Well, this homemade delicious Nicoise salad recipe is from the south of France. What I love about this recipe is cooking every ingredient separately having at the end a mixture of textures and flavors! that makes it so much fun when eating.
The classic ingredients for this salad are canned tuna, green beans, anchovy fillets, tomatoes, potatoes, onions, hard-boiled eggs, and olives.
Why you will love this recipe?
You can change the basics to your own personal settings, often people put anchovies instead tuna, add artichokes, or fresh grilled tuna. You can spin this recipe into a pasta salad instead of a potato one! so the possibilities are endless!
They key ingredient to make this Nicoise salad recipe shine is the tuna. I have tasted this salad with fresh tuna grilled or tataki style, but is often make with canned tuna.
Nicoise salad recipe
Ingredients
For the dressing
- 1/4 cup shallots finely minced
- 3 tablespoons white wine vinegar or sherry vinegar
- 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 3 tablespoons of olive oil drained from the canned tuna
- Salt and pepper
SALAD
- 10 leaves from a head of romaine lettuce
- 1 teaspoon of chives sliced
- 1 cup of green beans blanched in salted water, refreshed and drained
- 12 baby potatoes boiled until tender and sliced in half
- 12 cherry tomatoes halved
- 6 baby artichoke hearts halved
- 1 small purple onion sliced very thinly
- Handful Kalamata olives halved
- 4 hard-cooked eggs peeled and halved
- 1 fresh radish thinly sliced
- freshly ground sel de guerande and pepper
- 2 cans canned tuna in olive oil.
Instructions
- For the dressing: Slice the shallots into fine julienne. Transfer to a bowl and add the vinegar and salt and pepper. Set aside for at least 10 minutes. Add the olive oil to the shallots. Taste and add more salt or pepper, adjusting to your tastes.
- For the salad: Toss the lettuce leaves with a very little bit of the dressing and arrange on a platter. Toss the green beans, potatoes, tomatoes and artichoke hearts separately in a bit of dressing, and arrange on the platter. Scatter the onions and olives on top. Arrange the eggs and tuna on top. Season with freshly ground sel de guerande and pepper.
Notes
Nutrition
For this salad, I made the green beans really crispy, I put a small pot filled with water 3/4, almost to the top, I add salt, I let it get to a boiling point, when ready I add the green beans, and when the water gets again to a boiling point, they are ready! I take them out and put them on an ice bath so they stop to cook and keep their bright green color.
FAQ
What is the best canned tuna you can buy?
There are many factors to consider when selecting the best canned tuna, such as:
- There is chunk or flakes, for me it’s better chunks, I can see the whole fish in the can, flakes for me it’s what’s left from the chunks canning process.
- Choose your preference between oil or water the tuna is packed in, me personally I prefer olive oil packed tuna.
- Look for the expiration date, look at the condition of the can.
- Try to pick brands that follow responsible fishing practices.
- Check the ingredient label, the least ingredients there is, the better, here you only need to two or three the most.
I hope that this inspires you to try doing your own version of this classic! As we do at home. Crunchy, savory, sweet, great mixture of flavors and textures!!
Have a wonderful dinner around this great dish! Add your personal touch and mainly have fun with it.
Happy cooking.
16 thoughts on “Nicoise salad recipe”
Such a pretty salad, and perfect for a picnic!
Hey Nichole! thank you for stopping by! I will exchange it for a taste of your French Onion Dip!! in a second!:-)
I love this classic french dish… I think I made it about a million times while in Culinary School, since the Le Cordon Bleu is French cooking based. You did a beautiful job recreating a delicious classic. Makes me want to have a picnic… stat! xoxo
I’ve always wanted to go to culinary school! but here in the DR we didn’t have that training until some years ago! So I went for the closest thing I could get my hands on! Hotel management school! not the same but it worked. Mostly all I have learn so far is by being curious and of course living for a couple of years in France accelerated my learning!! Someday if I have still the strengh. I’ll do it XOXOXO
I haven’t had a nicoise salad for so long, I need to change that!! Yours looks amazing!!
Hey Tara! thank youfor stopping by! I know sometimes We forget to make recipes that we love! It happends to me all the time!
One of my all-time favorite salads! Yours looks divine!
Thank you so much Liz! it was good too! 🙂
I am going to make this soon, it looks like a perfect dish for a picnic!
Hey Mary Ellen!
Thank you for stopping by! XOXO
Nicoise Salad is a favorite in our house! Love all the goodies in it!
Hey Serena!
Thanks, I know my husband and I love it!! We are trying to make our kids love it as well, last time we changed the can tuna for pan seared fresh tuna, at least one of them liked it too!
XOXO
Absolutely Love Nicoise Salad.
Hey Wendy! thank you for stopping by! We love it too! XOXO
Such a hearty salad – you wouldn’t need to pack anything else for your picnic!
Hey Lauren,
Thank you for stopping by!! I know! right! really good!
🙂