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Niçoise Salad, or salade niçoise, is a salad from the French city of Nice. This salad showcases the abundant produce and fresh tuna of the coastal town in a fresh, colorful salad hearty enough to serve as a main meal. For anyone who doesn’t live on the coast, a high-quality canned tuna works just fine.
The classic Nicoise Salad is the epitome of fine Mediterrean fare. It combines fresh, colorful vegetables with oil-packed tuna, hard-boiled eggs, and salty olives, bathing the entire enterprise in a bright and sunny lemon-shallot vinaigrette made with extra virgin olive oil.
It makes a stunning lunch to be sure, but it also hits all the right notes for meal prep and mindful, life-extending eating in general. The vinaigrette really brings the entire salad to life, and the salad will bring you to life in return.
Table of Contents
Recipe ingredients
At a Glance: Here is a quick snapshot of what ingredients are in this recipe.
Please see the recipe card below for specific quantities.
Ingredient notes
- Green beans: Remove the stem ends with a knife or kitchen scissors. If your beans have them, remove any tough strings that run along the length of the beans. There’s no need to trim off the tails.
- Greens: Use any lettuce or greens such as romaine, arugula, or even a bunch of watercress.
- Tomatoes: Or use a pint of grape tomatoes (I like to cut tiny tomatoes in half).
- Hard-boiled eggs: Store-bought hard-boiled eggs are widely available now and are the easiest way to get this salad on the table. My favorite brand is Vital Farms hard-boiled eggs. Or, you can hard-boil eggs yourself in about 15 minutes.
- Niçoise olives: Grown in the southeastern region of Nice in France, Niçoise olives are a classic component of this salad. You can buy Niçoise olives online or you can substitute kalamata olives.
- Tuna: I love the quality of tuna sold in foil pouches but you can substitute three 5-ounce cans of tuna instead.
Step-by-step instructions
- To make the lemon-shallot vinaigrette, in a small bowl, whisk together the olive oil, lemon juice, shallot, garlic, Dijon mustard, thyme, and salt and pepper to taste (I like ½ teaspoon salt and ¼ teaspoon pepper). Let the flavors blend while preparing the salad.
- Set out a large bowl of ice water for chilling the potatoes and the green beans. In a medium pot, add potatoes, 1 teaspoon salt, and cold water to cover by 1 inch. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to medium, and cook uncovered until potatoes are tender and can easily be pierced by a knife, about 10 to 15 minutes. Drain well and transfer to the ice water with a slotted spoon to stop the cooking.
- To the same saucepan, bring 1 quart water and 1 teaspoon salt to boil. Add the green beans and boil until tender-crisp, but still bright green, about 3 minutes. Drain well and add to the ice water with the potatoes to stop the cooking.
- Drain the potatoes and green beans well and cut the potatoes into bite-sized pieces. In a medium bowl, add the salad greens, drizzle with 2 tablespoons vinaigrette, and toss to coat. Arrange on the bottom of a large platter.
- Arrange the quartered potatoes, green beans, tomatoes, and olives in piles around the sides of the platter with the tuna in the middle. Drizzle the potatoes, green beans, and tomatoes with vinaigrette, serving the remaining vinaigrette on the side.
- Season the hard-boiled eggs, potatoes, and tomatoes generously with salt and pepper, and garnish the platter with fresh thyme.
Recipe tips and variations
- Yield: This Niçoise Salad makes a large platter of salad, enough for at least 4 servings of salad.
- Storage: Store leftovers covered in the refrigerator for up to 4 days.
- Make ahead: The potatoes, green beans, and eggs can be cooked a day in advance and stored in the refrigerator.
- Meal prep: Niçoise Salad is a highly nutritious, protein-packed meal prep option. Store the salad dressing and tuna separately from the rest of the salad ingredients.
- Make it your own: Substitute red wine vinegar for the lemon juice for an herbaceous red wine vinaigrette. Add non-traditional ingredients like red onion, capers, fresh basil, or cheese.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a salad niçoise made of?
Niçoise Salad is made of boiled potatoes, green beans, tomatoes, hard-boiled eggs, tuna, and Niçoise olives on a bed of salad greens. The salad is served with a vinaigrette.
How do you pronounce Niçoise?
“Niçoise” is pronounced “Nee-swah” and is an adjective describing the city of Nice on the southern coast of France.
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Niçoise Salad
Niçoise Salad, or salade niçoise, is a salad from the French city of Nice. This salad showcases the abundant produce and fresh tuna of the coastal town in a fresh, colorful salad hearty enough to serve as a main meal.
Ingredients
For the vinaigrette:
- 1/2 cup olive oil
- 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice (from 2 lemons)
- 2 tablespoons minced shallot
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 1/2 teaspoon Dijon mustard
- 1/2 teaspoon minced fresh thyme or ¼ teaspoon dried thyme
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper
For the salad:
- 1 pound baby waxy potatoes such as Yukon gold, scrubbed and unpeeled
- 8 ounces slender green beans such as haricots verts (see note 1)
- 5 ounces mixed field greens (about 7 cups, see note 2)
- 5 small tomatoes quartered (such as Campari or Roma tomatoes, see note 3)
- 4 hard-boiled eggs peeled and quartered (see note 4)
- 1/2 cup Niçoise olives (see note 5)
- 2 (7 ounce) pouches tuna packed in water (see note 6)
- 8 anchovy filets optional
- fresh thyme for garnish
Instructions
- To make the lemon-shallot vinaigrette, in a small bowl, whisk together the olive oil, lemon juice, shallot, garlic, Dijon mustard, thyme, and salt and pepper to taste (I like ½ teaspoon salt and ¼ teaspoon pepper). Let the flavors blend while preparing the salad.
- Set out a large bowl of ice water for chilling the potatoes and the green beans. In a medium saucepan, add potatoes, 1 teaspoon salt, and cold water to cover by 1 inch.
- Bring to a boil, reduce heat to medium, and cook uncovered until potatoes are tender and can easily be pierced by a knife, about 10 to 15 minutes. Drain well and immediately plunge into ice water to stop the cooking.
- To the same saucepan, bring 1 quart water and 1 teaspoon salt to boil. Add the green beans and boil until tender-crisp, but still bright green, about 3 minutes. Drain well and add to the ice water with the potatoes to stop the cooking. Drain the potatoes and green beans well and cut the potatoes into quarters.
- In a medium bowl, add the field greens, drizzle with 2 tablespoons vinaigrette, and toss to coat. Arrange on the bottom of a large platter.
- Arrange the quartered potatoes, green beans, tomatoes, and olives in piles around the sides of the platter with the tuna in the middle. Drizzle the potatoes, green beans, and tomatoes with vinaigrette, serving the remaining vinaigrette on the side.
- Season the hard-boiled eggs, potatoes, and tomatoes generously with salt and pepper and garnish the platter with fresh thyme.
Notes
- Green beans: Remove the stem ends with a knife or kitchen scissors. If your beans have them, remove any tough strings that run along the length of the beans. There’s no need to trim off the tails.
- Greens: Use any lettuce or greens such as romaine, arugula, or even a bunch of watercress.
- Tomatoes: Or use a pint of grape tomatoes (I like to cut tiny tomatoes in half).
- Hard-boiled eggs: Store-bought hard-boiled eggs are widely available now and the easiest way to get this salad on the table. My favorite brand is Vital Farms hard-boiled eggs. Or, you can hard-boil eggs yourself in about 15 minutes.
- Niçoise olives: Grown in the southeastern region of Nice in France, Niçoise olives are a classic component of this salad. You can buy Niçoise olives online or you can substitute kalamata olives.
- Tuna: I love the quality of tuna sold in foil pouches but you can substitute three 5-ounce cans of tuna instead.
- Yield: This Niçoise Salad makes a large platter of salad, enough for at least 4 servings of salad.
- Storage: Store leftovers covered in the refrigerator for up to 4 days.
Nutrition
Serving: 0.25 saladCalories: 373kcalCarbohydrates: 33gProtein: 13gFat: 22gSaturated Fat: 4gPolyunsaturated Fat: 3gMonounsaturated Fat: 14gCholesterol: 191mgSodium: 368mgPotassium: 1070mgFiber: 6gSugar: 7gVitamin A: 2088IUVitamin C: 60mgCalcium: 103mgIron: 3mg
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Meggan Hill is a classically-trained chef and professional writer. Her meticulously-tested recipes and detailed tutorials bring confidence and success to home cooks everywhere. Meggan has been featured on NPR, HuffPost, FoxNews, LA Times, and more.