Gordon Ramsay’s tuna niçoise salad is made with tinned tuna, new potatoes, crisp green beans, seven-minute eggs, olives and anchovies in a classic Dijon vinaigrette, ready in about 30 minutes.
Most recipe sites sear fresh tuna for their niçoise, but Ramsay goes the opposite direction. In Ultimate Home Cooking he writes that he thinks this salad “is much better made the way the French intended, with tinned.” His other move that competitors skip is pounding the anchovies and capers directly into the dressing with a mortar and pestle, so you get the salty, briny flavour in every bite rather than in isolated chunks on top.
The technique that makes or breaks this salad is timing. Potatoes, green beans and eggs all go into boiling water at overlapping intervals. Dress the potatoes while they are still warm because hot starch absorbs vinaigrette, while cold starch repels it. That five-second decision is why restaurant niçoise tastes better than most home versions.
Gordon Ramsay Tuna Niçoise Salad
Course: Salads, Lunch4
servings10
minutes15
minutes25
minutesFrom Gordon Ramsay’s Ultimate Home Cooking (2013), this traditional French niçoise uses best-quality tinned tuna in olive oil rather than seared steaks, with a mortar-pounded anchovy and caper dressing that coats every component.
Ingredients
- For the salad:
8 new potatoes, halved or quartered if large
500g (1 lb 2 oz) green beans, trimmed
4 free-range eggs
Extra virgin olive oil, for drizzling
2 baby gem lettuce, cut into wedges
320g (11 oz) best-quality tinned tuna in olive oil, drained and flaked
75g (3 oz) black olives, preferably French, roughly torn
250g (9 oz) baby plum tomatoes, halved
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
- For the dressing:
1 tsp Dijon mustard
1 tbsp capers
5 best-quality anchovies in olive oil
1 garlic clove, peeled and roughly chopped
2 tbsp red wine vinegar
4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
Small handful of parsley leaves, finely chopped
Directions
- Boil the potatoes: Put the potatoes into a pan of cold salted water, bring to the boil and cook for 6 to 7 minutes. Add the green beans and continue boiling for 3 to 5 minutes until both are tender. Drain, season and drizzle with a little olive oil. Set aside.
- Cook the eggs: Meanwhile, lower the eggs into gently boiling water and cook for 7 minutes. Drain, fill the pan with cold water, crack the shells against the side and leave to cool in the water.
- Make the dressing: Put the mustard, capers, anchovies and 2 teaspoons of their oil into a mortar. Pound to a paste. Add the garlic and a good pinch of pepper and mix again. Stir in the vinegar, olive oil and chopped parsley.
- Assemble: Halve the potatoes and peel and slice the eggs. Place 2 tablespoons of dressing on a large serving platter. Arrange the lettuce, potatoes, beans, tuna, olives, tomatoes and eggs as you prefer, drizzling with dressing as you go. Finish with the remaining dressing.
FAQs
Should you use tinned or fresh tuna for niçoise?
Ramsay is clear on this: tinned. He writes in Ultimate Home Cooking that the salad “is much better made the way the French intended, with tinned.” Seared tuna looks impressive but dries out quickly and fights with the other textures. Good tinned tuna in olive oil is moist, flakes into the salad naturally and soaks up the dressing. Buy the best tin you can find. Tesco Finest or Ortiz are both solid choices.
What goes in Gordon Ramsay’s niçoise dressing?
Ramsay pounds anchovies, capers and a splash of their oil into a paste using a mortar and pestle. He then adds garlic, Dijon mustard, red wine vinegar, olive oil and chopped parsley. The key difference from most niçoise dressings is that the anchovies are ground into the base, not laid on top. If you do not have a mortar, mash the anchovies and garlic with the flat of a knife on a chopping board, the same technique used for his classic caesar salad dressing.
Can you use salmon instead of tuna?
You can, though Ramsay does not publish a salmon niçoise in any of his cookbooks. Pan-fry a salmon fillet skin-side down for 4 minutes, flip for 2 minutes, then flake it over the salad in place of the tinned tuna. The dressing works well with salmon. The rest of the salad stays the same. Keep in mind that salmon is a fattier fish, so the dish will be richer. If you already have leftover salmon from his grilled salmon recipe, this is a smart way to use it.
Why should you dress the potatoes while still hot?
Hot potato starch is open and porous, so it absorbs vinaigrette into the flesh. Once potatoes cool, the starch sets and the surface becomes waxy, repelling dressing. This is why restaurant niçoise potatoes taste seasoned all the way through while home versions often taste bland. Drain the potatoes, drizzle with olive oil and a splash of dressing while steam is still rising, then let them cool to room temperature before assembling. The same principle applies to his smashed potatoes when served with a dressing.
How do you choose the right black olives?
Ramsay’s tip from Ultimate Home Cooking: genuinely ripe black olives are “actually more of a dark greeny brown” because they have been left on the trees to ripen naturally. The uniformly glossy black olives you see in most supermarkets are “simply green olives painted with a black dye.” Look for French Niçoise olives, Kalamata, or any olives from the deli counter that look uneven in colour. Tear them rather than slicing to release more flavour into the salad.
Can you add cucumber and red onion to niçoise?
Ramsay’s version sticks to the Provençal classics: potatoes, green beans, tomatoes, olives and eggs. But many French home cooks add thinly sliced cucumber for crunch and rings of red onion for a sharp bite. Both work well without clashing with the anchovy dressing. Slice the cucumber thin so it does not water down the plate, and soak the red onion rings in cold water for five minutes first to take the raw edge off.
What about seared tuna salad instead of tinned?
Ramsay uses seared tuna in other books, just not in niçoise. In Teaches Cooking II he makes a sesame crusted tuna with pickled cucumber salad, treating the tuna “like you would an amazing wagyu steak.” For another way to use tinned tuna, his spicy tuna cakes turn the same ingredient into crispy Asian-spiced fishcakes with water chestnuts and a dipping sauce. For fresh tuna, his sesame crusted tuna steak sears for just 30 seconds each side, and his tuna tartare skips the cooking entirely and searing it for just 30 seconds per side. In Ultimate Fit Food his tuna steak comes with a mango, cucumber and peanut salsa on baby gem. Both are great tuna salad options if you want something lighter and more modern than the classic French approach here.
Does niçoise salad keep well?
Not once assembled. The lettuce wilts, beans lose their snap and the whole thing turns soggy within a couple of hours. Store the components separately: dressing in a jar for up to five days, boiled potatoes and beans in a container for two days, eggs peeled and wrapped. Toss everything together only when you are ready to eat. If you want a salad that holds up better for meal prep, try his crunchy coleslaw instead. For more Gordon Ramsay salads with easier storage, check the full guide.
