Italian Rice Salad – Insalata di Riso

This colorful rice salad offers nutritious ingredients such as nutty brown rice, tomatoes, red onion, arugula, crisp cucumber, fresh lemon juice, and more.

Maybe you’ll like mushroom risotto too, or roasted beet salad, or maybe recipes with corn. And don’t miss out on arancini and antipasto farro salad.

Why You’ll Love It

Nutritious:  is a very healthy salad with plenty of vitamins and minerals, as well as antioxidants, from the fresh vegetables. The olive oil is a great source of healthy fats. Healthy doesn’t have to mean boring, and this recipe isn’t boring in the slightest.
Authentic: The ingredients in this Mediterranean brown rice salad were carefully chosen with the Mediterranean region in mind, especially Italy and Greece. If you enjoy Greek dishes, you will love how great this is.
Versatile: Whether you’re looking for a summer side dish, a snack or the basis of a main meal with added protein, this is certainly a versatile dish. It’s also easy to tweak the chopped salad ingredients to truly make the recipe your own.

Mediterranean Salad Ingredients

A complete list of ingredients and amounts can be found in the recipe card below.

Brown rice: The main ingredient in this insalata di riso recipe.
Fresh veggies: Crisp cucumbers, juicy tomatoes, onion, and arugula offer freshness and crunch.
Herbs: The tasty trifecta of dill weed, oregano and cilantro add subtle herbal flavors.
Feta cheese: Adds a creamy, tangy, salty flavor to the salad.
Extra-virgin olive oil: For the dressing.
Vinegar: Balances with the olive oil to make the vinaigrette dressing.
Garlic: Also to flavor the dressing.
Lemon juice: Adds a zesty, citrusy touch of flavor.

How to Make Mediterranean Brown Rice Salad

For more detailed instructions with weights and measurements, jump to the printable recipe card.

Cook rice: Follow the package instructions to cook the rice, then drain off any excess water and let it cool to room temperature.
Prepare the vegetables: Finely dice the veggies for the chopped salad.
Make the dressing: Toss all the dressing ingredients together.
Assemble the salad: Toss the cooked rice and prepared vegetables with the dressing and serve at room temperature.

Substitutions and Variations

Brown rice: You might prefer to use cauliflower rice for a low-carb option or consider long grain rice, wild rice, white rice or even some leftover rice from the previous day. Whole grain brown rice offers a nice nutty flavor though, which is why it’s so good in salad recipes. 
Salad vegetables: Consider adding any other salad ingredients you have in the crisper drawer, such as red bell peppers or hot red peppers, and green onions in place of the red.
Optional add-ins: Kalamata olives or regular black olives, sun-dried tomatoes or cherry tomatoes, pine nuts, fresh basil, fresh parsley, black beans or cannellini beans, artichoke hearts, green bell pepper, or sunflower seeds would all work.
Top with boiled eggs: In Italy, you often see quartered hard boiled eggs added on top of the rice salad.

Serving Suggestions

With bread: Some pita bread or garlic bread on the side is always good with fresh salads.
As a side dish: It would be delicious served with chopped chicken gyros, lemon chicken thighs, reverse seared New York strip steak, ricotta and spinach stuffed shells or shrimp and pan seared pork chops.
As a main dish: Consider topping with a cooked protein (such as shrimp, chicken, steak, or even tofu) to turn this side salad into a main dish.

How to Store Italian-Style Rice Salad

Store:  Keep the components for this cold rice salad refrigerated and make the salad within two days. Leftover Mediterranean rice salad will keep in an airtight container for a few days but, if you already added the dressing, the herbs and arugula will get a little soggy.
Freeze:  If you made extra rice you can freeze that, but the rest of the salad isn’t suitable for freezing.