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O boy! Do I have the easiest most amazing saffron rice salad for you for dinner tonight!
I’m not going to lie… I made this vegan salad the other night as a way to use up what I had in my fridge and it turned out to be a gluten- and dairy-free masterpiece. My family loved it, but that doesn’t come as too much of a surprise. They’d eat a sock if it was covered in hummus.
Simple rice is tossed with creamy hummus then jazzed up with pecans, dried cherries, asparagus, saffron, scallions, cilantro and pretty lettuce leaves. If you can believe it, this recipe can be whipped up in less than 5 minutes is you make the rice ahead of time (say, the night before).
Easy, right? Told ya it was simple.
It’s great for a weeknight dinner and leftovers taste twice as good the next day.
O ya and toss in a bit of fresh lemon zest while you’re at it.
When in doubt, add lemon zest, sea salt and crushed red pepper flakes.
That, folks, is the secret to my easy ‘clean’ cooking.
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cup uncooked rice
- 1/2 tsp. saffron threads
- 4 Tbsp. Sabra Traditional Hummus
- 1 bundle fresh asparagus cut into 1/2 inch pieces and ends removed
- 2 scallions thinly sliced
- 2 Tbsp. finely chopped fresh cilantro
- 1/4 tsp. sea salt
- 1/4 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
- 1/6 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes
- 1/4 cup dried cherries
- 1/3 cup pecans
- 3 cups mixed salad greens
Instructions
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Cook rice according to package directions. Add in saffron threads 5 minutes into cooking.
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Remove from heat, add in asparagus pieces and mix well to combine. Cover and set aside for 10-15 minutes.
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In a large bowl, combine rice mixture with humus. Add scallions, cilantro, sea salt, pepper, red pepper flakes, dried cherries and pecans; gently toss to combine.
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Serve rice mixture amongst six plates atop a bed of fresh salad greens.
You did it again!! Another delicious recipe AND easy. I was just wondering, the recipe title says saffron rice. I have never heard of that. In the ingredients list it just says rice. Is saffron rice better for you? Can you use any kind of rice, other than white, or is one nutrionally better than another? Hubby and I are doing good trying to make the switch to eating clean. But we want to do a lot better. We have a lot more weight to loose, but we are not giving up! Your recipes and wealth of information, along with the encouragement make it soooooo much easier. Thanks for everything. My hubby is diabetic and I want to stay away from things that would harm him. He had begun to feel signs of neuropathy in his feet, and we both are very concerned. We would love to reverse those signs and see his diabetes go away. Any suggestions on helping diabetics would be greatly appreciated. Thanks again!
That was supposed to be 5 stars, but it messed up. :/
Thanks Lori; great to hear from you! Happy to help anytime. Check out my Sugar-Free How To page on the right hand side and that should help! Enjoy. oxx
YUM!! I will have to try out this recipe. My entire family of eight loves salads!!!!
Looks like I just found my dinner for tonight! 🙂
Yum! Another delish healthy dinner option!
Looks amazing !
Being a Celiac / Diabetic I just love the fresh , clean recipes that
are posted, so creative ! Thank you for sharing ~ Pat
This recipe is making me drool. I eat alot of salads but more so now that summer is here. Definitely making this. Please enter me in the greens contest.
Thanks
Commenting in reference to the fb giveaway. 🙂 Love organic girl salads especially the spinach selection!! Also the recipe here looks yummy!!
Looks Delish!
I love the use of rice in a salad. I always use couscous or quinoa, using rice did cross my mind but now I’m inspired as well 🙂 thanks!
Rice and hummus…what a creative combination. Enter me, too, please. 🙂
Would love to try this! And would love to be entered into the greens contest! Been looking for organic greens for a while!
This salad looks and sounds awesome. I am new to clean eating, something my sports nutritionist is directing me toward since our first meeting yesterday. Definitely going to try this recipe out.
Also, would love to be entered for the greens contest. Thanks.
That looks great! I bet sun dried tomato hummus would go well with this salad too (or even replacing the hummus with guacamole)
This recipe looks wonderful!
Would also liked to be entered for the greens contest!
I love organic girl salads!! We buy ours every week. Love the spinach salads.
Amie – that salad looks amazing! Never thought to toss rice in with hummus! Def. going to add that to our menu! As always thanks for the awesome recipes!
I think I’m supposed to comment here for the contest posted on FB. I love salads! I don’t eat any grains, so I can see substituting cauliflower ‘rice’ in this recipe Sounds delish!
Looks so delicious-I want it for breakfast 😉
Thanks for the recipe-never thought of putting rice
in a green salad. I’ll make this one!
Looks amazing!
This salad looks awesome!