Celebrate America with wild rice at your table. Enjoy the natural nutty flavor of these grains with crunchy celery and fresh mushrooms in this very simple recipe.

shiitake mushroom fried rice with Peju Merlot and pumpkins in the background

Disclosure: The wines pictured in this post were provided as media samples. All opinions are my own.

Must have Thanksgiving dish

If you're wondering what dish to add to your Thanksgiving repertoire this fall, consider wild rice.

While it may seem untraditional, it is actually a very traditional American food.

Wild Rice is not Rice

Wild rice is not actually rice but an aquatic grass seed, native to Asia and the Great Lakes region of North America.

It looks like rice, but it is higher in protein, fiber, and antioxidants.

Wild rice is grown in grassy marshes in the northern Great Lakes area near Minnesota. You can buy wild rice plain or as a blend with other rices.

A centuries old American food

The Native Americas harvested wild rice as a grain for hundreds of years.

Every September, the Ojibwe tribe would go to the Great Lakes for harvest, known as the "ricing moon".

After gathering, drying, and parching it over fire to remove the hulls, they would celebrate the end of harvest with Thanksgiving where they ate the first rice of the season.

While most wild rice is now commercially grown, the native wild rice harvest still continues in Northern Minnesota for two weeks every September.

vegan wild rice fried rice on a blue plate with a gold spoon

Wild rice brands

You can buy wild rice by itself or you can buy it in a bag blended with other rice grains.

I found a couple different wild rice blends:

Lundberg wild rice blend - Blended with brown rice and black rice, this takes 45 minutes to cook and also comes in an organic version.
Riceselect royal blend - Blended with Texmati white, brown and red rice. It takes just 15 minutes to cook. It is what I used in the photos for this recipe.

Ways to prepare wild rice

Any way you can think of using rice, you can use wild rice instead such as:

plain steamed as a side dish
wild rice pilaf - cooked with vegetable stock, butter/olive oil, and diced onion
stuffing - for turkey, pumpkins, mushroom caps, cabbage rolls, or grape leaves
fried rice - with fresh or leftover cooked wild rice

This recipe for fried rice uses the classical pairing of mushrooms with wild rice.

7 Ingredient fried rice

ingredients for wild rice fried rice — 7 ingredients: 1) Wild rice 2) Shiitake mushrooms or other mushroom of choice 3) celery 4) Tamari sauce or soy sauce 5) garlic 6) toasted sesame seeds 7) cooking oil (not pictured)

You don't necessarily need a recipe for fried rice ever, but sometimes you do need some inspiration.

When I think of wild rice, I think of wild mushrooms.

For this recipe, I used fresh shiitake mushrooms, but you can use any mushroom of choice.

Tamari sauce or soy sauce enriches the nutty flavor in the rice and mushrooms.
Celery is a classic addition to stuffing and makes me think of Thanksgiving meals. It's freshness and crunchiness add contrast to the rice too.
Toasted sesame seeds are a must for many vegan Asian dishes and just adds a little extra crunchiness and savoriness.

Step by Step Instructions

Time needed: 20 minutes

If your wild rice is already cooked, this dish comes together very quickly and is a great use of leftover wild rice.

Cook wild rice
If not already on hand, cook wild rice according to package directions. For extra flavor, use vegetable stock instead of water and a pinch of salt.
Slice celery on the bias
Slice mushrooms and mince garlic
Remove the tough stem if using shiitake mushrooms. Slice mushrooms roughly a ⅓" thick.
Heat oil over medium heat.
Add mushrooms and soy sauce.
Cook mushrooms for 2-3 minutes, stirring, until cooked through.
Once s
Add minced garlic
Stir fry garlic with mushrooms for 30 seconds until fragrant.
Add celery
Cook for 1-2 minutes until celery is softened.
Add wild rice
Stir fry for 3-5 minutes until wild rice is heated through.
Serve hot
Garnish with celery leaves, sesame seeds, and a drizzle of sesame oil.

Wine Pairing

duckhorn merlot wine with wild rice fried rice

I developed this recipe for a fall vegan menu to pair with Merlot.

Merlot loves mushrooms, among other things, and the nuttiness of wild rice is a fitting autumn pairing for them.

Helpful Tips

Wild rice comes as pure wild rice or as a blend with other common rice types such as brown rice and long grain white rice. This recipe uses a wild rice blend because the added texture of the other grains makes it a little more palatable.
Cook the wild rice according to the package directions. Use vegetable stock instead of water if you can for extra flavor.
Typically, fried rice is made with leftover cold rice. If you have hot wild rice on hand, you can still stir fry hot without clumping too much, since it is not as sticky as regular rice.
Use a nonstick pan or well seasoned wok/cast iron pan to avoid having your rice stick to the pan.
Be careful about washing your mushrooms in water. The water will leach out when cooked and may make the fried rice soggy.

Related Vegan Mushroom Recipes

Korean BBQ Mushrooms (for a vegan main dish!)

Japanese Mushroom Rice (Kinoko Gohan)

Vegan Mapo Tofu with Caramelized Mushrooms

Recipe

vegan wild rice fried rice on a gray round plate with a gold spoon

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