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Italian Baccala Salad is a simple dish traditionally made every Christmas Eve (La Vigilia di Natale) by many Italian Americans for the Feast of the Seven Fishes, as well as during Fridays in Lent. Tender, flaked salt cod is combined with celery, lupini beans, pickled peppers, garlic, olives, and fresh parsley in a light dressing of extra virgin olive oil, red wine vinegar and lemon juice.
Every Christmas Eve, I look forward to enjoying baccala. While sometimes baccala fritters or baccala stew with potatoes and olives are made, more than not we make this festive, fresh and colorful Italian Baccala Salad, which everyone loves!
This particular salt cod salad recipe (insalata di baccalà) was inspired by my dear friend Concetta’s mom, Tootsie’s, recipe. It’s salty, spicy and savory in all the right ways with incredible textures and colors. It’s also a nice, light dish to include on your menu, whether it be an annual fish and seafood buffet for Christmas Eve or a light, meatless meal on Good Friday.
What is Baccala and What Does It Taste Like?
Baccala is cod fish that’s been cured, or preserved, with salt and dried. Customarily, its skin and bones have been removed before curing and it retains a nice white color. Baccala is different from stoccafisso (a.k.a., stockfish) that has been air-dried whole without any salt.
Salt cod has a long history as a preserved food and dates all the way back to the Roman Empire, if not further. It’s enjoyed all over the world these days, but is especially well-liked in Italy, Spain and Portugal, as well as amongst Italian Americans. It tends to have a stronger and more savory taste (salting enhances fresh cod’s flavor) and is denser and more solid than fresh cod.
In terms of preparation, making any baccala recipe, though easy, requires some planning and foresight as it needs to be rehydrated and desalted through several water changes for about 48 hours or so before cooking to turn it back into juicy filets. (All details in recipe below!)
Italian Baccala Salad
Once the cod has been rehydrated and desalted, it’s then similar to preparing any other fresh fish. Here, it’s lightly boiled with bay leaves and lemon juice, then drained and flaked into bite-sized pieces. The tender, flaked fish is then simply combined with celery, flavorful lupini beans, sweet and hot vinegar peppers, black and green olives, fresh parsley and a touch of garlic then dressing in extra virgin olive oil, red wine vinegar and fresh lemon juice.
But, the beauty of this recipe, like Scungilli Salad (another Christmas Eve favorite) is that you can make it as simple or as complex as you’d like. Feel free to change the proportions of the salad ingredients and use more or less of each as you desire. At a minimum, I suggest celery, parsley and olives in addition to the fresh lemon juice and extra virgin olive oil. Sometimes, I’ll add boiled potatoes, artichoke hearts, fennel and/or capers. Chickpeas are also a great option in place of the lupini beans.
However, including some rustic, crusty bread on the side is a non-negotiable to sop up all the flavorful dressing leftover in the bottom of the bowl!
This Christmas Eve salad and Lenten staple deserves a spot on your table this year. Hope you give it a try!
Main Ingredient Notes
To make this Italian Baccala Salad recipe, we’ll need:
- Baccala (salted cod): The heart of the recipe! Be sure to buy boneless and skinless salt cod and allow yourself a few days to soak it for rehydrating and desalting. Look for salted cod that’s clean and white with a firm texture and avoid any pieces that appear overly dry or are a bit yellow, which generally indicates rancidity.
- Celery: Add freshness, crunch and a crisp texture which complements tender baccala.
- Lupini Beans: These are flat, round, yellow legumes very common in Mediterranean countries and are traditionally eaten as a pickled snack food. They’re actually considered a super bean because they pack a serious nutritional punch. Purchase cooked lupini beans in brine and rinse them under cold water before adding them to the salad. Note: Most lupini beans still have their outer shell intact (as those here did). Most people don’t like the texture of this skin and will tear or pinch off it off before eating. That’s a personal choice. If you’re able to find pre-peeled lupini beans, you can certainly use those in this salad. If you can’t find lupini beans or don’t like them, chickpeas would be an excellent substitution here.
- Pickled Peppers: I love the flavor, brininess and texture that pickled peppers add to this baccala recipe. We use a combination of both sweet and hot pickled peppers in brine here. Pickled cherry, banana, Tennessee, pepperoncini or bell peppers will all work here. The heat of the hot peppers is mostly tempered by all the other ingredients in the salad. But, if you don’t want to use them, you can just leave them out or substitute them with additional sweet peppers.
- Parsley: Use chopped flat-leaf (a.k.a. Italian) parsley for flavor, color and a touch of herby brightness.
- Green and Black Olives: Add brininess, salt and lots of flavor. We use three types of olives in this recipe: green Sicilian Castelvetrano olives (green), black, oil-cured olives and kalamata olives. You can use your favorite olives.
- Garlic: A small amount of raw garlic is used here. As it can easily overpower the salad if too much is used, be judicious. You can also use nutty and mellow roasted garlic or garlic confit cloves instead if you have any on hand.
- Extra-Virgin Olive Oil, Red Wine Vinegar, Lemon Juice: Together these make up the simple dressing for Italian baccala salad. (Lemon juice is also used in the salt cod cooking liquid.) Use a really great, extra virgin olive oil and red wine vinegar in this recipe–it makes all the difference! And, freshly-squeezed lemon juice should be used for best results. I find that the bottled stuff has a strange taste.
How to Make Italian Baccala Salad
This Italian fish salad recipe is so easy to make! Once the baccala has been soaked and rehydrated, it’s just a matter of some light prep and mixing. Here’s how to make it:
- Rehydrate and Desalt the Baccala: First, rinse the baccala well under running water to remove any surface salt. Then, soak it for 2 to 3 days to rehydrate it and pull most of the salt out of it. Immerse the baccala in cold water and refrigerate it, changing the water at least twice daily.
- Once the baccala has finished soaking, rinse it under cold running water and cut it down into large chunks. Then prep and gather the remaining salad ingredients.
- Cook the Baccala: Put a pot of water on to boil with a few bays and some fresh lemon juice. When it comes to a rolling boil, add the baccala. Bring the water back to a light boil/heavy simmer and cook until the cod flakes easily, about 12-15 minutes or so.
- Once it’s ready, pour all into a colander to strain and discard the bay leaves.
- Flake: Transfer the drained, cooked salt cod to a mixing bowl and let it cool. While it’s cooling, carefully flake it using a couple of forks.
- PRO-TIP: I like to keep some pieces larger than other so that the finished salad will have an interesting texture. Don’t shred the baccala into oblivion, but rather gently flake it into small bite sized pieces.
- Mix: When the flaked Italian cod is mostly cooled, carefully fold in all the remaining ingredients EXCEPT the salt and gently mix until well-combined. Taste test, then add salt as needed.
- Rest and Serve: Let the salad sit for about 30 minutes to allow the flavors to develop, give it a stir, then it’s ready to enjoy!
More Recipes for the Feast of the Seven Fishes
If you like this Italian Baccala Salad, here are some of my other favorite recipes for December 24th’s Feast of the Seven Fishes, a wonderful Christmas Eve tradition:
- Fried Smelts
- Scungilli Salad (Italian Conch Salad)
- Stuffed Calamari in Tomato Sauce
- Scungilli Fra Diavolo with Linguine
- Crispy Baked Calamari (No Frying Required!)
- Stoccafisso ~ Baked (Air Dried) Cod, a.k.a., Stockfish
- Linguine with Clams in a Red Sauce
- Mussels Marinara in Red Sauce (Zuppa di Mussels)
- Baked Stuffed Clams Oreganata
- Shrimp Oreganata in White Wine Lemon Butter
- Clams Posillipo in Red Sauce (Zuppa di Clams)
- Spaghetti and Crabs
- Calamari, Potato and Peas
- Calamari Sauce Fra Diavolo with Bucatini
- Spicy Garlic Shrimp
- Spicy Sautéed Calamari (Not Fried)
Frequently Asked Questions
Dried, salted cod is actually not too hard to come by. I found some in the refrigerated case of the seafood department at my local grocery store, but many fishmongers and markets will sell it shelf-stable at room temperature. As it gets closer to Christmas Eve (when demand for it is high), I sometimes see it being sold pre-soaked! Most Italian or Portuguese specialty markets will carry it year-round. I even found it available on Amazon!
Just be sure that it is boneless and skinless when you purchase it.
Look for salted cod that’s clean and white with a firm texture and avoid any pieces that appear excessively dry or thin or are a bit yellow, which generally is a sign of progressing rancidity. Ideally, the fish should have some flexibility. And, while thick baccala filets are best for recipes where they’re braised or served in whole pieces, like Baccala Livornese, that’s not as important for this recipe since the fish meat will be flaked into small pieces for the salad.
Once the baccala has soaked for 2 days or so, check if it is sufficiently desalted by taste-testing a bit of the soaking water. If it seems really salty, change the water again and let it soak a bit more. Keep in mind that you can always add salt to the recipe later, but you cannot fix salty cod once it has been mixed with other ingredients. Be patient and allow yourself enough time for this soaking process.
You can also check the salt cod by pinching a bit of its flesh see if it’s softened.
You can use fresh cod, haddock, halibut, flounder or pollock in this recipe. As all of these fish are fresh, no soaking is required and the recipe will take much less time! Just lightly poach the fish (instead of boiling it) in lemon water, then proceed with the rest of the recipe.
No, they’re different and there’s often confusion between stockfish and salted cod, although they’re often used interchangeably in recipes.
Both are made with cod from Norway, generally. (Stockfish can also be made with haddock or hake.) And both were primary methods for preserving and transporting fish due to the absence of modern technology, such as refrigeration, back in the day. The main difference between these two dried fish is in the preservation and processing method used to extend their storage life.
Stoccafisso is dried without salt on vast, open-air wooden racks until it is sufficiently preserved (usually for four months). It is dry and hard and usually sold as a whole fish containing bones, skin and cartilage. Check out my stoccafisso in tomato sauce recipe.
Baccalà, on the other hand, is codfish that’s been cured by dry-salting it in salted barrels for much less time. Baccalà remains relatively moist and tender and usually sold cut into sections rather than a whole fish. It is skinless, boneless and white and, therefore, more visually appealing. But, as there are no added ingredients in the processing of stoccafisso, it actually has a more delicate flavor than baccalà.
Both need to be soaked before cooking, changing the water several times–stockfish for anywhere from 7-14 days and baccalà for 2 to 3 days. Baccalà generally takes longer to cook than stoccafisso but it will depend on the thickness of the fish.
Cod generally refers to the fresh or frozen fish, whereas baccala is cod that has been cleaned (gutted, deboned and skin removed), preserved in salt and dried.
TOP TIPS FOR ITALIAN BACCALA SALAD
- Baccala: Be sure to buy boneless and skinless salt cod and allow yourself a few days to soak it for rehydrating and desalting. Look for salted cod that’s clean and white with a firm texture and avoid any pieces that appear overly dry or are a bit yellow, which generally indicates rancidity.
- Dressing: Use a really great, extra virgin olive oil in this recipe–it makes all the difference! Also, freshly-squeezed lemon juice should be used for best results. I find that the bottled stuff has a strange taste. For increased lemon flavor, add some lemon zest. Be sure to zest the lemons before juicing them!
- Make in Advance: This salted cod salad recipe gets incrementally better as it sits and all of the flavors marry and marinate. Making it up to one day in advance of serving is a great idea. My only suggestion would be to add the parsley right before serving so that it does not break down. Be sure to store it in an airtight container in the refrigerator and bring it to room temperature for about 30 minutes and stir before serving.
- Recipe Variations: Feel free to change the proportions of the baccala salad ingredients and use more or less of each as you desire. You can make this recipe as simple or as complex as you’d like. At a minimum, I suggest celery, parsley and olives in addition to the fresh lemon juice, extra virgin olive oil and seasonings. But, the other ingredients add so much flavor, texture and color to the recipe (and also result in a larger yield!). Sometimes, I will even add boiled potatoes, artichoke hearts, fennel and/or capers. Chickpeas are also a great option in place of the lupini beans.
- Serving Suggestions: Serve this baccala salad in any number of ways. Make it part of an antipasto platter, an entrée salad over a light bed of mixed greens or arugula (or with a Caesar salad!), with a cup of soup or traditionally as part of the Christmas Eve Feast of the Seven Fishes meal or on any Friday in Lent. You might be surprised at how much you like this dish and want to make it all year long! It’s also a great first course for other Italian dishes like spaghetti aglio e olio, steak pizzaiola or chicken cutlets.
- Leftovers: It’s best to enjoy this salad within 3 days of making it for optimal freshness.
I hope that you are enjoying my Italian food blog and all of my Italian recipes and Italian-American recipes!
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Italian Baccala Salad (Christmas Eve Salt Cod Salad)
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 pound skinless and boneless baccala/dried salt cod fish (1 pound dried weight)
- Juice of 1 lemon, divided (about 4 Tbsp)
- 2-3 bay leaves
- 1 cup small-diced celery (celery hearts are best, if available)
- About 1 cup lupini beans, drained (1 (8-ounce) jar)
- ⅓ cup sweet vinegar peppers in brine (pickled cherry, banana, Tennessee, pepperoncini or bell peppers will work!), cored, seeded and sliced or quartered
- ⅓ cup hot cherry peppers, cored, seeded and sliced or quartered (can use more sweet peppers if you want or leave out the hot peppers)
- ⅓ cup pitted and lightly chopped green Sicilian olives (I used Castelvetrano olives)
- ⅓ cup pitted and lightly chopped kalamata olives
- ⅓ cup pitted and lightly chopped black, oil-cured olives
- ⅓ cup chopped, flat leaf parsley
- 8 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 2 Tbsp red wine vinegar
- 1 tsp minced or grated garlic
- ¼ tsp black pepper
- Pinch crushed red pepper (optional)
- To taste salt (See Notes.)
Instructions
- REHYDRATE & DESALT THE BACCALA: First, rinse the baccala well under running water to remove any surface salt. Then, soak it for 2 to 3 days to rehydrate it and pull most of the salt out of it. Immerse the baccala (can be cut down into smaller pieces) in a large bowlful of cold water to cover by a couple inches, cover and place it in the refrigerator. Ideally, prop it up on something, like a small, upside-down bowl, in the soaking container so the salt, as it dissolves off the fish, sinks to the bottom, and doesn’t remain in contact with the fish. Change the water at least twice daily.1 pound skinless and boneless baccala/dried salt cod fish
- Once the baccala has soaked for 2 days or so, check if it is sufficiently desalted by taste-testing a bit of the soaking water. If it seems really salty, change the water again and let it soak a bit more. Keep in mind that you can always add salt to the recipe later, but you cannot fix salty cod once it has been mixed with other ingredients. Be patient and allow yourself enough time for this soaking process.
- Once the baccala has finished soaking, rinse it under cold running water and cut it down into large chunks.Then prep and gather the remaining salad ingredients.(Please see the section above in the blog post forStep-By-Step instructions with photos.)
- COOK THE BACCALA: Put a pot of water on to boil that’s large enough to hold the baccala. Add 2-3 bay leaves and juice of ½ lemon (about 2 Tbsp) to the pot. Bring the water to a rolling boil, then add the baccala. Bring the water back to a light boil/heavy simmer and cook until the cod flakes easily, about 12-15 minutes or so. (Actual time will vary and depends on the size of the fish pieces.) Once it’s ready, pour all into a colander to strain and discard the bay leaves.
- FLAKE: Transfer the drained, cooked salt cod fish to a mixing bowl and let it cool. While it’s cooling, carefully flake it using a couple of forks. I like to keep some pieces larger than other so that the finished salad will have an interesting texture. Don’t shred the baccala into oblivion, but rather gently flake it into small pieces.
- MIX: Once the flaked baccala is mostly cooled, carefully fold in all the remaining ingredients EXCEPT the salt and gently mix until well-combined. Taste test, then add salt as needed. The amount of salt needed will really depend on if the baccala is still fairly salty. I used ½ teaspoon, fyi.1 cup small-diced celery, About 1 cup lupini beans,, ⅓ cup sweet vinegar peppers in brine, ⅓ cup hot cherry peppers,, ⅓ cup pitted and lightly chopped green Sicilian olives, ⅓ cup pitted and lightly chopped kalamata olives, ⅓ cup pitted and lightly chopped black, oil-cured olives, ⅓ cup chopped, flat leaf parsley, 8 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil, 2 Tbsp red wine vinegar, 1 tsp minced or grated garlic, ¼ tsp black pepper, Pinch crushed red pepper, To taste salt
- REST & SERVE: Let the salad sit for about 1 to 2 hours (ideally) to allow the flavors to develop and meld together, give it a stir, then it’s ready to enjoy! Serve in any number of ways. Make it part of an antipasto platter, an entrée salad over a light bed of mixed greens or arugula, with a cup of soup or traditionally as part of the Christmas Eve Feast of the SevenFishes meal or any Friday in Lent. Buon Appetito!
Notes
- This recipe makes about 6 cups salad. I figured about ¾ cup serving per person but adjust accordingly.
- Total recipe time does not include soaking time, fyi.
- The weight of the salt cod in the ingredient list is the dried weight before rehydrating, fyi.
- Be sure to buy boneless and skinless salt cod and allow yourself a few days to soak it for rehydrating and desalting. Look for salted cod that’s clean and white with a firm texture and avoid any pieces that appear overly dry or are a bit yellow, which generally means oxidation and is not ideal.
- I used Sicilian Castelvetrano olives (green), kalamata and black, oil-cured olives in this recipe. You can use your favorite olives.
- Try to get a combination of both red and green peppers for the best visual effect!
- Purchase cooked lupini beans in brine and rinse them under cold water before adding them to the salad. Note: Most lupini beans still have their outer shell intact (as those here did). Most people don’t like the texture of this skin and will tear or pinch off it off before eating. That’s a personal choice. If you’re able to find pre-peeled lupini beans, you can certainly use those in this salad. If you can’t find lupini beans or don’t like them, chickpeas would be an excellent substitution here.
- Use a really great, extra virgin olive oil in this recipe–it makes all the difference!
- Freshly-squeezed lemon juice should be used for best results. I find that the bottled stuff has a strange taste. For increased lemon flavor, add some lemon zest. Be sure to zest the lemons before juicing them!
- Mix all the ingredients together EXCEPT the salt first, then taste test and add salt as needed. The amount will really depend on if the baccala is still fairly salty.
- Feel free to change the proportions of the baccala salad ingredients and use more or less of each as you desire. In fact, you can make this recipe as simple or as complex as you’d like. At a minimum, I suggest celery, parsley and olives in addition to the fresh lemon juice, extra virgin olive oil and seasonings. But, the other ingredients add so much flavor, texture and color to the recipe (and also result in a larger yield!). Sometimes, I will even add potatoes, artichoke hearts and/or capers. And, while I include a small amount of raw garlic in the recipe, nutty roasted garlic or mild garlic confit would be perfect here!
- This salad gets incrementally better as it sits and all of the flavors marry and marinate. Making it up to one day in advance of serving is a great idea. My only suggestion would be to add the parsley right before serving so that it does not break down. Be sure to store it in an airtight container in the refrigerator and bring it to room temperature for about 30 minutes and stir before serving.
- It’s best to enjoy this salad within 3 days of making it for optimal freshness.
