Years ago, on a family holiday to Nice in the south of France, I remember eating pissaladière at a market just back from the beach. I can’t remember exactly where we bought it, but I remember the food. A bread-like base topped with soft onions, salty anchovies and black olives. It was simple, delicious and exactly the sort of thing you want to eat while wandering around a Mediterranean market.
Pissaladière is a traditional Niçoise speciality, and one of those dishes that makes the most of a handful of good ingredients. The onions are cooked slowly in olive oil until beautifully soft, bringing a gentle sweetness that balances the saltiness of the anchovies and olives. Everything is baked on a homemade bread dough until golden, then cut into slices to enjoy warm or at room temperature.
It’s the kind of food that needs very little else, perhaps just a glass of wine and some good company.
Watch How to Make Pissaladière
If you’d like to see how this traditional French speciality comes together, I’ve filmed the process, from preparing the onions and shaping the dough to arranging the anchovies and olives in their distinctive criss-cross pattern.
Watch my Pissaladière video below, and subscribe to Three Friends Cook on YouTube for more recipes inspired by the food we love.
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- Full of Mediterranean flavour: Sweet, soft onions, salty anchovies and briny black olives are a wonderful combination.
- A traditional French speciality: A lovely way to recreate a little of the food you might find in the markets and bakeries of Nice.
- Perfect for entertaining: Pissaladière can be made ahead and served warm or at room temperature.
- Simple ingredients: There’s nothing complicated about the ingredients, although the onions do need time to cook properly.
What Is Pissaladière?
Pissaladière (pronounced pee-sah-lah-dee-AIR) comes from Nice, on the French Riviera, close to the Italian border. Although it’s sometimes compared to pizza, it’s distinctly Niçoise, with a traditional bread dough base and a topping of slow-cooked onions, anchovies and black olives.
The name comes from pissalat, a traditional local condiment made from salted, fermented fish. While some versions still incorporate pissalat or an anchovy preparation into the onions, the version I’ve made uses whole anchovy fillets arranged across the top in the familiar criss-cross pattern.
Unlike a typical onion tart, there’s no cream, egg or cheese. Just onions, olive oil, anchovies and olives, with a few herbs to gently flavour the onions as they cook.
Ingredients You’ll Need
For the Bread Dough
Bread flour: Gives the base its structure and slightly chewy texture. Unlike puff pastry or shortcrust, traditional pissaladière uses a yeast-based bread dough.
Instant dried yeast: Helps the dough rise before it’s rolled out and topped.
Olive oil: Adds flavour and tenderness to the dough and helps the underside become golden as it bakes.
Water and salt: The remaining essentials for a simple homemade bread dough.
For the Topping
Brown onions: The star of the dish. You’ll need 2 kg, which might seem excessive, but they reduce considerably during cooking. The aim is to soften them slowly rather than deeply caramelise them.
Extra virgin olive oil: Used generously to cook the onions, giving them a beautifully soft, almost confit-like texture.
Garlic, thyme, rosemary and bay leaf: These gently infuse the onions as they cook. The garlic and herbs are removed before assembling the pissaladière, leaving their flavour in the background.
Anchovies: Good-quality anchovy fillets packed in oil are essential. Their salty, savoury flavour is what makes pissaladière so distinctive.
Black olives: Small Niçoise olives are the traditional choice. They have a wonderfully savoury flavour and work beautifully with the anchovies and onions.
The Secret Is in the Onions
The most important part of making a good pissaladière is giving the onions enough time to cook.
Unlike the deeply browned onions you might use for French onion soup, the onions for a traditional pissaladière are cooked gently over low heat. They should become completely soft and collapsed, with their natural sweetness developing without taking on too much colour.
I cooked mine covered for around 45 minutes, then removed the lid and continued cooking for another 15 minutes. This allowed the remaining moisture to evaporate and gave the onions a lovely concentrated flavour without browning them.
It’s worth being patient here. The onions make up most of the topping, so their texture and flavour really do determine the finished dish.
Tips for Making Pissaladière
Shape the dough in the tray: Once the dough has risen, transfer it to a lightly oiled baking tray and use your fingertips to gently press it out towards the edges, keeping the thickness as even as possible. The finished base should be bread-like with a little chew, rather than thin and crisp.
Don’t rush the onions: Keep the heat low and allow plenty of time for them to soften. If they begin to catch on the bottom of the pan, add a small splash of water.
Be careful with salt: The anchovies and olives are already quite salty, so season the onions lightly.
Use a metal baking tray: A lightly oiled metal tray helps the underside of the bread dough cook and develop some colour.
Allow it to cool slightly: Pissaladière is lovely served lukewarm, when the flavours of the onions, anchovies and olives have had a chance to settle together.
What to Serve with Pissaladière
Pissaladière is traditionally enjoyed as a snack, appetiser or light meal. Cut into small squares, it’s wonderful served with drinks before dinner, particularly when you’re entertaining.
For a light lunch, I would serve it with a simple green salad or my Salad Niçoise, another classic from the south of France.
If you enjoy Mediterranean breads, you might also like my Mediterranean Vegetable Focaccia, topped with roasted vegetables, garlic and rosemary.
Storage and Reheating
Pissaladière is best enjoyed on the day it’s made, particularly while the bread base is still fresh.
Leftovers can be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. To reheat, place in a moderate oven until warmed through. This will help refresh the bread base without drying out the topping.
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Final Thoughts
Making this pissaladière brought back memories of that family holiday in Nice, and reminded me why I enjoy recreating dishes I’ve eaten while travelling. Sometimes it’s the simplest food that stays with you.
There’s something particularly satisfying about the combination of soft onions, salty anchovies and black olives on freshly baked bread. Nothing fancy, just good ingredients treated with a little care.
If you’ve ever visited Nice, there’s a good chance you’ve come across pissaladière in a bakery or market. And if you haven’t, this is a lovely way to discover one of the region’s traditional specialities at home.
Traditional Pissaladière Recipe
Equipment
- Large mixing bowl
- Measuring jug and kitchen scales
- Large, wide, heavy-based frying pan or saucepan with lid
- Sharp knife and chopping board
- Wooden spoon
- Large metal baking tray
- Clean tea towel or reusable bowl cover
Ingredients
For the Dough
- 500 g bread flour
- 7 g instant dried yeast
- 10 g fine sea salt
- 300 –320 ml lukewarm water
- 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil plus extra for the tray
For the Onion Topping
- 2 kg brown onions thinly sliced
- 100 ml extra virgin olive oil
- 2 garlic cloves peeled and left whole
- 2 –3 sprigs fresh thyme
- 1 small sprig rosemary
- 1 bay leaf
- Fine sea salt to taste
- Freshly ground black pepper
To Finish
- 10 –12 anchovy fillets in oil drained
- 20 –24 small black olives preferably Niçoise
Instructions
Make the Dough
- Combine the flour, yeast and salt in a large bowl. Add the olive oil and 300 ml lukewarm water and mix to form a soft dough, adding the remaining water if needed.
- Knead for 8–10 minutes until smooth and elastic.
- Place the dough in a lightly oiled bowl, cover and leave in a warm place for approximately 1 hour, or until doubled in size.
Cook the Onions
- Meanwhile, heat the olive oil in a large, wide, heavy-based pan over low heat. Add the sliced onions, whole garlic cloves, thyme, rosemary and bay leaf. Season lightly with salt.
- Cover and cook gently for approximately 45 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the onions have softened and collapsed. Keep the heat low to prevent browning.
- Remove the lid and continue cooking for approximately 15 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the remaining moisture has evaporated and the onions are soft and concentrated.
- Remove and discard the garlic cloves and herbs. Taste and adjust the seasoning cautiously, remembering that the anchovies and olives will add plenty of saltiness.
Assemble the Pissaladière
- Preheat the oven to 190°C fan-forced. Lightly oil a large metal baking tray.
- Transfer the risen dough to the prepared tray. Using your fingertips, gently press the dough out towards the edges, keeping the thickness as even as possible. There is no need for a second rise.
- Spoon the onion mixture over the dough, spreading it evenly almost to the edges.
- Arrange the anchovy fillets in a traditional criss-cross pattern over the onions. Place the black olives between the anchovies.
Bake
- Bake for approximately 30 minutes, or until the edges are golden and the bread base is cooked through.
- Remove from the oven, finish with freshly ground black pepper and allow to cool slightly before cutting into squares or rectangles.
- Serve warm or at room temperature.
Notes
- Onions: Cook gently without deliberately browning them. The additional 15 minutes uncovered helps evaporate moisture and concentrate their flavour.
- Dough: Press evenly into the tray using your fingertips. The finished base will be bread-like and slightly chewy rather than thin and cracker-crisp.
- Anchovies: Use good-quality anchovies packed in oil. Their distinctive salty flavour is essential to the dish.
- Olives: Niçoise olives are ideal, but other small, flavourful black olives will also work.
- Serving: Pissaladière is particularly good warm or at room temperature.
Nutrition
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