Salad Nicoise Recipe, Prepare Nizza Salad Like a Pro!

Author:
is a chef, food photographer, cookbook author and blogger.
Here he shares recipes, answers cooking questions and helps with cooking.

In this post I show you my Salad Nicoise recipe.

The well-known and popular French salad with tuna, beans, egg and onions is a classic summer salad and tastes great.

I remember a great summer evening at La Croisette in Cannes and a delicious Nicoise salad.

This is exactly how I have prepared this salad for you and I would be happy if you cook this recipe yourself.

Step by step I show you every step with a picture and tell you my professional cooking tips for a perfect Salade Nicoise.

I wish you good luck and a good appetite!

1. Recipe Salad Nicoise

Following now the recipe for my Salade Nicoise.

During the preparation you will find a photo for each step. 

I wish you good luck and a good appetite!

Salad Nicoise

Cooked, photographed and written down by chef Thomas Sixt.

Servings 4
Calories 382
Total Time 45 Min.
Preparation Time 30 Min.
Cook Time 15 Min.

Simple instructions for preparing Nice salad.

Rate Now!

4.98 from 968 ratings

Salad Nicoise Recipe Picture
Salad Nicoise Recipe Picture © Thomas Sixt

Ingredients

Salad Ingredients for Salad Nicoise

150 g young green beans
1/2 TSP Salt (I use Himalayan salt!)
1 TBSP Olive oil
4 pc tomatoes
4 pc eggs
1/2 pc cucumber (I like to use small cucumbers!)
200 g Tuna in oil (I use tuna from the glass)
50 g Sardines in oil
20 pc black olives (without stone)
1 – 2 pc small capers
120 g Mixed leaf salad (e.g. lettuce, frisèe, radicchio,)

Salad dressing Ingredients for Salad Nicoise

1/2 pc clove of garlic
3 TBSP white wine vinegar
1 TSP Dijon mustard
2 TBSP Olive oil
4 Pinches Salt
3 Pinches black pepper
4 Pinches brown can sugar

Supplements and decoration

3 Slices toast bread
40 g butter
1/2 TSP thyme
4 pc Parsley
4 pc spring onions

Instruction

Clean fresh green beans
Clean the beans, cut off the ends.

Clean beans

Bring a pot of water to the boil and season with salt.

Clean the beans and remove the ends of the beans.

Blanch the beans in boiling water.
Blanch the beans.

Blanch beans

Blanch the cleaned beans in boiling water until al dente.

blanched green beans
blanched green beans

Provide beans

Let the beans cool well in cold water so that they remain green.

Tomatoes incised for peeling
Score tomatoes to peel off.

Prepare tomatoes

Lightly carve the tomatoes and prepare them for blanching.

Tomato after blanching.
Peeling tomatoes.

Peel tomatoes

Blanch the tomatoes in boiling water for 30-40 seconds, then remove from the water, cool under cold water and peel.

remove the seeds from the tomatoes
Cut tomato cubes from blanched and peeled tomatoes

Cut tomato cubes

Cut the peeled tomatoes into quarters and place the core in a mixing bowl.

Cut the tomato pulp into strips or cubes.

Cucumber as a side dish
Cucumber preparing

Prepare cucumbers

Peel the cucumbers, halve lengthwise, scrape out the seeds and juice with a spoon and add to the tomatoes in the mixing bowl.

Cut the cucumber into pieces
Cut the cucumber into pieces

Cutting cucumbers

Cut the prepared cucumbers into pieces, season gently with salt and pepper.

Tomatoes and cucumbers for dressing.
Tomatoes and cucumber seeds for the dressing in a blender jar.

Prepare Dressing

Add the seeds and juice of the cucumber with the tomato seeds and juice to the tomato parts in the mixing bowl.

Salad Nicoise dressing ingredients in a blender jar.
Salad Nicoise dressing ingredients in a blender jar.

Add ingredients

Add the remaining dressing ingredients to the mixing bowl:

Garlic clove, white wine vinegar, mustard, olive oil, salt, pepper and sugar.

Mix the salad dressing
Mix the salad dressing

Mix dressing

Mix the salad with the Nicoise salad dressing.

Boiled, peeled and halved eggs on a kitchen board
Boiled, peeled and halved eggs on a kitchen board

Prepare eggs

Cook the eggs for 12 minutes, quench, peel, halve, quarter and prepare.

Tuna fillet from the jar.
Tuna fillet from the jar.

Prepare tuna

Open the tuna glass and carefully remove the tuna fillet.

Prepare the tuna for serving.

Also prepare the anchovies, olives and capers for later serving.

Crôutons bread cubes when roasting in the pan.
Crispy fried bread cubes in the pan. Garlic and thyme with butter and olive oil, salt and pepper complement the taste of the bread cubes, which are also called crôutons. © Thomas Sixt food photographer

Prepare bread cubes

Prepare the parsley, cut the toast into cubes and fry in a pan with butter and thyme until crispy.

Season the crispy bread cubes with salt and pepper.

Pluck the lettuce, wash, spin and prepare.

Cut the spring onions into thin, slanted slices or rings.

Salade Nicoise served
Salade Nicoise served on a green plate. © Thomas Sixt food photographer

Serve

Marinate the beans, cucumber slices and lettuce in a bowl with the salad Nicoise dressing and serve.

Serve the salad with quartered eggs and tuna.

Decorate with anchovies, olives, tomato cubes, capers and spring onion.

Finally decorate with parsley leaves and roasted bread cubes and serve.

Video

Cousine

2. Calories and Nutritional Values

3. Shopping List Salad Nicoise

You will need the following ingredients for the Nicoise salad:

Other popular salad Nicoise ingredients include cooked potato cubes, artichokes freshly cooked or out of the jar, fresh tuna instead of canned tuna.

Salade Nicoise served on a green plate. © Thomas Sixt Food Photographer

4. Salade Nicoise Jamie Oliver and what other Chefs tell about this salad

I found a salad nicoise at Jamie Oliver’s.

He supposedly conjures this dish in 15 minutes, which is an impossibility.  

I like the idea of using freshly fried tuna.

In general, our star chefs tend to use fresh tuna (Poletto), kidney beans (Poletto) don’t fit so well in this French classic, but the beans are a good substitute if you want to go faster.

Johann Lafer is still using canned tuna for the classic recipe.

What do I take with me from the chefs show?

I stick to the classic preparation and pay attention to the details.

5. The best Tuna for Salad Nicoise

When I was shopping for tuna I noticed that you can buy very high quality white tuna in a glass in the supermarket.

Canned tuna is cheaper, but the tuna in the jar can be removed better and the tuna fillet manages to jump out of the packaging as a whole :-).

White tuna from the glass. The high-quality product is ideal for the Salad Nicoise. Pay attention to sustainable fishing. The MSC logo shows you the right fish. © Thomas Sixt Food Photographer

6. Salad Dressing for the Salad Nicoise

I can remember very well the taste of the salad Nicoise in Cannes…

It was a simple vinegar/oil dressing, which is quite ok in hot summer and sea air.

Since there are already enough recipes with simple vinegar/oil dressing, I took care of this detail next…

I used this for my salad dressing because the cucumber and tomatoes prepare and cut fruit flesh and fruit juice.

The result is a real pleasure on the tongue!

The acidity of the tomato and the juice of the cucumber bring an exceptional freshness to the dressing.

Salad dressing for Salade Nicoise: tomato seeds and flesh of cucumber in a mixing cup with vinegar, mustard and olive oil. © Thomas Sixt Food Photographer.

7. Why I Add Bread Cubes to My Salad Nicoise

For a very long time I thought about the bread cube Yes or No with this salad.

The French from Marseille to Paris traditionally serve fresh baguette with this salad.

I wanted a warm and crispy addition to this summer salad. Bread cubes are simply ideal for this….

Crispy fried bread cubes in a pan. Garlic and thyme with butter and olive oil, salt and pepper complete the taste of the bread cubes which are also called crôutons. ©Thomas Sixt Food Photographer

As a last tip I would like to recommend you quail eggs instead of chicken eggs as an addition to this salad.

Especially when guests come, soft boiled quail eggs are a great thing and always go down well.

The quail eggs cook I show elsewhere.

puff pastry
If you don't want to make the dough yourself, use pizza dough or puff pastry for fried bread!
Quail eggs are a delicious delicacy. The quail eggs cook I show you in another salad recipe. Click on the picture. © Thomas Sixt Food Photographer

8. Other Recipes with Tuna

9. More Ideas for Salad

Comments, Cooking Questions and Answers

4.98 from 968 ratings

Below you can write to me directly.
Please don’t forget the star rating on the recipe, 5 stars means you liked it!