Nicoise Salad is a French-composed salad made with fresh tuna, boiled eggs, potatoes, chopped greens, tomatoes, cucumber, kalamata olives, and Nicoise olives.
What is a Nicoise Salad?
You may have seen it, but didn’t know the name of it. Salad Nicoise (pronounced nee-suahz) is a French version of an American cobb salad. But unlike the cobb salad, which is usually made with chicken, avocado, and bacon, the Nicoise salad is made with tuna or anchovies, olives, beans, and fork-tender potatoes with an oil-based dressing.
Niçoise salad originated from Nice, on the Mediterranean Sea. According to Wikipedia, Nicoise salad was first described as “simple food for poor people”, and at first was just made with tuna or anchovies and olive oil. Later on, in Nice, other ingredients were added.
The salad in France is mostly made of raw ingredients, but it was modified here in America to adapt to our taste buds with the cooked potatoes and veggies over lettuce.
Green beans may not be everyone’s favorite, but the way you cook them might change your opinion. Also, they are filled with vitamin K, calcium, and folate.
What do I need to make this salad?
Tuna contains omega-3 fatty acids and supports heart health.
Hard-boiled eggs are rich in protein and zinc.
Potatoes contain antioxidants and fiber.
Mixed greens give your body vitmains A and C as well as folate and calcium.
Cherry tomatoes are rich in lycopene, which supports heart and skin health.
English cucumber gives your body antioxidants and vitamin K.
Green beans are rich in calcium and B vitamins.
Along with those ingredients, you will need kalamata and nicoise olives.
For the dressing, you will need:
- lemon juice
- olive oil
- shallot
- basil
- oregano
- Diojn mustard
- honey
- salt
- ground black pepper
Steps
Cook the veggies:
Place potatoes in a medium-sized pot along with 1 teaspoon of salt. Cover with water and bring to a boil. Simmer for 10-15 minutes or until potatoes are fork tender.
When cooled a bit, cut into bite-sized pieces.
While potatoes are cooking, you can prepare the green beans. Trim ends and place green beans in a medium sized pot and cover with water. Add ¼ teaspoon salt and bring water to a boil. Simmer for 3 minutes or until beans are bright green.
Strain beans into a colander and immediately run them under cold water to stop the cooking.
Combine ingredients together:
Arrange lettuce in a bowl. Add tuna, hard-boiled eggs, potatoes, green beans, cucumbers, cherry tomatoes, kalamata olives, and Nicoise olives to the bowl, then drizzle the desired amount of dressing on top.
Ingredients
- 16 oz tuna loin, or steak, grilled or cooked
- 1½ cups tuna, oil-packed
- 3 eggs, hard-boiled, peeled, & sliced
- 3 medium potatoes, red or yellow, boiled and cut into 1-inch pieces
- 6 cups mixed greens, choice of any greens you like
- 10-15 cherry tomatoes, sliced in half
- 2 cups English cucumber, sliced
- 2 cups green beans, ends trimmed
- ¼ cup kalamata olives
- ¼ cup nicoise olives
- ¼ cup fresh lemon juice
- ¾ cup olive oil
- ½ Tbsp shallot, finely minced
- 1 Tbsp basil, freshly chopped
- 1 tsp oregano, freshly chopped
- 1 tsp Dijon mustard
- 1 tsp honey
- ½ tsp salt
- 1 pinch ground black pepper
Instructions
Place potatoes in a medium-sized pot along with 1 teaspoon of salt. Cover with water and bring to a boil. Simmer for 10-15 minutes or until potatoes are fork tender.
When cooled a bit, cut into bite-sized pieces.
While potatoes are cooking, you can prepare the green beans. Trim ends and place green beans in a medium sized pot and cover with water. Add ¼ teaspoon salt and bring water to a boil. Simmer for 3 minutes or until beans are bright green.
Arrange lettuce in a bowl. Add tuna, hard-boiled eggs, potatoes, green beans, cucumbers, cherry tomatoes, kalamata olives, and Nicoise olives to the bowl, then drizzle the desired amount of dressing on top.
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Great recipe and nice presentation! We had Salad Nicoise every few weeks in the spring and summer when I was growing up (my Dad was Belgian), and it's great for a full meal-in-a-bowl. And yes, it really does call for canned tuna.
I like your recipe here for the dressing, but in a pinch any vinaigrette will do (I just combined that with a creamy Caesar dressing on mine for dinner tonight). And, of course, whatever other veggies you have handy.
I boil the cooked items (potatoes, eggs, beans) the night before, then serve them cold on the salad the next day for a quick meal. If your readers make this once, it'll probably become a staple for summer dining! Bon appetite!
Yes, I recommend this recipe.
