Vegan Red Rice Salad with Tahini Dressing

It’s sometimes nice to experiment with new ingredients. I’ve been craving a new salad recipe with substance, so this vegan red rice salad came at the perfect time!

I find that if I base it around leafy greens, it’s just not substantial enough to make it a main course. Michael and I are both big eaters so a green salad with some form of protein just won’t cut it.

It’s also quite common to combine tomato and cucumber with wild rice to make a delicious salad recipe. I wanted to step it up a notch and add more protein with the chickpeas, healthy fats with the dressing, and crunch with the walnuts. 

The hero of this recipe is still the red rice. It adds a unique chewy texture and taste that’s hard to describe.

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Where do you buy red rice?

I found the red rice a few months ago in the supermarket and wanted to try it. I’d never cooked with it before, and I thought that it would be interesting as a base for a cold salad.

I’ve also managed to spot it at my local bulk store so will be buying it from there in the future. I think I’ll always have some on hand, especially over the summer months when you feel like a cold salad that is filling and full of flavour. 

If you’re interested in buying red rice, check out your local supermarket or bulk foods store. If you still can’t find it, usually Asian grocers will stock it. The last resort would be to source your red rice online.

Why use red rice?

I’ve chosen to use red rice because it has a wonderful earthy and nutty flavour. The rice also doesn’t go too soft which you can find with white rice and some brown rice varieties. It probably resembles black rice the most in terms of its cooking instructions and texture. 

You can easily substitute this for brown rice or black rice. I personally love the red rice for this recipe. Plus the colour is fantastic!

I can see this rice being used in a lot of Asian-style desserts. I think I’ll experiment with this at some stage. Would you like to see a dessert recipe using red rice? 

Substitutes for the tahini dressing

If you don’t like tahini or don’t have it on hand, you can easily swap it out for a different dressing. It’s quite a versatile salad.

Here are a few suggestions:

• Easy 5-Minute Vegan Peanut Sauce
• Easy Garlic Parsley Sauce
• Healthy Vegan Green Goddess Dressing

This vegan red rice salad is efficient to make!

This salad is incredibly easy to make. Red rice is similar to black rice in that it takes a little longer to cook (about 40 mins) than white or brown rice.

Luckily though, your salad and dressing will only take you 5-10 mins to prepare while your rice is cooking.

You can quickly run out of things to do once you get things started, as you stand around waiting for the rice to cook. So it might be worth setting a timer to ensure you don’t overcook your rice if you decide to step away from the kitchen briefly.

This vegan red rice salad is excellent as a quick and easy meal. You can take it to work for lunch or pack it in your kid’s lunchbox. If they can’t have nuts at school, swap the walnuts for toasted sunflower seeds. Easy peasy!

Other delicious recipes you’ll love:

1. Rainbow Falafel Salad
2. Vegan Buddha Bowl Three Ways
3. Vegan Tacos with Lentils & Cauliflower (Gluten-Free)
4. Spiced Carrot & Millet Salad
5. Roasted Eggplant and Capsicum Buckwheat Salad

If you try this recipe, let me know! We’d love for you to leave a comment and rating below. If you want to go that extra mile, tag us on Instagram or share your photo of the recipe on Pinterest. 

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