One of my favourite entertaining recipes at the moment is this Wild Black Rice Salad as you can make it the day before and leftovers store in the fridge for a few days. It’s a winner every time I serve it and it pays to double the quantity to make sure there are leftovers for lunch the next few days.
It’s also been really exciting to incorporate a little rice back in occasionally, I especially love the balance of sweet raisins, crunchy almonds, sunflower seeds and a tangy tamari dressing with fresh fragrant coriander. Salad’s can be so morish!

Wild Black Rice Salad
Wild Black Rice Salad
Serves 4
You will need:
- 1 cup wild black rice
- 1 large carrot (or 2 medium) grated or julienned with a mandolin
- 1 small spinach onion thinly sliced
- 1 cup chopped coriander
- 1/2 cup chopped spring onion
- 1/2 cup raisins
- 1/4 cup sunflower seeds (or preferred seeds)
- 1/4 cup chopped almonds (or preferred seeds for nut free version)
For the dressing:
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 2 tbsp lime juice
- 2 tbsp tamari
- 1/2 tsp sea salt
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
Method:
- Cook rice as per instructions on packet and allow to cool
- While rice is cooling, julienne carrots using a mandolin or zoodle grater (a standard grater will work but won’t give the nice crunchy texture) and place in large mixing bowl
- Thinly slice Spanish onion and add to bowl
- Reserve 1 tbsp of seeds and almonds then add the rest to bowl
- Add cooled rice to bowl
- Mix dressing ingredients and add to bowl, mixing well
- Reserve 2 tbsp of fresh coriander and spring onion then add the rest to the bowl and gently mix through
- Plate rice salad and garnish with reserved herbs, almonds and seeds

Wild Black Rice Salad
If you like this recipe, leave me a comment, would love to hear from you and it really helps me out 🙂
- You will need:
- 1 cup wild black rice
- 1 large carrot (or 2 medium) grated or julienned with a mandolin
- 1 small spinach onion thinly sliced
- 1 cup chopped coriander
- ½ cup chopped spring onion
- ½ cup raisins
- ¼ cup sunflower seeds (or preferred seeds)
- ¼ cup chopped almonds (or preferred seeds for nut free version)
- For the dressing:
- ¼ cup olive oil
- 2 tbsp lime juice
- 2 tbsp tamari
- ½ tsp sea salt
- ½ tsp black pepper
- Method:
- Cook rice as per instructions on packet and allow to cool
- While rice is cooling, julienne carrots using a mandolin or zoodle grater (a standard grater will work but won't give the nice crunchy texture) and place in large mixing bowl
- Thinly slice Spanish onion and add to bowl
- Reserve 1 tbsp of seeds and almonds then add the rest to bowl
- Add cooled rice to bowl
- Mix dressing ingredients and add to bowl, mixing well
- Reserve 2 tbsp of fresh coriander and spring onion then add the rest to the bowl and gently mix through
- Plate rice salad and garnish with reserved herbs, almonds and seeds
Holy cow this looks fantastic. I am a huge fan of black rice! Just beautiful May.
Thanks so much Linda!
Beautiful salad, and beautiful site re-do! Great job on both! 🙂
Thanks Raia!
What a gorgeous salad! It’s been forever since I’ve had wild black rice but you are inspiring me to out and buy some.
So glad Thank you Jean
drool!! that dressing and topping combo sounds fantabulous! So darn pretty too!
Thanks Tessa! 💖
The seeds, raisins and cilantro!!! This looks so nubby and delicious!
Thanks So much Megan
This salad is beautiful! I love wild black rice with raisins together!
Thanks Joni!
I love rice salads, but I’ve never tried wild rice before! I already have all the ingredients, so I’d better get going, this will be great for lunches!
So glad! Enjoy and thank you 🙂
Oh wow what a great combo of flavors – and I love that you can make it up ahead of time! thank you!
Thanks so much Renee! 💖
What a delicious side dish. So many healthy ingredients!
Thanks Kathryn!
awesome food I have ever test !
I first tried black rice in Russia and fell in love with it. Great recipe and great flavors !
Thanks Tatiana!
What a beautiful dish. I have never tried black rice before but it looks delicious with all the flavor combinations.
It’s deliciously good! Thank you 🙂
I love wild rice! I definitely want to use it in my next salad. This recipe looks SO flavorful!
Thanks Liz!
First of all, this is so gorgeous! Who wouldn’t want to devour this?! I love all of the flavors and textures in this. I haven’t had wild black rice in so long, I’m going to have to make this soon.
Thanks so much Emily! Hope you enjoy 🙂
Show stopper!! Looks so good!! I’ve never eaten black rice!
Thanks carol!
This is just heaven, and the simple-but-perfect dressing brings it all together perfectly. Absolutely love it!
Thanks Anna!
This is gorgeous! I really don’t eat a lot of rice, but I do love black rice – it’s such a chewy, nutty and satisfying bite.
This is an absolutely beautiful salad! We have been on a salad kick and I have been into using farro or barley, and will welcome using rice
Yassss! All the color and textures! Such a beautiful dish!