Salade Niçoise is one of the most refreshing summer salad recipes to make! This Paleo version is full of flavor, healthy fats and nutrients, plus it’s simple to make and ready in 30 minutes.
Hey ya! Happy Summer Days! It’s official, Summer is here. I will be honest, I can’t wait to our Summer is over. GASP! I know! Shame on me. Although, we are spoiled here in Texas. It’s nice 9 months out of the year and then sweltering the 3 months of Summer. But I will put on my big girl pants and not complain. Hold me to it, okay?
With summer weather comes summer food, right? Grilling, salads, smoothies, and everything FROZEN or no bake. Ahh yes, the simplicity. That’s nice.
So today I thought I’d share one of my favorite summer salads that is packed with nutrients and flavor! Plus two UNREFINED oils that are best used with this type of dish. You’re learn my reasons why below.
Let’s dive in!
The famous French SALADE NIÇOISE. It’s a classic summer dish in France. Each region has their own version, but I will share the recipe I am familiar with a few of my own tweaks. Yes, I’ve traveled to many parts of France and I want to go back and eat this salad on the French coast! Too much to ask for?
But really, this salad … IT’S just BEAUTIFUL! And is packed with good flavor and nutrients.
- Tuna (fatty fish) – High in omegas. I actually subbed in Sizzlefish Sablefish for my recipe. It’s a buttery fatty fish with similar powerhouse nutrition as Tuna!
- Anchovies – More good fats and high in EPA/DHA. As you can see, I replaced my anchovies with salted sunflower seeds. Still good fats though!
- French green beans or haricot verts to get fancy on you! – fiber
- Greens (preferably crunchy butter lettuce)- Vitamin K
- Olives – healthy fats (monounsaturated fatty acid) and natural minerals (sodium and copper to name a few)
- Hard Boiled Egg – Vitamin D, protein, and good fats
- Tomatoes – rich in vitamin C and lycopene
- Boiled or Steamed New potatoes – healthy carbs (To make my recipe more Paleo, I used Squash/Sweet Potato)
- basil/garlic – great for immunity plus both are antifungals.
- avocado or olive oil – cold pressed is best and high in vitamin E.
- Mustard – for the dressing
- Lemon Juice
Okay, so we get why this Salade Niçoise is so darn healthy; it’s balanced in nutrients and macronutrients. That being said, let me share with you my recipe tweaks and the 2 oils I used in place of the olive oil. Don’t get me wrong, I love my cold pressed Extra virgin olive oil, but today I wanted to brag about these two HEALTHY oils and their awesome flavors! You Just might want to consider adding to your diet. Mmmm k?
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Paleo Salade Niçoise
- Total Time: 30 minutes
- Yield: 1-2 1x
Description
A refreshing twist on the classic French Salade Nicoise
Ingredients
- 4 oz Tuna or sablefish (fatty white fish)
- 1/2 c to 2/3 cup sliced boiled red potato or sweet potato (seasoned with black pepper and garlic)
- 1/2 cup french green beans (lightly steamed)
- 2 vine ripe tomatoes (quartered)
- 1 hard boiled egg or soft boiled egg
- 2–3 tbsp chopped olives
- 2 tbsp roasted sunflower seeds or capers (to replace the anchovies if desired)
- 3–4 cup mixed greens or butter lettuce
- sea salt to taste
- fresh basil
- 1 tbsp red palm oil
- 1/2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
- 1/2 tsp garlic and onion seasoning
- lemon juice
For the Dressing:
- 2 tbsp avocado oil or olive oil
- 1/4 tsp minced garlic
- 1 tsp mustard
- 1 tsp dried parsley
- dash of sea salt
- dash of onion powder
- 2 tbsp Red Wine Vinegar
Instructions
- To cook the fish, heat a skillet on medium heat. Add in your palm oil, balsamic vinegar, garlic, and dash of sea salt. Cook on medium to medium high for about 10 minutes per inch of thickness. Mine took about 10 minutes. The flesh will be flaky and buttery.
- If you haven’t already cooked your red potato or sweet potato, you can simply chop them steam in microwave bowl for 2-3 minutes. I seasoned mine with a little black pepper and sea salt after. You can also slightly steam your green beans, but make sure they are still crunchy.
- Once everything is cooked, place your greens in a bowl, arrange your potatoes within the greens, then add in your tomatoes and beans.
- Next, slice your cooked fish and place on top with the olives and sunflower seeds. Add lemon juice on top.
To make the dressing.
- Mix the ingredients listed above into a small jar. Pour half or all over salad. How ever much you prefer. Top with a few fresh basil leaves.
This serves 1 big salad or 2 smaller salads.
Notes
if you do have red palm oil, you can use coconut oil or butter. No prob! Just needs to be higher heat oil.
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 15 minutes
- Category: Salad
- Cuisine: French
First, what the heck is an Unrefined Oil? Well, I’ll tell you. Unrefined Oils are oils that are in their purest state, meaning, they haven’t been bleached or chemically changed. Which unfortunately, a lot of industrialized oils in America are these days. The unrefined or “cold pressed” oils are more nutritious and have a less of a storage life than refined. More on that below!
The two oils I used in this Salade Niçoise recipe are Red Palm Oil and Avocado Oil.
The Red Palm Oil being used to cook the fish and the avocado was used in the dressing. Now, let’s get nerdy and talk about why I LOVE these oils.
- Red Palm Oil – . Palm Oil, like Nutiva’s Organic Red Palm Oil, comes from the red, fleshy fruit of the palm tree. It’s a tropical oil like that of coconut oil. But WAY different that palm kern oil, so be sure to note that. Red Palm oil gets it’s dark red color from carotenes in the plant itself, that’s why it is high in vitamin A and Vitamin E. Red Palm oil is also 45% saturated fat, mostly monounsaturated, so it’s great to use with medium high heat without it being oxidized. That means you can cook foods up to 302° F without the oil undergoing oxidation (the reaction of oxygen to form free radicals) which can be harmful to the body. Want to know more about Red Palm oil and it’s health benefits? Check out Nutiva’s site!
- Avocado Oil – Another plant based UNREFINED oil that is high in monounsaturated fatty acids, and has a high smoke point 400F, Again great for frying without the oxidation! The ‘Hass’ cold-pressed avocado oil is green when extracted; due to the high levels of chlorophylls and carotenoids. Avocado oil has a creamy texture and slightly nutty which is why i thought it would be great with the mustard garlic dressing, see picture below. Want to know more about the health perks of avocado oil, read here!
It’s always important to read up on which UNREFINED oils can handle certain heat/light without being oxidized. So go move all your oils to the fridge or in a cool dark place now! haha. And if you can, buy organic cold pressed. Here’s a great chart to keep to help explain.
Well, that’s all my nerdy food talk for today. Are you hungry for Salade Niçoise now? I sure hope so!
What are your favorite oils to use with cooking or dressings?
Cheers!
This looks so yummy, I’m heading to the store now for ingredients!
Salad Nicoise is Alex’s favorite– so I will be making your version for him soon. Love the crunchy addition of sunflower seeds and the sweet potato. So beautiful, too!
You’d think here in the land of palm plantations, I would be able to get unrefined palm oil– but nope. Nothing but super processed. I can get avocado oil and love it, although I haven’t bought it for a while– thanks for the reminder 🙂 Sharing!
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Ready to dive in! Plus, it’s so much fun to say, “Nicoise” I feel so smart, fancy and important! xoxo
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YOU know my thoughts on this salad. I actually KINDA prefer it with grilled salmon…. But I have never tried with sablefish – I actually don’t think I have any more sablefish in my freezer! GAH! NEED TO CHANGE THAT, but um, let me clear out my freezer first – shouldn’t be hard because my mouth is just so big.
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you must! it’s so buttery and good!
This looks like the perfect salad for dinner tonight! Your pictures are beautiful!
This literally looks sooo good! Even at 10am 🙂 I need to make this!
xo,
Sarah Grace
i’ve definitely eatin it at 10am! haha.
Oh this looks delicious! I love using avocado and coconut oil but haven’t tried red palm oil yet. I’ve heard great things though!
it’s similar consistency to coconut oil. but more buttery. I”m LOVING IT!
Ahhh, I am dreaming of being back in France and having Salade Nicoise…
This looks fantastic! I love the sunflower seeds over the anchovies and the sablefish sounds wonderful.
I love it!
Yum yum! I love whitefish so I’m definitely going to have to give this a try. Love that it’s paleo, too. Thanks for the recipe and the beautiful photos!
Seriously. I will throw down with Gigi and Laura over who you move in with. Remind them I am a 5’10 former rugby player. #TacklesForFood
Salad nicoise is one of my favorite salads ever, and then you add sweet poatotes to it? I can’t even handle this much awesome in one recipe.
Okay, the photos today are SPECTACULAR! Well, they’re great all the time, but I legit just started to salivate. TMI?
This salad is gorgeous, absolutely beautiful. You know I love it. Bring on the greens and the smoothies and the beaches and the pools. Maybe not simultaneously, but you know what I mean.
i think it would be great with your avocado panini… just sayin
Your photography skills have been killing it lately! love everything! looks amazing
girl, i am working HARD on it, so thank you. <3 miss you
I’ve been on a lunchtime salad kick recently and this is the kind I love – yum!!
Love this- It’s my kind of salad because of all the goodies in it- How GOOD is Nutiva!
nutiva is the BEST. You know it man! ;p
I’m going to have to make one of these soon. I love the sablefish idea! The last one I made was so long ago… it’s when I decided to try to be vegan and I did it with tempeh.
Yum! I’ll be right over for this. Love that you used sablefish too!
please do! bring your fudge smoothie!
Love love love nicoisse!! 🙂
Mmm!! I love adding Halloumi cheese to this type of salad. Tastes so good.
Could you possibly pack any more nutrients into that bowl?? Nicely done it looks like a delicious nutrient dense salad!
I love love love salade nicoise but never make it myself. This looks so delicious and makes me want to have one for lunch today!
Love this salad! There is a restaurant called Urban Plates in San Diego, and I almost always order the Nicoise Salad when I go to eat there-yum! Sablefish is new to me too-can’t wait to make this. Try and stay cool in that Texas heat 🙂
I think i need to visit urban plates and you!
I first read about red palm oil over a year ago. I read mixed thoughts on it so I never used it but very interesting!
The salad looks great! So colorful!
I love these style of salads. They have such great flavor. Love that you did such a thorough breakdown of the ingredients/benefits.
Lindsay, this bowl of scrumdiliumptiousness has me craving salad in a big way! Actually, I am not a dressing kinda gal – sometimes I’ll grab a dash of a balsamic vinaigrette, but, most times I like my salads naked – though all your talk on the benefits of avocado oil makes me wanna throw some on my next salad!
i have always wanted to make a tuna nicoise salad! I love how you added in sablefish instead of tuna. I wish I still had some left from my sizzle fish order, it doesn’t need any seasoning or anything because its so buttery and delicious!
This salad has all of my favorite foods in it! If you could make this for me for lunch today that would be fabbbbb 🙂
Oh, my. This salad is gorgeous and it’s packed with so much good stuff. Adding this to our dinner menu this week and will let you know when we’ve tried it! Pinned!!
French green beans are my favourite vegetable, and as soon as I saw them in your recipe photo here, I knew this recipe had to be be pinned. Must see if these oils are available in our local health food store too. 🙂
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Why have I not thought to try this? You are reading my mind again, an old favorite that looks so much better when you make it!
The deep freeze that we experienced this past winter has me very thankful for every warm sunny day, so I am hoping for lots of HOT days ahead!
That salad is packed with so much goodness, love it! I often use avocado oil for cooking and dressings, it’s a lovely neutral oil.
p.s. in the recipe, you have avocado oil written twice 🙂
thank YOU! will fix that. phew!
Coconut and olive are my go to oils. I need to branch out! Happily sharing the goodness 🙂
This looks incredible! Im definitely considering having some for breakfast!
This looks absolutely amazing! Pinned for later 🙂
Let’s get something straight–Salad Nicoise is one of my weaknesses. If it is on a menu, there is a pretty good chance that I will be ordering it. It just has everything, you know? Sweet + acid + salty savory + umami (from the olives) and even a little bitter if you are so inclined. Perfection.
WOW linds this looks ahhhmazing! You are photography queen now, and this sounds delicious! And thanks for the info about palm and avocado oil, very helpful! Happy Monday my dear friend!