Veggie Packed Rice Salad
A rice salad filled with crunchy vegetables, chickpeas, fresh herbs, and dressed with a simple olive oil and lemon juice dressing. Perfect for your weekly meal planning, picnics, and a guaranteed crowd-pleaser.
Substitutes:
- No red pepper? You can use any vegetables you have on hand for this salad such as tomatoes, roasted butternut squash, finely sliced courgette, grated carrots, finely chopped lettuce, broccoli or sweetcorn.
- No parsley? Use any herbs you like such as chives, coriander or spring onions.
- No chickpeas? Use lentils or black beans instead.
- Other suggestions? Try adding crumbled feta, hard boiled eggs, pumpkin seeds, walnuts or chopped dried apricots.
Prep time: 15 minutes
Cook time: 10 minutes
Total time: 25 minutes
Servings: 4
Ingredients:
1 Red onion
1 Red pepper
1 Avocado
½ Cucumber
½ a bunch of Parsley
20 Basil leaves
120 g Basmati rice
1 Can chickpeas (drained )
70 g Green olives
For the dressing:
3 tbsp Olive oil
1 Lemon (juiced )
Salt & pepper
Recipe:
- Cook the rice (like pasta!): Fill a medium saucepan with water, and add 1 teaspoon of salt. Once the water comes up to a boil, add the rice in and cook until al dente or following packaging instructions, about 10 minutes. Drain the rice and set aside to cool slightly.
- Prepare the vegetables: Finely chop all the vegetables and fresh herbs. Place them into a large mixing bowl along with the chickpeas and olives.
- Make the salad: Add the cooked rice to the bowl with all the vegetables. Drizzle with olive oil and lemon juice. Mix well and season to taste with salt and pepper. Serve immediately or store in containers in the fridge for up to 3 days.
How to store
Store in airtight containers in the fridge for up to 3 days.
