This Wild Rice Salad with Oranges and Grapes is so delicious! With chewy wild rice, sweet grapes and juicy oranges, it's perfect for a potluck or a picnic. Everyone loves it and you'll always take home an empty bowl!
My Favorite Picnic and Potluck Sides and Salads
Does anyone else love potlucks? Are they a thing of the past? Am I showing my age?
There is just something so homey and as someone who loves to eat as much as she loves to cook, I appreciate a table laden with home cooked goodness.
Someone always makes one of those salads with mini marshmallows and fruit. Green beans cooked the good old fashioned way till they practically melt in your mouth. Best of all, there is always banana pudding!
Equally as wonderful, though with a few more bugs, are picnics. Finding the perfect location, spreading the blanket and unloading the picnic basket. Everything taste better on a picnic.
If you're wanting something new to take on a potluck or picnic (or just a day at home!) this wild rice salad recipe is perfect! It's served at room temperature and with no mayo, you don't have to worry about keeping it cold. It goes with everything and it's even good for you!
Wild Rice Salad with Oranges, Grapes and Dried Cranberries
This Wild Rice Salad is so delicious! It gets lots of flavor from the orange segments, grapes, and dried cranberries. The wild rice is chewy and soaks up the vinaigrette. The oranges had a juicy sweetness, the grapes pop in your mouth, there's a little tartness from the cranberries and some crunch from the pecans!
Variations for this rice salad:
- Zest the oranges and use some it in the salad if you'd like, it really punches up the flavor.
- It calls for Raspberry Vinegar, an apple cider would work - so would my Mango Vinegar or my Blueberry Vinegar.
- In place of pecans you can substitute walnuts.
- Dried cranberries - you can use dried tart cherries or raisins.
Since you can almost always find oranges and grapes at the grocery store, this salad is practically all season. It would be perfect for a picnic in the summer and still feel at home right alongside a ham at Christmas.
This is one of my favorite recipes from Ina Garten, I've been making it for years and it comes from, How Easy is That?
Looking for More Tasty Side Salads
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Wild Rice Salad with Oranges and Grapes
Ingredients
- 1 cup long-grain wild rice 6 ounces
- Kosher salt
- 2 navel oranges
- 2 tablespoons good olive oil
- 2 tablespoons freshly squeezed orange juice
- 2 tablespoons raspberry vinegar
- ½ cup seedless green grapes cut in half
- ½ cup pecans toasted
- ¼ cup dried cranberries
- 2 tablespoons scallions white and green parts, chopped
- ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Instructions
- Place 4 cups of water, two teaspoons of salt and the wild rice in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer uncovered for 50 to 60 minutes or until rice is tender. Drain well, return to pan, cover and let steam for about 10 minutes.
- Place the rice in a medium sized mixing bowl. Add the orange segments, by cutting off all of the peel and pith (zest first like I did if you'd like), then using a sharp knife, cut in between the membranes, dropping the segments into the bowl. Do this over the bowl and the orange juice will also go in the bowl.
- Add the olive oil, orange juice raspberry vinegar, grapes, pecans, cranberries, scallions and black pepper. Toss and adjust seasonings.
- Allow flavors to blend for at least 30 minutes and serve at room temperature.
Notes
- Zest the oranges and use some it in the salad if you'd like, it really punches up the flavor.
- It calls for Raspberry Vinegar, an apple cider would work - so would my Mango Vinegar or my Blueberry Vinegar.
- In place of pecans you can substitute walnuts.
- Dried cranberries - you can use dried tart cherries or raisins.
Caroline says
I love the nuttiness of wild rice and it goes so well with citrus flavors. This sounds fresh and tasty.
Julie @ Running in a Skirt says
I love this! The oranges or gorgeous and the wild rice pairs perfectly.
Brian Jones says
That sounds delicious. Like you, pantry eating has been a common theme as late which is par for the course for us at the end of the winter season. This sounds like it would be a great base to build on some spring flavours when they begin to bloom over the coming weeks too! Defo thinking some asparagus which is awesome with oranges.
Miz Helen says
Congratulations!
Your recipe is featured on Full Plate Thursday this week and has been pinned to our Features Board. Hope you enjoy your weekend and your new Red Plate!
Miz Helen
swathi says
Wild rice salad oranges and grapes looks delicious, thanks for sharing with Hearth and soul blog hop.pinning and tweeting.
Deb in Hawaii says
I love wild rice--it has such a great nutty flavor and adds great texture to a salad like this one. I like that grape and orange combination and it looks so pretty so the plate. (And I am coveting your green plate (bowl?) too!)
(BTW--I really think it belongs over at the Souper (Soup, Salad, & Sammie) Sundays link-up at Kahakai Kitchen--hint, hint! 😉 This is the link to this weeks inlinkz--up through Sunday morning: http://kahakaikitchen.blogspot.com/2016/04/curtis-stones-thai-soup-with-monchong.html)
Julie @ Running in a Skirt says
The oranges in this are gorgeous! What a scrumptious meal!
Ellen Pilch says
Thank you for the recipe. That looks really good. I am impressed that you have been eating out of your pantry for so long.
Jackie Copeland says
Yum! Wish we lived closer so I could raid your pantry instead of making last minute grocery runs!
Kristen @ A Mind Full Mom says
Pam, you are right, this is a seasonless recipe and a recipe that is perfect for all seasons. I love the rice with fruit!