This Superfood Rice Salad is delicious, nutritious, vibrant and filling. It features superfood jasberry rice, earthy lentils, tender beets, crunchy watermelon radishes, olives, mint and pistachios all tossed with a sweet and tangy dijon, lemon and maple dressing. Full of color, flavor, texture and antioxidants, this salad recipe is a winner.
What is a Superfood?
While not an official scientific term, superfood is a buzzword that has gained popularity recently. Superfoods are nutrient dense whole food ingredients that offer significant health benefits due to their high density of vitamins and minerals.
Nuts and seeds, leafy greens, berries, heart healthy fats like avocado and olive oil, whole grains like quinoa and jasberry rice as well as some animal products are considered superfoods.
Whether you buy into superfoods or think it's just a marketing term, there is no debate that this salad recipe is full of good for you ingredients. With beets, jasberry rice, lentils, olives, extra virgin olive oil, pistachios and radishes, this salad is full of color, texture, fiber and nutrition.
Why you'll love this Superfood Rice Salad
- Easy to make, just cook the rice, chop the veggies and whisk the dressing
- Chock full of plants! There are 9 plant food ingredients in every serving. That covers the 5 serving a day, AND the 30 plants a week recommendation
- This salad is a textural paradise! The watermelon radishes and pistachios add so much crunch and contrast to the tender rice, lentils and beets.
- There is so much flavor! The lemon zest infused dressing is so bright, sweet and tangy. It makes the beets and mint pop and gives those earthy lentils a great taste.
- You can customize this rice salad recipe easily. Substitute or add ingredients to your hearts content according to what is available in your area or what you have on hand.
- High Fiber, so many of us don't get enough and this recipe will help you reach your fiber goals
- Full of plant-based protein and non heme iron
- Only whole food ingredients
- Slow burning carbs to keep you full and fueled for hours!
Selecting a rice:
For this recipe I used Jasberry rice which is an organic crossbred rice from Thailand. It is purple, firm but not chewy and mild flavored. Jasberry rice is known for possessing extraordinary antioxidant levels, hence it is considered a "superfood". If it is not available select Forbidden Black Rice, Wehani Rice or Brown rice.
Superfood Rice Salad Ingredients
This rice salad is anything but basic. Some of the ingredients could be harder to find, like jasberry rice, watermelon radish and chiogga beets. However, substituting ingredients that are more common will still yield and incredibly delicious salad.
- Jasberry rice: This gorgeous purple rice is rumored to have 40 times the antioxidants than brown rice! But if you can't find it use forbidden black rice, wehani rice, or even brown rice for an easy sub that will taste delicious.
- Lentils- I used canned brown lentils for the ultimate in convenience but of course you can also cook some from dried in about 20 minutes. Just be sure to monitor them well because over cooked lentils are not great in salads. Alternately any bean like chickpeas or cannelini are an easy substitute.
- Chiogga Beets: These pretty little root veggies are delicious! If you cannot find this type, red beets and golden beets are also a great sub. Just keep in mind that red beets stain, so the color of the salad will be much darker when mixed.
- Watermelon radish: The dramatic colors of these radishes make them a coveted ingredient. Feel free to substitute any available radishes. Even though they look like tiny watermelons, they still kind of taste like dirt!
- Pistachios: These green, meaty nuts are the perfect crunchy addition. If allergic to nuts, use pumpkin seeds or sunflower seeds instead for texture.
- Green Onions and Fresh Mint: These two aromatic and fresh herbs lend pops of color and freshness to this dish.
- Pitted Castelvetrano Olives- These mild and buttery green olives are the prefect compliment to the flavors in this rice,salad recipe.
- Extra Virgin Olive Oil: Gives the dressing that velvety smoothness we all love, plus it has a nice dose of heart healthy fats.
- Lemon, Lemon Zest and Dijon Mustard: Makes the dressing bright, tangy and full of citrus flavor to make everything pop
- Pure Maple Syrup- to balance all of the flavors with a little sweetness
Olive tips: Be sure to select pitted olives for salads. Olive pits are very hard and someone can break a tooth! Even the ones in jars can have a stray sometimes which is why I like to chop them. While chopping, I am scanning for errant pits and discarding them before they get into the salad!
How to Make this Rice Salad
This salad recipe is really quite simple to make. None of the techniques are complicated and if you follow the recipe steps it is actually easy and beginner friendly.
- First cook the rice according to the package with water only. Let cool.
- While that is cooking, simply boil the beets in water. Once cooled, peel and chop.
- Meanwhile, chop the radishes, olives, green onions, pistachios and mint.
- Drain and rinse the lentils.
- Make the dressing by combining extra virgin olive oil, lemon, lemon zest, dijon mustard and pure maple syrup.
- Assemble the salad by combining the rice, lentils, beets, radishes, mint, olives, pistachios, green onions and the dressing. Toss and enjoy.
Tips for Making the Best Superfood Rice Salad
- Don't overcook the rice! Mushy rice is no fun in a salad. My favorite tip for this is to never stir cooking rice with a spoon. Once the water comes to a boil, turn down the heat, let it cook untouched and keep covered until all water is absorbed. Then fluff with a fork being careful not to damage the grains.
- Experiment with beans! White beans, chick peas, butter beans are all delicious in salads.
- Add more veggies according to what is in season! Roasted broccoli or cauliflower, refreshing cucumbers or tomatoes, even fresh dill, parsley or basil are nice additions and substitutions. There are endless combinations.
- Switch up the olives! Calamatas or Manzanilla are easy to find pitted so they are great in salad recipes like this rice salad.
FAQs
This question is kind of rhetorical! This rice salad recipe is chock full of superfoods plus it has a healthy dose of iron, fiber and protein. And there is so many veggies! Get your 5 servings in just one meal.
Yes jasberry rice is a gluten free rice. All rice is naturally gluten free. Rice is the gluten-free choice for celiacs. But always read labels because people with severe allergies also need to be wary of cross contamination.
Feel free to leave them out or substitute seeds instead. I recommend sunflower seeds or pumpkin seeds to keep a crunchy element in the salad.
If you cannot do lemon zest, that is ok. Just skip it, no worries there. Lemon zest adds a more concentrated and bright lemony flavor, but without it, this salad will still taste delicious.
Yes absolutely. I would recommend adding some tahini or yogurt to the dressing to give it some extra body, but it will still taste delicious if you omit the oil.
Other Delicious Grain and Rice Salad Recipes
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Superfood Rice Salad with Lentils and Beets
Ingredients
- 1 cup jasberry rice
- 3-4 chiogga beets small
- 2 small watermelon radishes cut into small cubes
- 2 green onions white and green parts chopped
- 2 tbsp mint leaves only chopped
- ½ cup pitted castelvetrano olives
- ½ cup pistachios chopped
- 15 oz can lentils drained and rinsed
Dressing
- ¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
- 2 tbsp pure maple syrup
- 1 large lemon juiced
- 1 tsp lemon zest
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tbsp dijon mustard
Instructions
- Cook the jasberry rice in water according to the package. Once cooked, fluff with a fork, then spread onto a large plate or sheet pan to cool.
- Simultaneously, boil the beets with enough water to cover in a saucepan until fork tender. Then run under cold water until cool, and peel them, then chop them into bite sized pieces.
- Make the dressing by combing extra virgin olive oil, lemon, lemon zest, salt, dijon and pure maple syrup. Whisk until smooth.
- Assemble the salad. To a large bowl add the rice, lentils, cooked beets, watermelon radishes, green onions, fresh pint, olives and pistachios. Pour the dressing over the top and toss until well combined.
- Enjoy for 2-3 days for the best quality and taste.
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