easy rice salad, Italian salad, long grain rice salad, Mediterranean salad, rice salad, rice salad recipe, Spring Salad, Summer Salad

Yield: people as a side

Calories: 361kcal

Author: Luke and Kay - Flawless Food

Equipment

Ingredients

200 grams Long Grain Rice Uncooked weight (makes 600 grams (3 cups) once cooked)
310 mls Cold water

Italian Dressing Ingredients (make your own or buy shop brought one)

5 tablespoon Olive oil
½ Lemon juice
1 tablespoon Italian Seasoning/ Dried Herbs mix of Oregano, Thyme, Basil, Parsley, Sage, Red Pepper flakes
2 teaspoon Garlic Puree or 4 cloves minced

Italian Salad (this is what we used but get creative and use what you like/have!)

8 Sundried Tomatoes Finely chopped
1 Orange Pepper Diced
½ Cucumber Diced
1 Red Onion Diced
100 gram Cherry or Plum Tomatoes Quartered
100 g Sweetcorn Tin
60 g Green or/and Black Olives pitted
4 tablespoon Pine Nuts
3 tablespoon Fresh Basil chopped
2 tablespoon Fresh Parsley chopped

Optional extras

130 gram Cooked Diced Pancetta
1 tin Tuna drained
200 g Mozzarella Balls or chopped

Metric - US Customary

Instructions

Cook 200 grams Long Grain Rice in 310 mls Cold water beforehand. Giving it time for it to cool off.
Follow the instructions in the notes below to make sure you cook the rice correctly.
If adding 130 gram Cooked Diced Pancetta, cook that off in the sundried tomato oil and allow time to cool.
Make the dressing by mixing all the Italian Dressing ingredients 5 tablespoon Olive oil, ½ Lemon , 1 tablespoon Italian Seasoning/ Dried Herbs, 2 teaspoon Garlic Puree.
Put cooked rice in a mixing bowl and add all the chopped Italian Salad ingredients. We used 8 Sundried Tomatoes, 1 Orange Pepper, ½ Cucumber, 1 Red Onion , 100 gram Cherry or Plum Tomatoes, 100 g Sweetcorn, 60 g Green or/and Black Olives, 4 tablespoon Pine Nuts, 3 tablespoon Fresh Basil, and 2 tablespoon Fresh Parsley
Pour the dressing over and mix all in together.
Serve up in a large bowl or large plate with more fresh herbs.

Video

Notes

How to cook rice for salad recipe?

We want to make sure that the rice grains stay separate and doesn't stick together once cooked.

Correct ratio for making rice suitable for a salad is 1 cup rice ( 200g) : 1 ¼ cup (310 ml) cold water. It does not matter if you do not own American measurement cups you can use a teacup, wine glass or mug as long as you use the above measurement of 1 rice to 1 ¼ cold water.

We used long grain rice but basmati rice will be the same!

Rinse the rice first until water runs clear to remove starch.
Put the drained rice and the correct amount of water into a pan, bring to the boil.
Once boiling, turn down to simmer, place the lid on and time for 8 minutes. Do not lift the lid the rice will cook perfectly in this time and will not need stirring!
After 8 minutes turn the heat off and leave the lid on for 5-10 minutes. Finally use a fork to fluff up the grains.
Transfer to a bowl and place in the fridge to help it cool down quicker whilst you prepare the rest of your salad!

Nutrition