Leftover rice can be reused in this spectacularly colorful rice salad recipe that is just perfect for cookouts, and BBQ days. An ensalada de arroz with a lovely combination of sweet and savory ingredients, leftover rice, and served at temperature rice; it is perfect for summer.
By - Reviewed: . Original: Jun 28, 2021
Why we ❤️ it
This easy rice salad recipe combines so many things I love: reusing leftovers, colorful summer salads, and things that require little cooking in the summer heat.
Perfect for serving at room temperature, this salad requires no chilling, keeps well, and has that sweet touch we love so much with our savory dishes.
Versions
This dish can also be changed in many ways to adapt it to your taste, and whatever you may have in your fridge. It is just that versatile.
Rice salad with pineapple and raisins
If you love raisins (yeah, that's a prickly subject), add ¼ cup alongside the rice so they hydrate before adding the other vegetables. I prefer blonde raisins in this salad, the dark ones look out of place.
Curry rice salad with pineapple
A tablespoon of curry powder added while the onions cook will transform this dish altogether. Leave out the corn and vinegar, I find that they just don't belong with the curry flavor.
Rice salad with pineapple and ham
One of my favorite versions: add a cup of cooked ham (York) diced small alongside the onions. It adds an entirely new flavor profile to this salad.
Rice, pineapple, and sweet corn salad.
Serving suggestions
This is the perfect salad for get-togethers, cookouts, parrilladas, and potlucks. Since it is served at room temperature or slightly chilled, it makes it so much easier to transport and keep.
You can also serve it as a side dish.
Top tips
- For this recipe I used leftover arroz blanco or white long grain rice, but you can also use other type of rice, like leftover brown rice, Basmati rice, or Jasmine rice. All of the work as long as they don't have too strong a flavor.
- Short grain rice may work as long as it's not too sticky.
- I mixed two colors of peppers because I had them, so you can do that too.
- You can substitute lemon or lime juice for vinegar.
- If you have some leftover chicken roast, you can add diced chicken to the salad.
About this recipe
There isn't a uniquely Dominican rice salad recipe, though rice salads appear in many of my old Dominican cookbooks. Each author just added the ingredients her/his family preferred. I have done the same.
I am of the opinion that pineapple and rice go well together. I even sometimes add pineapple to arroz con maíz (corn and rice recipe). Pizza is another matter though, but this isn't the place to discuss that. Though not traditional, this salad combines many traditional ingredients and flavors we love.
What else would you add to this salad? What do you think goes well with it? Let me know in the comments.
Video
Recipe
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Rice Salad [Video+Recipe] Ensalada de Arroz, Maíz y Piña
Ingredients
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 small red onion, minced
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon black pepper , (freshly-cracked, or ground)
- 2 tablespoons rice vinegar, or 1 tablespoon of apple cider vinegar
- 2 cup cooked white rice , (arroz blanco per our recipe) (see notes)
- ½ bell pepper, diced small (see notes)
- ¼ cup sweet corn, (boiled soft, for canned)
- ¼ cup blanched peas, canned, or frozen (thawed beforehand)
- 1 cup pineapple, diced small
Instructions
1. Cooking onion
Heat oil in a medium-size skillet over medium heat.Add the onion, salt and pepper. Cook stirring until the onions have become translucent
2. Heating rice
- Stir in the rice and cook stirring until the rice has warmed up. Remove from the heat.
3. Adding vegetables
- Stir in red pepper, sweet corn, and peas.Stir until the temperature has reduced to lukewarm.Stir in the pineapple.
4. Serving and storing
- This salad keeps well at room temperature for a couple of hours if covered tightly. It's best not to refrigerate as the rice will have an unappetizing consistency, and the vegetables and pineapple do not do well reheated.
Nutrition
Nutritional information is calculated automatically based on ingredients listed. Please consult your doctor if you need precise nutrition information.
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More pineapple recipes
There are many fruit recipes in our collection, and pineapple is one of our favorites. We use it to make pera piña juice and guarapo de piña a fermented pineapple juice. Also try this coconut and pineapple limeade, a non-traditional drink I love.
We also use it in desserts like pineapple jam to fill Dominican cake and dulce de leche con piña, a pineapple fudge.
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