Niçoise salad
- Yield
- 4 servings
A composed platter of potatoes, green beans, eggs, tuna, tomatoes and olives, pulled together by a mustardy vinaigrette. It teaches you to run one pot of water for three jobs and to season each part as you go, so every piece tastes finished before it reaches the plate.
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Ingredients
Batches and reset
4 servings · US measures · 1 batch
Batching
Cook one base batch of potatoes, eggs and beans in each 4-quart pot; for a larger yield, use a second pot or cook a second batch. Egg, potato and bean times follow the same cues; cooking times do not multiply with ingredient quantities.
Original recipe: 4 servings.
The radishes, anchovies, capers and the extra salt, vinegar, oil and black pepper added to taste are left out of the nutrition estimate. Nutrition is incomplete: the salt the potatoes absorb from their cooking water is not established.
Before you start
- Read through the recipe before the pot goes on. Gather the pot, slotted spoon, paring knife, ice-water bowl, small and medium bowls, whisk and platter. If your kosher salt is the dense, fine-grained kind, use about half as much.
Directions
Read through and gather
For the whole recipe
Read through the recipe, then gather the equipment and use the ingredient lines to prepare and measure everything. Fill the large bowl with ice water. Everything is prepared and measured before the pot goes on the heat.
Stir together the vinaigrette base
For each pot
Stir 2 tbsp shallot, 3 tbsp red wine vinegar and 1/2 tsp flaky kosher salt together in the small bowl, and let it sit while you cook. The salt has dissolved.
Cover the potatoes and add the eggs
For each pot
Cover 1 lb small waxy potatoes, such as baby Yukon Gold, with cold water by 2 inches in a 4-quart pot and stir in 1 tbsp flaky kosher salt. Bring to a boil over high heat, then turn to medium heat so the water simmers steadily. Lower the eggs gently into the water with the slotted spoon. The eggs are fully underwater.
Whisk in the mustard and oil
For each pot
Whisk 2 tsp Dijon mustard and 1/4 tsp black pepper into the shallot mixture while the pot simmers. Pour in 1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil in a thin stream, whisking constantly, until thick, cloudy and even, then stir in 1 tsp fresh thyme leaves.
Lift out the eggs, then the potatoes
For each pot
Lift the eggs into the ice water once the yolk and white are firm, about 12 minutes; cool one under cold running water and cut it open to check. Keep the potatoes simmering over medium heat until a paring knife slides easily into the largest piece, then lift them out with the slotted spoon and toss them warm with 3 tbsp of the vinaigrette in the medium bowl.
Blanch and shock the green beans
For each pot
Blanch 8 oz green beans in the same water: return it to a full boil over high heat, add the beans and boil until bright green and tender with a little snap, about 3 to 4 minutes. Move them with the slotted spoon straight into the ice water until cold, then pat them dry.
Taste a potato and a bean
For each pot
Taste a dressed potato and a green bean dipped in the vinaigrette. Aim for potatoes seasoned to the center, bright but not sour, with dressing sharp enough to cut through the tuna and eggs. If it tastes flat, add flaky kosher salt to taste; if it tastes dull, add red wine vinegar to taste; if it is too sharp, whisk in extra-virgin olive oil to taste. The potatoes and vinaigrette taste bright and well seasoned.
Line the platter and arrange the salad
For the whole recipe
Line the platter with 6 oz butter lettuce leaves and arrange the potatoes, the green beans, 10 oz cherry tomatoes, about 1/2 cup Niçoise olives and the radishes, if using, in separate piles. Add 8 oz oil-packed tuna in large chunks, the peeled eggs cut in halves or quarters, and the anchovy fillets and 1 tbsp capers, if using. Spoon the vinaigrette left in the bowl over the beans, tomatoes and eggs, finish with black pepper to taste and serve at room temperature to make 4 servings, giving each plate an egg and a share of the tuna. Refrigerate leftovers within two hours. The platter is arranged and dressed.
About this recipe
Research preview: these details come from our sourced research and haven't been reviewed by our chef yet.
Why it works
One pot of salted water does three jobs in turn: potatoes started cold, eggs cooked just firm, then green beans blanched and shocked in ice water. The potatoes are dressed while warm so they drink in the vinaigrette, and each part is seasoned on its own before it goes onto the platter.
Associated with
French (Niçois)
In late-19th-century Nice this was a simple food of tomatoes, anchovies and olive oil. Early-20th-century Niçois cookbooks added artichokes, peppers and black olives, and local purists still reject boiled potatoes and green beans; the composed salad with potatoes and beans is the international version.
Taste
- Sweet
- Sour
- Salty
- Bitter
- Savory
- Heat
A mustardy shallot vinaigrette, bright but not sour., Briny olives, capers and anchovies against rich tuna and egg. · tender lettuce and waxy potatoes, snappy green beans, flaky tuna and firm eggs, juicy tomatoes, briny olives and capers · room
Skill level
Some practice
Several simple jobs in one pot of water, each with a clear cue; the skill is in the order and the timing.
Allergens
Contains: fish (tuna; anchovy if used), egg.
Mustard is in the vinaigrette; it is not a US major allergen, so US labels may not warn about it. Labels name the fish species. Check the vinegar for sulfites.
Diets
Vegetarian: Doesn't fit as written Vegan: Doesn't fit as written Pescatarian: Fits as listed Dairy: See the allergen lines Egg: See the allergen lines Gluten: See the allergen lines
Occasions
Lenten Fridays
Catholic abstinence excludes meat but allows fish and eggs.
Summer
A light, fresh platter that is served at room temperature; Nice presents it as a dish of sun and summer.
Annunciation and Palm Sunday (Orthodox Great Lent)
Fish is allowed on these two feast days within Great Lent, while eggs are not.
Serving and keeping
Best served: Soon after assembling On a lettuce-lined platter, each part in its own pile, with the vinaigrette spooned over the beans, tomatoes and eggs
Make ahead: Refrigerate the parts separately and assemble just before serving.
Storage: Refrigerate leftover tuna and cooked vegetables within 2 hours (1 hour above 90 °F / 32 °C) and use within 3 to 4 days; whole hard-cooked eggs keep about a week. Do not freeze.
Leftovers: Store the parts separately; dressed lettuce wilts.
Food safety
- Cook the eggs until the yolk and white are firm; check one by cutting it open.
- Keep opened tuna and anchovies refrigerated until you assemble; fish that warms up can form histamine, which causes illness that is not an allergy.
- Serve at room temperature for no more than 2 hours, or 1 hour above 90 °F (32 °C), then refrigerate leftovers.
We make no statement about cross-contact in your kitchen or in packaged ingredients. Check the tuna, anchovy, vinegar and mustard labels.
Nutrition notes
The tuna, olives, anchovies and capers carry most of the salt. Rinsing the capers, using fewer olives and leaving out the anchovies keep it lower; taste before salting the dressing.
Canned light tuna is a lower-mercury choice than albacore, which matters for people who are pregnant or feeding young children.
Swap notes
oil-packed tuna · vegetarian
Use: White beans or chickpeas dressed in the vinaigrette
What changes: Leave out the anchovies; a little more capers carries the salty note.; The eggs stay.
Not a swap: —
red wine vinegar · halal
Use: Fresh lemon juice or cider vinegar
What changes: Lemon is brighter, with less depth.; Use a halal-certified mustard and olives cured in brine only.
Not a swap: Balsamic vinegar: its sweetness fights the olives and anchovies.
shallot
Use: Chives or the green tops of green onions
What changes: A milder onion note.
Not a swap: Garlic, which is high-FODMAP too.
small waxy potatoes, such as baby Yukon Gold · keto
What changes: Leave out the potatoes and add more eggs or green beans.
Not a swap: Russets: they crumble, and they are starchy too.
green beans
Use: Asparagus cut into short lengths
What changes: Whisk the dressing without mustard.; Use Passover-certified packaged items.
Not a swap: Canned green beans: soft and gray, and still kitniyot.
These notes don't change the amounts, allergens or nutrition shown for this recipe.
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- Recipe url
- https://isthebestrecipe.com/salads/nicoise-salad
- Name
- Niçoise salad
- Servings
- 4
- Recipe yield
- 4 servings
- Recipe ingredient
- 2 tbsp shallot finely minced, 3 tbsp red wine vinegar, 1/2 tsp flaky kosher salt for the vinaigrette, 1 lb small waxy potatoes, such as baby Yukon Gold scrubbed, and halved if bigger than a golf ball, 1 tbsp flaky kosher salt for the cooking water, 4 whole large eggs, 2 tsp Dijon mustard, 1/4 tsp black pepper freshly ground, 1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil, 1 tsp fresh thyme leaves, 8 oz green beans stem ends trimmed, weighed after trimming, 6 oz butter lettuce leaves separated, washed and dried, 10 oz cherry tomatoes halved, about 1/2 cup Niçoise olives pitted, 8 oz oil-packed tuna drained weight
- Copy action wording
- Copy recipe and estimated nutrition
Sources
- Salade niçoise (Wikipedia)
- Salade niçoise — the freshness emblematic of Nice cuisine (Nice Côte d'Azur Tourist Office (Explore Nice Côte d'Azur))
- Wikidata item Q209486 (Wikidata (Wikimedia Foundation))
- Cercle de la Capelina d'Or (Nice Côte d'Azur Tourist Office)
- FoodData Central: Fish, anchovy, canned in oil (FDC ID 174183) (USDA Agricultural Research Service, FoodData Central, 2019-04-01)
- Food Allergies: What You Need to Know (major food allergens under FALCPA and the FASTER Act) (U.S. Food and Drug Administration, 2026-03-11)
- Regulation (EU) No 1169/2011, Annex II: Substances or products causing allergies or intolerances (legislation.gov.uk (The National Archives) copy of the EU regulation text, 2014-02-19)
- Cold Food Storage Chart (FoodSafety.gov, 2023-09-19)
- FSIS FoodKeeper data (foodkeeper.json, data version 128) (USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service, 2018-09-06)
- Four Steps to Food Safety (U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2025-11-24)
- FoodData Central: Fish, tuna, light, canned in oil, drained solids (FDC ID 173708) (USDA Agricultural Research Service, FoodData Central, 2019-04-01)
- FoodData Central: Olives, ripe, canned (FDC ID 169094) (USDA Agricultural Research Service, FoodData Central, 2019-04-01)
- FoodData Central: Capers, canned (FDC ID 172238) (USDA Agricultural Research Service, FoodData Central, 2019-04-01)
- Sodium in Your Diet (U.S. Food and Drug Administration)
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Nutrition Values
Nutrition estimates aren’t available for this recipe yet.
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