Chopped Salad with Tomatoes Olives and Tuna

This Chopped Salad with Tomatoes Olives and Tuna is well on its way to becoming my favorite lunch! It’s made with chopped Romaine lettuce, fresh chopped tomatoes, canned tuna and sliced salad olives. I toss it with a tart lemony dressing with a bit of shallot. It’s naturally gluten-free and paleo.

I originally shared this recipe on June 21, 2010. I have updated the images and some of the text today.

Why We Love This Recipe For Chopped Salad with Tomatoes, Olives and Tuna

My mom used to make this chopped salad recipe for us when we were kids. Usually without the tuna and I think she used iceberg lettuce- I am almost completely certain. And we all loved it so much. The lemony dressing, the juicy tomatoes and the salty goodness of the olives. It’s a killer combo! I think she used Jane’s Crazy Mixed Up Salt in the dressing too.

Okay, so this isn’t exactly her recipe, but the sentiment is there.

And she made it based off of the salad that her mom had made for her. My mom called it Hofbrau Salad- which apparently is a Texas Hill Country regional thing, not so much a German thing. Though I looked it up, and really couldn’t find much on it. Maybe you know the origin? Leave a comment below if you’ve heard of Hofbrau salad.

Instead of iceberg I used two heads of lettuce from a local farm. One was Romaine and the other was frilly red leaf lettuce. I chopped it very small. That’s key!  Use whatever lettuce you like- though try to use a more hearty variety like Romaine so that it doesn’t wilt under the pressure of the juicy summer ripe tomato!

These tomatoes aren’t from my garden (mine are still green) but from a local farm instead. You can use a large one of whatever color you like. But the key is to chop it. It is so juicy that it becomes part of the dressing… so you don’t need much dressing at all.

That which you do use needs to be ultra sour- just go with me on this. The sweetness of the tomato, and the saltiness of the olives and tuna will balance it making for a shovel into your mouth crazy good salad eating experience!

I love making this salad for lunch, as it’s packed with both fresh veggies and protein. You can also serve it for dinner, with maybe an extra veggie or grain on the side. Since lettuce and tomato are in season during the summer, I find I most often make this recipe during the warmer months.

Tuna is also an awesome protein to add to your salad, and if you love this recipe, you’ll also love my Mediterranean Tuna Salad.

Key Ingredients For This Green Salad with Tuna

Tomato

Feel free to use whichever tomatoes you have on deck, however my favorite tomatoes for a salad like this are beefsteak tomatoes. They’re extra-large, super juicy and great for slicing, making them perfect for salads. They taste like a good old-fashioned tomato, if you know what I mean. Find them at any local grocery market or from a farmers market near you. If you can’t find them for some reason, heirloom tomatoes are my next suggestion.

Salad olives with pimentos

Don’t even get me started on olives, because I just love them so much. These salad olives in particular can be found at any grocery store near you. They’re deliciously salty. If for some reason you can’t find them, you could use black olives instead. They won’t be as salty and have less of a bite to them, but as long as you get pitted olives you should be fine.

Tuna

For this recipe I used canned lite tuna in water. Canned tuna is a great food to add to your diet, as it’s low in calories and fat, but higher in protein. Like olives, you should be able to find canned tuna in any local grocery, but you could really use any canned tuna you’d like. If you don’t like tuna, swap it out for a different protein source like salmon, grilled chicken, or boiled eggs.

Additional Ingredients

• 1 large head of Romaine lettuce, chopped
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon minced shallot
• 2 teaspoons Dijon
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• Freshly ground pepper, to taste

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