Summer days are made better with a cold tuna rice salad! Mix in your favourite ingredients and enjoy this salad by the beach or when the heat is just too much!
One of my recipes I make non stop during summer is this tuna rice salad. Apart from it being relatively easy to make and that I can use any ingredients I want, it’s a great meal to enjoy cold! When the heat is extreme and it leaves you no energy to do anything, I always make this. I also love making a huge batch so that I have for the coming days! Leftover tuna rice salad hits differently. Delicious!
This rice salad is also a popular side dish to prepare for a bbq night. It’s definitely a crowd pleaser.
What type of rice is best?
The main ingredient of this salad is rice. There are many different types of rice and some are better than others for salad. The best one is ribe rice (my favourite). This rice grain is super versatile, medium sized and keeps it’s firmness without getting soggy. Another great option is arborio rice. Long grain rice such as basmati and jasmine can be used as well, however, you need to be careful how to cook these. You don’t want your rice to break and get soggy and sticky.
What’s in the salad?
This recipe is more of a guide than an actual recipe. Here I have written my favourite rice salad recipe and what are my favourite go to ingredients. However, you can either omit or include other ingredients. Other great ingredients that go in a rice salad are: pickled vegetables, cubed ham, mozzarella cheese, cubed hard cheese, beans and seeds.
Dress it up!
One last thing is how to dress up the salad. I like my rice salad as simple as possible here. I make a simple olive oil and lemon juice based dressing. If you want a creamier salad you can add a good dollop of mayonnaise. I have also tasted one with a pesto dressing, although, I have to be honest it wasn’t a favourite for me!
Tuna Rice Salad
Ingredients
- 300 g rice ribe or arborio
- 2 cans tuna in olive oil 240g
- 50 g green and black olives
- 150 g cherry tomatoes quartered
- 2 eggs quartered
- 2 bell peppers diced
- 40 g peas
- 70 g corn
- 30 g pickled onions
- juice of half a lemon
- 1 tbsp dried mint
- 1/2 tbsp dried dill
- 1 tsp black pepper
- 1/2 tsp salt
Instructions
- Cook the rice according to instructions. I cooked my ribe rice in a large pot of boiling water for about 10-12 minutes.
- Once cooked, drain the rice and spread it over a baking dish in a thin layer so that it cools quickly.
- While the rice is cooling, prepare all the other ingredients as needed. Reserve about 2 tablespoons of the olive oil that was in the tuna can.
- In a small bowl combine together the reserved olive oil, lemon, dried mint, dried dill, salt and pepper.
- Mix the rice together with the chopped ingredients with the olive oil mixture.
- Serve immediately or cold.
Notes
If you have any questions, feedback or comments on this recipe, please leave a comment below. Please also rate this recipe by double clicking on the stars below. If you did make this recipe, tag @apronandwhisk and hashtag #apronandwhisk, as I’m curious to see what you create!
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