Gluten Free Mediterranean Brown Rice Salad with Tomatoes, Olives & Cucumber
Brown rice is the unsung hero of naturally gluten-free grain salads, and here it gets the full Mediterranean treatment with juicy cherry tomatoes, crisp cucumber, briny Kalamata olives, and a bright lemon-oregano dressing. Every single ingredient in this bowl is inherently free of gluten, so there's no swapping, substituting, or label-squinting required — just straightforward, confident cooking. The dressing comes together with a quick whisk of olive oil, fresh lemon juice, cumin, and dried oregano, and it soaks beautifully into the cooled rice for a deeply savory, tangy bite. Letting the rice rest and cool before tossing everything together is the small but important step that keeps the salad light and fluffy rather than clumped or gummy. Fresh parsley and optional mint lift the whole thing with a herby finish that makes it feel like something you'd order at a seaside restaurant. It holds up well in the fridge for up to three days, which makes it a genuinely useful meal-prep option for busy weeks.
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Learn more →Ingredients
4 servings
For the rice
- 1 cup long-grain brown rice
- 2 cups water
- ¼ tsp salt
For the dressing
- 3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 3 tbsp fresh lemon juice (from about 1 large lemon)
- 1 tsp dried oregano
- ½ tsp ground cumin
- ¼ tsp salt
- ¼ tsp black pepper
For the salad
- 1 cup cherry tomatoes, halved
- 1 english cucumber, diced (about 1 ½ cups)
- ½ cup kalamata olives, pitted and halved
- ¼ cup red onion, finely diced
- ¼ cup fresh flat-leaf parsley, roughly chopped
- 2 tbsp fresh mint, roughly chopped (optional)
Instructions
- 1
Combine the brown rice, water, and 1/4 tsp salt in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil over high heat, then reduce the heat to low, cover tightly, and cook until the water is fully absorbed and the rice is tender, about 40–45 minutes.
- 2
Remove the saucepan from the heat and let the rice rest, covered, for 10 minutes, then spread it out in a large mixing bowl and let it cool to room temperature, about 15 minutes.
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