Today, I present a simple, colorful main dish, the Green Bean Salad with Tuna and Boiled Eggs perfect from April to October as an office lunch or for a picnic with family and friends.
I love salads and I know you do too because every time I share a new recipe with you, the comments and shares prove it. I thought of this Green Bean Salad with Tuna and Eggs for a simple reason, quick, easy, and delicious recipes never tire us, and this is surely a recipe to save on the agenda. Simple preparation, one cooking method, and this green bean salad can be served either warm or cold. In short, the right and balanced dish to serve from Spring to Autumn.
I often ask myself and you ask me how to vary our daily diet, in the end, the ingredients are almost always the same, the trick is to change and balance a dish. In this tuna and green bean salad with eggs, I tried to do just that. The green, white, and pink to play with colors and make this dish appealing to the eye, balance the flavors with a pinch of salt, pepper, and parsley. Blanch the green beans so they don’t get too mushy and cook the boiled eggs to the right point. Try this recipe and let me know if you liked it!
A great Italian classic and not only are the Green Beans and Potatoes which this time I have excluded, I did not want to make this dish too heavy and too rich in carbohydrates. And come on, to make a green bean and potato salad we are all good at by now, or almost.
You can choose one, or more, of the social profiles below the recipe box to contact me and send your comments and photos of the dishes. I also remind you that every morning I wait for you in the group and on the Facebook fan page of Le Ricette di Bea with the Recipe of the Day!
Before leaving you with the recipe, I invite you to also read the other salads on my cooking blog, from the classic potato and green bean salad, to the potato and pea salad, to the two versions of fennel salad ending with the cold pasta salad. Irresistible and indispensable salads that save us many summer meals.
- Difficulty: Very easy
- Cost: Very economical
- Preparation time: 5 Minutes
- Portions: 2 people
- Cooking methods: Boiling
- Cuisine: Italian
- Seasonality: Spring, Summer, and Autumn
- Energy 469.10 (Kcal)
- Carbohydrates 10.87 (g) of which sugars 4.91 (g)
- Proteins 36.99 (g)
- Fat 32.84 (g) of which saturated 8.86 (g)of which unsaturated 7.71 (g)
- Fibers 4.23 (g)
- Sodium 606.83 (mg)
Indicative values for a portion of 200 g processed in an automated way starting from the nutritional information available on the CREA* and FoodData Central** databases. It is not food and / or nutritional advice.
* CREATES Food and Nutrition Research Center: https://www.crea.gov.it/alimenti-e-nutrizione https://www.alimentinutrizione.it ** U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service. FoodData Central, 2019. https://fdc.nal.usda.gov
Ingredients for Green Bean Salad with Tuna and Eggs
- 10.58 oz green beans (fresh or frozen)
- 4 eggs
- 2 packs canned tuna in water (each 2.82 oz)
- 1 pinch salt
- 1 pinch pepper
- 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- to taste parsley (fresh or dried)
I included frozen green beans in this list of ingredients as you can find them in the freezer section all year round and sometimes they cost even less than fresh ones, unfortunately. However, always prefer fresh products if they are in season.
I did not include in the necessary ingredients list a teaspoon of vinegar, which will simply be needed for boiling the eggs.
Tools for Green Bean Tuna and Egg Salad
- 1 Pot
- 1 Saucepan
- 1 Plate
- 1 Colander
- 1 Knife
- 1 Spoon
- 1 Bowl
- 1 Fork
We will need to perform a few steps to make this green bean and tuna salad, the most important factor for the successful outcome of this recipe is cooking. The cooking time for each single ingredient, specifically the eggs and the green beans. For this reason, I indicated a nice wide pot for the green beans to boil and a saucepan to cook the hard-boiled eggs. Different sizes, different cooking times, and boiling points.
Recipe Steps for Green Bean Salad
Let’s start preparing this salad with green beans, tuna, and eggs by washing, cleaning, and boiling the green beans. Take all the green beans and wash them under the cold water faucet. Quickly pat them dry and then remove both ends with the help of a knife or with your hands as we are taught as children. Then bring plenty of water to a boil in a nice large pot and lightly salt it. When the water comes to a boil, insert the green beans, slightly reducing the heat. Cooking time is 10 minutes for fresh green beans, when you can pierce them with a fork without force, it’s the signal that they are ready. Cooking time is 8 minutes for frozen green beans. In both cases, I always prefer twenty seconds less of cooking to preserve the integrity of the bean itself. I don’t like them when they fall apart, and then their bright green color gradually fades with excessive cooking.
Ah, how many green beans I cleaned with my Grandmother Licia and then with my Mom Roberta. Hours and hours of “removing head and tail” of those little green sticks that until about ten years ago I didn’t even eat. I cleaned them with them but heaven forbid I eat them, I learned years later that they were good and that I like them quite a lot.
Now that the green beans are ready, we can drain them and let them cool in the colander. Let’s think about the hard-boiled eggs. Take a smaller saucepan and bring it to a boil. This time, no need to add salt but the tablespoon of vinegar that I wrote below in the ingredients list. Why vinegar? To seal any cracks in the eggs. It’s an old trick, but grandmothers always do it.
When you see the first bubbles on the surface, you can gently add the eggs. I calculated two hard-boiled eggs per person. Slightly reduce the heat and let the eggs cook for 5 to 7 minutes, depending on the size of the eggs. In my case, 7 minutes cooking for 4 large eggs.
After this time, we are ready to drain and let them cool slightly before removing the shell. Another trick to always do if you don’t want floury eggs that peel badly. Always pass the eggs under the colander under the cold water faucet. This will definitively stop the cooking, removing the heat from the eggs. Please don’t say I don’t reveal my cooking tricks to you.
Then I tap the shells together to break them gently. With my hands, I pull away piece by piece. Otherwise, you can place them on a wooden cutting board and, by rolling them with the palm of your hand, applying slight pressure, you’ll hear the shells break. Choose the method you prefer; I am very simple and always afraid they might break. For goodness’ sake, they will be good anyway, they are hard-boiled eggs by now, but don’t you want the satisfaction of cutting them with a knife to fill them (try the eggs filled with asparagus) or inserting them into the salad in wedges as in this case!?!
So now we have the eggs ready as well, all that’s left is to drain the two 2.82 oz containers of tuna or directly one larger can, if you prefer you can also choose tuna fillets in a jar. Pour the tuna onto a small dish, crumble it with your hands or with a fork.
Now let’s take a bowl and create the green bean and tuna salad. First, pour the green beans into the bowl, then the crumbled tuna. Add extra virgin olive oil with a spoon, add a pinch of salt and pepper. Then take the dinner plates or a tray, decide how to serve the green bean salad, and place these two ingredients. Now take the hard-boiled eggs, now cooled. With a knife without a serrated edge, cut them in half and then again in half, thus obtaining four wedges for each single egg. Place the wedges on the plate, sprinkle with chopped fresh parsley or dried parsley.
We will be ready to serve our green bean tuna and hard-boiled egg salads. As you have just read, this is a simple dish, a quick and easy recipe to execute.
I just have to remind you that I wait for you every day here in my kitchen with many delicious recipes like this one, I wish you a good appetite!!!
Storing Green Bean Salad
You can store the tuna, egg, and green bean salad for two days in the refrigerator, after allowing all the ingredients to cool completely. Choose a container with a lid to prevent air from passing through. I do not recommend freezing this dish, I have never done it and I do not know what the result might be once defrosted.
