This crispy rice salad recipe is my take on the viral social media trend. It’s easy enough to throw together, and works as well as a side as it does a main dish. I leaned into Southwest flavors with a honey chipotle vinaigrette. Once you make this, you’ll want to turn every salad into a crispy rice salad!

Crispy Rice Salad | Photo by Brogan Dearinger

I’m not great at making salads. Making a salad is a game of ratios that I lose more often than not. I’ve made soggy salads, dry salads, salads with too little lettuce and too much other stuff, and salads with competing flavors. You’d think I would have figured it out, but somehow I still struggle.

My intentions are always in the right place, but the execution could generally use work. But still, I am relentless in my quest for a great salad. Each of the salads I’ve shared here have been made again and again and tweaked until the ratios make sense.

This salad gets the ratios right. It’s hard to mess up — maybe that’s why crispy rice salads are so viral. I’ve made it several times and tweaked it to use what I have. It’s turned out well each time. I hesitate to say it’s foolproof, but I haven’t messed it up, and with my not-too-stellar salad track record, that means it’s basically foolproof.

ingredients for crispy rice salad

Chipotle sauce
Limes
Honey
Garlic
Olive oil
Salt and pepper
Leftover, cooked rice
Neutral oil (like avocado, canola, or vegetable)
Shredded red cabbage
Carrot
Cherry tomatoes
Green onion
Cilantro
Cotija cheese

how to make crispy rice salad

step one

Make the crispy rice. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. While the oven preheats, place the rice on a medium or large baking sheet. Drizzle the oil and chipotle sauce on top. Using clean or gloved hands, break up the rice into small pieces and mix in the oil and sauce. Mix until evenly coated and the very few clumps of rice remain. Bake for 30 minutes, stirring the rice halfway through. The rice will be crispy and starting to brown. Set it aside.

step two

Make the dressing. While the rice cooks, mix the dressing in a jar or medium bowl. Whisk together the chipotle sauce, lime juice, honey, and grated garlic. Slowly drizzle the olive oil, whisking vigorously as you do, until you’ve added all the oil and the dressing is emulsified. Taste and add salt and pepper as needed. Set aside. The dressing may separate as it sits. Just give it a good whisk before serving!

step three

Assemble the salad. When you’re ready to serve the salad, add the red cabbage, carrots, cherry tomatoes, green onions, dressing, and cilantro, and toss to combine. Sprinkle the cheese on top and serve. Enjoy!

notes

Use leftover, cooked rice that has sat in the refrigerator for a day or so. This won’t work with freshly made rice — it’s too moist to get crispy!
The measurement for the tomatoes is after cutting them. So, you’ll use 1/2 cup of cherry tomatoes that have been sliced in half.
Riff on this! If you have other ingredients in your fridge, use them. Some additions that’d be delicious: corn, jalapenos, red onion, avocado, or bell peppers.

substitutions

You can typically find chipotle sauce in the Hispanic/Latino section of your grocery store. If you can’t find it, use the sauce from canned chipotles in Adobo sauce.
You can use whatever crunchy green you’d like in place of the red cabbage! I have tried this with kale and it tasted great.
If you don’t have or can’t find Cotija cheese, use crumbled feta.

what to do with crispy rice salad leftovers

This holds up well in the fridge! Store leftovers in the refrigerator for up to three days.

make it a meal

Pair this with a protein and call it a day! Grilled steak, chicken, or tofu would all pair well with this. Black beans would be great, too!