Salad Nicoise is a quintessential French salad recipe that showcases everything you would want in a salad. Combining canned tuna, fresh tomatoes, green beans, eggs, potatoes and olives the flavours are delicious and satisfying. Big enough to be a meal but easily shared between friends.
Boil cut potatoes until tender. Drain and let potatoes cool down.
Boil your eggs to your liking. Once done, remove eggs from water and peel them. Cut the eggs in half.
Trim beans and blanch in boiling water for approximately 3 minutes or until al dente. Place in cold water or ice bath to stop beans from cooking. Drain and pat dry for salad.
Cut tomatoes in half or quarters depending on size.
Wash lettuce leaves and pat dry.
Remove tuna from can and drain any excess liquids. Try to keep the tuna in large chunks if possible.
Salad Dressing
Add grated garlic, lemon juice, Dijon mustard, extra virgin olive oil and salt and pepper to mason jar.
Shake well until fully combined.
Assembly
Use large platter and place oak lettuce leaves on the bottom.
Then arrange other ingredients, including green beans, potatoes, tomatoes, canned tuna and hard boiled eggs, evenly on top.
Scatter olives on top of salad.
Season with salt and pepper.
Drizzle niçoise salad dressing to serve.
Video
Notes
Rather than serving as a composed salad, you can place all the ingredients and dressing in a large bowl and mix together.
Replace canned tuna with seared tuna or tuna tataki. Another option is to use salmon or anchovies.
Other vegetables you can add include artichoke, radish, cucumber, capers, beetroot, corn or red/white salad onion in the mix.
You can also replace potatoes with homemade croutons, or I have seen smashed potatoes as well.
Vegan option: Vegan niçoise salads will replace tuna with other vegetables or, more commonly, with beans and lentils. Cannellini beans and chickpeas are popular choices in vegan niçoise salads.
If you prefer something light or no garlic, a good drizzle of olive oil and lemon juice would also work with the salad.