This fresh and colorful wild rice and orzo salad is perfect for summertime gatherings. Finely chopped vegetables, herbs, wild rice, pasta, and a flavorful dressing combine to make this delicious salad.
Summertime is the perfect time to enjoy salads. Whether it’s pasta salad, potato salad, or a green salad, it’s nice to have something cool to eat for lunch or dinner.
This wild rice orzo salad is full of fun colors and textures. Lots of chopped peppers, red onion, corn, pasta, wild rice, and herbs make a salad that’s beautiful to look at and fun to eat. This is perfect for a backyard barbecue, baby shower, or a potluck!
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Ingredient Notes
- Gluten Free Orzo – Both DeLallo and Jovial make gluten free orzo. You could also use a different pasta shape if you like. If you aren’t gluten free, you can use regular orzo.
- Wild Rice Blend – I used Lundberg Wild Rice Blend. I like the combination of rice in this blend. If you can’t have rice, you could use more pasta or quinoa instead.
- Bell Peppers – You can use any color you like, but I like to use a variety so that the salad is really colorful.
- Pumpkin Seeds – Super Seedz pumpkin seeds are made in a nut free facility. You could also use sunflower seeds or nuts if you like.
- Vinegar – I like to use red wine vinegar in this dressing, but you can use champagne vinegar or apple cider vinegar if you prefer.
Substitutions
- If you don’t want to use rice, you could use quinoa, millet, or more pasta instead.
- Feel free to try different vegetables if you like! Shredded carrots, cherry tomatoes, peas, or green onions would all work well in this recipe.
- If you don’t want to use vinegar, use an equal amount of lemon juice instead.
Step by Step Instructions
- Cook the wild rice blend according to package directions. Cook the gluten free orzo in a separate pot according to package directions. Allow both to cool, and then place in a large bowl.
- In a small bowl, mix up the dressing and set aside.
- Add the chopped onions, peppers, corn, parsley, seeds, and cranberries to the bowl with the grains.
- Add the dressing and toss to coat.
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Storage
Store leftover salad in the refrigerator. If you’d like to make this the night before serving, just keep the dressing separate from the salad. Add the dressing to the bowl right before serving.
Serving Suggestions
Serve this salad as a light dinner or lunch, or as a side dish with any of the following recipes:
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Recipe
Gluten Free Wild Rice and Orzo Salad.
Ingredients
For the Dressing:
For the Salad:
- 1 ½ cups wild rice blend
- 1 cup gluten free orzo DeLallo and Jovial both make gluten free orzo
- 2 cups sweet peppers finely chopped – use a variety of colors – red, orange, yellow, green
- â…“ cup red onion finely chopped
- 1 cup frozen corn thawed
- ½ cup roasted pumpkin seeds
- ½ cup dried cranberries
- ¼ cup fresh parsley finely chopped
Instructions
- Cook the wild rice blend according to package directions. While it cooks, in a separate pot, cook the gluten free orzo according to package directions.
- Once the pasta is done cooking, drain it and put it in a large bowl. Add the wild rice blend to the bowl as well. Set aside to cool.
- While the pasta and rice are cooling, make the dressing. In a small bowl, combine the basil, parsley, oregano, sugar, garlic, salt, pepper, vinegar, and olive oil. Whisk well with a fork.
- Add the chopped peppers, onions, corn, pumpkin seeds, dried cranberries, and parsley to the large bowl with the pasta and rice.
- Pour the dressing over the other ingredients. Use two spoons to toss the ingredients together, making sure the dressing is evenly distributed.
- Serve right away, or refrigerate until ready to serve.
Notes
Nutrition
Adapted from this recipe.
kathy
This looks so delicious. I didn’t know they had gluten free orzo. :) I haven’t seen it before. I’ll have to look at whole foods or amazon. I could make this, but will have to sub out some of the allergy foods for my family. But, I still thinks it would work out fine. So, I think I’ll do peas instead of corn, leave out the onion, and do sunflower seeds for pumpkin. Think that covers the allergy subs. :) Thanks PS My family will be here in Aug. so this will be a nice salad to do.
Kelly Roenicke
That sounds great!
Darryl
This was delicious! We took it to a party.