Today’s recipe is for Salmon Salad Nicoise with hard-boiled eggs, green beans, olives, potatoes and radishes. The salmon is baked smothered in pesto, then placed on top of each salad.

a close up overhead of salmon nicoise with pesto

I originally shared this Salmon Nicoise on March 31, 2015. I have updated the images, text and added a video to share it again with you today. 

Table of contents

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Why You’ll Love This Recipe For Salmon Salad Niçoise

I love me a big salad. And Salad Niçoise has always been my favorite big salad. Nicoise salad with salmon often come with a few classic staples such as potatoes, perfect hard boiled eggs, green beans, and an assortment of veggies. However, I’ve put my own twist on it by baking the salmon with pesto.

Recipe Highlights

  • It comes together in only 30 minutes!
  • Each serving has 30 grams of protein which will help keep you full and fueled for hours.
  • It’s versatile meaning you can easily add any other fresh vegetable or topping you’d like.

Key Ingredients For This Recipe

  • Potatoes: I used small think-skinned baby potatoes.
  • Boneless Salmon Filets: Preferably sustainably sourced salmon with the skin removed.
  • Pesto: You could either make homemade pesto or get store-bought.
  • Salad greens: You could use spinach, mesclun greens or any other green leaf lettuce.
  • Hard-boiled eggs
  • Other Vegetables: Green beans or haricots verts and radishes
  • Olives: I like to use a mix of green and brown kalamata olives but use specific niçoise olives or any pitted olives.
  • Dressing: You’ll need one batch of this nicoise caper salad dressing.
  • Seasonings: Freshly ground black pepper and kosher salt.
Drizzling dressing over the Salmon Nicoise Salad topped with hard boiled eggs, green beans, olives, potatoes and radishes.

Step-by-Step Instructions to Make This Salmon Nicoise Salad

Step 1: Preheat oven

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F. Line a sheet pan with foil or parchment paper and lightly coat foil with cooking spray.

Step 2: Cook potatoes

Place potatoes in a medium saucepan and cover generously with cold water. Bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce to medium heat (or to maintain a simmer) and cook until the potatoes are tender when pierced with a fork, 13 to 15 minutes. Drain and let cool on the cutting board.

Step 3: Cook salmon

Meanwhile, sprinkle ½ teaspoon salt all over the salmon. Place the salmon, skinned side down on the foil (pat dry with paper towels if wet) and spread 2 tablespoons pesto over them, dividing evenly. Transfer the baking sheet to the oven and bake until the salmon is just cooked through and flakes apart when tested with a knife, 8 to 12 minutes depending on the thickness of the salmon.

Step 4: Steam green beans

Bring 1 inch of water to a boil in a medium saucepan fitted with a steamer basket. Steam green beans until crisp-tender, about 4 minutes. Rinse under cold water and drain

Step 5: Season potatoes

Cut the potatoes into quarters. Toss with the remaining ½ teaspoon of the salt and the remaining 2 tablespoons pesto in a medium bowl.

Step 6: Assemble salmon Nicoise & serve

Divide the greens among 4 large plates. Arrange eggs, radishes, briny olives, potatoes, salmon and green beans over the greens dividing them evenly. Drizzle dressing over the salmon niçoise salad and season with pepper.

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FAQs and Expert Tips

Make-ahead and storing instructions:

You can make these pesto salmon salads in advance. The only difference will be that they will be served chilled. The only thing you have to remember is to allow the hot ingredients to cool completely before assembling the salads. This way the greens will not wilt from the heat of the salmon, potatoes or green beans. You can build the salads up to 24 hours in advance. After they are assembled, cover and refrigerate them. Drizzle with the dressing right before serving. 

Why you should make Nicoise dressing from scratch:

Making Nicoise dressing with capers and garlic makes a huge impact on the overall flavor of the dish. Capers are a traditional accompaniment to salad nicoise, and the flavor of the garlic really goes well with the veggies. You can also whip up a simple lemon dressing with fresh lemon juice, Dijon mustard, garlic, extra-virgin olive oil and salt and pepper instead.

How to hard boil eggs:

Here’s how I hard-boil eggs. Place the eggs in the bottom of a small saucepan and cover them with cold water by an inch or so. Bring to a gentle boil over high heat. Reduce the heat to maintain a gentle boil and continue cooking for 10 minutes. Remove eggs with a slotted spoon and transfer eggs to an ice bath until they’re cool enough to peel.

Overhead tablescape with two bowls of Salmon Nicoise being dressed with salad dressing

Variations to Try

  • I added a pile of steamed green beans to each salad this time, but I have made this in the past with edamame. Other great springtime alternatives to the green beans would be grilled asparagus or steamed fiddlehead ferns! You could also serve it with artichoke hearts, spring greens like butter lettuce, or cherry tomatoes.
  • Also, if you avoid dairy, you can make this dairy-free Whole 30 Pesto instead.
  • This Crispy Pan Seared Salmon Recipe is an alternative if you want to make this Nicoise salad without pesto.

More Healthy Entree Salad Recipes to Try

At Healthy Seasonal Recipes, we specialize in cooking with fresh veggies and creating weeknight meals. Sign up HERE to get more produce-forward dinner ideas for FREE! If you make this recipe, please come back and leave a star rating and review. I would love to hear what you thought! Happy Cooking! ~Katie

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a close up overhead of salmon nicoise with pesto

Salmon Niçoise

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4.9 from 10 reviews

  • Author: Katie Webster
  • Total Time: 30 minutes
  • Yield: 4 servings 1x
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Description

Salmon Niçoise Salad made with salmon baked with pesto on top. Green beans, hard-boiled eggs and cooked potatoes make it a satisfying and updated twist on the classic composed salad

Ingredients

Units Scale
  • 6 small thin-skinned potatoes, about 3/4 lb.
  • 4 3 to 4-ounce portions sustainably sourced salmon, skin removed
  • 1 teaspoon kosher salt, divided
  • 4 tablespoons pesto, divided
  • 8 cups clean salad greens, such as spinach, mesclun greens or green leaf lettuce
  • 3 hard boiled eggs, peeled and cut into wedges
  • 2 cups green beans, trimmed
  • 1/2 cup sliced radishes
  • 12 olives
  • 1/2 cup nicoise salad dressing
  • Freshly ground pepper

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees F. Line a rimmed baking sheet with foil. Lightly coat foil with cooking spray.
  2. Cover potatoes generously with cold water in a medium saucepan and bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce heat to medium (or to maintain a simmer) and cook until the potatoes are tender when pierced with a fork, 13 to 15 minutes. Drain and let cool on cutting board.
  3. Meanwhile sprinkle ½ teaspoon salt all over salmon. Place the salmon, skinned side down on the foil, and spread 2 tablespoons pesto over them, dividing evenly. Transfer the baking sheet to the oven and bake until the salmon is just cooked through and flakes apart when tested with a knife, 8 to 12 minutes depending on thickness of the salmon.
  4. Bring 1 inch of water to a boil in a medium saucepan fitted with a steamer basket. Steam green beans until crisp tender, about 4 minutes. Rinse under cold water and drain
  5. Cut the potatoes into quarters. Toss with the remaining ½ teaspoon salt and the remaining 2 tablespoons pesto in a medium bowl.
  6. Divide the greens among 4 large plates. Arrange eggs, radishes, olives, the potatoes, the salmon and the green beans over the greens dividing evenly. Drizzle with dressing and season with pepper.

Notes

Cooking Tip:

  • You can sub 1 cup shelled edamame for the green beans if you prefer.
  • To make hard-boiled eggs, place eggs in the bottom of a small saucepan, cover with cold water by several inches. Bring to a gentle boil over high heat. Boil gently for 10 minutes. Drain, run cool water over the eggs until cool enough to peel.
  • To Make this recipe Whole30 compliant, Paleo and dairy free, use this whole30 pesto.
  • Prep Time: 25 minutes
  • Cook Time: 25 minutes
  • Category: Salad
  • Method: Stove Top and Oven
  • Cuisine: French

Nutrition

  • Serving Size: 1 salad
  • Calories: 510
  • Sugar: 5
  • Fat: 30
  • Saturated Fat: 3
  • Unsaturated Fat: 3
  • Trans Fat: 0
  • Carbohydrates: 21
  • Fiber: 4
  • Protein: 32

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