Orange Rice Salad Recipe - with Pomegranate and Almonds

I have written about rice salad many a time on the blog. I usually make them when I have leftover rice on hand. Heck, I usually make extra rice so that I have leftovers so I can make a rice salad! The both of just love the combination of rice, vegetables and maybe some fruit or seafood. That’s the beauty – a rice salad can be a vehicle for whatever you have on hand. Like the Cherry Pistachio with Langostinos Rice Salad I made one night. More often than not I tend to make them one of my vegetarian meals during the week. A little while ago I made an orange rice salad from start to finish for dinner – I didn’t even have the leftover rice to start with so I decided to get fancy with flavoring in my electric pressure cooker. It turned out to be one of our favorites so far.

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Orange Rice Salad

Serves 2

2 cups Jasmine rice
1 3/4 cups orange juice
1/4 cup water
2 tsp dried thyme
1 tsp salt
2 cups broccoli florets
1 tsp olive oil
1/2 tsp salt
1 orange
1/2 an avocado, cut onto small pieces
1/4 cup pomegranate seeds
3 TBS almonds, toasted and roughly chopped
1 tsp fresh lemon juice
1 heavy tsp honey
2 tsp olive oil
a splash of rice vinegar
1 tsp salt

Preheat oven to 400°
Add the rice, orange juice, water, salt and thyme to the electric pressure cooker and prepare as your machine directs.
While the rice is cooking add the broccoli to a baking dish. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with salt. Roast for about 20 minutes until crisp/tender
While the broccoli roasts peel the orange and cut it into supremes (if you need to see how to do this you can go HERE). Cut the supremes in half. Set aside and reserve the juice in a small bowl.
To that juice add the lemon juice, honey, olive oil and salt. Whisk until emulsified
To a large bowl add the rice, cooked broccoli, orange pieces, avocado, pomegranate, and half of the almonds.

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Drizzle with the dressing and carefully toss the salad until mixed.

Divide between two bowls and top with the remaining almonds.

How was the Orange Rice Salad?

I have to admit I wasn’t expecting this to be as good as it was. All of these disparate ingredients came together into what turned out to be one of our favorite rice salads yet. The avocado added a bit of creamy richness and the pomegranate gave it that touch of tart. It was a delicious dinner. The orange/thyme rice was quite yummy on its own. I served it a couple of nights later as a side with pork chops. This was posted to Instagram when I first made it so if you are seeing it for a second time, I apologize.

I also used my new Fiesta Ware dishes for the first time when I made this. The hubby has started me on these beautiful dishes. He knows how much I love color in the kitchen so he gave me a place setting of plum. He says he will get me a new color every year. If you have seen any of my food photos you know I already have brightly colored dinner dishes from Waechtersbach. The beauty of the Fiesta is that they blend right in!