Today I have for you a beautiful Wild Rice No-Meat Loaf ~ all vegan all gluten free. Beautiful, tasty and satisfying. Loaded with vegan protein, Holiday season’s flavours and the additional beauty and great taste of Naosap Harvest wild rice.
I must be honest and admit that I get completely excited about food! I love great fabulous REAL food. Food that is crafted by Mother Nature with the helping hand of great dedicated people. Organic, wild, non-gmo – that’s the REAL I’m talking about. It’s exactly why I was so excited when I discovered and tasted the realness of this delicious wild rice – harvested from the organic and non-gmo farms of Naosap Harvest, a family owned and operated operation in Manitoba, Canada.
Did you know that wild rice is not even rice, and it’s not even a grain but a seed!!? Therefore it’s much healthier and easier to digest than grains!
I haven’t had wild rice before, and having finally tried Naosap Harvest organic wild rice I was amazed by the versatility, heartiness, great nutrition and great taste of it. My husband doesn’t always love vegan foods – but even he exclaimed “Wow, this is great”. And we all agreed, including the little one, that this rice is fantastic.
This rice is also a great buy because only 1/2 cup uncooked rice – triples in size and makes 1 1/2 cups of cooked rice! So this whole No-Meat Loaf uses only 1/2 cup of wild rice. It pops when cooked, kind of like popcorn would and you get great rustic texture in each grain. I like that, I like when food has a little imperfection to it and has a hearty rustic ‘real’ look and feel…
I wanted to make a Vegan version of a Meat Loaf for a long time. And I was really excited to bring in the wild rice into this. It adds a great robust taste and texture to the recipe. It turned out great and I can’t wait to make it again ~ for the Holidays for sure ;)
WILD RICE NO-MEAT LOAF
WITH NAOSAP HARVEST ORGANIC WILD RICE
(vegan, gluten free – egg free, dairy free)
1/2 cup uncooked wild rice
1 can red kidney beans, rinsed and drained
2/3 cup walnuts, chopped
1/4 cup raisins, chopped
1/4 cup dried cranberries, chopped
1 medium onion, diced fine
2 tbsp milled flax seeds (with 3 tbsp hot water)
1/2 cup gluten-free bread crumbs
2 springs of fresh oregano
1/2 tsp ground pepper or more to taste
1 tsp sea salt or more to taste
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
extra warm water
Directions: Cook the rice as per directions (the cooking time is about 45 minutes – I like to do this the night before or in the morning so the rice is cooked and ready before putting it together) The actual assembly of the loaf is very quick – about 20 minutes).
Grease and line a loaf pan with parchment paper and set aside. Preheat the oven to 350F.
Chop the onion very fine, and in small skillet, sautee on olive oil until golden, not burned – set aside. Separately in a small bowl, add the milled flax seeds and hot water, mix and set aside. Chop all raisins, dried cranberries, walnuts into small pieces.
:: Larger pieces will give you a rougher texture of the loaf but expect it to be more crumbly also.
:: Smaller pieces will give you a smoother texture in the loaf, and if that’s what you’re after, take 2/3 of the cooked wild rice, and give it a bit of a chopping also.
In a food processor, grind all the red kidney beans into a paste.
In a large bowl, combine the bean paste, sauteed onion, all the dried fruit, nuts, 2/3 of the wild rice (reserve 1/3 for top), and 1/2 of the flax seed mixture, gluten-free breadcrumbs, spices, salt and pepper plus fresh oregano – mix well. If the mixture is too dry, add a few tablespoons of warm water, mix and add more until it sticks together and isn’t crumbly, but it’s not runny. Taste it and add more seasoning if needed. Tasting it is a very important step to make sure it doesn’t come out bland at the end.
In another small bowl, add 1/3 of the wild rice remaining with 1/2 of the flax seed mixture, season with salt and pepper and mix well to incorporate. This is the wild rice topping.
Assemble in the lined loaf pan by adding the rice topping first. Be sure to spread it out evenly. Then add in the other loaf mixture. Press down firmly so it forms well in the pan, smooth out the top.
Bake for 35-45 minutes. Let cool for about 10 minutes before serving. Great dish to make a day before serving. Serve with a salad for everyday dinner. Or, since the Holidays are coming up so soon, this is a great Vegan and Gluten-Free protein rich dish that would be great as part of a delicious healthy Christmas dinner. Enjoy.
This is a great dish for those on a Vegan and Gluten-free diet ~ but not only. I encourage everyone to eat healthier by incorporating more plant-based dishes into their daily food intake. With the addition of the Naosap Harvest wild rice, it’s hearty and healthy – with great organic and nutritious goodness. Yum! I can’t wait to make this again ;)
Naosap Harvest Wild Rice Nutrition Info
7g of protein in a 1/4 cup
3 grams of fibre
6% of your daily iron
rich in B vitamins
gluten-free
certified Non-GMO
and certified organic
I love how nutritious this rice is! I often say, if you’re going to eat anyway, eat healthy food that’s actually good for you. This wild rice gets my seal of approval! ;)
You can visit Naosap Harvest on their website, facebook page, and you can order online through their online store – a bag of these would be great for Christmas gifts! ;)
Blogger, Recipe Developer, Photographer and Author. Loves healthy food, photography, sunshine and dancing in the kitchen with her two daughters. 
I can’t even describe how good this sounds/looks to me! Thanks for sharing, I’ll be making this soon! I’m actually going to make your adzuki soup today finally :)
Well thank you Miss Sunshine ;)
Hope you enjoyed that soup ;) I sure feel like making that now ;) It is getting super cold here… ;) xoxo
can you please clarify a few things here.
you list breadcrumbs, and i assume they all get added to loaf ( not topping). YOu mention hot water for flax seeds but not how much and towards the bottom you mention 1/2 rice and 1/2 the flax while discussing the topping and i think you mean 1/3 of rice, not 1/2. thanks . just popped it in the oven!
i added abit of bragg and a hit of siracha
Hi Paula,
Thanks so much for noticing these. My apologies for missing those points – I just tweaked the recipe. I like your additions also ;)
Take care,
Ella
Wow, I made this for dinner tonight (using black rice instead of wild rice) and it was AWESOME! It only took me 15 minutes to put it together, since I had pre-cooked my rice earlier in the week. Can’t wait to make this again!
This is simply amazing! I can’t wait to try this loaf, since all the ingrediets inside are so sincerely beloved! :)
It simply has to be a hit!
Thank’s for sharing!
We had this for Canadian Thanksgiving last night. I shaped it a little differently (thinner to allow a slightly shorter cooking time) and wrapped it in a few sheets of phyllo to make it “fancy”.
It was delicious, and I’ll be making it again for sure. I look forward to trying the loaf as written.
Birdyrabbit ~ thanks for your comment! ;)
I love how you dressed up the recipe – sounds delicious ;)
I hope you had a great Thanksgiving weekend! We sure did! xo ella
At what temperature is this loaf baked?
Oops…I overlooked the instruction to preheat oven to 350. Now I am looking forward to making this loaf tonight!
Ok, great! Happy to hear you are making it ;)
Do let me know how you like it! Cheers. Ella
This I have to try! Looks delicious!
Thank you Susan ;)
What a lovely surprise to see a comment from one of my biggest idols! ;)
Sending big hugs! xo Ella
This looks yummy. Raisins + cranberries sounds like it might be sweeter than we like since it’s hard to find dry cranberries without sugar. Thinking about subbing the cranberries with dried olives. What do you think?
Thank you ;)
It doesn’t come out that sweet… but if you want to keep the sugar to a minimum, maybe you can reduce the amount of cranberries or omit them entirely. ??
As for olives, it’s an interesting idea but I’m thinking they might be too zesty for this. Something more mild, sauteed dried mushrooms could work great ;)
If you do try the olives, do please let me know how it works out for you ;) xo ella
Question. I’m allergic to walnuts :( What could I use instead? Would almonds work? Or some othet nut? Allergic to pecans as well, just in case you suggest those. Looks delicious!
Hi Jilian!
Great question ;) Yes, you can easily sub for different nuts. Almonds might be a little more crunchier in this recipe – but if you pre-soaked those for 4-6 hours or overnight that will help in the crunch aspect. Brazil could work too or even chestnuts! It’s a very flexible recipe so I think if you have fun and add what you have (even if it’s a blended mix) it would work great ;)
Do let me know what you end up using and how it works out for you ;) I am so curious and tempted also to make this leaf with different nuts.
Hope that helps. Enjoy! xox Ella
All I can say is: Awesomacious! Miss Ella
I’d love to get together and share my kitchen w/you.
Back in the ’60s I made regularily meatless grain burgers using walnuts as they have the right textures/flavor. Thank you kindly for sharing.
This sounds absolutely delicious Ekota!
This looks SO perfect!!
Thank you so much Lexi!!! ;) xoxo
Looks great! I would like to know if this recipe can be frozen. Thank you!
Hi Lawrence,
So sorry for this late response… I don’t know how I missed your comment.
Yes, it can be frozen. Just keep it sealed or wrapped air tight to prevent freezer burn. Freeze for up to 3 months. Place in the refrigerator overnight to defrost. Reheat in the oven for 20 minutes at 300F.
I hope you enjoy this soon. Let me know how you like it!
Best, ella
Just made ( with a few tweaks) and LOVE! Even the non-vegans in my house raved! I used a wild rice blend and also used my food processor to get the rest of the ingredients really fine. Next time I will add a bit of veg broth, mine was very very dense. I might put it under broiler to finish it off too, my boys like the crunch on top! Thanks!
Hi made this loaf last night so I could make it into meatloaf sandwiches for my husbands 10 hour drive to visit family. I put it on bread with ketchup and just mayo and wow what a delicious sandwich (he had one the night before the trip too). Loads of flavor, I might be making this loaf for Thanksgiving too!
Hi Laura! That is so great to hear!! :)
I am really happy to hear that your husband liked it too!
Great idea for the sandwiches AND I also think it’s a Thanksgiving must :)
Hugs, ella
(ps. I will be sharing a lentil mushroom loaf soon ~ stay tuned!)