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This recipe turns a healthy salad recipe into a filling meal that’s simple to assemble.
It’s simple to put together when you have cooked potatoes and green beans in the fridge; so if you plan on making this recipe, why not make two meals from one idea? Exactly.
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What is Nicoise Salad?
A nicoise salad is an iconic dish of France and consists of a variety of ingredients such as hard-boiled eggs, olives, tomatoes, anchovies, and french beans nicely arranged for both an eye and palate-pleasing meal.
Over the years, recipes have been revised to include roasted potatoes and canned tuna or salmon, but its concept is kept the same; fresh and simple ingredients.
Growing up in Spain, we ate nicoise salads often so they are near and dear to my heart. Now that I have kids of my own, I wanted to recreate the salad in a way everyone could enjoy, so I swapped the anchovies for salmon, green beans for french beans, added roasted potatoes, and a homemade vinaigrette.
The results? A protein-packed, healthy meal that my kids love and it makes me feel like a sophisticated woman. Mission accomplished.
Should Nicoise Salad be Served Warm or Cold?
Traditionally, nicoise salad is served cold. Aside from the hard-boiled eggs, none of the ingredients are cooked, including the green beans. This might work for some, but for my family? HAH! I’ll take mine steamed, thank you.
I know I’m breaking Nicoise salad rules, but when does one follow all the rules when it comes to building a great salad?
Salmon Nicoise Salad Ingredients
This salmon Nicoise is as delicious as the classic recipe without the use of anchovies. The measurements are in the recipe card below, but first, check why you need each ingredient before making any swaps:
- Chopped Romaine lettuce: crisp, fresh, and green. You can use another type of lettuce, such as mixed greens or arugula.
- Cherry tomatoes: sweeter than regular tomatoes and add more texture to the salad.
- Steamed green beans: the perfect way to use steamed green beans from a previous dinner.
- Baby potatoes: red or golden, halved and cooked (steamed or roasted), which can be leftovers from another meal.
- Salmon: for convenience, I typically use canned salmon or pouches. This is also a great way to use up cooked salmon leftovers or you can make some quick air fryer salmon bites to have that “freshly cooked” feeling in minutes.
- Hard-boiled eggs: a staple in this classic salad.
- Kalamata olives: they add salty and flavor to this salad.
Nicoise Salad Dressing
Nicoise salad pairs are great with vinaigrettes like the classic Red Wine Vinaigrette, a Maple Dijon Vinaigrette, a light Champagne Vinaigrette, a Citrus Vinaigrette, or a White Wine Vinaigrette.
How to Make Salmon Nicoise Salad with Canned Salmon
This salad is made self-serve style, meaning everyone starts out with a bowl of lettuce and then tops it with the ingredients they wish to include on their salads. It’s a method that makes dinner more interactive, and you can prep the ingredients separately ahead of time.
- Start with the vinaigrette
In a medium jar, combine the vinaigrette ingredients. Top with lid and toss to combine. - Assemble
Place the chopped lettuce into 4 serving bowls or plates. Top each with tomatoes, steamed green beans, potatoes, salmon, eggs, and olives, making rows of each ingredient. - Toss it up!
Drizzle the salads with the vinaigrette and toss to combine.
You can also watch the entire process for this easy salad in the video below:
Should Nicoise Salad be layered or Tossed?
Have you noticed that all the ingredients in a nicoise salad look intact and arranged? Because it is! I’m going to follow the rules on this one, it is much easier to assemble and creates an impressive and visually appealing dish.
Also, this way makes it easier to serve as a family meal. If someone doesn’t like olives they can easily remove them which is more difficult with tossed salads.
How to Prepare Salmon for Nicoise Salad
Whether the salmon is baked in foil, pan-seared, cooked in the air fryer, or comes straight from a pouch or can, you can use it up in this recipe. When I want to assemble a quick lunch, I’ll grab a pouch from the pantry. When I have more time, or I want to meal prep this recipe, I’ll cook up that frozen salmon I completely forgot about.
Easy Canned Salmon Nicoise Salad
Watch how it’s made:
Ingredients
Vinaigrette Dressing
- 2 teaspoons Dijon Mustard
- 2 teaspoons Italian seasoning
- 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- juice from ½ lemon
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
- ⅓ cup olive oil
Nicoise Salad
- 1 head Romaine lettuce heart, chopped
- 1 cup cherry tomatoes, halved
- 1 cup green beans, steamed
- ¼ pound red potatoes, roasted and diced
- 2 cans salmon or pouches, drained
- 2 hard boiled eggs, sliced
- ¼ cup Kalamata olives, pitted
- ¼ cup vinaigrette
Instructions
Make the dressing:
- In a medium jar, combine the Dijon mustard, Italian seasoning, red wine vinegar, garlic, lemon juice, salt, black pepper, and olive oil. Top with lid and toss to combine.
Build the Salad:
- Place the chopped lettuce into 2 serving bowls or one large salad bowl. Top with cherry tomatoes, steamed green beans, potatoes, canned salmon, eggs, and olives, making rows of each ingredient.
- Drizzle the salad with the vinaigrette and serve.
Leftovers & work lunch:
- Refrigerate salad dressing leftovers in an airtight container up to 1 week. Store salad leftovers, without having been tossed in dressing, in an airtight container for up to 3 days.
- If meal prepping this salad for a work lunch, layer all the ingredients in an airtight container, pack the dressing separately, and keep refrigerated until ready to serve. Drizzle the salad dressing right before eating it.
Krista says
loved this warm salmon nicoise salad for lunch yesterday!