Black Rice Salad with Spicy Toasted Sesame Dressing
This black rice salad is super easy to make and has some wonderfully nutritious ingredients—rich in colour and packed full of fresh flavours, and it’ll have your taste buds dancing!
I always like to create something a little different, and salads are no exception! You’ll find that most of my salad recipes can also be eaten as main meals on their own.
If you love fresh, vibrant and Japanese-inspired flavours, this black rice salad will be your new go-to recipe!
Kitchen tools used to make this black rice salad.
There’s only a handful of kitchen tools needed to create this wonderful, vibrant side dish.
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- Chopping board
- Large knife
- Medium pot
- Large bowl
- Mixing spoon
- Small jar
Ingredients used in this salad
The simple, yet tasty ingredients used in this salad are what makes this combination work. You’ll find the following ingredients in this dish:
- Black rice
- Roasted red peppers
- Fresh mint
- Fresh coriander
- Cucumber
- Toasted almonds
The dressing is made up of the following:
- Toasted sesame oil
- Tamari
- Lime juice
- Maple syrup
- Olive oil
- Chilli powder and fresh chillies
If you’d like to try a miso-based dressing, you can substitute this one for my miso sesame dressing.
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Why use black rice?
I’ve chosen to use black rice because it has a wonderful earthy and nutty flavour. The rice also doesn’t get too soft, which is typically found with some white rice varieties. It probably resembles red rice the most in terms of its cooking instructions, texture and flavour.
You can substitute this for brown rice or red rice. I personally love black rice for this dish, plus the colour contrast with the herbs and veggies is so beautiful!
Black rice is typically used in desserts or served as a side to curries and stir-fries. I loved the idea of having it in a salad that created a bold and refreshing look and flavour.
Tips for making this black rice salad
As this salad is straightforward, there aren’t too many tips needed to make this dish. I do, however, have a few tips for swaps if needed.
- If you don’t have black rice or can’t access it easily, you can swap it out for medium grain brown rice or red rice.
- You can swap out the maple syrup for any liquid sweetener of choice, agave or rice malt syrup are great alternatives.
- If you’re not gluten-free, you can switch out the tamari sauce for soy sauce.
- Besides almonds, other nuts that would be great in this salad are peanuts and cashews.
This salad is:
- Fresh
- Vibrant
- Spicy
- Gluten-free
- Perfectly balanced
- Healthy
- Flavourful
Other delicious recipes you’ll love:
- Rainbow Falafel Salad
- Vegan Red Rice Salad with Tahini Dressing
- Vegan Mediterranean Couscous Salad
- Spiced Carrot & Millet Salad
- Roasted Eggplant and Capsicum Buckwheat Salad
- Gluten-Free Tabbouleh with Quinoa and Pomegranate
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Black Rice Salad with Spicy Toasted Sesame Dressing
- Prep Time: 40 minutes
- Total Time: 40 minutes
- Yield: 4 as a side
Description
This fragrant black rice salad is naturally gluten-free, packed with nutritious ingredients making it a refreshing side dish!
Ingredients
- 1½ cups / 300g black rice*
- ¾ cup roasted red bell peppers (from a jar), sliced into thin strips
- 1½ cups / 1 large cucumber, diced into cubes
- 35g / 1 large handful coriander/cilantro, chopped
- 10 mint leaves, chopped
- ¼ cup / 30g toasted slivered almonds*
Dressing:
- 3 tablespoons toasted sesame oil
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 tablespoons tamari sauce
- 1 tablespoon maple syrup
- 1½ tablespoons fresh lime juice
- ¼ teaspoon chilli powder
- Pinch of salt
- 1 small red chilli, sliced and deseeded (optional)
Instructions
- Cook the rice as per packet instructions.
- While the rice cooks, chop all your ingredients and add to a large bowl.
- In a small jar, add all the dressing ingredients and shake well.
- Once the rice is cooked, give it a rinse under cold water and let it drain well. Please don’t skip the draining step as you will end up with a watery salad.
- Add the black rice to the large bowl and pour over the dressing.
- Toss well and serve.
- It will keep in the fridge for up to 3 days.
Notes
Black rice: The black rice that I buy is parboiled already, so cooking time is around 20 minutes. However, if you buy it uncooked, it will take about 40 minutes to cook.
Almonds: You can use whole or flaked almonds as well.
See the tips sections above for ingredient substitutes.
- Diet: Vegan
This recipe was easy to cook and I’ll take it for Christmas lunch!
Could I ask if the 1 3/4 cups rice that goes into the recipe is cooked or uncooked? Sorry for the silly question.
Hi Melanie, I mentioned in step 1 to cook it, so the one that is listed in the ingredients is uncooked 🙂 It’s not a silly question at all!
This looks delicious and I would like to serve it for a luncheon I’m having, with some steamed fish. Could you serve the salad warm – just add the cooked rice in warm rather than rinsing/draining? Thanks!
You could, however, the cucumber, cilantro and mint aren’t ideal for a warm salad.
Very good
Glad you enjoyed it, Marcella! 🙂
Love this! My husband does not like cucumber and we have a bounty of asparagus so grilled some up and chopped into bite sized pieces. Otherwise did not change a thing and it was amazing! Thank you
So glad you enjoyed it! The asparagus addition sounds delicious! Next time, would you mind leaving a rating with your review? It really helps us and other readers. Thank you! 🙏🏼
This is MAGIC!!!!!!
This is one of the most delicious meals I have ever made! This was a huge hit in my home!