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French Potato Salad

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This French potato salad with green beans is a hearty side dish or a wonderful lunch.

It's full of flavor, has velvety potatoes, a fresh punch from the green beans, and added substance from the hard-boiled eggs.

French potato salad on a white platter with serving spoons

Why You’ll Love this French Potato Salad

This lovely recipe has similar flavor undertones to a Nicoise salad. The highlight of this dish is certainly the buttery potatoes and the bright green beans (we used haricots verts).

The dressing packs in flavor with anchovies, olive oil, and herbs. Capers and green olives are added in for a salty punch. This salad is substantial and filling and can be served as a side dish or light dinner.

closeup of French potato salad on a platter

Ingredients You'll Need to Make this Recipe

You only need a few ingredients to make this French potato salad.

  • 1 lb small yellow potatoes
  • 10 ounces haricots verts (or other green beans)
  • 4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, divided
  • 3 ounces pitted green olives, roughly chopped
  • 2 anchovy fillets, minced
  • 1 shallot, finely diced 
  • 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
  • 2 tablespoons roughly chopped basil
  • 1 tablespoon roughly chopped chives
  • 1 tablespoon capers
  • 3 hardboiled eggs, halved
  • kosher salt
  • freshly ground black pepper

How to Make this Recipe

  1. Bring a large pot of well-salted water to a boil over high heat. 
  2. Add the potatoes and boil for 20 minutes. Check to make sure they are fork tender before removing them from the pot. 
  3. Save the boiling potato water and add the green beans and cook for 3 to 4 minutes or until they are bright green and slightly tender. 
  4. Meanwhile, combine the 3 tablespoons olive oil, green olives, anchovies, shallot, vinegar, basil, chives, capers, and a pinch of salt and pepper in a bowl and stir till combined. 
  5. When the potatoes have slightly cooled, cut them into ¼ inch rounds. Combine the dressing and potatoes in a bowl, being careful not to crumble the potatoes. 
  6. Add the potatoes to a plate or low bowl, then add the beans and hardboiled eggs. Drizzle the remaining olive oil across the eggs and beans and top with additional salt and pepper. 
  7. Optional - sprinkle additional herbs across the salad
  8. This recipe can be served warm or cold. It’s best served fresh but will keep in the refrigerator for one day.

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Tips for this Recipe

  • You can easily make this recipe vegetarian if you'd like - by leaving out the anchovies, just replace them with another tablespoon of olive oil.
  • If you don't have shallots, you could use half a small red onion or a few spring onions.
  • You can use other fresh herbs in this recipe - sage, rosemary, cilantro, and parsley would all be nice additions.

Let us know if you make this salad recipe and what you think of it!

Yield: 4 side salad servings

French Potato Salad

French potato salad on a white platter with silver serving utensils.

This French potato salad with green beans is a hearty side dish or a light dinner recipe.

Prep Time 8 minutes
Cook Time 25 minutes
Additional Time 3 minutes
Total Time 36 minutes

Ingredients

  • 1 pound small yellow potatoes
  • 10 ounces haricots verts (or other green beans)
  • 4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, divided
  • 3 ounces pitted green olives, roughly chopped
  • 2 anchovy fillets, minced
  • 1 shallot, finely diced
  • 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
  • 2 tablespoons roughly chopped basil
  • 1 tablespoon roughly chopped chives
  • 1 tablespoon capers
  • 3 hardboiled eggs, halved
  • kosher salt
  • freshly ground black pepper

Instructions

  1. Bring a large pot of well-salted water to a boil over high heat. 
  2. Add the potatoes and boil for 20 minutes. Check to make sure they are fork tender before removing them from the pot. 
  3. Save the boiling potato water and add the green beans and cook for 3 to 4 minutes or until they are bright green and slightly tender. 
  4. Meanwhile, combine the 3 tablespoons olive oil, green olives, anchovies, shallot, vinegar, basil, chives, capers, and a pinch of salt and pepper in a bowl and stir till combined. 
  5. When the potatoes have slightly cooled, cut them into ¼ inch rounds. Combine the dressing and potatoes in a bowl, being careful not to crumble the potatoes. 
  6. Add the potatoes to a plate or low bowl, then add the beans and hardboiled eggs. Drizzle the remaining olive oil across the eggs and beans and top with additional salt and pepper. 
  7. Optional - sprinkle additional herbs across the salad
  8. This recipe can be served warm or cold. It’s best served fresh but will keep in the refrigerator for one day.

Nutrition Information:

Yield:

4

Serving Size:

1

Amount Per Serving: Calories: 330Total Fat: 21gSaturated Fat: 4gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 16gCholesterol: 142mgSodium: 660mgCarbohydrates: 28gFiber: 4gSugar: 3gProtein: 9g

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