French Tuna Potato Salad (Paleo, Whole30)
This tuna potato salad is a healthy French potato salad recipe made with tuna fish and a delicious dijon dressing. It comes together in less than 30 minutes and makes for a wonderful lunch or dinner. Naturally Paleo, Whole30 compliant, Dairy-free, and Gluten-free.
This French tuna and potato salad is a recipe that my mother would make often when I was younger. She is from France and is known for her delicious salads, like this French Beet Salad, and this Kale and mustard salad.
This salad potato tuna salad is a simple yet healthy recipe full of cooked potatoes, onions, canned tuna fish, and a delicious french dressing made with tarragon vinegar, dijon mustard and herbes de provence. It’s refreshingly delicious!
Table of Contents
- Why this recipe works
- Recipe ingredients
- Additions/ Substitutions
- Step by step instructions
- Expert tips
- Recipe FAQs
- Other potato recipes you’ll love:
Why this recipe works
- It is a unique and delicious way to eat potatoes and tuna.
- It is made with clean, real food ingredients.
- It comes together in less than 30 minutes!
- It is allergy friendly. This recipe is dairy-free, gluten-free, and grain-free.
- It is good for the gut. Cooked and cooled potatoes are a great form of resistant starch, which is a prebiotic that helps feed the probiotics in the gut.
- It is great for those following a Paleo or Whole30 diet.
- It is an easy and delicious meal prep idea.
Recipe ingredients
- potatoes– I like to use red potatoes in this recipe
- canned tuna fish– use a good quality tuna fish, ideally in olive oil.
- onion– any type of onion works, I like using white onion or shallots.
- scallions– these add a nice flavor to the potato salad. I
- olive oil– this is used to make the dressing.
- tarragon vinegar or apple cider vinegar– both work well in this recipe for making the dressing.
- dijon mustard
- herbes de Provence– these give a taste of France to the dressing.
- fresh parsley– adds a nice hint of flavor.
See recipe card below for a full list of ingredients and measurements.
Additions/ Substitutions
- Instead of raw onions, you can use 1 teaspoon of onion powder. Just put the onion powder into the dressing.
- Instead of fresh parsley, you can use dried parsley.
- Instead of herbes de Provence, you can use a sprinkle of basil, rosemary and thyme instead.
Step by step instructions
Step 1: Boil the potatoes for 20 minutes, until fork tender.
Step 2: Break up the tuna into smaller pieces.
Step 3: Make the dressing by mixing the olive oil, vinegar, dijon, salt, pepper, herbes de provence, and fresh parsley in a bowl.
Step 4: Add the boiled potatoes to a bowl and then top with the tuna.
Step 5: Add the onions and dressing to the bowl.
Step 6: Mix everything together.
Expert tips
- You can serve this tuna and potato salad warm.
- You can also serve it cold. Just put it into the fridge first.
- One benefit of letting the potatoes cool is that it becomes resistant starch, which is an amazing natural prebiotic. If you want to read more about it, this article is great.
- You can serve this salad as part of a bigger salad.
- I love creating a large salad out of this tuna potato salad. All you have to do is add veggies to your plate. I like to add tomatoes, radishes, pickles, green beans, mixed greens, beets, and cucumbers.
Recipe FAQs
This recipe is made with regular potatoes which have become accepted in the Paleo community.
They are 100% Whole30 compliant because, as the Whole30 program says, they are a “whole, real, nutrient-dense food.” How nutrient-dense are they? Well according to PaleoLeap, one white potato has 70% of your vitamin C needs and 25% of your potassium needs for one day.
I have found it interesting to read various opinions on this and enjoyed reading the Are White Potatoes Paleo? article by PaleoHacks.
In an airtight container in the fridge for 3-4 days.
No, you can use any baby potato of choice.
Other potato recipes you’ll love:
Did you try this recipe? Please leave me a ⭐ review below!
French Tuna Potato Salad (Paleo, Whole30)
Ingredients
- 3.5 lbs red potatoes
- 25 ounces canned tuna ( Wild Planet is my favorite)
- 1/2 cup diced white onion
- 1/2 cup sliced scallions including the green parts
French dressing:
- 8 Tbs olive oil
- 4 Tbs tarragon vinegar (or apple cider vinegar)
- 2 Tbs dijon mustard
- 1 tsp sea salt
- 3/4 tsp ground black pepper
- 1/2 tsp herbes de provence
- 3 Tbs diced fresh parsley
Instructions
- Slice your red potatoes into 1 inch thick slices. Put them into a large pot of boiling water, and cook for about 20 minutes. Make sure you can easily stab them with a knife before taking them out.
- While the potatoes are cooking, put all of the tuna into a bowl and mix with a fork, cutting up the larger chunks of tuna into smaller pieces.
- While the potatoes are cooking, you can also make the French dressing. Mix 8 Tbs olive oil, 4 Tbs tarragon vinegar, 2 Tbs dijon mustard, 1 tsp sea salt, 3/4 tsp ground black pepper, 1/2 tsp herbs de provence, and 3 Tbs diced fresh parsley together until a thick dressing forms.
- Once the potatoes are cooked, transfer them to a large bowl and cut them into smaller pieces while mixing them up. Do this while they are still warm. You want there to be various sizes of potato in the salad.
- Add the tuna to the bowl of potatoes and mix. Then, add the diced white onions and sliced scallions to the bowl and mix.
- Lastly, add the French dressing to the bowl and mix.
- Serve warm with a side of tomatoes, radishes, pickles or any other veggie of your choice.
- You can also refridgerate it and eat it cold later.
Notes
Nutrition
Disclosure: This post contains Amazon affiliate links. This means that if you click on a link and make a purchase, I will receive a small commission at no cost to you.
33 Comments on “French Tuna Potato Salad (Paleo, Whole30)”
Easy, and yummy! Great summer recipe. My kids who like mustard really loved it. The non mustard kids took a pass.
Happy to hear it!
This is wonderful especially with the pickles,radish and tomato on the side.
I used apple cider vinegar and 1/2 t dried tarragon. I will make tarragon vinegar for future use.
Thank you!!I like the idea to add dried tarragon.
Simply delicious and easy breezy to pull together. Took recommendations for radishes and pickles and they were perfect sides. Not a morsel was left. Cheers
Oh yes! Radishes and pickles go great with it. Glad you enjoyed it!
Saw something similar in a magazine, looked all night for it,couldn’t remember where, turned to tuna potato internet clues. Your recipe was so sharing. And I think very authentic. Perfect tarragon dressing instead of lemon and so easy. Less snacking after some potato.
This was seriously delicious! I didn’t have some ingredients so subbed herbes de provence for a mix of rosemary, marjoram and thyme. Plus baby rocket instead of parsley. Would definitely make again!
Happy to hear it! 🙂
I made this. Without tarragon vinegar. I rarely eat canned tuna. I like potato salad but don’t always enjoy mayo that’s in most recipes. This recipe looked perfect for summer. It was also the first time I used Herbes de Provence. My family enjoyed it! It’s a simple and easy tasting dish.
I’m very happy you guys enjoyed it! It’s honestly my favorite way to make potato salad. 🙂
Hi, can i substitute tarragon to balsamic vinegar?
Apple cider vinegar would work best but I can see balsamic vinegar working too!
Amazing! My daughter loved it and we can’t go back to any other tuna or potato salad. This is it!
This makes me so happy! It’s my favorite 🙂
I used the recipe as inspiration for dinner tonight. Had to sub albacore tuna, ACV, and dried tarragon, but I think it came out great. My kids ate it too. I also really liked your sweet blurb about French lunchtime with your grandparents.
I’m happy to hear that! 🙂 Thank you!!
I love the idea that potatoes can be included, but it’s also posts like this that confuse me about the paleo way. “If it comes from the earth…” – well, peanuts, corn, soy, and wheat come from the earth and yet all of those are not usually recommend in paleo guides. I wish I could start seeing more consistent information… same with “its how are ancestors ate” – but really there’s a lot of evidence wheat has been apart of our diets for a very long time and so was alcohol, bugs, and berries. Can someone please explain how we have this diet called paleo, but it really isn’t about how our ancestors are OR about what comes from the earth? Please provide research and citations! I am really curious to learn more!
Hi!! I think that produce like peanuts, corn, soy and wheat tend to be more inflammatory on the body compared to other foods from the earth. As for the “paleo diet”, I have found that many people are tailoring it to what works for them. If white potatoes bother you, cut them out. If you can tolerate beans, add those in. 🙂
Yum, I love this idea! Looks simple and healthy enough. I love German potato salad, this French one sounds similar. Will need to try this out!
Ohhh I don’t think I’ve ever tried German potato salad! I’ve got to!
Can fresh tarragon and some kind of plain vinegar be used instead of tarragon vinegar?
Yes it can! The recipes that I’ve seen for this require leaving the tarragon in the plain vinegar for a few weeks first. 🙂 http://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/tarragon-vinegar
This sounds absolutely amazing and a simple weekday lunch.
Thank you, it really is!
This looks amazing! I love to try different types of potato salads! I’ll be trying this one out! Love the added tuna!
Thanks, please let me know when you try it!
I pinned this recipe because it looks and sounds delicious!
Thanks!????
This looks so yummy! I would have never thought to make potato salad like this, thanks for the recipe!
It is different, but so so tasty. <3
Yummy, I love potato salad, especially since you mixed it with tuna! Can’t wait to make it for my family!
I hope they love it!