Wildly delicious! Wildly healthy! This Wild Rice Cranberry Salad with Lemon-Mint Dressing is deliciously festive, perfect for a pot-luck or holiday gathering. There's no reason holiday indulgences need to weigh us down. The lemon-mint dressing in this salad is bright and zippy and makes a perfect contrast to all the heavy sweets of the season. Dare I say, I even crave bright fresh flavors like this after all the cookies and heavy use of fats. Wild rice gives this salad a chewy bite along and all the fresh chopped veggies. This whole food dish makes a wonderful side or try it over a bed of greens for a fiber-rich main dish! Naturally vegan, gluten-free, and low-FODMAP.
And just look at how beautiful it is! Full of red and green pops of color from red bell peppers and chopped zucchini and sliced green onions, some deep burgundy from radicchio and dried cranberries, and the deep brown of the wild rice, and don't forget orange from the carrot. This is practically a rainbow salad on it's own! If you like the idea of eating a rainbow, try my Rainbow Salad recipe for a more summery version.
Wild Rice Cranberry Salad with Lemon-Mint Dressing is a great meal-prep recipe to add into your detox routine. The flavors develop over time, making it great to store in the fridge for up to 3-4 days. I recommend using fresh sliced cranberries instead of dried to avoid the added sugars in the dried cranberries when detoxing. The textures and chew of this salad make it highly satiating when you might otherwise be eating lighter and getting hungrier sooner. Try it as your main dish by putting a generous scoop over shredded romaine and adding a small side of salmon or lentils for additional protein.
Meyer Lemons are in season during the Winter months and they provide a slightly sweeter juice for the dressing in this salad. A cross between regular lemons and oranges, they are super juicy and still sour-tart like lemons, but not as bitter. You can absolutly use regular lemons. Fresh mint is the other key to the dressing, providing another slightly sweet fresh and bright contrast to the bitter vegetables and earthy wild rice flavors. I also use a strong dose of garlic-infused olive oil for a low-FODMAP infusion of the allium herbal flavor of garlic.
FODMAPs: Wild Rice Cranberry Salad with Lemon-Mint Dressing is enjoyable on a low-FODMAP diet. Any time you can vary vegetable sources, vary colors within whole foods, add fiber-rich grains, you're doing your gut and microbiome a favor. Additionally, lemon juice is a natural digestive bitter, stimulating gastric juices for digestion. And, mint helps settle gas and bloating. The cranberries are there for a sweet pop, but are also still low-FODMAP in this serving size. Swap for fresh cranberries if doing a cleanse to avoid the concentrated sugars in dried fruit.
If you make this vegan, gluten-free, low-FODMAP recipe please give it 5 stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ below and leave a comment! We'd love to hear your feedback.
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