Instant Pot Greek Wild Rice Salad

Colorful and flavorful with a wonderful assortment of textures, this Instant Pot Greek Wild Rice Salad is great for a holiday gathering or a simple supper. Use the Instant Pot to quickly and easily cook your wild rice for this filling grain free side dish or, if you want, add some additional protein and make it a complete meal.

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This Greek wild rice salad starts with pressure-cooked tender wild rice marinated in Greek salad dressing tossed with spinach, feta, and a rotating cast of preserved and fresh vegetables.

While developing this recipe I made this salad three or four times in slightly different ways, and each time my spouse said, "wow, this is a great salad". Before I decided to put it on the website I figured I should ask a wider audience, so I made it for one of my Instant Pot cooking classes.

It was a hit--from the students to the building monitor and custodian who helped me 'deal' with the leftovers!  Next I served it to my extended family members, twice, and I think it's about as good as it's going to get.

One of the reasons I like to use my electric pressure cooker is that, once programmed, I just walk away from the kitchen and go do my own thing. You can see my Top 5 Reasons I Love My Instant Pot here.

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Can you cook wild rice in the Instant Pot?

Yes, you can cook wild rice in the Instant Pot. Compared to using a saucepan on the stovetop, cooking wild rice in the IP is faster and less messy.
In both methods you'll add rice and water, cook the rice, and drain it. Using the stovetop you'll stay close to monitor the activity--covering the pot and turning down the heat when the water starts to boil, turning off the heat when the timer's up.

Using an Instant Pot to cook wild rice means that you're not tethered to the kitchen. You add the wild rice and water, program, and walk away. The wild rice cooks under pressure in half the time of the stovetop.

Once the cook time is over you have options. If you want the pieces of wild rice to hold their shape--quickly release the pressure and drain the rice. If the shape of the cooked wild rice doesn't matter--keep doing whatever you were doing outside of the kitchen and let the pressure naturally release.


Either method produces tender cooked wild rice ready to use in main dishes, salads, omelets, and bread. The possibilities are endless! Let's start with one--this Greek Wild Rice Salad.

Note: This recipe lends itself to making in stages. When you've got time in the kitchen--cook the wild rice and toss with the Greek salad dressing. Stop here and chill for a day or two if you need. If you have more time, chop the vegetables--onions, cucumbers, peppers, artichoke hearts, and olives--then toss. At this point the salad can be chilled overnight.
If you're taking this salad to a pot luck--in a large lidded bowl layer the tomatoes, feta, avocado, and spinach on top of the marinated rice/vegetable mixture. Once you arrive at the event toss the salad together and see if you need to add additional Greek salad dressing, then garnish with a bit more feta and serve.

For more recipes using spinach, please see my Spinach Recipes Collection. For more recipes using preserved vegetables (since I tend to buy marinated artichoke hearts and olives in bulk), please see my Veggies In Jars Recipe Collection. These collections are part of the Visual Recipe Index by Ingredient, a resource for folks like me eating from the farm share, the farmer's market, the garden, the neighbor's garden, and great deals on ugly produce at the grocery store.

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Instant Pot Greek Wild Rice Salad
By Kirsten Madaus

Colorful and flavorful with a wonderful assortment of textures, this Instant Pot Greek Wild Rice Salad is great for a holiday gathering or a simple supper. Use the Instant Pot to quickly and easily cook your wild rice for this filling grain free side dish or, if you want, add some additional protein and make it a complete meal.

Prep time: 00:15
Cook time: 00:20
Total time: 00:45

Yield: 4-8 side dish servings
Ingredients:
⅓ cup uncooked wild rice
2 cups water
3 Tablespoons prepared Greek salad dressing (I use Penzey's Greek Seasoning for mine) plus more to taste
¼ to ½ cup diced red onion
½ to 1 cup diced bell pepper
½ to 1 cup diced cucumber (peeled or not, your choice)
½ cup chopped marinated artichoke hearts
½ cup chopped olives (I like green but use your favorite)
1 cup sliced grape or cherry tomatoes
½ cup feta cheese (plus more for garnish)
1 avocado, diced
2 to 3 cups chopped fresh spinach leaves

Instructions:

Add wild rice and water to Instant Pot. Cover, turn vent to Sealing, and set manual Pressure Cook time to 20 minutes.

While the Instant Pot is coming to pressure and cooking, feel free to mix up the salad dressing and prep the vegetables.

After the cook time is complete, quickly release the pressure. Drain the rice.

In a large bowl, toss the rice with the Greek salad dressing.

Add in the onion, bell pepper, cucumber and toss to coat.

Add in the artichoke hearts and olives and toss with the rice mixture. This salad keeps well at this step.

When you're ready to serve add the tomatoes, feta, and avocado to the rice mixture and toss gently.

Add the chopped spinach and toss again. Add additional Greek salad dressing if you like.

Garnish with additional feta cheese and serve.