Colorful rice salad, original and ideal for everyone, what could be better than this first course for a complete, dietetic and also appetizing meal that everyone likes? Rice salad is a classic italian summer recipe, when it’s hot it’s ideal to eat a cold and light first course, that’s what you need! How to make rice salad? A simple recipe like this can become much tastier by assembling the ingredients rather than using any ready-made rice seasoning. The classic recipe is prepared with varied ingredients, fresh vegetables, fish, seafood, ham, and with or without pickles, however if you want a vegan or vegetarian rice salad, just eliminate from the recipe those ingredients that you don’t include in your diet, we offer you some ideas. In this recipe we also want to give you ideas for changing the original recipe, so you can change the ingredients you don’t like right away!
How to make rice salad with different ingredients?
The original rice salad can be enjoyed cold or warm, so once the rice has been boiled al dente it can be cooled under running water or left to cool at room temperature before being seasoned. Among the condiments for rice we inevitably find pickles which are an important ingredient of the classic recipe, but if you don’t like them you can replace them with fresh and crunchy vegetables, such as fresh cucumbers or carrots, zucchini, in short, whatever you prefer.
To make rice salad with different ingredients you need to understand what kind of flavor we want to get and who it is intended for, for example if we prepare it for children we can opt for a version with boiled sausage cut into slices, or only with drained canned tuna with fresh tomato, cheese and chopped basil.
If you love rice salad with fish or seafood you must absolutely try to prepare it in a simple way using steamed salmon or shrimps as combined ingredients with fresh vegetables such as tomato, peas, carrots, spring onions, cucumbers, peppers.
For a vegetarian version of the original rice salad, instead of using tuna and cooked ham, we can add sliced or diced boiled eggs to our cold salad.
A vegan idea instead could be with these ingredients: tomato, peas, pickles, other fresh vegetables that you particularly like and then the tofu, cut into small pieces in the salad flavored with a healthy dressing based on extra virgin olive oil, salt and herbs herbs such as oregano, pepper, mint and basil.
Original rice salad recipe
Personalizing a rice salad is very easy, but how do you make the original recipe? How do you prepare real rice salad? The first and inimitable rice salad has all kinds of ingredients, a real mix of colours, flavors and liveliness. The crunchy vegetable and rice salad is perfect for replacing pasta at lunch, especially in the summer when a light and healthy dish is a pleasure.
Original Rice Salad Recipe
Other details
- Difficulty: Easy
Ingredients
Ingredients for Rice Salad
- 6.6 oz Rice for salad (or parboiled)
- 3.5 oz Ham, cubed
- 7 oz Canned tuna, drained
- 5.3 oz Tomatoes
- 2.6 oz Red bell pepper
- 2.6 oz Yellow bell pepper
- 2.8 oz Black olives, pitted
- 5.3 oz Caciocavallo cheese
- 2.8 oz Cooked green peas, drained
- 2.8 oz Pickles
- To taste Fresh chives, oregano, or basil
- To taste Fine salt
- To taste Mayonnaise
- To taste Balsamic vinegar
Instructions
How to make italian rice salad
- Begin by preparing the rice. Rinse the rice well and put it in a pot of boiling salted water to cook. Remember to drain the rice a couple of minutes before it's fully cooked.
- While the rice is cooking, prepare the vegetables. Clean the peppers by removing the seeds and stem, then slice the peppers and cut into cubes. Cut the tomatoes in half, remove the water and seeds, and cut the flesh and outer layer into cubes like the peppers.
- Slice the pickles and de-seeded black olives into rounds. Finally, slice and then cube the cooked ham and Caciocavallo cheese. Combine all the ingredients for the dressing in a large bowl and crumble the fresh herbs (chives, oregano, or basil, or all three if you like). Tear the drained canned tuna by hand and add it to the bowl along with the drained cooked peas.
- Drain the rice and add it to the mixture to make the salad. Add a spoonful of mayonnaise and a few drops of balsamic vinegar, if desired, then mix everything together with a wooden spoon until all the ingredients in the super rice salad are well combined.
- Cover the seasoned rice salad with all the ingredients using plastic wrap and put it in the fridge until it's warm or cold (depending on your preference). Once at the desired temperature, the rice salad is ready to be served.
Conservation
Rice salad can be stored in the fridge in an airtight container for 2-3 days. Freezing is not recommended.Tips
SHARE the Classic Rice Salad Recipe and ideas for making it with different ingredients.
