Skip to main content
Salad

Mexican Rice Salad

Chilled salad of cooked rice, eggs, green onions, celery, green chiles, cheddar cheese, sour cream, lemon juice, picante sauce, salt, pepper, on greens with tomato.

From the Recipes Wiki (Fandom) · 13 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

Why it works: Celery and lemon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,467 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓

Mexican Rice Salad

Ingredients

Directions

Make the salad

  1. Combine rice, eggs, onions, celery, chiles and cheese.

  2. Blend sour cream, lemon juice, picante sauce, salt and pepper.

  3. Pour over rice mixture and mix well.

  4. Chill.

Serve

  1. Serve on salad greens and top with tomato.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

587Calories
38 gProtein
16 gFat
73 gCarbs

Counts 10 of 12 ingredients. The other 2 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 10 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Rice1 cup cooked (158g) white206
Cheddar Cheese1 oz (28g)113
Yogurt170g plain Greek100
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Onion1 medium (110g)44
Tomato1 medium (123g)22
Lemonjuice of 1 lemon (48ml)12
Celery1 stalk (40g)6
Black Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
Salt1 tsp (6g)0
Saucenot in our table0
Saladnot in our table0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

Recipe from the Recipes Wiki (Fandom).

Steps grouped into stages for easier reading; the method is the source's own.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Celery + lemontop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,467 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  2. Onion + celerytop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,518 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  3. Rice + celerytop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,169 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  4. Rice + oniontop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together10,433 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  5. Cream + saucetop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,787 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Cooked rice
Forms the bulk of the salad and holds the other ingredients together.
Hard-cooked eggs
Add richness and body, giving the salad a soft, creamy texture.
Cheddar cheese
Adds savory flavor and a slightly firm, melty bite.
Sour cream
Provides moisture and tang, binding the dressing to the salad.
Lemon juice
Adds acidity that brightens the dressing and balances the richness.

Swap the lemon

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (rice, egg, onion, celery, cheddar cheese, cream, sauce):

  1. Avocadofits better
  2. Coconutfits better
  3. Limefits about as well
  4. Lemonthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against rice, egg, onion, celery, cheddar cheese, cream, sauce. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

You might also like

Tomato SaladTomato Salad179 recipesChicken SaladChicken Salad623 recipesSalad DressingSalad Dressing491 recipesCold SlawCold Slaw160 recipes