Here’s A Simple Mimosa Salad Recipe To Make For New Year’s!
Mimosa Salad is a colorful and savory appetizer that will brighten up your holiday table. It is a classic Soviet salad that is also popular in Ukraine and other former Soviet countries.
This version is made with layers of tuna, shredded vegetables (carrots, potatoes, and onions), mayonnaise, and eggs.
The salad gets its name from the beautiful mimosa plant, which has yellow, fluffy flowers – that’s why the salad is topped with grated egg yolk at the end.
It’s a tasty layered salad (similar to Shuba) that is eaten cold and typically enjoyed for New Year’s as an appetizer, known as zakuski in Russian. But of course, it can be made at any time of the year!
Fun Fact: The Mimosa Plant inspired another culinary creation’s name – deviled eggs in France are said to be called “oeuf mimosa” due to their yellow color.
Ingredients
Here are the Mimosa salad ingredients if you want to make this tasty Slavic salad.
- Potatoes – Boiled, peeled, and grated. Use waxy potatoes for a firmer texture.
- Tuna – Canned tuna in water; unseasoned.
- Carrots – Cooked, peeled, and grated.
- Cheddar Cheese – Shredded.
- Mayonnaise – The quality of the mayo is very important since you’ll be adding a lot.
- Onion – Yellow onion, but white onion also works. It will be soaked in water to lose some of its sharpness.
- Eggs – Hard-boiled and separated into whites and yolks; grated.
- Black pepper – Add to taste.
- Salt – Add to taste.
Recipe Tips and Substitutions
Before you make this easy layered tuna salad, have a little read through these recipe tips so that you know exactly what to expect:
- The salad is named after the mimosa plant, which blooms with small, round fluffy balls of yellow color. This is why the salad is topped with yolk at the end for more similarity. It’s an important step, so don’t skip it.
- Instead of tuna, you can use canned mackerel, sardines, or smoked fish.
- There is no one right way to make this salad. Some people make it without cheese or potatoes, but with rice or butter.
- Don’t overcook the potatoes and carrots or they will be difficult to grate.
- You can use a grater or food processor to grate the ingredients. A food processor saves time and effort, but a grater gives you more control over texture and size.
- Season the salad with salt and pepper to your liking. You can skip them if the mayonnaise or the fish is already salty or spicy enough.
- For the best taste, make the salad the night before and serve it the next day.
How to Make Mimosa Salad – Step by Step Instructions
In this section, we’ll show you how to make Mimosa salad with the help of step-by-step photos. If you are a visual learner, you can follow along as you make it at home and compare.
In general, you can prepare the salad in one large deep bowl or individual portions. For individual servings, you can use metal molds to shape the salad into cylinders. We’ll show you how to do this below.
If you are making the salad in one serving bowl, just follow the same steps without dividing the ingredients.
First, place the chopped onion in a small bowl and pour boiling water over it. Let sit for 3 minutes to remove the bitterness, then drain the water.
Next, evenly place down the grated potatoes as the first layer and spread the top with some mayonnaise. Season with salt and pepper (optional).
Next, spread the canned tuna over the potato layer, then add the drained onions on top.
Now place the grated carrots on top of the tuna and onions and spread mayonnaise on top.
Add the grated cheese as the next layer. Flatten and spread more mayonnaise on top.
Then spread the grated egg whites over the cheese layer and brush some mayonnaise over them.
Sprinkle the grated egg yolks over the salad as the final layer.
If you prepared the salad in one bowl, it should look the same, just larger.
Cover the bowl or the individual servings with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 2 to 3 hours to allow the salad to soak in and the flavors of the ingredients to meld.
Most often, the salad is made in the evening to be served the next day.
Enjoy this layered salad!
Storage Tips
If you have leftovers, you can cover the bowl with plastic wrap or a lid and store it in the fridge. It’s important to keep it cold and not let it warm too much because of the fish and mayo.
Properly stored, it will keep for about 2-3 days in the fridge – but it also usually doesn’t make it this long!
Related Recipes
If you liked this recipe, here are some other popular Russian recipes – many of which are salads:
- Herring Under a Fur Coat (Shuba Layered Salad)
- Olivier Salad
- Russian Vinaigrette Salad
Mimosa Salad
Ingredients
- 1 cup potatoes, cooked, peeled and grated
- 1 cup canned tuna, drained
- 1/2 cup carrots, cooked, peeled and grated
- 1/2 cup cheddar cheese, grated
- 1/2 cup mayonnaise
- 1 onion, peeled and chopped
- 5 eggs, separated into whites and yolks, grated
- 1/2 teaspoon pepper, optional (see notes)
- 1/2 teaspoon salt, optional (see notes)
Instructions
- Place the chopped onion in a small bowl and pour boiling water over it. Let sit for 3 minutes to remove the bitterness, then drain the water.
- You can prepare the salad in a large deep bowl or individual portions. For individual servings, you can use metal molds to shape the salad into cylinders. If you are making the salad in one serving bowl, just follow the same steps without dividing the ingredients.
- Evenly place down the grated potatoes as the first layer and spread the top with some mayonnaise. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
- Spread the canned tuna over the potato layer, then add the drained onions on top.
- Place the grated carrots on top of the tuna and onions and spread mayonnaise on top.
- Add the grated cheese as the next layer. Flatten and spread more mayonnaise on top.
- Sprinkle the grated egg whites over the cheese layer and brush some mayonnaise over them.
- Sprinkle the grated egg yolks over the salad as the final layer.
- Cover the salad bowl or the individual servings with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 2 to 3 hours to allow the salad to soak in and the flavors of the ingredients to meld.
Notes
- The salad is named after the mimosa plant, which blooms with small round fluffy balls of yellow color. This is why the salad is topped with yolk at the end for more similarity. It’s an important step, so don’t skip it.
- Instead of tuna, you can use canned mackerel, sardines, or smoked fish.
- There is no one right way to make this salad. Some people make it without cheese or potatoes, but with rice or butter.
- Don’t overcook the potatoes and carrots or they will be difficult to grate.
- You can use a grater or food processor to grate the ingredients. A food processor saves time and effort, but a hand grater gives you more control over texture and size.
- Season the salad with salt and pepper to your liking. You can skip them if the mayonnaise or the fish is already salty or spicy enough.
- For the best taste, make the salad the night before to serve the next day.
Nutrition
This nutritional information has been estimated by an online nutrition calculator. It should only be seen as a rough calculation and not a replacement for professional dietary advice.
