Coming to think of it, this wholesome brown rice salad with mushrooms and sweet potatoes is my way of welcoming fall. After seeing so many fall inspired salads on Pinterest, I had to try making a vegan version of my own.
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This hearty rice salad
- has brown rice that is fiber packed
- uses air fried veggies including sweet potatoes and mushrooms
- packs a punch in its dressing with miso and other yum stuff
- keeps you feeling full
- is incredibly meal prep friendly
Ingredients
- Air fryer roasted vegetables including onions, mushrooms and sweet potatoes
- brown rice cooked in the Instant Pot
- Umami packed orange miso salad dressing using miso, soy and other good stuff
- some dried cranberries to top all that off
Substitutes
- The dressing in this salad calls for white miso paste and chili crisp both of which are easily available in Asian stores.
- If you do not have Chili crisp on hand, you can substitute it with garlic flakes and chili flakes. Adjust the amount of chili flakes based on your heat tolerance levels.
- Sesame oil adds depth to this salad. While I strongly recommend it, you can always use any neutral flavored oil instead. We do not have to break the bank for just one recipe. That’s the motto here.
- While I used brown basmati rice here, pretty much any brown rice or even wild rice will work for this recipe.
Air fryer lid
I created this recipe using the Instant Pot Duo Crisp for Instant Pot Singapore. This is an 8 quart Instant Pot that comes with the air fryer lid.
However, you can roast your vegetables in a regular air fryer or in the oven too. You may have to play around with the timings in this case.
P.S. This post is not sponsored or does not contain any affiliate links.
Variations
You can play around with the combination of vegetables that you have on hand or whatever is in season, depending on where you live. Just make sure to choose vegetables that have a similar roasting time.
- Swap sweet potatoes with winter squash varieties like butternut squash or acorn squash.
- Quinoa is an ideal replacement for brown rice because of its texture.
- You can also add toasted pecans, walnuts or black sesame seeds.
Recipe Notes
- Allow the rice to cool down before tossing it into the salad.
- Go easy on the salt since soy sauce and Chili crisp both have salt in them.
- Cooking the rice in broth adds depth to it.
- I recommend using leftover cooked rice in this salad. This is pretty much like fried rice.
- Add the vegetables to the air fryer within 5 to 10 mins of coating them with spices and oil. This helps prevent them from becoming soggy.
- If you let the veggies sit for a long while after you add the seasonings, they tend to release water. This will give you mushy and flavorless roasted veggies.
- Chopping the sweet potatoes and mushrooms into small pieces is important here to make sure that they cook evenly.
For the salad person in you
Directions
There are three parts to this salad. You can cook the brown rice ahead of time in order to minimize prep work.
Cook brown rice
according to the instructions here in this post – how to cook brown rice in the Instant Pot. I prefer cooking it in my Instant Pot because it is so much convenient.
After the rice has cooked, measure the quantity we need for this salad and let it cool completely.
Air fry sweet potatoes and mushrooms
In a large mixing bowl, place the chopped mushrooms, onions and sweet potatoes.
Preheat your air fryer at 195C for 5 minutes.
In this recipe, I am using my air fryer lid that came with my Instant Pot.
If you are doing this, close the Instant Pot using the air fryer lid.
Plug in and press AIR FRY on your Instant Pot and set the temperature to 195C and timer for 5 minutes.
While the air fryer preheats, prep the vegetables.
Add sesame oil, salt, pepper and sweet paprika. Mix well until the vegetables are coated evenly with the spices and oil.
Press cancel on the Instant Pot after it has preheated in the air fryer mode.
Arrange the vegetables in a single layer in the air fryer basket that comes with the Instant Pot.
Put the lid back on and press AIR FRY, set the temperature at 195C
Air fry at 195 C for 12 minutes. At the half way mark, press CANCEL, open the air fryer lid carefully, shake your vegetables or toss them around and put the lid back on.
Continue to air fry for the remaining time. When done, transfer the roasted vegetables to a bowl.
Make the Orange Miso dressing
Place all the ingredients mentioned under “for dressing” in a mixing bowl.
Whisk well using a balloon whisk. Alternatively, you can add all the ingredients to a salad dressing shaker and shake well.
Assemble the salad
To a salad bowl, add the cooled down cooked brown basmati rice, dried cranberries along with the air fried vegetables and pour the dressing over it.
Use a fork to gently mix all of it together, ensuring that the dressing is well incorporated.
Finish with some dried cranberries and chopped cilantro as garnish.
Vegan brown rice salad with sweet potatoes
Equipment
- 1 eight quart Instant Pot Duo Crisp
Ingredients
- 1 cup brown basmati
- 1.25 cups vegetable stock or water (Alternatively use 1 tsp vegetable stock powder along with 1.25 cups plain water if you cant source vegetable broth)
For air frying the vegetables in your Instant Pot Duo Crisp -
- 200 grams white button mushrooms
- 300 grams chopped sweet potatoes chop the sweet potatoes into small cubes.
- 150 grams chopped onions I prefer chopping them into large cubes
- 1.25 tbsp sesame oil
- Salt to taste
- 1 tsp sweet paprika
- A few grinds of black pepper
For the dressing-
- ¾ cup freshly squeezed orange juice
- 1 tbsp brown sugar
- 1.25 tbsp light soy sauce
- 1 tbsp chili crisp
- 2 tsp white miso paste
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- Zest of ½ an orange
For finishing the salad-
- 75 grams dried cranberries
- 2 tbsp finely chopped cilantro
Instructions
Cook brown rice
- Cook brown basmati rice according to the instructions mentioned in my Instant Pot brown basmati rice recipe.
- After the rice has cooked, measure the quantity we need for this salad and let it cool completely.
Air fry sweet potatoes and mushrooms
- In a large mixing bowl, place the chopped mushrooms, onions and sweet potatoes.
- Preheat your air fryer at 195C for 5 minutes.
- Close the Instant Pot using the air fryer lid.
- Plug in and press AIR FRY on your Instant Pot and set the temperature to 195C and timer for 5 minutes.
- While the air fryer preheats, prep the vegetables.
- Add sesame oil, salt, pepper and sweet paprika. Mix well until the vegetables are coated evenly with the spices and oil.
- Press cancel on the Instant Pot after it has preheated in the air fryer mode.
- Arrange the vegetables in a single layer in the air fryer basket that comes with the Instant Pot.
- Put the lid back on and press AIR FRY, set the temperature at 195C
- Air fry at 195 C for 12 minutes. At the half way mark, press CANCEL, open the air fryer lid carefully, shake your vegetables or toss them around and put the lid back on.
- Continue to air fry for the remaining time. When done, transfer the roasted vegetables to a bowl.
Make the Orange Miso dressing
- Place all the ingredients mentioned under "for dressing" in a mixing bowl.
- Whisk well using a balloon whisk. Alternatively, you can add all the ingredients to a salad dressing shaker and shake well.
Assemble the salad
- To a salad bowl, add the cooled down cooked brown basmati rice, dried cranberries along with the air fried vegetables and pour the dressing over it.
- Use a fork to gently mix all of it together, ensuring that the dressing is well incorporated.
- Finish with some dried cranberries and chopped cilantro as garnish.
Notes
For Instant Pot & Air Fryer Recipes
Instant Pot timings may vary based on your geographic location. Air fryer settings and timings may vary based on the capacity and the model of the Air fryer.
Disclaimer
Nutrition values are provided here as a courtesy and are only a rough guide. Please consult a health care provider if you have any concerns.
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