This Salmon Salad Niçoise is a wonderful loaded salad recipe! It has just about everything in it! It's for those of us who like a lot of flavor, color, and texture in our salads. It's a delicious lunch for 4 or dinner for 2 to 4 people.
A traditional Salad Niçoise contains tomatoes, hard-boiled eggs, olives, and anchovies or tuna. Newer versions of the salad often contain green beans and potatoes. We've swapped the anchovies for salmon and added the rest, along with some other fresh ingredients, to this salad!
Why You'll Love Salmon Nicoise
- This roasted salmon nicoise platter is a beautiful meal to serve and perfect for guests or a special meal.
- You can mix it up when you eat it to get the rich flavor of all the ingredients, but it's a real showpiece for a lunch or brunch.
- The salmon adds a delicious buttery flavor to the dish and pairs beautifully with the tangy olives, creamy potatoes, and bright green beans.
Salad Nicoise Ingredients
- Salmon Fillets - buttery salmon pairs perfectly with the bright ingredients in this salad. I recommend baking it because it's so easy, but I have notes on air frying and grilling salmon in the FAQ section below.
- Green Beans - you can use regular green beans or haricots verts (French green beans). I recommend trimming the ends off and halving them. If your beans are quite large and long, you may want to cut them into thirds.
- Baby Potatoes - I used a small yellow baby potato, but red potatoes are nice in this recipe as well. Using small, young potatoes is nice because the skins are so soft you don't need to peel them.
- Hard boiled Eggs - I buy hard-boiled eggs from Vital Farms, but you can hard boil your own eggs as well!
- Baby Greens - any leafy greens will work in this salad, but I like using baby greens because they're so tender. They're also small enough that they're perfect for salads. If you use romaine or another type of lettuce, cut it into bite-sized pieces.
- Cherry Tomatoes - cherry or grape tomatoes will work for this salad.
- Greek Olives - a mix of pitted olives is nice in this salad. I love a Greek mix because you'll get kalamata olives at several stages of ripening - green to dark black. The contrast of flavors is lovely. You can use any type of olive you'd like though!
- Radishes - you can leave these out if you don't like radishes, but I love the peppery bite of a radish in a salad. Regular cherry radishes (red radishes) work well, as do French breakfast radishes.
- Cucumbers - I recommend using a few Persian cucumbers or half an English cucumber. Neither need to be deseeded or peeled as the skin is tender and isn't bitter.
- Salt & Pepper - season the salmon with a pinch of salt and pepper to bring out the best flavor.
Dressing Ingredients
You'll top the salad with a flavorful caper and dill dressing. It's great on a variety of salads! Serve it with a simple green salad or add it to your favorite roasted vegetables.
- Extra Virgin Olive Oil - use a good quality olive oil as it's the base of the dressing.
- Red Wine Vinegar - adds a hit of acid to the dressing and can be substituted for apple cider vinegar, white wine vinegar, or champagne vinegar.
- Fresh Garlic - a few cloves of garlic add a sharp allium flavor to the dressing.
- Capers - adds a lovely herby saltiness to the dressing.
- Fresh Dill - dill adds grassiness and a bright hit of herby flavor.
- Salt & Pepper - seasons the dressing and helps all the flavors shine.
Roasted Salmon Salad FAQs
You can bake the salmon, boil the potatoes and green beans, and make the salad dressing in advance. They will all keep in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. I would not recommend assembling the salad until you are ready to serve it, as the dressing will wilt the greens.
Leftovers can be saved for up to 3 days in the refrigerator in an airtight container.
You can serve them warm, but I prefer to run them under cool water or give them an ice bath so they are room temperature. Serving all the ingredients together at room temperature brings a nice cohesion to the salad.
Traditionally, the French serve nicoise olives or unpitted kalamata olives in their salad. Personally, I think pitted is the way to go because it makes it easier for people to eat their salad!
Yes, you can air fry your salmon at 400 F for 7 to 10 minutes or grill it over medium heat for 6 to 8 minutes.
If you try this healthy salmon salad recipe, leave a comment and a star rating below!
Salmon Nicoise Salad
Ingredients
- 12 ounces salmon fillets
- 12 ounces baby potatoes
- 12 ounces green beans trimmed and halved
- 2 cups baby greens mix I used arugula
- 1 cup cherry tomatoes halved
- 2 Persian cucumbers halved and sliced
- ½ cup Greek olives
- ½ cup radishes halved or quartered
Dressing Ingredients
- ¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
- 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 1 tablespoon capers finely chopped
- 2 teaspoons fresh dill finely chopped
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 F. Pat salmon fillets dry and sprinkle on pinch of salt and pepper. Bake for 12 to 13 minutes or until internal temperature reaches 145 degrees on an instant read thermometer and the salmon flakes apart. Flake apart the salmon into bite size pieces.
- Meanwhile, bring a large pot of water to boil over high heat and add the green beans and potatoes. Cook the green beans for 4 minutes and the potatoes for 12 minutes (until fork tender).
- Run the green beans and potatoes under cold water till cooled or place them in an ice bath. Halve or quarter the potatoes into bite size pieces.
- In a bowl, combine the olive oil, red wine vinegar, garlic, capers, dill, salt, and pepper. Whisk briskly tilled combined.
- Place the baby greens on a large platter and add the salmon, green beans, potatoes, cherry tomatoes, cucumbers, olives, and radishes.
- Pour the dressing over the salad and serve immediately.
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