Think Canned Tuna Is Boring? These 17 Recipes Will Change Your Mind

Pasta al tonno served inside a dish — Serious Eats / Diana Chistruga

Tuna occupies an odd spot in the American food consciousness. We tend to think of it as either a humble canned good—bone-dry and flavorless unless it's cut heavily with mayo—or a luxury seafood to be consumed mainly in the form of sushi or sashimi at Japanese restaurants. But given the relative ease these days of finding high-quality, oil-packed imported canned tuna, incorporating the pantry-staple version into your cooking is more appealing and easier than ever. (If you're concerned about eating sustainably, and/or mercury contamination, you'll definitely want to do your research before buying any kind of tuna to learn what species are best for you and the planet.)

As delicious as tuna salad is, there are many other exciting ways to cook with the canned fish. To inspire you to get out of a tuna rut, we've assembled a list of 16 recipes where canned tuna is the star, including savory spaghetti puttanesca, a vibrant summer tomato salad, and tuna-stuffed peppers.

July 2019

Causa (Peruvian Cold Mashed Potato Casserole With Tuna or Chicken)

Vicky Wasik

Causa is a cold casserole of sorts: part mashed potato, part potato salad, and part mayonnaise-dressed salad made with a white meat, such as chicken, crab, or tuna. There's nothing fancy about those ingredients, but carefully layering them and garnishing it all with black olives, tomatoes, and avocados makes for a delicious and impressive meal.

Causa (Peruvian Cold Mashed Potato Casserole With Tuna or Chicken)
Labneh Tuna Salad

Serious Eats / Amanda Suarez

In this twist on classic tuna salad, former Serious Eats editor Yasmine uses thick labneh instead of mayonnaise for creaminess and tang, and incorporates plenty of fresh dill for a herbaceous kick.

Labneh Tuna Salad
Summer Tomato Tonnato

Serious Eats / Vicky Wasik

You say tomato, I say tonnato. This simple no-cook dish of sweet, juicy tomatoes and savory Italian tonnato (tuna sauce) is a must during the summer. As former editor Sasha Marx writes in his recipe, the dish "combines the elements of a great tuna sandwich—oil-packed tuna, mayonnaise, and tomatoes—and turns them into a shareable salad."

Summer Tomato Tonnato
Classic Mayo-Dressed Tuna Salad Sandwiches

Serious Eats / Qi Ai

This list wouldn't be complete without a recipe for classic tuna salad sandwiches. Though some of you doubtless have nightmares of mayo-drenched tuna salad on stale bread, this recipe may be enough to bring you back into the fold. It produces a tuna salad that's packed with crunchy bits of celery, tangy quick-pickled red onion, fresh parsley, and—the key ingredient—a tiny bit of fish sauce or minced anchovy for savory depth.

Classic Mayo-Dressed Tuna Salad Sandwiches

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Traditional Provençal Tapenade With Capers, Anchovies, and Tuna

Vicky Wasik

Nowadays, many people tend to think of tapenade as a spread consisting primarily of olives. The original Marseillaise version, however, was much more varied, with equal parts capers, olives, and briny fish. This recipe, incorporating both anchovies and oil-packed tuna as the fish component, is based on that tapenade. The tuna here serves a double purpose, both adding flavor and providing protein that leads to a more stable emulsion.

Traditional Provençal Tapenade With Capers, Anchovies, and Tuna
Ensalada de Tomate con Ventresca de Atún (Spanish-Style Tomato and Ventresca Tuna Salad)

Serious Eats / Sasha Marx

Are you a fan of simple, no-fuss, let-good-ingredients-shine salads? So are we. Grab some good-quality ripe tomatoes, coarse sea salt, olive oil-packed tuna belly, and onions, arrange them on a plate, and you've got yourself a stellar snack or appetizer.

Ensalada de Tomate con Ventresca de Atún (Spanish-Style Tomato and Ventresca Tuna Salad)
Spaghetti Puttanesca (Spaghetti With Capers, Olives, and Anchovies)

Photograph: Melissa Hom

The stories commonly used to explain this dish's risqué name ("pasta in the style of prostitutes") all sound a bit far-fetched to us, but the potent combination of flavors from a sauce of anchovies, garlic, capers, olives, and (often) tuna undoubtedly works. As with all our pasta dishes, we recommend cooking the pasta in a relatively low volume of water, yielding a starchier liquid that can help emulsify the sauce later.

Spaghetti Puttanesca (Spaghetti With Capers, Olives, and Anchovies)
The Un-Composed (i.e., Best) Niçoise Salad

Vicky Wasik

Niçoise salads are often served "composed," meaning that each ingredient is presented separately on the plate, rather than all mixed together. But in our opinion, that's no way to make a salad—those ingredients need to mingle to be at their best. Exactly what goes into a "traditional" Niçoise salad is still up for debate, but ours goes the whole nine yards: hard-boiled eggs, anchovies, capers, potatoes, green beans, olives, tomatoes, and excellent oil-packed tuna.

Get the recipe for The Un-Composed (i.e., Best) Niçoise Salad

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Pan Bagnat (Niçoise Tuna and Tomato Sandwich)

Serious Eats / Jordan Provost

A Niçoise salad, but make it a sandwich. This famed Provençal sandwich is packed with tuna, tomatoes, boiled eggs, plenty of olives and olive oil, and more.

Pan Bagnat (Niçoise Tuna and Tomato Sandwich)
Easy Diner-Style Tuna Melt

Daniel Gritzer

A classic tuna melt may seem basic, but don't mistake that for less delicious. These simple components, when assembled thoughtfully, are absolutely delicious. For variations on this classic, try our recipes for a Jewish deli-style tuna melt and a fully loaded tuna melt.

Easy Diner-Style Tuna Melt
White Bean and Tuna Salad

Sasha Marx

This classic Italian salad marries cooked white beans and oil-packed tuna for a protein-packed, pantry-friendly, light meal that's perfect for warm weather—and for when you don't want to do any cooking.

White Bean and Tuna Salad
Pastel de Atún (Mexican Tuna Cake)

Serious Eats / Amanda Suarez

Pastel de atún is a traditional staple at children’s birthday parties since it’s an affordable option that looks like a cake and can be decorated accordingly. The cake is usually served cold with a side of frijoles puercos (a Sinaloa specialty of refried beans with lard, chorizo, and a little chile).

Pastel de Atún (Mexican Tuna Cake)

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North African Tuna and Rice Salad

Jillian Atkinson

Preserved lemons and tuna transform leftover white rice into the ideal salad meal. Perfect as full meal on its own or as part of a more elaborate spread, this salad is best enjoyed at room temperature.

North African Tuna and Rice Salad
Pasta al Tonno (Pasta With Tomatoes and Tuna)

Serious Eats / Diana Chistruga

With little more than canned tuna and tomato, pasta al tonno is easy, fast, pantry-friendly, and perfect for a weeknight dinner. It's a simple and delicious balancing act between the brightness of tomatoes and the savory depth of canned tuna—think of it as a less briny and divisive cousin to puttanesca.

Pasta al Tonno (Pasta With Tomatoes and Tuna)
Pork Tenderloin Vitello Tonnato (Veal With Tuna Sauce)

Vicky Wasik

Here, we take inspiration from the classic Northern Italian dish of vitello tonnato (veal with tuna sauce) and switch out the mild veal for easier-to-find pork tenderloin. The pork cooks in a low oven and is briefly seared, sliced into very thin medallions, then topped with a creamy sauce of mayo spiked with tuna, anchovies, capers, lemon, and mustard. It's all garnished with a final drizzle of olive oil, a sprinkling of salt, and a heap of green herbs and celery leaves.

Pork Tenderloin Vitello Tonnato (Veal With Tuna Sauce)
Spanish Tuna-Stuffed Piquillo Peppers (Pimientos del Piquillo Rellenos de Atún)

J. Kenji López-Alt

Pimientos del piquillo rellenos de atún translates very roughly to "peppers with some well-dressed tuna shoved inside 'em." As far as we're concerned, that's a very good thing. This 15-minute recipe requires mainly pantry ingredients, so it's even more important than usual that you opt for the highest-quality canned tuna and jarred piquillo peppers you can find.

Spanish Tuna-Stuffed Piquillo Peppers (Pimientos del Piquillo Rellenos de Atún)

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Easy One-Pot, No-Knife, Lighter Tuna Noodle Casserole

J. Kenji López-Alt

More than a few canned-tuna fears likely originated with a truly terrible tuna noodle casserole—overcooked pasta, gloppy sauce, bland tuna, the whole bit. And that's too bad, because when it's done right, there's no reason tuna noodle casserole can't be a delicious, and incredibly easy, weeknight meal. We use crème fraîche as the base for the sauce—a lighter, tangier option than the usual sauce made with cream of mushroom soup. A generous dose of lemon juice further lightens and brightens the dish.

Easy One-Pot, No-Knife, Lighter Tuna Noodle Casserole

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Think Canned Tuna Is Boring? These 17 Recipes Will Change Your Mind

July 2019

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