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Nicoise salad is a French salad that’s made with fresh vegetables, hard boiled eggs and tuna. This salad is ready in 30 minutes and you can serve it as a light lunch or dinner.
Salads play an important role in Mediterranean cuisine as this cuisine uses fresh vegetables on a regular basis. You can make light salads such as Greek salad, summer lettuce salad and caprese salad or more filling ones like our favorite panzanella, chicken shawarma salad, and Mediterranean tuna salad. Today’s recipe comes from the shores of the Mediterranean sea with a French root.
Table of Contents
About This Recipe
Known as Salade Nicoise, this salad originated in the town of Nice in France. Traditionally, this salad is made with tomatoes, anchovies or tuna and hard boiled eggs. These days, it’s common to add green beans and potatoes to this salad as well.
Same as cobb salad, nicoise salad is a composed salad, meaning that its ingredients are arranged beautifully instead of tossed together. This salad is perfect for entertaining and can be a showstopper at a party, gathering or a summer brunch.
There seems to be some strong opinions about what should and shouldn’t go into this French salad. While some believe that only raw vegetables should be used, there are many versions that use cooked green beans or potatoes on the salad.
Ingredients
- Potatoes: You can use new potatoes or yukon gold potatoes. Peel and chop them into 1 1/2 inch pieces.
- Green beans: If you can find young and crisp green beans, you don’t need to cook them. Otherwise it’s best to cook them for a few minutes.
- Peppers: Red bell peppers work best for this recipe.
- Eggs: We use hard boiled eggs for this salad. You can use my instant pot hard boiled eggs recipe.
- Black olives: You can use Kalamata olives or Nicoise olives..
- Canned tuna: It’s best to use tuna in olive oil as it has great texture and flavor.
- Dijon lemon dressing: You need lemon juice, dijon mustard, olive oil, salt and pepper.
How To Make Nicoise Salad
- Boil the the potatoes until cooked and tender. Drain and set aside.
- Bring some water to boil and add the green beans. Boil for just 5 minutes and then transfer to a bowl of ice water. This is for the beans to keep their vibrant green color.
- Make the hard boiled eggs, let them cool completely. Then peel them and slice them in half.
- Chop the lettuce and tomatoes, slice the red bell pepper and halve the olives.
- Drain the oil from canned tuna. Make the dressing and set it aside.
- Once you have all the ingredients ready, start assembling the salad. Fill the platter with the lettuce and top with the tomatoes, potatoes, eggs, olives, pepper, green beans and tuna. Top with the dressing and serve.
Variations
As mentioned before, Nicoise salad can be made in many different ways. Here are a few variations:
- Make salmon nicoise salad by swapping tuna for salmon. You can use this baked salmon recipe.
- Use boiled baby potatoes or roasted potatoes to make this recipe.
- You can add other vegetables to this salad such as capers, corn, beans, or radishes.
- In addition to lettuce, you can use other salad greens such as spinach and arugula.
Leftovers
It’s best to serve the salad right away especially if it’s been tossed with the dressing. However, you can store the leftovers in an airtight container and refrigerated for up to 2 days.
More Salad Recipes
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How To Make Nicoise Salad
Ingredients
- 2 yukon gold potatoes, peeled and cut into 1 1/2 inch pieces
- 8 oz green beans
- 4 large hard boiled eggs
- 1 head lettuce, washed and chopped
- 2 cans tuna in olive oil , drained
- 1/2 red bell pepper, sliced
- 1 cup nicoise olives, or kalamata olives
- 2 roma tomatoes, cut into large pieces
- 1 shallot, sliced
Dijon Dressing
- 2 tbsp lemon juice
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 1 tbsp dijon mustard
- 1 tbsp white vinegar
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/8 tsp black pepper
Instructions
- Cook the potatoes: Place the potatoes in a pot and cover with water and add 1 tsp of salt. Bring to boil and cook until the potatoes are fork tender. Drain and set aside.
- Cook the green beans: While the potatoes are cooking, fill a medium sized pot halfway with water and bring it to boil. Cook the green beans for 5 minutes. Take them out of the boiling water and place them immediately in a bowl filled with ice water. This would help the green beans to keep their color. Drain and set aside.
- Assemble: Place the lettuce in a large plate or a shallow bowl. Place chunks of tuna in the middle and arrange the bell pepper slices, olives, tomatoes, shallot, cooked potatoes and green beans on the salad.
Dressing
- Place all the ingredients in a mason jar and place the lid on. Shake well until all ingredients are incorporated. Drizzle over salad and serve.
Video
Notes
- This is a tuna nicoise salad, however, you can also made a salmon nicoise salad by swapping tuna for salmon. You can use this baked salmon recipe.
- I used boiled potatoes for this salad but you can also roast the potatoes in the oven and add them to the salad.
- You can add other vegetables to this salad such as capers, corn, beans, or radishes.
- In addition to lettuce, you can use other salad greens such as spinach and arugula.
- The leftovers should be stored in an airtight container and refrigerated for up to 2 days.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
I love a good Niçoise salad! They eat like a meal, so hearty and fresh. This is a great tutorial on how to make them!
I made this salad for lunch yesterday and it was fantastic! And I loved how quick and easy it was!
I love eating nicoise salad at a restaurant, and this recipe turned out just like that!
Oh yum! So many fantastic flavors packed into this salad. I especially love all the vibrant vegetables.
Wow! I had left-over salmon, and hard boiled eggs in fridge from this weekend, and made this! Loved the dressing! Thank you!
I’m always on the lookout for fresh salads to make for lunch while I work from home. This one is perfect!
I love a good salad, and this one is packed with so many yummy ingredients! I love the suggestion to swap out salmon for the tuna too; I think I’ll try it both ways!