Traditional Nicoise Salad for Health and Weight Loss

Nicoise salad is a French salad that’s simple enough for an everyday lunch or dinner, but elegant enough to serve to company. It’s a balanced meal in a bowl with these nutritious components. 

• Vegetables like romaine lettuce, cherry tomatoes, and cooked green beans
• High-fiber carbs like potatoes
• Protein from tuna and hard-boiled eggs
• Healthy fats from tuna, olives, and olive oil or an olive oil-based dressing

Onion, capers, herbs like thyme and parsley, and lemon juice add flavor. 

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Assemble and dress the salad just before serving it to allow each flavor to shine through. 

Variations

• Use fresh green beans if possible, but frozen work, too. Just thaw and cook them before adding them to the salad.
• Nicoise olives can be harder to find, but kalamata, Greek, green, or black olives can substitute.
• For less cholesterol, use egg whites instead of eggs.
• For a low-sodium version, omit the olives and use fresh grilled tuna instead of canned tuna.
• Spring greens or spinach leaves can substitute for lettuce.
• For a stronger flavor, add chopped anchovies to the dressing.
• For a simpler salad, just use olive oil instead of making a dressing. 
• If you don’t have lemon juice, any type of vinegar can work instead.
• For more beta-carotene, use sweet potatoes instead of red rose potatoes.
• For a low-carb or keto salad, use cooked cauliflower instead of potatoes.

Recipe for Nicoise Salad

Makes 2 servings

Ingredients:

• 4-6 cups of shredded butter, romaine, or iceberg lettuce
• 1 cup of fresh green beans, trimmed and left whole or cut into 1-inch pieces
• ½ cup of cherry or grape tomatoes, halved, or 1 large ripe salad tomato, cut into 8 wedges
• 2 small red or white potatoes
• 2 large eggs, hard-boiled and quartered (here’s how to boil eggs)
• 1 5-ounce can of tuna, drained
• ¼ cup of kalamata olives, pitted and sliced or quartered
• ¼ cup of red onion, thinly sliced in rings

Dressing

• 1 tablespoon of olive oil
• 1 tablespoon of lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon of dijon mustard
• ½ teaspoon of thyme
• ¼ cup of chopped parsley or basil
• Salt and pepper to taste

Instructions:

1. If using fresh green beans, steam them until crisp tender. Plunge them into ice water to stop cooking. Set aside.
2. In a small bowl, whisk together the olive oil, lemon juice, mustard, thyme, herbs, and salt and pepper. 
3. In a larger bowl or two individual size bowls, place the lettuce as the base. Arrange the green beans, tomatoes, potatoes, eggs, tuna, olives, onions, and capers.
4. Serve with dressing on the side, or drizzle evenly on the salads just before serving.

Nutrition information per serving: 380 calories; 16 grams of fat; 210 mg of cholesterol; 500 mg of sodium; 29 grams of carbohydrates; 6 grams of sugar; 5 grams of fiber; 27 grams of protein

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