Wild Rice Salad With Celery and Walnuts

By Martha Rose Shulman

Updated September 22, 2022

  • Andrew Scrivani for The New York Times
Media 1 of 1
Total Time
45 minutes
Rating
4(329)
Comments
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I think of this lemony salad as a main dish salad, one that makes a perfect lunch; but it would be a welcome addition to a Thanksgiving table.

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Ingredients

Yield:Serves 4 to 6

FOR THE SALAD

  • 1 quart water, chicken stock or vegetable stock

  • 1 cup wild rice, rinsed

  • Salt to taste

  • ⅓ cup lightly toasted broken walnut pieces

  • 3 celery stalks, preferably from the heart, thinly sliced on the diagonal (about 1 ¼ cups)

  • ½ cup chopped fresh parsley

  • 1 teaspoon finely chopped fresh sage (2 good-size leaves) (optional)

FOR THE DRESSING

  • 2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice

  • 2 teaspoons red wine vinegar, white wine vinegar, or sherry vinegar

  • 1 small garlic clove, minced

  • 3 tablespoons walnut oil

  • 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

  • 2 tablespoons buttermilk or plain low-fat yogurt

Ingredient Substitution Guide
Nutritional analysis per serving (4 to 6 servings)

23 grams carbs; 1 milligram cholesterol; 270 calories; 7 grams monosaturated fat; 8 grams polyunsaturated fat; 2 grams saturated fat; 19 grams fat; 3 grams fiber; 566 milligrams sodium; 5 grams protein; 2 grams sugar

Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.

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Preparation

  1. Step 1

    Bring the water or stock to a boil in a large saucepan, add salt to taste and the wild rice. Lower the heat, cover and simmer for 40 minutes, or until the rice is tender and splayed. Drain and toss in a large bowl with the remaining salad ingredients.

  2. Step 2

    Mix together the lemon juice, vinegar, garlic, salt and pepper. Whisk in the walnut oil, olive oil, and buttermilk or yogurt. Toss with the wild rice mixture. Taste and adjust seasonings, and serve.

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Ratings

4 out of 5
329 user ratings
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Comments

SonomaSMB

Beautifully balanced flavors make this a very special salad!
My only addition is scallions or finely diced red onion.
Leftover grilled steak slices, or chicken or any protein make this a wonderful main dish.

kestrel sparhawk

Suggests to me that would be a perfect leftovers dish with added turkey the day after Thanksgiving.

Jane

Thinking about this dish some more, I would use mushroom stock to cook the rice. It could benefit from a small amount of heat, sprinkle of chili’ flakes, a jalapeño. I aleYs want the wild rice to be very well flavor and the. The veggies even out the salad with their crispiness. The second day it was much better, so making it a day A hand would improve the overall flavor

Mimi RunswithKitchenScissors

Adding this to my list of go-to healthy meals! I had a leftover chicken breast poached with bay leaf, so cooked the rice in the poaching liquid — a nice pairing with the sage — and used the leftover lemon-garlic dressing from NY Times's Lemon-Garlic Kale Salad recipe. Tore the chicken up, mixed it all together, YUM!! Next time I'll make it with the recipe's dressing, which sounds lovely. One note: check your rice about 2/3 the way through cooking time — mine was perfect in under 25 minutes.

Kris H

Adding goat cheese right before serving helps pep it up.

Amy Mayer

A drizzle of date syrup at the end was wonderful. Also hazelnuts.

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