Home » Recipes » Meal Type » Salad » Salmon Salad Niçoise
by Katie Webster
May 10, 2019 (updated 10/12/23) Jump To Recipe
Today’s recipe is for Salmon Salad Nicoise with hard-boiled eggs, green beans, olives, potatoes and radishes. The salmon is baked smothered in pesto, then placed on top of each salad.
I originally shared this Salmon Nicoise on March 31, 2015. I have updated the images, text and added a video to share it again with you today.
Table of contents
- Why You’ll Love This Recipe For Salmon Salad Niçoise
- Key Ingredients For This Recipe
- Step-by-Step Instructions to Make This Salmon NicoiseSalad
- FAQs and Expert Tips
- More Healthy Entree Salad Recipes to Try
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Why You’ll Love This Recipe For Salmon Salad Niçoise
I love me a big salad. And Salad Niçoise has always been my favorite big salad. Nicoise salad with salmon often come with a few classic staples such as potatoes, perfect hard boiled eggs, green beans, and an assortment of veggies. However, I’ve put my own twist on it by baking the salmon with pesto.
Recipe Highlights
- It comes together in only 30 minutes!
- Each serving has 30 grams of protein which will help keep you full and fueled for hours.
- It’s versatile meaning you can easily add any other fresh vegetable or topping you’d like.
Key Ingredients For This Recipe
- Potatoes: I used small think-skinned baby potatoes.
- Boneless Salmon Filets: Preferably sustainably sourced salmon with the skin removed.
- Pesto: You could either make homemade pesto or get store-bought.
- Salad greens: You could use spinach, mesclun greens or any other green leaf lettuce.
- Hard-boiled eggs
- Other Vegetables: Green beans or haricots verts and radishes
- Olives: I like to use a mix of green and brown kalamata olives but use specific niçoise olives or any pitted olives.
- Dressing: You’ll need one batch of this nicoise caper salad dressing.
- Seasonings: Freshly ground black pepper and kosher salt.
Step-by-Step Instructions to Make This Salmon NicoiseSalad
Step 1: Preheat oven
Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F. Line a sheet pan with foil or parchment paper and lightly coat foil with cooking spray.
Step 2: Cook potatoes
Place potatoes in a medium saucepan and cover generously with cold water. Bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce to medium heat (or to maintain a simmer) and cook until the potatoes are tender when pierced with a fork, 13 to 15 minutes. Drain and let cool on the cutting board.
Step 3: Cook salmon
Meanwhile, sprinkle ½ teaspoon salt all over the salmon. Place the salmon, skinned side down on the foil (pat dry with paper towels if wet) and spread 2 tablespoons pesto over them, dividing evenly. Transfer the baking sheet to the oven and bake until the salmon is just cooked through and flakes apart when tested with a knife, 8 to 12 minutes depending on the thickness of the salmon.
Step 4: Steam green beans
Bring 1 inch of water to a boil in a medium saucepan fitted with a steamer basket. Steam green beans until crisp-tender, about 4 minutes. Rinse under cold water and drain
Step 5: Season potatoes
Cut the potatoes into quarters. Toss with the remaining ½ teaspoon of the salt and the remaining 2 tablespoons pesto in a medium bowl.
Step 6: Assemble salmon Nicoise & serve
Divide the greens among 4 large plates. Arrange eggs, radishes, briny olives, potatoes, salmon and green beans over the greens dividing them evenly. Drizzle dressing over the salmon niçoise salad and season with pepper.
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FAQs and Expert Tips
Make-ahead and storing instructions:
You can make these pesto salmon salads in advance. The only difference will be that they will be served chilled. The only thing you have to remember is to allow the hot ingredients to cool completely before assembling the salads. This way the greens will not wilt from the heat of the salmon, potatoes or green beans. You can build the salads up to 24 hours in advance. After they are assembled, cover and refrigerate them. Drizzle with the dressing right before serving.
Why you should make Nicoise dressing from scratch:
Making Nicoise dressing with capers and garlic makes a huge impact on the overall flavor of the dish. Capers are a traditional accompaniment to salad nicoise, and the flavor of the garlic really goes well with the veggies.You can also whip up a simple lemon dressing with fresh lemon juice, Dijon mustard, garlic, extra-virgin olive oil and salt and pepper instead.
How to hard boil eggs:
Here’s how I hard-boil eggs. Place the eggs in the bottom of a small saucepan and cover them with cold water by an inch or so. Bring to a gentle boil over high heat. Reduce the heat to maintain a gentle boil and continue cooking for 10 minutes. Remove eggs with a slotted spoon and transfer eggs to an ice bath until they’re cool enough to peel.
Variations to Try
- I added a pile of steamed green beans to each salad this time, but I have made this in the past with edamame. Other great springtime alternatives to the green beans would be grilled asparagus or steamed fiddlehead ferns! You could also serve it with artichoke hearts, spring greens like butter lettuce, or cherry tomatoes.
- Also, if you avoid dairy, you can make this dairy-free Whole 30 Pesto instead.
- This Crispy Pan Seared Salmon Recipe is an alternative if you want to make this Nicoise salad without pesto.
More Healthy Entree Salad Recipes to Try
- Don’t miss the Healthy Taco Salad I shared last week. It’s much lower in calories than restaurant taco salads, but still has tons of crunchy tortilla strips and juicy flavorful chicken.
- This Vegan Cauliflower and Tempeh Power Salad takes a little bit of effort to make, but is well worth the impressive and delicious results. You’ll LOVE the Vegan Shiitake Bacon!
- This Spinach Salad with Bacon and Eggs recipe has been a reader favorite for years, and my family loves it every time I make it. We had it last week with crispy skin chicken and it was a clean plate club night!
- While asparagus is in season, try this Roasted Asparagus and Goat Cheese Salad. It’s vegetarian!
Thanks so much for reading! If you are new here, you may want to sign up for my email newsletter to get a free weekly menu plan and the latest recipes right to your inbox. If you make this recipe, please come back and leave a star rating and review. I would love to hear what you thought!
Happy Cooking! ~Katie
Salmon Niçoise
5 Stars4 Stars3 Stars2 Stars1 Star
4.9 from 10 reviews
- Author: Katie Webster
- Total Time: 30 minutes
- Yield: 4 servings 1x
Description
Salmon Niçoise Salad made with salmon baked with pesto on top. Green beans, hard-boiled eggs and cooked potatoes make it a satisfying and updated twist on the classic composed salad
Ingredients
UnitsScale
- 6 small thin-skinned potatoes, about 3/4 lb.
- 4 3 to 4-ounce portions sustainably sourced salmon, skin removed
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt, divided
- 4 tablespoons pesto, divided
- 8 cups clean salad greens, such as spinach, mesclun greens or green leaf lettuce
- 3 hard boiled eggs, peeled and cut into wedges
- 2 cups green beans, trimmed
- 1/2 cup sliced radishes
- 12 olives
- 1/2 cup nicoise salad dressing
- Freshly ground pepper
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 450 degrees F. Line a rimmed baking sheet with foil. Lightly coat foil with cooking spray.
- Cover potatoes generously with cold water in a medium saucepan and bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce heat to medium (or to maintain a simmer) and cook until the potatoes are tender when pierced with a fork, 13 to 15 minutes. Drain and let cool on cutting board.
- Meanwhile sprinkle ½ teaspoon salt all over salmon. Place the salmon, skinned side down on the foil, and spread 2 tablespoons pesto over them, dividing evenly. Transfer the baking sheet to the oven and bake until the salmon is just cooked through and flakes apart when tested with a knife, 8 to 12 minutes depending on thickness of the salmon.
- Bring 1 inch of water to a boil in a medium saucepan fitted with a steamer basket. Steam green beans until crisp tender, about 4 minutes. Rinse under cold water and drain
- Cut the potatoes into quarters. Toss with the remaining ½ teaspoon salt and the remaining 2 tablespoons pesto in a medium bowl.
- Divide the greens among 4 large plates. Arrange eggs, radishes, olives, the potatoes, the salmon and the green beans over the greens dividing evenly. Drizzle with dressing and season with pepper.
Notes
Cooking Tip:
- You can sub 1 cup shelled edamame for the green beans if you prefer.
- To make hard-boiled eggs, place eggs in the bottom of a small saucepan, cover with cold water by several inches. Bring to a gentle boil over high heat. Boil gently for 10 minutes. Drain, run cool water over the eggs until cool enough to peel.
- To Make this recipe Whole30 compliant, Paleo and dairy free, use this whole30 pesto.
- Prep Time: 25 minutes
- Cook Time: 25 minutes
- Category: Salad
- Method: Stove Top and Oven
- Cuisine: French
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 salad
- Calories: 510
- Sugar: 5
- Fat: 30
- Saturated Fat: 3
- Unsaturated Fat: 3
- Trans Fat: 0
- Carbohydrates: 21
- Fiber: 4
- Protein: 32
About the Author
Katie Webster
Katie Webster studied art and photography at Skidmore College and is a graduate of the New England Culinary Institute. She has been a professional recipe developer since 2001 when she first started working in the test kitchen at EatingWell magazine. Her recipes have been featured in numerous magazines including Shape, Fitness, Parents and several Edible Communities publications among others. Her cookbook, Maple {Quirk Books} was published in 2015. She launched Healthy Seasonal Recipes in 2009. She lives in Vermont with her husband, two teenage daughters and two yellow labs. In her free time, you can find her at the gym, cooking, stacking firewood, making maple syrup, and tending to her overgrown perennial garden.
More About Katie »
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Leave a Reply
47 comments on “Salmon Salad Niçoise”
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maria — September 2, 2023 @ 5:10 pm Reply
I grilled this salmon and the small potatoes , came out delicious .Easy to make .
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Katie Webster — September 5, 2023 @ 6:33 am Reply
Fabulous idea! I love grilling as long as the weather will cooperate. Thanks for reporting back Maria.
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Njama Braasch — January 11, 2021 @ 5:13 pm Reply
Braasch family trying this tonight! We’ll let you know how it goes 🙂
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Linda — August 17, 2019 @ 5:30 pm Reply
I love everything with salmon and this salmon nicoise salad looks amazing. So fresh and flavorful in one bite.
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Katie — October 5, 2020 @ 2:49 pm Reply
So glad you like it!
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paleoglutenfreeguy — August 16, 2019 @ 2:27 pm Reply
Combining pesto with nicoise salad makes so much sense! This is delicious.
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Katie — October 5, 2020 @ 2:49 pm Reply
Thanks Donny! Have a good one!
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Anne Lawton — August 16, 2019 @ 12:40 pm Reply
Salad Nicoise is one of my favorites! I love the addition of pesto!
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Katie — October 5, 2020 @ 2:49 pm Reply
Thanks so much Anne!
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Megan Stevens — August 16, 2019 @ 9:32 am Reply
I grew up eating Salade Nicoise and love your version. It looks like beautiful real food. 🙂
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Katie — October 5, 2020 @ 2:48 pm Reply
Thank you Megan!
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Irena Macri — August 14, 2019 @ 3:29 am Reply
This was super yummy! We love the dressing on the salmon and potatoes. Used asparagus instead of green beans as didn’t have any. Recommend!
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Katie — October 5, 2020 @ 2:48 pm Reply
Oh, love the idea of using asparagus!
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ChihYu — August 14, 2019 @ 1:22 am Reply
So good! And the pesto gives an extra layer of flavor!
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Katie — October 5, 2020 @ 2:48 pm Reply
It makes a big difference!
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Raia Todd — August 13, 2019 @ 11:05 am Reply
This looks so delicious! I love salmon, but have never tried nicoise.
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Katie — October 5, 2020 @ 2:48 pm Reply
I think you’ll love it. Let me know what you think.
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