Salade Niçoise, a Classic, Simple and Delicious French Salad

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Salade Niçoise, a Classic, Simple and Delicious French Salad

Known as a composed salad, the Salade Niçoise is a staple in French cuisine and is made with simple ingredients like canned tuna, hard boiled eggs, tomatoes and green beans.

Prep Time15

Cook Time15

Total Time30

Course: Salad

Cuisine: French

Keyword: Easy dinner, Easy recipe, Salads

Servings: servings

Calories: 868kcal

Author: Jenna

Equipment

2 medium saucepans
1 mixing bowl
1 small blender for the dressing (optional)
1 large mixing bowl

Ingredients

Vinaigrette

⅓ cup extra virgin olive oil
¼ cup red wine vinegar (lemon juice or white wine vinegar also work great)
½ tsp anchovy paste
½ tsp Dijon mustard, optional (see Note 1)
Salt and freshly cracked black pepper, to taste

Salad

1 head romaine lettuce, thinly sliced and washed well
2-3 red or yellow potatoes or 8-10 mini potatoes, peeled and chopped
2 large eggs
1 cup green beans (about 15-20 green beans)
1 large tomato, cut into wedges or sliced
½ cup cucumber, halved and sliced
¼ cup Niçoise olives, sliced or quartered (see Note 2)
2 cans chunk light tuna (in oil is best, but in water works great)
Salt and freshly cracked black pepper, to taste

Instructions

Vinaigrette

Combine extra virgin olive oil, red wine vinegar, anchovy paste and Dijon mustard
Blend or whisk together until smooth
Season with salt and freshly cracked black pepper to taste then set aside until ready to use

Salad

In a medium saucepan, add the potatoes and season with salt
Bring to a boil and cook potatoes until fork tender, about 10-15 minutes; meanwhile, prepare an ice bath in a medium mixing bowl
Bring a second medium saucepan of water to a boil; add the green beans and blanch for 1 minute then transfer to the ice bath but do not drain the water
Gently add the eggs to the same saucepan and boil for 12 minutes, then remove and transfer to the ice bath (see Note 3)
Once the potatoes are cooked, drain and transfer to the ice bath

You can also cook everything one by one in the same saucepan to avoid extra dishes, but I prefer to cook the potatoes separately because both the eggs and green beans can be cooked in the time it takes the potatoes to cook

When the hard boiled eggs have cooled, tap the wider end to crack then gently roll and return to the water to peel (this makes peeling them super easy); once peeled, cut the eggs into quarters
To assemble the salad, quickly whisk the vinaigrette to recombine as it will have separated
In a large bowl, toss the romaine lettuce with most of the vinaigrette, reserving about a quarter
Divide the dressed lettuce between two large bowls
Arrange the eggs, potatoes and tomatoes around the bowl then season with a little salt and freshly cracked black pepper (see Note 4)
Place the tuna in the center then top with the cucumber slices, green beans and olives
Drizzle the remaining dressing over the salads and serve

Video

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Notes

Note 1: Many classic Niçoise vinaigrettes do not include Dijon mustard, so feel free to skip it. The anchovy paste, however, is essential in the traditional recipe. It doesn't make the dressing taste fishy.

Note 2: Niçoise olives are the most authentic option, but can often be hard to find. If you can't find them, kalamata or even green olives work great.

Note 3: You can also air fry your eggs to hard boil them! For perfect hard boiled eggs, air fry at 300℉ for 15 minutes then transfer to an ice bath.

Note 4: Salade Niçoise is known as a salade composée, or composed salad, meaning the ingredients are neatly arranged rather than tossed together.

Nutrition Facts in the recipe card below are calculated automatically and may be inaccurate. Nutritional information for this recipe is based on one serving.

Nutrition