Wild Rice Salad with Apples, Pomegranate, Cranberries, and Walnuts
This festive winter salad recipe makes for a beautiful easy side dish for holiday parties, lunches, and weeknight dinners.
Servings: 6 people, as a side
Ingredients
For the Dressing
- 1/4 cup lemon juice
- 1 tablespoon honey
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon sumac
- Kosher salt
- Black pepper
- 1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
For the Salad
- 1 1/2 cups wild rice
- 2 cups spinach
- 2 crisp semi-sweet apples (I used a combination of Granny Smith and honeycrisp), chopped
- 2 shallots, chopped
- 1 cup pomegranate seeds (from about 1 small pomegranate)
- 1 cup roughly chopped walnuts
- 3/4 cup dried cranberries
- 1/2 cup chopped parsley leaves
- 1/2 cup chopped mint leaves
Instructions
- Make the dressing. In a small bowl, combine the lemon juice and honey. Add the garlic powder, sumac, and a large pinch of kosher salt and black pepper. Whisk continuously as you drizzle in the extra virgin olive oil. Set aside.
- Cook the wild rice. Cook the rice according to the package instructions (mine took about 40 minutes). Transfer to a large serving bowl.
- Mix the salad. When the rice has cooled just slightly (but not completely), add the spinach, apples, shallots, pomegranate seeds, walnuts, dried cranberries, parsley, and mint.
- Dress and rest. Pour the dressing over the salad and toss. Taste and adjust seasoning to your liking, then set aside to cool completely before serving, and serve at room temperature.
Notes
- Cover and refrigerate any leftovers for up to 3 days. Bring to room temperature before serving.
- Dress the salad while the rice is still warm, as warm rice will do a better job of soaking in the flavorful dressing.
- I used water, but you can use low-sodium chicken or vegetable broth to cook the rice if you’d like. Just be sure to cook it until it’s tender but not mushy. It should still have some resistance when you chew it, but no crunchy or chalky center.
- Visit our shop to browse quality Mediterranean ingredients including olive oils, honey, jams, and spices.
Nutrition
Calories: 472.2kcal | Carbohydrates: 56.7g | Protein: 10.2g | Fat: 25.8g | Saturated Fat: 3g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 10.8g | Monounsaturated Fat: 10.7g | Sodium: 18.3mg | Potassium: 476.8mg | Fiber: 6.7g | Sugar: 20.1g | Vitamin A: 1530.6IU | Vitamin C: 18.3mg | Calcium: 61.7mg | Iron: 2.5mg
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