You’re not supposed to pick favorites, but this Wild Rice with Spicy Roasted Persimmons and Cranberries is one of our favorite dishes in a long time. It’s earthy, savory, sweet, and a little bit spicy. That first taste is so good… and then you get that satisfying, fiery “zing.” And then you find yourself going back for more… and more…and more.

Wild Rice with Spicy Roasted Persimmons and Cranberries

What makes this wild rice dish more than your typical side dish are some sweet-but-not-too sweet fruits. The dried cranberries are a little bit tangy and just faintly sugary. And the roasted persimmons are deceptively sweet, until the chili oil kicks in.

Wild Rice Dish Ingredients

To make this dish, we used shallots, persimmons, and dried cranberries from Melissa’s Produce. Have you used persimmons before? They are bright orange and sweet, with a very dense flesh. To prep them, we cut off the top (similar to how you would remove the center top of a tomato) and diced them.

Persimmons and shallots from Melissa’s Produce

Then we tossed the persimmons with chili oil from Garcia de la Cruz Olive Oil.  This extra virgin olive oil comes from Spain, from a family that has been producing olive oil from their fields since 1872. It has a smooth texture with a strong finish. If you want your dish to be even spicier, you can let the persimmons sit a little longer in the chili oil before roasting them.

Garcia de la Cruz hot chili olive oil

For the wild rice, we used a standard wild rice mix from the store and followed the instructions on the bag for cooking. However, there are many different varieties of wild rice that may use different amounts of liquid and different cooking times. Make sure you follow the directions specific to your wild rice.

Wild Rice with Spicy Roasted Persimmons and Cranberries Recipe

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Wild Rice with Spicy Roasted Persimmons and Cranberries

A hearty wild rice dish that is sweet and a little bit spicy with roasted persimmons, dried cranberries, and hot chili oil.

Course Side Dish

Cuisine American

Keyword dried cranberries, persimmons, wild rice

Prep Time 10 minutes

Cook Time 40 minutes

Total Time 50 minutes

Servings 6

Ingredients

• 2 Fuyu persimmons, cored and diced
• 1 tbsp Garcia de la Cruz hot chili olive oil
• 1 tbsp regular extra virgin olive oil
• 2 shallots, minced
• 2 cups wild rice
• 3 cups vegetable stock or water (or amount of liquid as specified in your wild rice recipe
• 1/2 cup dried cranberries
• rosemary or other herbs for garnish

Instructions

1. Core the persimmons and dice them into 1-inch cubes. Place them in a small bowl and toss them with hot chili oil. Spread the persimmons out on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Roast them at 400 degrees for about 30 minutes, or until soft and golden brown.

2. Meanwhile, prepare the rice. In a large stockpot, heat the one tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil over medium heat. Add the shallots and saute for 2 to 3 minutes, or until soft and translucent. Add the rice and stock (or water) and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to a simmer, cover, and cook for 20 minutes (or according to package directions on your specific brand of rice).

3. Remove the rice from the heat and stir in roasted persimmons and dried cranberries. Plate the rice dish in your serving bowl. Garnish with herbs, if desired, and/or drizzle with a little bit of extra hot chili oil. Serve warm.

Olive Oil for the Holidays

To help us create this dish, Garcia de la Cruz sent us this special hot chili olive oil. They also offer garlic oil, lemon oil, and basil oil. These infused oils – are really fun to play around with. They also make great gifts, hint, hint.

Flavored olive oils via Garcia de la Cruz

As our gift to you, by way of Garcia de la Cruz, we have a special offer to share. Use the code 15INFUSED to get 15% off on any infused organic extra virgin olive oil purchase on Amazon until December 31, 2021. (Enter the code on the payment page after you fill your cart.)

Blogger disclosure: Melissa’s Produce sent us produce to sample, and Garcia de la Cruz sent us olive oil to sample. We did not receive compensation from this post. All opinions expressed are our own.

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