This vegetarian spinach and rice salad is the best summer lunch ever! It’s nutritious, satisfying, and simple and made with brown rice and lemon sauce.
I probably ate a grain salad for lunch every day between June and September.
Grain salads fill me up, but they’re light and cool enough to use during the hottest part of the year. They showcase whole grains, the cornerstone of a plant-based diet and one of my favorite foods. And they come in many varieties.
I’ve been making and sharing grain salads on this blog for years. The spinach and rice salad I will share today is one of the easiest salads I’ve ever written.
Simplicity has served me well lately. After writing the cookbook, I was still at that stage and didn’t want to do anything particularly complicated. Since I’m only moving in for a few weeks, I use up the whole grains in my pantry.
This includes brown rice.
Eat cold rice on warm days
In my apartment, several types of brown rice are available at any given time: long-grain, short-grain, and semi-cooked. I probably use short-grain brown rice the most, but long-grain brown rice also has many uses.
Brown is on many of my plates and bowls. I use it to make simple skillet meals, including my super adaptable grain, green and bean skillet, lemon dill, zucchini chickpea rice, and cumin lentils and rice.
Brown rice accompanies stir-fries, tofu stir-fries, and simple vegetarian proteins, such as my baked lemon pepper cubes of tempeh. I like to eat it with vegetarian chili.
When I wrote Power Plate, I realized how cool rice in a salad was. That book contains a recipe for a brown rice table, one of my favorite summer dishes.
I remember how I did Tabbouleh against my expectations. It’s not traditional, but I love that this cooked rice adds a little extra heftiness to dishes usually made with small, whole grains.
I was also surprised at how delicious cold rice with crispy vegetables and delicious condiments was. It’s both filling and refreshing, not to mention a clever way to use leftovers.
The same goes for the spinach and rice salad. It features a mix of crispy grains, steamed asparagus, juicy grapes or cherry tomatoes, and rice. The creamy, lemony Dijon vinaigrette brings all the ingredients to life.
Does the rice want to be cold?
It is an excellent rice salad rather than a cold rice salad. When you mix the ingredients, the rice doesn’t have to be cold.
When making a salad, I usually cook the rice and let it come to room temperature. When it is stirred with the other ingredients, it cools slightly.
If you have leftovers to store, a rice salad will keep for a few days. The rice will be cold the next time you eat it.
In other words, depending on how you prepare it, this can be a room-temperature, cold, or cold grain salad. It tastes great, no matter the temperature.
How to make a brown rice salad
Luckily, this salad is straightforward to make.
Step 1: Cook the rice (like pasta!)
You’ll start by cooking rice. I firmly advocate boiling brown rice in a large pot of boiling water, like pasta, and then draining and steaming it when it’s done.
I first learned this technique from Saveur magazine and haven’t cooked any other way since. Cooking rice like pasta ensures that the rice is fluffy and cooked perfectly every time, without worrying about whether the ratio of rice to liquid is correct.
It also ensures you will have no mushy or undercooked rice.
Step 2: Cool the rice
I recommend cooling the rice for at least 30 minutes until it is warm or reaches room temperature.
The rice can also be put in the refrigerator to cool completely. If you like, you can prepare the rice a day or two in advance, store it in the fridge, and use it to make salads when ready.
Step 3: Steam asparagus (or other vegetables)
I originally made a rice salad with my stuff, a bunch of beautiful bright green asparagus stalks.
Before adding them to the salad, I lightly steam the stems so they are crisp and soft. I let them cool a bit like rice, then cut them into chunks and add them to the salad.
If you have other vegetables at home, such as broccoli, cauliflower, zucchini, carrots, beets, or whatever, feel free to substitute these vegetables for asparagus.
Step 4: Stir the dressing
The sauce for the rice salad is a variation of a new recipe I’ve been making: a vinaigrette with tahini.
I’ve always only made tahini. This site offers many varieties: green tahini, balsamic Tahini, Tahini beet Tahini, turmeric Tahini, and lemon Tahini, just to name a few.
The dressing for my brown rice salad is different. This vinaigrette is based primarily on olive oil, but a little tahini makes it richer and creamier.
I’ve been loving this combination lately! Tahini, if you will, has the creaminess of tahini sauce and the greasiness of oil-based salad dressing. It’s a perfect mixture covering all the grains and vegetables, which is ideal for this recipe.
Step 5: Mix and enjoy
You can mix all the ingredients once the rice and vegetables are cooked and cooled and the seasoning is mixed.
I use baby spinach as a base for my salad. I liked the texture of the spinach with the rice and asparagus, and the dark green contrasted well with the bright red grape tomatoes.
If you have another salad green that you love, feel free to use those greens instead.
Meal preparation & storage
It’s hard to find a salad recipe that makes reliable leftovers. Luckily, spinach and rice salad are two of them.
Because this is primarily a whole-grain salad, the stored portions will be kept in the refrigerator for several days. A rice salad is an excellent option for a pre-made summer lunch (which is what I did for my lunch last week).
How to make spinach and rice salad
Regarding leftovers, the salad can be divided into 4 small portions or 2-3 large portions.
To make it more filling, you can add chickpeas, white beans, lentils, or tofu.
You can also eat the salad with cold or hot soups. I eat it with my sweet potato and red pepper soup, which is a good combination. My super simple green soup is another great way to go with a grain salad.
Ingredients
1 cup dry long-grain brown rice (180g; You can also use short-grain brown rice.
1/2 lb asparagus, trimmed ends (225 lb)
2 tablespoons olive oil
One tablespoon of tahini
2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
1 TBSP chopped scallions (optional)
1/2 teaspoon of acceptable sea salt
Freshly ground black pepper, according to taste
2 cups (heaps) baby spinach, roughly chopped (60g)
1 cup grapes or cherry tomatoes, halved
Instructions
- Place the rice in a fine-mesh sieve and rinse with cold water for about 15 seconds. Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add the rice (like pasta) and cook until tender, about 35 to 40 minutes, then remove the rice from the heat. Drain the rice and return it to the pan. Cover and steam for 5 minutes. Remove the lid and gently fluff the rice with a fork. Cover and let sit for 30 minutes. The cooked rice can be transferred to an airtight container and stored in the refrigerator for up to two days before continuing with the rest of the recipe.
- Fill a large pot with a few inches of water and a steamer. Bring the water to a boil. Turn the heat down to low. Place the asparagus stalks in the steamer, cover the pot, and steam until very tender but still bright green and crisp, 4 to 10 minutes (this will largely depend on the thickness of your asparagus stalks). Remove the steamer from the pot and let the stems cool so you can hold them. Cut them into 2-inch pieces.
- In a small bowl, whisk together the oil, tahini, lemon juice, mustard, spring onion (if you have one), salt, and freshly ground black pepper.
- When the rice is ready, place it in a large bowl? Add the cooked asparagus, spinach, and tomatoes. Pour the vinaigrette over the salad ingredients. Mix well. Add olive oil, lemon, salt, or pepper as needed. Supply or store.
