Perfect Summer Rice Salad
Rice salad is a cold and quick dish to prepare, fresh and light, primarily consisting of boiled rice to which various ingredients can be added according to personal tastes (never something like rice dressing! Purists don’t add mayonnaise (but I like it and use it), making it a dish with endless variations.
A Mediterranean recipe, ideal in summer to serve as a first course or as a main dish.
It can also be prepared in advance, stored for two or three days, and is perfect to bring to the beach, on a boat, or a picnic for a healthy and light meal, but tasty.
Rice salad is a simple dish, but it is necessary to follow some tricks that I reveal here to make it perfect:
1) First of all, the quality of the rice is important; it must be suitable to maintain the cooking without overcooking: you can use Carnaroli or Ribe, even Basmati works if you want to season it with more oriental ingredients.
2) The rice for the rice salad should cook in plenty of water, slightly salted. If we use little water, the grains will tend to stick together.
3) It’s also crucial to perfectly respect the cooking time and drain it even three minutes before the time indicated on the package.
4) Once the rice is drained, it’s important to wait for it to cool down before seasoning it to avoid the heat ‘cooking’ the other ingredients. DO NOT cool the rice under running water, as it loses the starch.
5) DO NOT be tempted to pass it under cold water; it would cool down, but it would lose both starch and flavor.
6) DO NOT store rice salad in the fridge; rice salad should be consumed at room temperature, not cold from the fridge.
Cook the rice, drain it, let it cool, season it, and let it ‘rest’ in a cool place in the house.
If you’re looking for other summer recipes (sweet or savory), click on my: “Summer Special“.
If you’re on a diet for the summer, click on my Special: “Light Recipes…but Delicious“.
- Cold Pasta alla Crudaiola. Easy and Quick Summer Recipe
- Cold Pearl Barley and Peas Salad. Easy Summer Recipe.
- Summer Tomatoes Stuffed with Rice and…a Secret Ingredient! Family Recipe.
- Cold Rice with Shrimp, Arugula, and Cocktail Sauce
- Very Tender Octopus Salad by Laura Ravaioli. Light and Easy Recipe.
- Difficulty: Very Easy
- Cost: Economical
- Preparation time: 15 Minutes
- Portions: 6 People
- Cooking methods: Stovetop
- Cuisine: Italian
- Seasonality: Spring, Summer, Ferragosto
- Energy 654.31 (Kcal)
- Carbohydrates 69.47 (g) of which sugars 4.99 (g)
- Proteins 26.87 (g)
- Fat 30.33 (g) of which saturated 3.81 (g)of which unsaturated 9.36 (g)
- Fibers 5.17 (g)
- Sodium 4,146.92 (mg)
Indicative values for a portion of 80 g processed in an automated way starting from the nutritional information available on the CREA* and FoodData Central** databases. It is not food and / or nutritional advice.
* CREATES Food and Nutrition Research Center: https://www.crea.gov.it/alimenti-e-nutrizione https://www.alimentinutrizione.it ** U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service. FoodData Central, 2019. https://fdc.nal.usda.gov
Ingredients for the Perfect Summer Rice Salad
- 2 cups Carnaroli rice
- 5.6 oz tuna (I use Consorcio, 2 cans)
- 1 cup emmental (diced)
- 4 hard-boiled eggs
- 10.6 oz green olives
- 3.5 tbsp coarse salt
- 1.4 oz extra virgin olive oil (quality)
- 5.3 oz green chili peppers (fried, optional)
- 5.3 oz eggplants (diced, fried, optional)
- 7 oz Pachino tomatoes (about 10, optional)
- to taste mayonnaise (optional)
- 1 tbsp vinegar (for hard-boiled eggs cooking, optional)
Tools
- Bowls Guzzini set of bowls in various colors
- Chopping Board with two incorporated side trays, oven-safe
- Mezzaluna sharp with double blade
- Small Pot
- Pot
Steps for the Perfect Summer Rice Salad
Take a large pot full of water (it’s essential that the water is abundant) and add the coarse salt. Once it reaches a boil, pour in the rice and cook it al dente! I drain it 3 minutes before the cooking time indicated on the package.
Do not rinse the rice under cold water, as I mentioned above, it loses flavor and starch, which are vital for a rice salad.
Pour it into a large bowl, season it with 1.4 oz of extra virgin olive oil, and wait for it to cool down.
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Meanwhile, take a small pot with cold water, a tablespoon of vinegar, and a pinch of fine salt, place the 4 eggs in it and cook for 10 minutes from the boiling point. Then let them cool well before slicing.
Once the rice is cold, add: the drained tuna, pitted and chopped green olives, diced emmental, and sliced hard-boiled eggs. This is the base seasoning I use; then I also added diced fried eggplants and chopped fried green chili peppers (already cooked, bought at the deli), and finally, I seasoned everything with mayonnaise. You can also add sliced cherry tomatoes, diced cooked ham, black olives, salad, sausages, diced mortadella… but I like it with the ingredients I’ve listed above, it’s really tasty.
Shopping Tips!!!
To weigh the ingredients, I use this practical digital kitchen scale, with a large removable bowl, tare function, and built-in timer, available on Amazon at a great price.
For chopping and mincing various foods, I always use this convenient cutting board with side trays (one for sliced food, the other for scraps).
For quickly slicing vegetables, I’ve used this sharp Mezzaluna with double blade.
Ideal is this beautiful bowl to store and preserve rice salad, a set of bowls in various sizes and colors.
You can purchase all these items I recommend above on Amazon at a great price, just click directly on the relevant links.
FAQ (Questions and Answers)
How do you store Rice Salad?
DO NOT store rice salad in the refrigerator; rice salad should be consumed at room temperature. It can stay out of the fridge for a day if well-covered; if it lasts longer, put it in the fridge, but take it out at least three hours before consuming it. Rice salad can also be frozen: thaw it at room temperature when you decide to eat it again. If you want to freeze rice salad, I recommend adding mayonnaise and any cherry tomatoes only after it has thawed well. Do not freeze rice salad with mayonnaise.
