Healthy Wild Rice Recipes

This slow-cooker meal is simple to prepare and will elicit rave reviews from everyone at your table. The wild rice pilaf is started early in the slow cooker and followed up by the chicken and sweet and tangy maple-mustard sauce. It's a mouthwatering combination!

Bold fennel and mild leeks add incredible flavor to this hearty wild rice and shrimp soup recipe.

Toasted almonds enhance the nutty flavor of wild rice in this simple yet luxurious side dish. You could give it an Asian twist by substituting sesame oil for the butter and adding a drizzle of soy sauce.

Inspired by creamy turkey and wild rice soup recipes, this vegetarian mushroom soup recipe is a whole lot lighter and gets a rich flavor boost from caramelized leeks. Serve with a green salad with sherry vinaigrette and crusty bread to sop up any bits left in the bowl.

This pilaf melds the chewy texture of barley and wild rice with the richness of toasted pine nuts and the sweet-sour crunch of pomegranate seeds. The elegant dish is perfect for entertaining.

In this grilled chicken recipe from Charlie Foster, executive chef at Woods Hill Table and Adelita in Massachusetts, bone-in breasts are served with the chef's take on Southern dirty rice with chicken livers. Foster believes in the nose-to-tail ethos so he uses as much of each animal as he can. Serve the chicken and rice with grilled wild mushrooms and greens. The dirty rice would also be wonderful with baked or roasted chicken or with turkey.

Change up your Sunday morning pancake routine with this savory pancake recipe studded with sausage crumbles and shredded sharp Cheddar. Serve these healthy pancakes with fried eggs and slices of fresh tomato.

Colorful apricots, scallions and pistachios make this vibrant dish worthy of any holiday table. Since wild rice (really a grass) does not absorb liquid to the extent that true rice and other grains do, cook it in boiling water and saute the vegetables separately so they stay tender-crisp.

This amazing wild-rice stuffing recipe is bursting with rustic fall flavors, including rye bread, sausage, apples, dried cherries, pecans and fresh herbs.

Although white sushi rice is traditional, this brown sushi rice base is blended with other grains and lentils. Traditional vinegar and sugar seasoning are omitted in this whole-grain brown sushi rice recipe so that the natural taste of the whole grains shines through. Any lentils work--French green lentils hold their shape best.

With wild and brown rice, edamame, dried cherries and pecans, this dish boasts varied textures as well as an abundance of nutrients. Wild rice is rich in fiber and protein while brown rice is high in manganese, which helps the body digest fats. Cherries are packed with antioxidants, while pecans are loaded with healthy unsaturated fat.

This recipe takes rice pilaf to the next level. It's full of creamy, melt-in-your melt flavor.

This 25-minutes, main dish, grain salad features a wild rice mix and cooked turkey breast. Sweet apples and dried cherries are a pleasing contrast to the crunchy celery and toasted pecans, and the thyme-flavored dressing enhances all the different flavors nicely. It can be chilled for up to 24 hours, so consider making it a day ahead.

The addition of pea pods and raisins to rice and barley makes this crowd-pleasing salad extra nutritious. Chill for at least four hours to give the salad time to soak up the flavors of the low-fat orange dressing.

Nutty-tasting grains, such as wild rice, barley and wheat berries, make this simple side-dish pilaf so much more than the sum of its parts. Since the wild rice cooks faster than wheat berries and hulled barley, presoak the longer-cooking grains to make the cooking times compatible. If you would like to add fresh mushrooms, quickly sauté them and stir them into the cooked pilaf. Or try this flavor variation: Omit dill and substitute 1 teaspoon lemon zest for lemon juice. Stir in 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese just before serving.

This gluten-free dressing (or stuffing, if you prefer) leans on a blend of brown and wild rice for a complex nutty flavor. Look for dried Mission figs in the bulk aisle or with the packaged dried fruit in your grocery store. You can swap in dried cherries or cranberries if you can't find dried figs.

Use leftover Thanksgiving or Christmas turkey for this main dish soup--or stop by the deli. Suitable for diabetic meal plans, this low-calorie slow-cooker soup develops excellent savory flavors with minimal attention from the cook.

Roasted sweet potatoes are the star of this dinner recipe, which is ready in just one hour. Combining different whole grains, such as wild rice and barley, allows for multiple flavor and nutrition profiles to be displayed in this recipe.

Sourdough bread, a mix of earthy mushrooms and wild rice fill sweet acorn squash in this vegan Thanksgiving dish that's just the right size for two people. Sweet carnival squash, with its stripes and speckles, is a fun alternative to acorn squash if you can get your hands on one.

Swapping in cauliflower rice can help create a lower-carb holiday side. To ensure a perfect texture, wild rice and riced cauliflower are cooked separately and then combined.

A departure from classic bread-based stuffing, this recipe can also be served as an accompaniment to game.

Wild rice is intensely aromatic so it's a great match for the bold flavors of saffron and Madeira in this wild rice pilaf recipe. Roasted sweet potatoes and Brussels sprouts studded on top give it a festive look and help make it filling enough for a vegetarian main dish.

Barley and wild rice combine with sweet golden raisins and fresh snow peas in this simple and healthy side dish recipe. Serve it with chicken, pork, or beef.

Stuffed acorn squash is one of those recipes that can easily take center stage as a plant-based holiday entree or be served as a colorful side dish.