New Mexican Rice Salad
This colorful salad is a good one to make ahead of time for a busy night or bring to a picnic. You can also serve it warm, wrapped in tortillas. For a heartier meal, stir in cooked chicken, sausage, or shrimp, or serve it with a rotisserie chicken.
Ingredients
- 1 - 1 1/4 cup quick-cooking brown or regular white rice
- 15 oz. reduced-sodium canned black beans (or use any variety)(or use 1 1/2 cups home-cooked beans for every 15 oz. can), drained and rinsed
- 1 1/2 - 2 cups corn kernels, fresh, frozen, or canned (2 – 3 ears of corn if using fresh), defrosted if frozen or drained if canned
- 4 scallions dark and light green parts, thinly sliced
- 1 tomato seeded and diced about 1 cup
- 1/2 red bell pepper chopped about 1/2 cup
- 2 Tbsp. Italian salad dressing or use 1 1/2 Tbsp. olive oil and 1 1/2 tsp. red wine vinegar
- 3 Tbsp. salsa (look for brands with no sugar added),
- 1/2 tsp. ground cumin
- 1/2 lb. cooked and diced chicken, sausage, or shrimp (optional)
Instructions
- Cook the rice according to package directions.
- While the rice is cooking, in a large bowl, combine the beans, corn, scallions, tomatoes, and peppers. In a small bowl, combine the salad dressing, salsa, and cumin.
- When the rice is cooked, add it to the ingredients in the large bowl, and toss everything with the dressing. Mix in the chicken, sausage, or shrimp (optional). Chill for at least 30 minutes, if time allows or up to 3 days.
Notes
Do Ahead or Delegate: Cook the rice, remove the corn from the cob if using fresh or defrost if using frozen, slice the scallions, seed and dice the tomato, chop the bell pepper, prepare and refrigerate the dressing, (cook and) dice the chicken, sausage, or shrimp if using and refrigerate, or fully prepare and refrigerate the salad.
Scramble Flavor Booster: If you’d like to make the flavors pop even more, stir in more salad dressing and/or salsa or a little fresh lime juice.
Tip: Recycling Alert: Did you know that in many places you can now recycle plastic bottle tops as well as the bottles? It may seem small, but they add up to another way to reduce waste in landfills.
Nutritional Information Per Serving (with (with brown rice and 8 oz. chicken) ) (% based upon daily values): Calories 280, Total Fat: 3g, 5%; Saturated Fat: 1g, 5%; Cholesterol: 30mg, 10%; Sodium: 570mg, 24%; Total Carbohydrate: 41g, 14%; Dietary Fiber: 9g, 36%; Sugar: 2g; Protein: 21g
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