This French Tuna Sandwich, or Pan Bagnat, includes a Tuna Nicoise Salad encased in a hearty French baguette. This sandwich takes about 20-minutes to make and keeps well in the fridge when prepared in advance. It's lovely for lunch or tucked into a picnic basket!
Jump to:
- The history of the Pan Bagnat
- What ingredients do you need to make a French Tuna Sandwich?
- What kind of tuna should I use?
- How to make olive tapenade
- What side dishes pair well with French Tuna Sandwiches?
- What tools do I need to make this recipe?
- Looking for more French-inspired recipes?
- Looking for more sandwiches?
- French Tuna Sandwich (Pan Bagnat)
The history of the Pan Bagnat
The Pan Bagnat originated in the Provence region of France in and around Nice. Though it's sometimes spelled 'pain' (meaning bread in French), the original spelling 'pan' is from the Provençal language, Nissart. Translated, pan bagnat means "bathed bread."
The original dish included pain de champagne, a round loaf of sourdough bread, though many modern interpretations of the sandwich favor a baguette. The original dish also favored marinating or soaking the bread in olive oil, though many modern interpretations favor simply brushing the inside of the bread in oil or omitting the oil in favor of adding mayonnaise into the already oil-packed tuna salad.
What ingredients do you need to make a French Tuna Sandwich?
- A French baguette, classic or sourdough
- Tuna, in oil preferred (jarred or canned)
- Anchovies, in oil
- Mayonnaise
- Dijon mustard
- Fresh parsley
- Fresh tarragon
- Fresh chives
- Lemon zest
- Olive tapenade
- Sliced hard-boiled eggs
- Arugula (rocket)
- Optional extras: red onion, tomato, English cucumber, marinated red peppers
What kind of tuna should I use?
Because this sandwich features tuna prominently, I like to splurge on a good jarred tuna in oil -- like this one. You can, of course, use canned tuna if you prefer -- this is my favorite option for canned tuna. You can also use tuna jarred or canned in water rather than oil, but I think oil works best for this tuna salad as it creates a wonderfully rich texture that holds up well in a hearty French baguette.
How to make olive tapenade
Olive tapenade is super easy to make! Everything goes right into your food processor to blitz together in seconds. I prefer to leave my olive tapenade a bit chunky or gravelly in blended texture, but you can process it until smooth and spreadable if preferred.
My favorite olive tapenade recipe includes both green olives (pimento-stuffed Manzanilla or Castelvetrano are my favorites) and dark purple Kalamata olives. I also like to add capers, fresh parsley, lemon zest, garlic-infused olive oil (or fresh garlic + classic olive oil), and a pinch of black pepper and red pepper flakes. Click here to see a short video on the process. (coming soon!)
What side dishes pair well with French Tuna Sandwiches?
The following recipes can all be paired with this sandwich recipe for a fuller meal or picnic:
- Charred Broccolini with Lemon, Pine Nuts, and Parmesan
- Creamy Cucumber Radish Salad
- Creamy Dijon Dill Potato Salad
- Couscous Summer Salad
- Peach, Prosciutto, and Burrata Salad
- Crunchy Greek Salad with Avocado and Feta
- Pasta with Ricotta Zucchini Sauce and Blistered Tomatoes
What tools do I need to make this recipe?
- A food processor
- A cutting board
- A chef's knife
- A bread knife
- A citrus zester
- A kitchen scale (or measuring cups for less precise measurements)
- Measuring spoons
- A medium mixing bowl
- A fork (to mix the tuna salad)
- An egg slicer (optional, but nice to have)
Are you looking to upgrade your cooking tools or replenish your pantry? Check out my kitchen tools shop page and pantry staples shop page to find my must-have kitchen tools, pantry items, and other Whip & Wander favorites.
Looking for more French-inspired recipes?
- Tuna Nicoise Salad (Salade Nicoise)
- French Lentil Soup
- French Chicken Salad
- Pasta with Olive Tapenade
- Classic French Crepes (with a gluten-free option)
- French Hot Chocolate Oatmeal
- Brussels Sprouts au Gratin
- Pumpkin Potatoes au Gratin
Looking for more sandwiches?
- Egg and Olive Tapenade Sandwich (coming soon!)
- Crab Club Sandwich
- Taleggio Grilled Cheese Sandwich with Red Pepper Flakes and Honey
- Thai-Inspired Grilled PBJ Sandwich
French Tuna Sandwich (Pan Bagnat)
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Total Time: 20 minutes
- Yield: 4 servings 1x
- Category: Mains, Sandwiches
- Method: No-Cook
- Cuisine: French
Description
This French Tuna Sandwich, or Pan Bagnat, includes a Tuna Nicoise Salad encased in a hearty French baguette. This sandwich takes about 20-minutes to make and keeps well in the fridge when prepared in advance. It's lovely for lunch or tucked into a picnic basket!
Ingredients
For the olive tapenade:
*You will only need roughly ½ cup of the finished tapenade for this sandwich. See notes below.
- 223 g (about 1 ½ cup) pimento-stuffed green olives (Manzanilla)
- 138 g (about 1 cup) pitted kalamata olives
- 34 g (2 tbsp) non-pareil capers
- 15g (about ¼ cup) flat-leaf Italian parsley
- zest of 1 large lemon (about 1 tbsp)
- 2 tbsp garlic-infused olive oil (may sub 2 tbsp olive oil + 2 minced garlic cloves)
- ¼ tsp red pepper flakes
- ¼ tsp cracked black pepper
For the tuna salad:
- 2 (6.7 oz) jars tuna in oil, drained
- 3 oil-packed anchovy filets, drained and minced (about 9 g)
- 2 tbsp (28 g) mayonnaise
- 1 tbsp (15 g) Dijon mustard
- zest of 1 large lemon (about 1 tbsp)
- 1 rounded tablespoon fresh flat-leaf Italian parsley, finely chopped
- 2 tsp fresh tarragon, finely chopped
- 2 tsp fresh chives, finely chopped
For the remainder of the sandwich:
- 1 baguette, traditional or sourdough, halved lengthwise and again vertically to create 4 pieces of bread
- 1-2 tablespoon Dijon mustard, as desired
- 2 large hard-boiled eggs, peeled and thinly sliced
- 1 oz fresh arugula (rocket)
- Optional additions: sliced red onion, sliced tomato, sliced English cucumber, marinated red peppers
Instructions
For the olive tapenade:
- I like to start by doing a quick safety check on the kalamata olives for remaining pits by slicing each one in half before adding to my food processor. Although I purchase olives that have been labeled pre-pitted, I almost always find one olive in the bunch that still has a pit (no matter what olive bar I buy them from). Though this is an additional step, it's totally worth the extra couple of minutes because you definitely don't want a pit in your lovely tapenade.
- Add all ingredients to your food processor and pulse on your lowest setting until the mixture is chunky and resembles gravel. My machine has three settings low, high, and manual pulse. I like to use the latter so that I am literally just giving the mixture a series of quick pulses like flicking a light switch off and on until it's reached the desired consistency. If you prefer a smoother, spreadable tapenade you can pulse for longer, but I like mine to be quite gravelly.
- Reserve about ½ cup to the side for the sandwich. Store leftover olive tapenade in an airtight container in the refrigerator.
For the tuna salad:
- In a large bowl, combine the tuna, anchovies, mayonnaise, Dijon mustard, parsley, tarragon, chives, and lemon zest. Using a fork, gently toss the ingredients together, breaking the tuna up as you go, until everything is evenly dispersed. Reserve to the side.
For the remainder of the sandwich:
- Begin with all 4 pieces of bread open to their insides. Some people like to create a trough in the bread for extra filling to go into by pulling out much of the soft interior. This is totally optional and I don't generally bother unless I'm adding lots of extra toppings and want to be able to bite into the sandwich easier (see optional ingredients).
- Brush the inside of 2 pieces of bread (2 tops or two bottoms) with Dijon mustard as desired. Layer ¼ cup of olive tapenade on top of the Dijon, spreading it out until evenly distributed. Then top both pieces with the sliced hard-boiled egg.
- On the remaining two "naked" pieces of bread, distribute the tuna salad across until evenly dispersed. Then top with the arugula.
- If you are using any of the optional toppings (red onion, tomato, cucumber, peppers) these can be added at this time.
- Carefully close the sandwiches and press them together firmly. Slice them in half vertically once more to create 4 sandwiches.
- Enjoy immediately, or wrap and refrigerate to enjoy later. I find that if you use a hearty baguette and wrap them well, these sandwiches keep well for 24 hours in the fridge.
Notes
Nutritional information on Whip & Wander is provided as a courtesy and is approximate only. We cannot guarantee the accuracy of the nutritional information given for any recipe on this site.
This olive tapenade recipe will yield roughly 2 ½ cups. You will need about ½ cup for this recipe, depending on your preference, which will leave leftovers. Feel free to reduce this recipe if desired or see this post for some more ideas for using the leftover tapenade. One item of note when reducing: Be sure that your food processor can handle small batches of food before reducing as reducing this recipe too small can make it difficult for some models to blend evenly.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: ¼th of the sandwich
- Calories: 598
- Sodium: 1590 mg
- Fat: 30 g
- Saturated Fat: 5 g
- Carbohydrates: 48 g
- Fiber: 3 g
- Protein: 33 g
- Cholesterol: 136 mg
Keywords: tuna, French, anchovies, olives, olive tapenade, arugula, hard-boiled eggs, sandwich
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