Looking to find new ways to eat more vegetables? Fall in love with the deliciousness of this colorful Italian Style Rice Salad! It looks beautiful, it’s budget-friendly, healthy, and it all comes together in less than 30 minutes.
Start out by making the rice. Next, make the dressing. It’s a simple mix of olive oil, lemon juice, garlic, and Italian dried herbs. Mix this up in a glass jar and shake well. Last up, toss your Italian salad ingredients together and drizzle with the dressing. Serve it up with more fresh herbs and mozzarella. Bite-sized fresh mozzarella balls add just a bit more substance to this salad and turn it into a perfect side salad or a light lunch. Omit mozzarella if you want it vegetarian or vegan.
To make the Italian Style Rice Salad, you will need the following ingredients:
Rinse and drain 1 cup long-grain rice. Place the drained rice and 1 ¼ cups cold water into a saucepan and bring to a boil. Once at a boil, reduce heat to simmer, cover with a lid, and cook for 8 minutes. Do not lift the lid.
Once 8 minutes have passed, remove the saucepan from heat and leave the lid on for 5-10 minutes. Then use a fork to fluff up the rice. Transfer the cooked rice to a bowl and place in the fridge to chill.
In a glass jar with a lid, combine 5 tablespoons olive oil, juice of ½ lemon, 1 tablespoon Italian seasoning, 2 teaspoons garlic puree or 4 minced garlic cloves and shake well.
Combine the rice with 8 chopped sun-dried tomatoes, 1 diced yellow bell pepper, ½ diced cucumber, 1 diced red onion, ¾ cup quartered cherry or plum tomatoes, ¾ cup sweet corn, ½ cup halved green or/and black olives, 4 tablespoons pine nuts, 3 tablespoons chopped fresh basil, 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley. Add in 7 ounces chopped mozzarella balls if using. Pour over the dressing and mix well.
Serve garnished with more fresh herbs if desired.
The bright flavors of this delicious Italian Style Rice Salad make it a perfect side dish for dinner or lunch. Serve it alongside your favorite protein, and please come back to leave a comment with your thoughts.
This Italian Style Rice Salad is fantastic. My kids loved helping mix the veggies, and we all enjoyed the flavors together.
This rice salad was so simple to make! I made it for a picnic with my family, and everyone loved it. The fresh herbs and mozzarella made it really tasty and colorful.
Such a fresh salad
I made this for a picnic and everybody loved it! The flavors blend so well together. It's now our family favorite.
Superb!
OMG, this rice salad is a total game changer! Made it for a picnic with the fam, and they devoured it in minutes. So easy!
Such a wow!
This Italian Rice Salad is super easy and delicious! I made it for my solo picnic.
I loved this Italian Style Rice Salad! It was so easy to make. I whipped it up for a picnic and everyone raved about how colorful and tasty it was. Definitely a new favorite of mine.
OMG, this Italian Style Rice Salad is a game changer! Whipped it up for our family picnic last weekend and it was a hit! So colorful and tasty, my kiddos gobbled it up! Super easy to make too, I’ll definitely be making it again! 🍅🥗
This rice salad is great. I made it for a family picnic, and everyone loved it. Super simple, colorful, and healthy, it was a hit. The dressing added a nice touch. I will make it again soon.
Made this rice salad for my mates' get-together, and it was a hit! So easy and colourful. Can't believe such a simple recipe can taste so great.
Wow! This rice salad is a banger! Whipped it up for a picnic, and everyone loved it. Colourful, fresh, and so easy – my new fave!
So delicious and bright salad! Thanks for sharing the recipe!