This Nicoise Tuna Salad Recipe is my version of a famous salad from the south of France, and this classic salad doesn’t need potatoes! And this perfect main dish salad is great for dinner on a hot summer night!
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Nicoise Tuna Salad is a famous French salad that I tried for the first time a few weeks ago when I went on a fabulous trip to France with my friends Carol, Donna, Cristina, and Bev! And if you’re following this blog, you can imagine how excited I was when I ordered the salad in a little sidewalk cafe in Nice, and it when it came it didn’t have potatoes!
I had previously dismissed making Nicoise salad because I assumed this famous salad required pieces of cooked potato, and I was happy to hear that the option of not using potatoes was even a thing in France. And when I made this with my niece and cooking assistant Kara, we loved the low-carb version you see here! And then when I looked at other recipes online, I did find others that didn’t include potato.
This is a perfect recipe to use the tuna packed in olive oil that I’m so fond of, and it has some of my other favorite summer ingredients, plus a delicious garlicky dressing. We even added capers and caper juice to the dressing for an extra punch of flavor!
And since I found that the traditional Nicoise Salad had lots of variations, go ahead and add or subtract ingredients as you wish to make the version you prefer! Even add some boiled potatoes if that’s what works for you! I hope you try it soon if you like the sound of this low-carb protein-packed summer salad!
What ingredients do you need?
(This is only a list of ingredients; please scroll down for complete printable recipe. Or if you use the JUMP TO RECIPE link at the top of the page, it will take you directly to the complete recipe with ingredient amounts.)
More about the famous Nicoise Salad:
Wikipedia shares a lot of information about the famous Salade Niçoise, which originated in the French city of Nice of course. Wikipedia says this salad can have canned tuna or cooked fresh tuna, and it can be served as a composed salad (like my version) or a tossed salad. And although the Wikipedia article mentions the traditional ingredients of tuna or anchovies, tomatoes, hard-boiled eggs, and olives, it also says that there’s a lot of difference of opinion among chefs about which ingredients must be included!
What other ingredients could you use in this salad?
The Nicoise Salad I had in France included romaine lettuce. Some well-known chefs have recipes for this salad that use red bell peppers, artichoke hearts, avocado, mushrooms, or cucumbers.
How low in carbs is my Nicoise Tuna Salad Recipe?
My version of this main-dish salad made without potatoes has only 7 net carbs in a generous serving, and 30 grams of protein!
How to make the Nicoise Tuna Salad:
(This is only a summary of the steps for the recipe; please scroll down for complete printable recipe. Or if you use the JUMP TO RECIPE link at the top of the page, it will take you directly to the complete recipe.)
- Start bringing a pan of water to a boil while you trim beans and cut in half.
- Make perfect hard-boiled eggs. Cool eggs in ice water, then peel and cut lengthwise.
- When water boils, add beans and cook exactly three minutes. Drain beans and put in ice water.
- Then drain beans well in a colander placed in the sink.
- Cut tomatoes into quarters.
- Cut olives in half and measure out capers.
- Trim radishes and cut into quarters.
- I used Genova Tuna Packed in Olive Oil (affiliate link) for this recipe. Drain the tuna and discard the oil. Break tuna apart slightly inside the can, using a fork.
- Whisk together caper juice, lemon juice, olive oil, Dijon mustard, minced garlic, Spike Seasoning (if using), and dried thyme to make the dressing. Then add capers, season dressing with salt and fresh-ground pepper, and stir.
- Arrange salad ingredients in sections on serving platter as desired. Stir dressing again before you drizzle some dressing over the salad, reserving some dressing to pass at the table.
- Serve Nicoise Tuna Salad right away and enjoy.
- Both Kara and I thought the leftovers from this were surprisingly good after they had been refrigerated overnight.
Make it a low-carb meal:
You wouldn’t need much more than this salad for a perfect summer meal, but if you wanted to add something else I think Nicoise Salad would taste great as a low-carb meal served with Savory Almond Flour Zucchini Muffins, Olive Bread, or Savory Almond Flour Bread.
Want more recipes ideas for canned tuna?
Check out Amazing Healthy Tuna Recipes to see some of my other favorite ways to use tuna packed in olive oil!
Ingredients
- 8 oz. fresh green beans
- 4 hard-boiled eggs
- 2 cups diced tomatoes (see notes)
- 1/2 cup Kalamata Olives (see notes)
- 1/4 cup drained capers
- 8 large radishes
- two 5 oz. cans tuna packed in olive oil (see notes)
- 1 T caper brine (from the jar)
- 2 T fresh-squeezed lemon juice
- 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 T Dijon Mustard
- 1 tsp. minced garlic (see notes)
- 1 tsp. Spike Seasoning (optional, but good)
- 1/4 tsp. dried thyme
- salt and fresh ground pepper to taste (see notes)
Instructions
- Fill a medium pan half full with water and bring to a boil while you trim green beans and cut in half.
- Make perfect hard-boiled eggs, using the method you prefer. Cool the eggs in ice water, then peel and cut lengthwise into quarters.
- When the water is boiling, add beans and cook exactly three minutes. Drain beans and immediately put in ice water to stop them from cooking more.
- Then drain the beans well in a colander placed in the sink.
- Cut the tomatoes into quarters (or smaller pieces if the tomatoes are large.)
- Cut the olives in half and measure out the capers.
- Trim radishes and cut lengthwise into quarters.
- I used my favorite Genova Tuna Packed in Olive Oil (affiliate link) for this recipe. Drain the tuna by pressing down with the lid, and discard the oil. Break the tuna apart slightly inside the can, using a fork. (It should still be chunky.)
- Whisk together caper juice, lemon juice, olive oil, Dijon mustard, minced garlic, Spike Seasoning (if using), and dried thyme to make the dressing. Then add the capers, season the dressing with salt and fresh-ground pepper to taste, and stir.
- Arrange the salad ingredients in sections on a large serving platter as desired. Then stir dressing again right before you drizzle some dressing over the salad, making sure you get some capers showing on all parts of the salad. Reserve some dressing to pass at the table.
- Serve the Nicoise Tuna Salad right away and enjoy.
- Both Kara and I thought the leftovers from this salad were surprisingly good after they had been in the fridge overnight, but I don’t think it would last much longer than one day.
Notes
You can make this more authentic with Nicoise Olives (affiliate link) if the budget can handle it!
I used small Compari Tomatoes for this recipe.
I love Genova Tuna Packed in Olive Oil (affiliate link) and that’s what I used for this salad.
We used minced garlic from a jar, but freshly-minced garlic would be great in this!
Both capers and olives are salty, so we didn’t use much added salt.
This recipe created by Kalyn and Kara, with inspiration from a Nicoise Salad I had in France!
Nutrition Information
Yield
4
Serving Size
1
Amount Per Serving
Calories 403Total Fat 27gSaturated Fat 5gTrans Fat 0gUnsaturated Fat 20gCholesterol 220mgSodium 1232mgCarbohydrates 12gFiber 5gSugar 6gProtein 30g
Nutrition information is automatically calculated by the Recipe Plug-In I am using. I am not a nutritionist and cannot guarantee 100% accuracy, since many variables affect those calculations.
Did you make this recipe?
Low-Carb Diet / Low-Glycemic Diet / South Beach Diet Suggestions:
This Nicoise Tuna Salad is perfect for low-carb or Keto diets, and it’s also gluten-free and dairy-free. The salad is fairly high in fat for the original South Beach Diet, although you could make it lower in fat by using less dressing and using water-packed tuna if you’re strictly following South Beach.
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