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Nicoise Pasta Salad Recipe

By 49 Comments

Turn a classic French salad into the perfect pasta salad for your light lunch or summer picnic. Niçoise pasta salad has all the classic flavors but swaps the traditional lettuce for pasta.

A traditional Niçoise salad is made up of tomatoes, hard boiled eggs, olives and anchovies. You’ll find quite a lot of variation in the ingredients and dressing though with the more modern version including potatoes and green beans such as this Niçoise pasta salad had.

Nicoise Pasta Salad

While it isn’t part of the classic recipe, I love adding a little tuna to my Niçoise pasta salad. It gives the salad a little extra protein and turns it from a side dish to the perfect light lunch. I definitely recommend choosing a tuna in olive oil for extra flavor. 

The dressing for this Niçoise pasta salad is a combination of garlic, olive oil, lemon juice, salt, Dijon mustard and shallot. The shallot has a lighter, sweeter flavor than a standard onion making it perfect for salad dressings.

Nicoise Pasta Salad Dressing Nicoise Pasta Salad Dressing Recipe

The anchoives are definitely optional here but they add a delicious brininess to the salad. I mince mine really tiny so no one knows they are in there.

Nicoise Pasta Salad Summer Recipe Easy Nicoise Pasta Salad

I know a lot of people shy away from a salad Niçoise recipe because of the anchovies! But, once you make this Niçoise pasta salad, your entire opinion of Niçoise salad is bound to change.  This pasta side dish is so light and fresh but full of ingredients that are so good for you! It makes the absolute perfect summer salad!

Salad Nicoise Pasta Recipe

If you make this Niçoise pasta salad or any other recipe from the blog, I’d love to hear about your experience. Let me know if the comments or snap a photo and tag it #MySuburbanKitchen on Instagram or Twitter.

If you enjoyed this Niçoise pasta salad, be sure to try these other easy pasta salad recipes:

Essential items for this simple salad:

  • Mixing bowls
  • Whisk
Nicoise Pasta Salad
5 from 6 votes
Print
Nicoise Pasta Salad
Prep Time
15 mins
Cook Time
20 mins
Total Time
1 hr 5 mins
 
Cuisine: Salad
Servings: 10
Calories: 383 kcal
Ingredients
  • 16 oz bow tie pasta cooked al dente
  • 6 oz tuna packed in olive oil
  • 1 lb small red potatoes quartered and steamed
  • 1/2 lb haricot verts {or small green beans} trimmed and steamed
  • 1/2 cup minced black olives
  • 4 hard boiled eggs roughly chopped
  • 1 cup cherry tomatoes halved
  • 2 green onions chopped
  • 1/4 cup basil chopped
  • 3 oil packed anchovies finely chopped {optional}
Dressing
  • 1 clove garlic minced
  • 1/2 cup olive oil
  • 1/4 cup lemon juice
  • 2 tsp kosher salt
  • 3 Tbsp Dijon Mustard
  • 1 shallot minced
Instructions

  1. For the dressing: In a medium bowl, combine all dressing ingredients (garlic, olive oil, lemon juice, salt, Dijon mustard and shallot) and stir with a whisk until combined. Refrigerate until ready to use.

  2. In a large bowl, combine the pasta through tomatoes and toss to combine. Add anchovies if using and then pour dressing over salad and toss. Top pasta salad with green onions and chopped basil. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

 

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Comments

    • The anchoives definitely add nice flavor dimension to the salad. If you mince them, you won’t even notice the texture either.

      Reply

    • This is definitely one of those pasta salads that you can use as a side or a main dish. It is full of so many yummy ingredients that you may not want anything else.

      Reply

    • I had never tried it before either but so glad I did. It tastes so fresh and I love that I can find out about exactly where it came from by using the code on the packaging.

      Reply

    • Thanks Sara! This has definitely become a new favorite in our household. I love working with quality products that I can feel great about feeding my family and recommending to my readers.

      Reply

    • I am a huge pasta salad fan too. They combine so many of my favorite things: pasta, vegetables and dressing! Thanks for coming by.

      Reply

    • Thanks! My family absolutely loved this dish and has asked for it again this week. I love working with quality products like this tuna.

      Reply

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