Paper-thin veggies, a shower of herbs, a pile of fried crispy red curry rice, and a limey garlicky vinaigrette all over top. This crispy rice salad is all I want to eat right now!
This was insanely delicious. Full of flavor, texture, color. The crunchy cool cucumbers complement the red curry spice perfectly. Hubs and I LOVE rice already, so had to try this dish and it was a hit!
In This Post
- Jump To The Recipe
- Why I Love This Recipe
- Visual Walk-Through of the Recipe
- Video
- Frequently Asked Questions
- Ratings
I Don’t Think I’ve Ever Loved a Salad As Much As I Love This Crispy Rice Salad.
Let’s discuss.
First of all, there’s papery thin vegetables (cucumber! shallot!) and a whole lot of herbs (mint! cilantro! add more, more, more!).
And secondly, there’s a beautiful pile of clumpy fried golden red curry jasmine rice – it’s crisped and golden on the outside, but soft and carby enough on the insides to still absorb some of the limey, garlicky, salty vinaigrette with all the flavor.
OOF I am drooling just thinking about it.
I can throw some crushed peanuts at this thing and be fully and absolutely happy without any other protein. But if you are the kind of person who wants to get some bonus protein up in the mix (you know what I’m going to say!) I’d recommend the air fryer chicken or the air fryer salmon here. We’ve done both; they’re both great.
This salad is a riff on Nam Khao which is a Laotian appetizer-style salad where the rice is fried into balls with fermented sausage, broken apart, and then eaten on a platter with lettuce cups. I tried a version of this at Hai Hai about a year ago and honestly have been thinking about trying to make it ever since. It was SO good. Then (it was fate!) Molly Yeh recently posted a video about making crispy rice in the air fryer! Genius. And this is how we ended up here, with a brand new salad obsession just in time for Summer 2024.
Welcome To My Home! Let’s Make Crispy Rice Salad.
1
Prep Your Dressing and Herbs.
Blitz up the dressing, and chop up the salad stuff. I like to use a mandoline for the cucumbers and shallots.
2
Mix The Rice with Curry Paste.
Mix the rice with a bit of oil and red curry paste. For the air fryer, I like to have the texture being sticky / wet enough that you can kind of squeeze it into loose chunks. If the rice is dried out / several days leftover, I will add a tablespoon or two of water and maybe even a bit of cornstarch to the mix to help it revive a bit.
3
Clump Your Rice Into the Air Fryer.
Yes, clump it. Just place sticky handfuls of the rice in the air fryer in a single layer. They don’t have to be balls, but you also don’t want each individual grain of rice to be separated. Just kinda clump it in there.
4
Air Fry the Rice!
I do it at 420 for about 8 minutes till it’s nice and golden brown and crispy around the edges! (If you don’t have an air fryer, there are other options in the notes.) See how it kind of makes clusters? When it’s done, scoop chunks of the rice onto your salad bowl! It’ll look like this:
(In this photo I’m making a salad for just me for lunch, which is why there’s still rice left in the air fryer! Serving size: 1.)
5
Toss It Up!
Toss the veggies and rice with the dressing.
6
You’re done! YUM!
Seriously. This might be my favorite salad I’ve ever made.
Watch How To Make This Crispy Rice Salad
Description
Paper-thin veggies, a shower of herbs, a pile of fried crispy red curry rice, and a limey garlicky vinaigrette all over top. This crispy rice salad is all I want to eat right now!
Instructions
- Dressing: Blitz everything up in a blender or food processor to make this SUPER yummy, punchy sauce.
- Crispy Rice: Toss the rice in a bowl with the oil and curry paste. If it’s not sticking together when you squeeze it, add the cornstarch and get your hands wet to mix it again (this happens if the rice is pre-cooked or several days old). Squeeze it into loose, squishy chunks and transfer to the air fryer in a single layer. Air fry at 400 for 7-9 minutes, until golden and crisped. (See Note 3 for alternative methods – I find the air fryer to be fastest and most convenient!)
- You’re Done! Yum! Break the crispy rice apart into little golden, delightful chunks. Toss with about half of the dressing and however many veggies you want. Garnish it with some peanuts and chili crisp if you want. I mean, honestly. Wow. This is so good.
Notes
Note 1 on Ginger: I don’t grate it or mince it because I just toss it in the the bldner with the rest of the sauce ingredients. I’ve also used lemongrass paste here and it’s delicious!
Note 2 on Cooking the Rice: Most crispy rice recipes call for day-old cooked rice. Maybe I’m just lazy, but honestly, I have not found this to be necessary. I cook the rice in the Instant Pot with this method – for this I do 2 cups of rinsed jasmine rice to 2 1/2 cups water, cooked for 3 minutes at high pressure and rested for a 15 minute natural pressure release. I often just make this, fry up a batch for the same-day salad, and then keep the rest in the fridge for another salad later in the week.
Note 3a on Oven Method: If you don’t have an air fryer, I would recommend “frying” the rice in the oven. Bake it at 425 degrees for about 8-10 minutes near the top of the oven (closer to the heating element). It’ll get crispy on the outside, but stay chewy on the inside.
Note 3b on Skillet Frying: You can fry this rice in oil in a skillet, but it’s not my favorite because a) it’s messy, and b) it requires your rice to be much drier to begin with in order to get it crisped up. You’ll want to use day-old rice, and then fry it in about 1/4 cup of neutral oil until it’s golden and crispy. Some recipes even recommend drying the rice out in the oven to ensure that the rice is dry enough to fry well, which, for me, is a dealbreaker. Too many steps. LOL. Another consideration: your finished rice will likely be more oily than the other two methods so you may find that you don’t need as much of the dressing.
