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Tuna Salad Sandwich

Tuna Salad Sandwich

My parents started making tuna fish salad sandwiches this way years ago, and as far as I'm concerned theirs is the best and only way to make a tunafish sandwich.

First it helps to start with high quality canned tuna. If you have leftover cooked tuna steaks, then by all means use them instead of the canned tuna. Trader Joe's has an excellent canned tuna packed in olive oil. Tuna packed in olive oil may be more flavorful than tuna packed in water, but check on the quality. It may be better to use tuna packed in water, drain it, and then add a bit of your own high quality extra virgin olive oil. This requires a bit of experimentation with brands.

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Tuna Salad Sandwich Recipe

Ingredients

  • 1 (6 ounce) can of tuna fish (if packed in water, drain it, and add a teaspoon of good quality olive oil)
  • 1/3 cup of cottage cheese
  • 2 Tablespoons of mayonaise
  • 1/4 purple onion, chopped finely
  • 1 celery stalk, chopped finely
  • 1 Tablespoon of capers
  • Juice of half of a lemon
  • Pinch or two of dill
  • 2 Tbsp minced fresh parsley
  • 1 teaspoon of Dijon mustard
  • (optional - lettuce and sliced tomatoes)
  • Slices of French bread, lightly toasted

Method

Mix all of the ingredients. Serve on toast, either open faced, or in a regular sandwich with lettuce and tomatoes. For a low carb option, serve on sliced lettuce.

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36 Comments

This is one of the best tuna salad recipes I have ever made! It even beats out my other favorite that also has cottage cheese in it. Thank you so much for sharing this - it is now my very favorite!
Teresa

Posted by: TeresaNC on May 15, 2004 6:48 PM

I made this recipe yesterday, and loved it! It really made going low-carb easy. Instead of putting it on a sandwich, I had it on top of a bed of lettuce. Delicious! Thank you for sharing this recipe!

Posted by: Je Ae on June 8, 2004 8:01 PM

Hi! I was wondering how much does this recipe make? I'm having to make a huge bowl for my husband to take to work one day so i was just wondering if how much more i should add! Thanks

Posted by: Deanna on July 13, 2004 9:18 AM

Well I think that your recipe is just great, but Ihave always made a tuna salad with just tuna, mayonnaise, and lettuce and it has tasted delicious on toast.

Posted by: yousef alem on October 19, 2005 2:38 PM

This is very good tuna salad!hence the word salad!
not just a can of tuna mixed with mayo. i liked it very much and sent it to my friends,who also liked it to!

Posted by: karl on November 6, 2005 11:55 AM

This is the BEST tunafish sandwich i have ever had. wow.

Posted by: jason on December 1, 2005 10:50 AM

Yumo! Big time! Tried it, loved it and making it tomorrow for a study group gathering! Thanks

Posted by: Lara on January 26, 2007 2:54 PM

I was looking on the web for new and interesting sandwiches and found thirty or so. This one beats all the others hands down! I substituted pickles for capers and have been making this three or four times a week! Thank you so much,

Posted by: aisling on April 29, 2007 9:15 AM

Hello,
Can anybody please tell me if I need to microwave the tuna or fry it before? Or do I just put the tuna out of the can into the sandwich (because right now its frozen).

I really don't know a thing about cooking so your help would be much appreciated.

Kind Regards,
San

Note from Elise: You use the tuna right out of the can. The tuna is cooked before it is canned, so it is good to go.

Posted by: san on May 6, 2007 5:45 AM

This is abosolutely the tastiest recipe for tuna salad. I made this for my mother-in-law and she was impressed! Our grudge is over!
Thank you!

Posted by: Mabel on July 27, 2007 2:35 PM

Served on toasted French bread, this was a wonderful summer lunch! Tuna had become a tired old sandwich commodity in our house... but your recipe turned that on its head! This sophisticated tuna salad looks pretty and tastes divine. All I had in my pantry was tuna packed in water, so I drained it and added some olive oil to the mix (I'll find any excuse to add olive oil to a recipe). I also got distracted by something shiny and put in all 12oz of tuna, rather than the 6oz called for in the recipe. However, after all was said and done, I think I might repeat this slightly tuna-heavy variation for the sake of the guys in my household. Thank you for yet another fabulous recipe -- everyone in my house loved it!

Posted by: Pam on July 29, 2007 11:12 AM

Marvelous! I'm also on a low-carb diet, and this makes a great salad over a bed of lettuce. The first time I didn't have cottage cheese, so I grated some cheddar, and it was very good that way too. I use the Vital Choice albacore tuna, which is the best one I've found.

Posted by: Torrey on August 7, 2007 9:13 PM

I concur with your father, Elise. I will never eat tuna fish any other way. This is an excellent recipe, quite appealing to the eye as well. For those of you doing weight watchers, it's 10 points for the whole recipe - serves four easily. Thanks for sharing this.

Posted by: Pamela on October 22, 2007 9:03 AM

I've made this recipe multiple times, and it's GREAT. I like it alone (with a salad on the side). Great for low-carbers! I'd never tried the tuna in oil before this, and I'm so glad that I have. :)

Posted by: Amity on January 7, 2008 9:37 AM

I loved this recipe it was very good. I never new you could put cottage chesse or olive oil in tuna. It was great. I only had the 12 ounce tuna and I didn't want to buy any more so I just doubled the recipe the only things I didn't double was the lemon and the mayo I only used 3 tablespoons.

Posted by: marissa walters on January 8, 2008 7:19 PM

This was the tastiest tuna salad I have ever eaten. It was like a gourmet dish. Absolutely easy and yummy

Posted by: cindy on January 10, 2008 9:23 AM

I'm sorry, I have to be the opposing voice here, but this did not appeal to me. I love tuna salad, but this was really nothing all that special. I expected it to be totally different, especially because of the cottage cheese, but it was actually kind of unappealing.

Posted by: Linda Evans on February 9, 2008 6:54 PM

I just made tuna sandwich for the first time following your recipe and it turned out delicious. I added some chopped pickled cucumber, too. Delicious! Thanks for sharing with us!

Posted by: Farida on March 12, 2008 5:05 PM

I have to say I love this recipe! My husband has always claimed to hate tuna and wasn't very excited about trying this recipe out, but I made it anyway. He wound up loving it, and now we make it at least a couple of times a month. Thanks for sharing it!

Posted by: Tammy on April 8, 2008 8:32 AM

I don't have kids, but if I ever do they are going to grow up on a healthy and AMAZING tuna salad thanks to you. Beats the heck out of the old school tuna and regular mayo slapped on some white bread I grew up on! I am so glad I found your site!

Posted by: Christine on April 20, 2008 6:35 PM

This is, hands-down, the best tuna salad I have ever had. I've been making it for about a year now and finally am saying thank you. Thanks for sharing it!

Posted by: LadyJayPee on May 3, 2008 8:58 PM

Great recipe, especially when served on a bed of spinach leaves on toasted French bread! Just for sharing, here's my Cajun grandmother's tuna salad recipe that is almost as good as this one:
canned tuna in water, hard-boiled eggs, mayo, yellow mustard, dijon mustard, celery, carrots, onions, tomato, Tabasco sauce, black pepper, salt, and garlic powder.
Use a grater to keep everything big and crunchy.
Store in fridge for at least one hour before serving on po-boy bread w/added dashes of Tabasco!

Posted by: felice on May 8, 2008 5:41 PM

This one is so deelish!! I made it with leftover chicken as well and it tastes delicious

Posted by: Anonymous on May 23, 2008 10:55 AM

Wow - that was some good tuna!
I recently stopped eating meat and have been trying to experiment with canned tuna (which I once loathed!) Your recipe has converted me.
I used caramelized onions, which added a nice sweetness. Also used chive cottage cheese (Darigold makes it) which is tasty.
Thanks for the recipe!

Posted by: robyn on June 1, 2008 2:20 PM

I was wondering what I can use instead of cottage cheese. Plain yogurt?

If I weren't going to use cottage cheese I would leave it out entirely and just add a enough mayonnaise to taste. ~Elise

Posted by: ana on June 16, 2008 4:49 PM

When I make this tuna salad and always caramelize the onions which gives the salad an extra depth.

Posted by: patricia Gilbert on June 18, 2008 4:36 PM

I've seen your recipe many times but today was the first time I've actually included the cottage cheese. It was surprisingly delicious and the cheese adds a nice saltyness different from the tuna.

Posted by: Noel on July 12, 2008 2:32 PM

I've never seen a tuna salad recipe with cottage cheese in it, sounds weird, but I'm gonna try it anyway! Here's my recipe, my family loves and I just wanted to share...

2 cans tuna in water, drained
3 green onions
2 hard boiled eggs
sweet pickles to taste (I use a lot)
2 ribs celery
cilantro to taste
1 small tomato
salt and pepper to taste
Enough mayo to make it moist

Chop the veggies small and mix with tuna and mayo, serve on toasted whole wheat bread or sourdough, with romaine lettuce. YUMMY!

Posted by: Annalisa on August 26, 2008 4:23 PM

This was really tasty. Didn't have dill and used a whole lemon. Will have to try it proper next time. Thanks for sharing this recipe.

You're very welcome! ~Elise

Posted by: drewtron on November 1, 2008 2:47 PM

We love this tuna salad sandwich. My husband ate 3, it is the best.

Posted by: Anonymous on December 14, 2008 12:46 AM

Looks Good!
Too bad I don't have any capers or dill on hand,

Here's my more "traditional" tuna salad recipe
1 can tuna drained
1 teaspoon dehydrated onion
1 stalk celery finely chopped
1 teaspoon sweet relish
1 teaspoon yellow mustard
2 heaping tablespoons mayo or miracle whip
a shake of pepper

the flavor is not too "busy"
and I do use less mayo than is called for in alot of other tuna salad recipes
as I enjoy tuna salad that way. You may want to add more mayo if you
like tuna salad to have a more creamy consistancy.

Posted by: Marlin Stoebner on January 26, 2009 1:47 PM

Just finished making this. I love it! It's excellent! Again, thanks for sharing all your recipes with all of us.

Posted by: Susan on February 1, 2009 11:33 AM

I just want to say that this is ABSOLUTELY delicious! I have been making it for months now, and brought it to work one day and everyone there loves it too. I have given the recipe to at least 10 people, who also now make it regularly. I never change the recipe because it is so completely perfect the way it is, however, I accidentally bought a bag of meyer lemons the other day instead of regular, that was the ONLY difference in your recipe, and I can not BELIEVE how it changed the taste. It made it almost sweet. It was so good that I am now not sure which way I like best. Since meyers are around right now, I suggest that anyone who eats this regularly try it, soooo good! But if you are a first-timer, I would say try it with regular lemons first, just to see how it really is.

Oh, another thing, I have a boss who doesn't like tuna, and hasn't eaten it since he was a child, but when I brought this to work and everyone was just raving over it, he was starving that day and decided to eat a little. He absolutely loved it, and couldn't even believe he loved it. Now, he has a saying that he uses, whenever employees are afraid to do something new, he'll say, "come on, I gave tuna a chance, and I've never looked back"~~funny!

Meyer lemon is a great idea with this, they tend to be sweeter than regular lemons. Good going on your boss! Don't you just love it when just one bite of something can transform someone's life for the better forever? ~Elise

Posted by: Leslie on March 21, 2009 8:52 AM

Wow, wow, wow, this is the best best tuna sandwich ever. I can't believe how delicious and tasty this recipe is, it has a gorumet flavor. I made it with all the ingredients recommended, with the exception of the mayo (I keep an eye on my calories) but even without the mayo, it was absolutely good!! will be making it from now on!!
Thank you very much for sharing your family recipe!

Posted by: Abigail on March 23, 2009 1:23 PM

I always have canned tuna in the pantry, not yesterday. I had to resort to using a piece of left over grilled tuna (o poor me)with a little olive oil. After flaking the tuna I followed the recipe exactly. I may never use canned tuna again. This is a great!

Posted by: B.Swetnam on April 3, 2009 8:14 AM

Just tried your recipe, Elise. Delicious! I added some lime, too. Thanks, it's just what I was looking/tasting for. :)
Chad

Posted by: Chad on April 20, 2009 12:33 PM

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