Vegetarian Wild Rice
Fantastic Vegetarian Wild Rice Recipe that is filling and delicious. It can easily be made Vegan by swapping the butter for a vegan alternative.
Servings 12 servings
Calories 396kcal
Equipment
- Blender
Ingredients
- 1 box Uncle Ben's Long Grain Rice
- 1 box Organic Basmati Rice
- 4 tbsp Butter melted
- 1 Sweet Onion chopped and sauteed
- 4 cups Sweet Potato cubed
- 1 cup Kale chopped
- 2 cups Dried Cranberries
- 1 cup Golden Raisins
- ½ cup Sliced Mushrooms
- 1 cup Sun Dried Tomatoes
- ½ cup Italian Flat Leaf Parsley chopped
Dressing
- ½ cup Olive Oil
- 1 tsp Coarse Ground Garlic Salt With Parsley
- 1 tsp Seasoned Salt
- ½ tsp Pepper
- 1 tbsp Italian Seasoning
- ½ cup Red Wine Vinegar
- ½ cup Balsamic Vinegar
- ¼ cup Honey
- ¼ cup Brown Sugar
- 1 cup Pecans
Instructions
- Prepare the two rices as according to package instructions.
- Peel the sweet potatoes and cut in bite size cubes, about 1 inch size pieces.
- Place the sweet potatoes in a microwave safe bowl, with 2 cups of water, and cook for 3 minutes, then stir the sweet potatoes, making sure they are moist, and cook for 3 minutes more. Remove from the microwave, and stir or spoon water over the potatoes. If you can pierce the cubes of sweet potato with a fork, but they're still a little firm, then cover the sweet potatoes, with foil, and set aside. If you cannot pierce them with a fork, place them back in the microwave on 1 minute intervals, checking the potato's between cooking. Do not overcook - you want them a little firm, but not hard.
- When the potatoes are done, cover and set aside.
- Wash and chop the kale, and set aside.
- Chop the onion, and saute the onion in about a Tablespoon of butter, until it's tender and golden brown, then remove from heat, and add the chopped Kale to the onions, and stir.
- Chop the parsley and pecans (unless you bought chopped pecans).
- Place the two rice's in a large serving bowl, and remove the sweet potatoes from the dish, and place them on the Rice - but do not add the water you cooked the sweet potatoes in - simply discard the water.
- Add the Kale and sauteed onion, cranberries, raisins, mushrooms, sun dried tomatoes, and parsley.
- Pour the melted butter over the rice and vegetables, and toss to coat.
- In a blender, add the red wine vinegar, and the balsamic vinegar, honey, brown sugar, Italian seasoning, garlic salt, seasoned salt, and pepper, and blend well. Add the Olive oil, and blend again for 1 minute.
- Pour the dressing over the Rice and vegetables, and toss to coat. Sprinkle with pecans, and serve. Enjoy!
Notes
Make This Vegan: The only thing in this recipe that isn’t vegan-friendly is the butter. Use a butter substitute like sunflower or olive oil. If you use coconut oil as a substitute, use about ¾ of a tablespoon to start and see how it does. If you have a vegan “butter” spread, you can use that as well. This is an easy one to adjust!
Substitutions:
- Swap out the sweet potatoes for butternut squash.
- Replace Roasted Tomatoes for the Sun Dried Tomatoes. You will lose some flavor but if you happen to not like the Sun Dried, this is a great alternative.
- Change up the mushrooms. This recipe makes it easy to substitute with items you have on hand
- Cut the sweet potatoes back to two cups and add in two cups of brussel sprouts or broccoli.
- Swap out the kale for spinach.
- Swap out the nuts for ones that you like if pecans aren’t to your liking.
- Cut the vegetables ahead of time and store in the refrigerator until ready to use.
- Prepare the rice and store in the refrigerator.
- Measure out all ingredients for the dressing and set aside until ready to make it. Alternatively, you can make it 100% ahead of time and store in the refrigerator. That part alone will save you a tremendous amount of time and dishes the evening you serve it!
Nutrition
Serving: 1serving | Calories: 396kcal | Carbohydrates: 57g | Protein: 4g | Fat: 19g | Saturated Fat: 4g | Cholesterol: 10mg | Sodium: 287mg | Potassium: 713mg | Fiber: 5g | Sugar: 39g | Vitamin A: 7266IU | Vitamin C: 17mg | Calcium: 69mg | Iron: 2mg