Niçoise salad is a traditional French dish originating from Nice, a city on the Mediterranean coast. It typically consists of tomatoes, green beans, potatoes, olives, and hard-boiled eggs, often served with tuna or anchovies. The salad is dressed with olive oil and sometimes includes ingredients like capers, red onions, and lettuce. Traditional niçoise salad recipes are far from vegan, but it is possible to make a plant-based version with a few simple swaps.

This recipe comes from Jenné Claiborne’s cookbook Sweet Potato Soul Vegan Vibes. It uses chickpeas instead of eggs and artichoke hearts as a replacement for tuna. It delivers all the taste of a classic niçoise salad without any animal ingredients at all.

Naked niçoise salad

Make no mistake, this vegan niçoise salad is stripped of eggs and tuna, but it is fully dressed in top-notch flavor and texture. To veganize, chickpeas stand in for eggs, and artichoke hearts for tuna. The roasted veggies, salty capers, and quality olive oil make this vegan version shine so bright. Finish it off with homemade niçoise dressing. There are a lot of beautiful salads in this cookbook, but this might be the prettiest.

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Servings

Ingredients

1/2 pound little red or multicolored potatoes, halved
1 & 1/2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil or avocado oil
1/2 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp sea salt, plus more to taste
1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1 bunch asparagus, woody ends trimmed
8 romaine lettuce leaves
8 radicchio leaves (or use more romaine if you can't find rachicchio)
1 & 1/2 cups cherry tomatoes, halved
1 cup jarred marinated artichoke hearts
1 can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1/4 cup jarred green or black olives, pitted and halved
2 tbsp capers
Vegan niçoise dressing (there are plenty of recipes online)
Sprigs of parsley, mint, basil, and/or fennel, for garnish

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 375F
In a bowl, toss the potatoes with 1 tablespoon of the oil, then sprinkle on the oregano, garlic powder, salt, and pepper. Spread evenly in a 9 x 13-inch baking dish and roast until tender, 30 to 35 minutes
Toss the asparagus in the remaining 1/2 tablespoon of oil, spread on a baking sheet, and roast at the same time as the potatoes, until fork-tender, about 20 minutes. (Alternatively, toss the asparagus in the oil and grill in an indoor grill pan or an outdoor grill.)
Place the romaine and radicchio leaves onto plates. Top with the roasted potatoes, asparagus, tomatoes, artichoke hearts, chickpeas, olives, and capers.
Drizzle the dressing over the salads. Garnish with fresh herbs.

Excerpted from SWEET POTATO SOUL VEGAN VIBES by Jenné Claiborne. Copyright © 2025 by Jenné Claiborne. Used by permission of Rodale Books, an imprint of Random House, a division of Penguin Random House LLC, New York. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.