Crispy Rice Salad with Chili Crisp Dressing

If you love crispy croutons in your salad, you have to try our Crispy Rice Salad with Chili Crisp Dressing.

If you’re anything like me, when it comes to ice cream or salads, I’ve always been team mix-ins over the plain old base. This lettuce-less salad hits the spot, perfectly matching my ideal salad.

Packed with vibrant flavors and a crispy textures from crispy rice and chili crisp, along with fresh herbs, citrus, and a kick of heat, this dish is a fantastic way to elevate your weeknight vegetables. It’s also easy to prep in advance, making it perfect for meal prepping!

Nutrition:

You may think of a dietitian as rabbits with two legs and while I do like vegetables, like I mentioned above, I am not for a lettuce-based salad.

When you remove the lettuce, there is room to pack a salad full of tons of vegetables giving you a variety of nutrients like in this recipe.

In 1 serving of crispy rice salad, you get 11 g of plant based protein, mainly coming from the textured vegetable protein, or TVP. It also gets you about 3.7 g fiber which is 13.2 % daily value (DV) for adults. Finally, in addition to being a good source of vitamin C, vitamin A, and potassium it also has 16.5% DV for iron needs.

Iron can be difficult for some to get with lower consumptions of meat on a plant based diet. Making this a perfect recipe to help you get some more!

Customization:

Based on your preferences there are several swaps you can make to change up this salad.

1. Different types of crispy rice

You can change the type or flavor of rice from using long grain, short grain, wild or Spanish rice, left over tahdig (if there is any), yellow rice, or cilantro lime rice.

2. Different types of Protein

Swap out Textured Vegetable Protein (TVP) for chickpeas, tofu, or shredded meat or fish if you eat some animal products.

Check out our 11 Top Vegan Meat Alternatives to help you determine how much protein you can get from each source.

3. Different vegetables

This salad can change seasonally with the produce. Try different fresh vegetables or swap them out for roasted or grilled for different flavors and textures.

Want to know what produce are in season in the spring? Check out our Spring Produce Guide. You can also download a spring produce shopping list here.

4. Different citrus

Change your lime juice and zest out for orange or lemon juice and zest.

5. Different chili crips

You may be familiar to the common Chinese chili crisp. However, other cultures like Mexico have there own chili crips called Salsa Macha. Experiment with other types and see what you like.

6. Different herbs

Tender herbs like dill, parley, basil, tarragon would all do well in a crispy rice salad like this one.

Components and Tips:

Crispy Rice:

I tried multiple methods to get crispy rice. What seemed to work the best was left over rice that had been spread out on a sheet pan, frozen, and then baked in a convection oven or the air-frier.

If your leftover rice is in a container, spread it out on a baking sheet evenly, spray with oil, and bake, stirring half way through, as the edges will brown before the center.

Note: half the rice was removed from the tray in the image above prior to baking to give more space for airflow.

Dressing:

Mason jar dressings are super convenient and easy to store in the refrigerator or freezer. You can double or triple the batch as desired.

All you need to do is add all your ingredients and shake! The mustard helps to emulsify (combine the water and oil based components), leaving you with a well combined dressing with texture from your chili crisp.

Salad:

To save some time, you can use a food chopper on your veggies or a mandolin (make sure you watch those fingers though).

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