Mediterranean Brown Rice Salad

You didn’t really think I’d share a rather dull (but life essential) post for how to cook brown rice without following it up with an extremely delicious way to use it, did you??

Brown Rice Salad

This is a Brown Rice Salad that aspires to be everything you expect a rice salad to be (healthy, filling, fresh) and everything you don’t expect it to be (can’t-stop-eating-it-good). It’s also a rice salad that will surprise those of you who grew up not realising such a thing existed. (Pretty sure that would be anyone with Asian parents 🙋🏻‍♀️). It is very, very good. It’s fresh, juicy, bright, and really makes the most of the addictive nutty, slightly chewy texture of brown rice though it can be made with any type of cooked rice, or other grains for that matter (farro, pearl barley, tiny or giant couscous).

Ingredients in Brown Rice Salad

Here’s what I put into this brown rice salad – though you’ll see an extensive list of customisation suggestions below!

Brown rice – only perfectly cooked brown rice allowed in these parts! No mushiness permitted 😉. Alternatives: any rice – normal or fancy (white, jasmine, basmati, wild etc), quinoa, and anything rice-like shaped such as farro, pearl barley, couscous; Cucumber & tomato – the freshness and juiciness; Red onion – welcome sharp bite. Alternatives: green onion, Eschallots/French shallots; Dill and coriander – one of the best fresh herb combinations for salads, in my humble opinion. I use it regularly – such as in this Pearl Couscous Salad and JP’s Iceberg Lettuce Salad; and Rocket / Arugula – I really like adding a bit of green fluffage into any starch based salad. For interest, extra freshness and to add a different textural element. Alternatives: any sliceable leafy greens – baby or normal spinach, kale (marinate it to make it softer), cabbage).

Customise the vegetables with any raw or cooked vegetables you want (diced and sautéed in a little oil perhaps with some garlic, or roasted – try Roasted Eggplant. It’s amazing!).

Optional Extras

You’ll see in the video and photos that I’ve also included black olives which I consider an optional extra for this Mediterranean themed version of this rice salad. I don’t always include it – the above ingredients are my base version. It’s also shown topped with crispy golden slices of halloumi. Adding some pan-kissed cheese is a seriously delicious way to elevate this salad to show-off status (not unlike a French Warm Goat’s Cheese Salad) or, you know, just treat yourself 😂).

Lemon Dressing Ingredients

And here’s what goes into the lemon dressing: lemon juice, garlic, mustard (for thickening), extra virgin olive oil, salt and pepper.

How to make this Brown Rice Salad

I always feel like I’m teaching you how to suck eggs when I show the process photos for a salad! 😂 But I do think it’s a useful one-pager to show how this comes together. For all those times you don’t have 90 seconds to watch the recipe video!

Elevate it to meal status

I know I said the crispy golden halloumi is optional, but everytime I see a photo of it, I want to take it back and make it part of the base recipe! The only reason why I won’t is because I like that this salad is interesting and fresh enough to be a side salad OR a meal. Also, even if you don’t happen to have a block of halloumi in your fridge waiting to pan fry to golden perfection, there’s plenty of other ways to elevate it to meal status:

Crumble of feta Sprinkle of parmesan Dollop of yogurt Nuts – try flaked almonds (toasted), or walnuts, pepitas, sunflowers, cashews, pistachios, pine nuts Can of tuna, salmon or other fish Sliced poached chicken (super juicy even fridge cold if you use this method) Any other cooked protein that takes your fancy

What to serve with this Brown Rice Salad

This is a wonderful two-in-one side salad for meals (ie starch + veg in one dish) but interesting and colourful enough to stand on its own as a light meal or as part of a lunch spread. Here are a few suggestions: