I have never once made rice with the intention of having leftovers, and yet here we are, once again, staring down a container of day-old brown rice and deciding its fate. This is that fate. A fate in my opinion that is a better alternative to the classic breakfast fried rice I tend to rely on when it comes to old rice. You toast it on a sheet pan until it’s crispy in the way only day-old rice can be (not fried-rice crispy, more like rice-chip crispy) and then you throw it on top of a salad that’s doing a lot more work than “salad” usually implies.
The dressing is the actual star here, and I will not pretend otherwise. It’s a red pepper tahini situation built on jarred roasted red peppers (Trader Joe’s, specifically, because they’re the right texture and I’m not going to roast my own peppers for a Tuesday), blended with tahini, lemon, garlic, and a little cumin until it’s the color of a sunset and thick enough to actually coat something instead of sliding off it. You could put this on rice, on roasted vegetables, on a spoon, honestly. It’s THAT GOOD.
For the salad itself: mixed greens, diced red bell pepper, edamame, cucumber, red onion, and scallions, finished with avocado. Nothing fussy, just the crispy rice and the dressing are carrying the flavor, so the vegetables just need to bring crunch and stay out of the way.
The crispy rice is the part people ask about, so here’s the actual method: cold, day-old rice tossed with oil, garlic powder, smoked paprika, salt, and pepper, spread thin on a sheet pan, and roasted at 425°F until it’s deeply golden and crackly at the edges. Fresh rice won’t get there the same way; it needs that dried-out head start from the fridge. If you don’t have leftover rice sitting around, cook a batch, spread it out, and let it chill for at least an hour before roasting.
Assemble it all in a big bowl, drizzle with more dressing than seems reasonable, and toss. This one’s best eaten the day you make it, since the rice loses its crunch once it sits in dressing, but the components hold up separately for days if you want to meal-prep the pieces and build bowls throughout the week. Now, it’s time to make it!
Crispy Rice Salad with Red Pepper Tahini Dressing
Equipment
- Sheet pan
- Blender or food processor
- Large mixing bowl
Ingredients
Crispy Rice
- 3 cups 480g cooked, chilled brown rice (day-old works best)
- 2 tbsp 30ml olive oil
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1/2 tsp smoked paprika
- Salt and pepper to taste
Salad
- 4 cups 120g mixed greens (spinach, baby kale, or a spring mix)
- 1 red bell pepper diced (about 1 cup/150g)
- 1 cup 155g cooked, shelled edamame
- 1 Persian cucumber diced (about 1 cup/120g!)
- 1/3 cup 50g finely diced red onion
- 2 scallions thinly sliced
- 1 avocado diced
Red Pepper Tahini Dressing
- 1 cup 150g jarred roasted red peppers, drained (Trader Joe’s works great)
- 1/4 cup 60g tahini
- 2 tbsp 30ml fresh lemon juice
- 1 tbsp 15ml olive oil
- 1 garlic clove
- 1/2 tsp ground cumin
- Salt to taste
- 2 tbsp water to thin, max 4 tbsp
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425°F (220°C). Toss chilled rice with olive oil, garlic powder, smoked paprika, salt, and pepper. Spread in a thin, even layer on a sheet pan.
- Roast 20–25 minutes, stirring once halfway through, until the rice is deeply golden and crisp at the edges. Let cool slightly.
- While the rice roasts, make the dressing: combine roasted red peppers, tahini, lemon juice, olive oil, garlic, cumin, and salt in a blender. Blend until smooth, adding water a tablespoon at a time until it’s pourable but still clings to a spoon.
- In a large bowl, combine the greens, bell pepper, edamame, cucumber, red onion, and scallions.
- Top with the crispy rice and avocado. Drizzle generously with dressing and toss gently, or serve dressing on the side.