Olivier Salad Recipe: Popular Since 1860 to Date!

The Olivier salad recipe is popular in Russia, Eastern Europe and the world. This combination of vegetables, meat, eggs and mayonnaise is easy to make. In addition, you can make it 24 hours earlier, chill in the fridge, and it will keep the flavor and the nutrients intact until the following day.

Today, there are so many variations of this salad. However, with gourmet recipes, once it “goes public,” many people change the ingredients to suit their needs. 

The impressive thing with the Olivier is that most of the base ingredients have remained. These are potatoes, eggs, cucumber, carrots, meats and mayonnaise.

Keep reading to see three Olivier recipes you can try today, including a vegetarian one! 

Later, you will also see how to make a Russian potato salad (Yes, Olivier can also be called such).

Step-by-Step Preparation for Three Olivier Salad Recipes

Over time, so many variations of this salad have emerged, but the basics remain. Here, we shall look at the three popular Olivier salads. They are:

Recipe 1: Classic Olivier Salad

The classic Olivier Salad is a nutritious meat, eggs and veggie salad you can take in place of a full-blown meal. Here is how to make it.

Things you will need:

• Medium sized potatoes (boiled) – 4
• Carrots – 3
• Eggs – 4 (boiled)
• Doctor’s sausage – 300g
• Pickles – 3
• Peas – 200g
• Onion – 1 medium sized
• Mayonnaise

Cutting board and knife

Bowl, plates, plastic forks

Step 1

Boil the eggs and the potatoes if you have not already done so. After that, wait until they are cold so the potatoes can harden up properly. This should take about 30 to 45 minutes.

Step 2

Dice the potatoes into small cubes. Dice the carrots, the doctor’s sausage and the eggs. You can also peel and slice the onion to keep it ready.

Step 3

Pour everything into a medium sized bowl, starting with the sliced potatoes, followed by the carrots and the eggs. Also, add the doctor’s sausage and the sliced pickles. Add the peas and the onions.

Step 4

Mix everything thoroughly. You can use two plastic spoons or forks to do that.

Step 5

Add the mayonnaise and mix thoroughly until everything is covered in white.

Serve and eat immediately or keep in the fridge to eat later in the day or even 24 hours later.

This one serves 2 to 3 people. If you are serving more people, you can make more. Just increase the ingredients.

Time to prepare – 50 to 65 minutes

Recipe 2: Olivier Salad with Smoked Chicken

Chicken turns things around a great deal with its taste. Thus, if you are a salads person, you will find the salad with smoked chicken especially tasty.

Here are the easy-peasy steps for preparing this salad:

Things you will need:

• Eggs – 3 to 4, hard-boiled and cold
• Smoked chicken breast – 250g
• Pickled cucumber – 2
• Carrot – 1
• Potatoes – 3, medium-sized and boiled
• Green peas – 70g
• Sliced green onion – 15g
• Mayonnaise – 150g

You will also need a bowl for mixing everything, a plate for serving, plastic spoons, a cutting board and a knife.

Step 1

Start by boiling the carrots and the potatoes. You can steam them until they are ready or boil them in water – the traditional way. Some people say poking them with a fork makes them cook better.  

Step 2

You need to slice the potatoes, the eggs and the carrot into small cubes.

Do the same for the green onion if you have not sliced it prior.

Step 3

Pour everything into the bowl. You can start with the eggs, smoked chicken, potatoes, carrots, pickled cucumbers, green onions and then add the peas (already thawed if you had frozen them).

Mix it thoroughly, add the mayonnaise and mix thoroughly until it covers everything.

Step 4

Serve into a plate and garnish with cilantro, and eat. If you made excess, you could keep it in the fridge where it can keep until the following day.

Time to prepare – approximately 70 minutes

Serves – 1 to 2 people

Recipe 3: Vegetarian Salad Olivier

A veggie salad is a great option for people watching their weight. In addition, it is nutrient-packed, full of fiber, which makes you feel fuller during the day. At the same time, anyone can enjoy it, including meat lovers.

Here are the step-by-step directions for preparing this vegetarian salad Olivier.

Things you will need:

• Carrot – 600g
• Potatoes – 1000g
• Avocado – 150g
• Onion – ¼ cup
• Cucumbers – 3
• Green peas – 1 can
• Olives – 20
• Black pepper – a couple of pinches for taste
• Lean mayonnaise – 150g

Step 1

Boil the carrots and the potatoes. In addition, steam them in the oven to harden them. This can take 30 to 45 minutes.

Step 2

Slice the carrots by cutting strips lengthwise and then slicing them into small pieces. Pour them into the bowl. Slice the potatoes and the avocado too.

Step 3

Add everything into the bowl, and then add a sprinkling of black pepper. Mix everything thoroughly, so the black pepper permeates everything. It is also good to be gentle because you do not want to mash the avocado.

Step 4

Add the lean mayonnaise and mix thoroughly, so it covers everything. You can then serve and garnish with cilantro or some other herb.

Time to prepare: Approximately 20 minutes to prepare and 30 minutes to cook the carrots and potatoes. So, in total, 50 minutes.

Serves – 2 to 3

What is Olivier Salad?

This popular vegetarian or meaty salad has its origins in France, but it was first made in Russia. Lucien Olivier, a Belgian-French chef, created it in 1860 and served it in his Hermitage restaurant in the then Russian Empire.

In the early 20^th century, Olivier’s assistant chef, Ivan Ivanov, stole this recipe. He did this when Olivier was called away briefly as he was dressing the salad in the privacy of his kitchen.

From quick observation of the arrangement of ingredients in Olivier’s private kitchen, Ivanov could make a quick deduction of how this salad was made.

Shortly later, he left work at Hermitage and went to work for a smaller restaurant where he served a salad terribly similar to what Olivier served, albeit with a lower quality dressing.

The name of his (Ivanov’s) salad was Stolichny. By the time the Olivier family was leaving Russia in 1905, Ivanov had sold this salad recipe to different publishers, with the first one appearing in an 1894 publication.

After the disintegration of the former USSR, the salad continued to be more popular in the breakaway nations. Today, it is popular all over the west because of its simplicity, nutrient content and robust flavor.

To understand the Olivier salad, here is a table to break down the nitty-gritty details of the four Olivier-type salads we have reviewed here:

Salad Type	Cooking time	Serving	Important tips
Classic Olivier	50 to 65 minutes (cooking plus cooling time for carrots, potatoes and eggs)	2 to 3 people, or more if you increase ingredients	Doctor’s sausage is a popular Russian sausage made with lean pork, high-quality beef, eggs and milk. You can also use Bologna
Olivier with Smoked Chicken	50 to 65 minutes	1 or 2 people	If you do not have smoked chicken, you can use smoked ham or boiled beef.
Vegetarian Olivier	30 to 60 minutes	2 to 3 people	Best served chilled You can make the potato and carrot cubes bigger if you like your salad chunky You may also use fresh green peas if you like (you would have to steam them in the microwave)
Russian Olivier	50 minutes	2 people	You can use more mayonnaise to cover the salad fully

Ingredients for Olivier Salad

Many things happen when a recipe goes from private to “mainstream.” For instance, one of them is that the hard-to-find ingredients are gradually replaced by the easier to find ones.

This happened with the Olivier salad. Thus, the first one of the 19 Century would differ greatly from what is available today.

The first Olivier ingredients

The first Olivier was made with ingredients such as fish, veal tongue or ham. Later on, it would evolve slightly, including vegetables and lobster, sausage, and pickled tongue.

The first publication of this salad in 1894 said that you need these things to make it:

• Potatoes – 2
• Cucumber – 1 small size
• Lettuce leaves – 4
• Hazel grouse – half
• Cubed aspic – ¼ cup
• Capers – 1 teaspoon
• Olives – 5
• Mayonnaise – 1.5 tablespoon
• Crayfish tails – 3 large ones

Over time, this dish has evolved a lot and what you get mostly depends on where you are. For example, the modern Olivier, which we will discuss in the next section, favors boiled or smoked chicken instead of sausage, lobster or pickled tongue.

The modern Olivier

Considering that it is almost 200 years old, this salad has undergone many changes. Thus, the modern Olivier is notably different from the first one served in Russia.

Today, the main ingredients include boiled potatoes (as you have no doubt seen in the three sample recipes we brought you here), beef/bologna/smoked chicken, hard-boiled eggs, carrots, dill or cucumber pickles, green peas and mayonnaise.

The homemade salads usually contain ingredients that the chef adds at their pleasure. Thus, you are likely to find different versions in Russia and most of Eastern Europe in the festive season.

How to Make Russian Olivier Salad

It is also referred to as the Russian potato salad. There are different ways to make homemade versions. However, the basic recipe would include these ingredients:

• Potatoes – 3
• Carrots – 3 medium-sized ones
• Peas – 1 can, frozen
• Eggs – 4 hard-boiled ones
• Kosher dill pickles – 6 small ones
• Smoked ham – ¾ cup

Preparation and cooking

Step 1

Cook the carrots and potatoes. Peel the carrots but leave the potatoes unpeeled. You can also steam or boil them. Boil until they are ready, but do not let them cook too long as they can become mushy.

Step 2

Steam the carrots and the potatoes to make them firm. It is recommended to steam the potatoes first for about 30 minutes, and then add the carrots onto the potatoes and steam further for 15 minutes. Remove from the heat and set aside to cool.

Step 3

Cook the frozen peas following the instructions on the label. Once cooked, keep them aside so they can cool down. If you are using canned peas, they are fine, and you won’t need to cook them.

Step 4

Remove the skin from the potatoes using your fingers or a knife. You can then dice the potatoes into small cubes and add them to a bowl.

Step 5

Dice the carrots into small cubes and add them to the bowl. Make the cubes big or small, depending on how you like them.

Step 6

Dice the eggs. You can add them to the bowl with the carrots and potatoes. Add your peas into the mix.

Step 7

Chop the pickles into small pieces and add them to the bowl.

Step 8

Assuming the smoked ham is already diced, add it to the bowl. If not, dice it into small cubes. Mix everything thoroughly.

Step 9

Add the mayonnaise and mix thoroughly. 150g of mayonnaise should be enough, but add some if you need more.

Step 10

Cover the salad and keep it in the fridge for one hour if you are eating it on the same day. If not, you can preserve it overnight until the following day. This time will allow the flavors to come out fully.

Step 11

Serve and garnish with finely chopped dill.

When to Serve Olivier Salad

After making your salad, you need to chill it in the fridge for some time to bring out the flavors fully. In addition, you can serve it after one or two hours, or you can chill it overnight and serve it the following day.

Olivier Salad Frequently Asked Questions

If you still need more clarification about the Olivier salad, the section on frequently asked questions below might shed more light:

Can you freeze Russian salad?

It is recommended that after making the salad, you chill it for at least one hour before eating it. You can freeze this salad, but be very keen when thawing it because it can easily become mushy.

What is the meaning of Russian salad?

This salad is prepared with cooked vegetables, and then it is mixed with a Russian dressing, which is mayonnaise. You cool and then dice the cooked vegetables.

Where did Olivier salad originate?

This salad originated in France, although it was first served in Russia in the Hermitage restaurant, owned by Lucien Olivier. Olivier was of Belgian-French origin. His family left Russia in 1905, long after his death.

How many calories are in a Russian salad?

A single serving of this salad contains 57 calories. It contains about 10g carbs, 2.4g protein, and 0.2g fat to break it down.

What are the main ingredients of the traditional Olivier salad?

The five main ingredients are meat, potatoes, vegetables, eggs and mayonnaise. However, a vegetarian Olivier will not have eggs or meat.

What is the average preparation and cooking time of modern Olivier?

This can be anywhere between 50 and 75 minutes. In addition, it depends on the method you choose to cook your potatoes and carrots (steamer or traditional boiling).

What is Lucien Olivier famous for?

Born in Moscow in 1838 but of Belgian and French origin, Lucien Olivier is popular for creating the Russian Salad, which retains most of its base ingredients today, almost 200 years later. He died in 1883.