Salmon Nicoise Salad
Moist chunks of baked salmon, tender-crisp green beans, baby potatoes, crisp cucumbers, briny olives and capers, and perfectly cooked eggs – all laced with a refreshing, lemony dressing. Easy, healthy, and ready in a flash.
Tuna might be the classic addition to this French salad, but salmon works equally well and enlivens the plate with its distinct flavor and color! And this salad comes together quickly because you can prep the vegetables while the salmon bakes in the oven. I love when recipes do double-duty that way!
The dressing is super easy to make and you need very few ingredients. Plus, the ingredients are all pantry staples! Since there are very few ingredients in the dressing, quality matters.
I used good-quality extra-virgin olive oil, and I choose brands where the flavor of the olives truly shines through.
I also love the burst of lemon and Dijon in this dressing because those flavors work perfectly with the salmon, green beans, potatoes, and eggs.
If you don’t want to cook fresh salmon fillets, you can use canned salmon or smoked salmon. You can also use any leftover cooked fish or shellfish from any previous meal.
Salmon Niçoise Salad
Ingredients
For the Dressing
- 1/3 cup olive oil, plus more for coating the baking pan
- 3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
- 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper
For the Salad
- 1 pound salmon fillets
- Lemon pepper
- 1 pound baby potatoes, rinsed and patted dry
- 1/2 pound green beans, ends trimmed and halved
- 4 large eggs
- 1 cup sliced English/seedless cucumber, peeled or unpeeled
- 1/2 cup kalamata, Greek olives, pitted and halved
- 2 tablespoons drained capers
- Fresh parsley leaves for serving
Equipment
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Coat a shallow baking dish with a thin layer of olive oil (or vegetable oil).
- Pat the salmon fillets dry and place them in the prepared pan. Season the salmon with the lemon pepper. Bake for 10 to 15 minutes, until the salmon is fork-tender (a meat thermometer should register 145 degrees).
- Meanwhile, to make the dressing, whisk together the olive oil, lemon juice, and Dijon mustard. Season to taste with salt and black pepper. Set aside.
- To prepare the potatoes and green beans, place the whole potatoes in a large saucepan and pour over enough water to cover by about 2 inches. Set the pan over high heat and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium-high and cook for 10 minutes, until the potatoes are fork-tender, adding the green beans for the last 2 minutes of cooking. Drain and toss the potatoes and green beans with about half of the dressing.
- To prepare the eggs, bring about 2-inches of water to a boil in a medium saucepan over high heat. Add the eggs, cover and cook for 7 minutes. Drain and transfer the eggs to an ice water bath to stop further cooking. When cool enough to handle, peel and halve the eggs.
- Arrange the potatoes and green beans in salad bowls and top with the salmon, eggs, cucumber, olives, and capers. Drizzle the remaining dressing over top and garnish with fresh parsley.