Tuna Salad
201 Comments
Updated Sep 17, 2023
This post may contain affiliate links. See my disclosure policy.
Tuna salad is a light and fresh comfort food classic. Made with a few simple ingredients such as canned tuna, mayonnaise, onion and celery, it’s the perfect combination of creamy and crispy. Serve this in a sandwich, wrap it in lettuce, or stuff it in avocado halves for a healthy, throw-together lunch.
You really can’t beat a classic tuna salad. As a kid, this recipe was often packed by my mom for school lunches. And as an adult, I often eat it wrapped in lettuce, sandwiched between gluten-free bread or served alongside my flaxseed crackers. I also love tuna stuffed avocados for a tasty, low carb lunch – it’s the best.
It’s incredibly easy to make with canned tuna and a few pantry staples – hooray for simple recipes! So if you’re ever stuck in a lunch rut, having this basic recipe up your sleeve will definitely come in handy.
Tuna Salad Ingredients
All you need for this recipe are a few essential ingredients.
- Canned Tuna: I prefer wild tuna in cans with water, but any variety works.
- Mayonnaise: This is your creamy binder. You can use store-bought or make mayonnaise at home – it’s easy!
- Celery: For that fresh crunch with every bite.
- Red Onion: Finely diced red onion always provides the perfect savory balance.
- Parsley: A few tablespoons of fresh herbs really make this tuna salad recipe the best.
- Dijon Mustard: 1/2 tablespoon
- Salt and Pepper: to taste
How To Make Tuna Salad
To get started, you’ll need to drain your tuna. After cutting the lid with a can opener, press the lid against the tuna and tilt the can to drain all the liquid out over a sink. Remove the lid and place the tuna in a medium sized bowl.
Then, add the mayonnaise, celery, red onion, parsley, and dijon mustard to the bowl. Use a fork to mix everything together, while breaking up any large pieces of tuna. Season with salt and pepper to taste – and that’s it!
Tuna Salad Variations
Not a fan of mayonnaise or want a bolder flavor? Here’s a few suggestions to add some depth to this recipe.
- Replace mayonnaise with regular or greek yogurt for a lighter, creamier option.
- Use mashed up avocado if you want to exclude the mayonnaise.
- Add broccoli rice and turn it into a broccoli tuna salad.
- Add dried fruits such as raisins, or freshly diced apples.
- Make it extra crunchy by tossing in diced up cucumbers or shredded cabbage.
- Spice it up with some curry powder, other spice mixes, or chopped herbs.
- Squeeze lemon juice as you’re mixing for a brighter flavor.
What Goes With Tuna Salad?
While this recipe is great on its own, there’s so many creative ways to serve it.
- Sandwich: Make it into a sandwich along with a layer of lettuce and tomatoes.
- Wrap: Turn it into a wrap with my cassava flour tortillas.
- Lettuce Wrap: Use butter lettuce leaves for a lighter, low-carb option.
- Stuffed Avocado or Tomato: Stuff it into avocado or tomato halves.
- Dip: Serve it with crackers or chips.
How Long Does Tuna Salad Last?
Tuna salad tastes the best when it’s eaten fresh, but it can be stored in the fridge for 3-4 days. Because this has fish and mayonnaise in it, don’t leave it sitting on the countertop for too long in room temperature.
If you want to freeze this, the answer is yes! Just place the salad in a freezer safe container and store for up to 2 months. Just note that after you’ve thawed it in the fridge, drain out the excess liquid once more. Then, give it a good mix before eating.
More Easy Salad Recipes
- Chicken Salad (best ever!)
- Egg Salad
- Smoked Salmon, Avocado, And Arugula Salad
- Classic Potato Salad
- Lentil Salad With Cucumber
- Broccoli Salad
- Greek Salad
BEST Tuna Salad Recipe – Easy & Healthy
Description
Video
Ingredients
- 2 (5-ounce) cans tuna
- ¼ cup mayonnaise
- 1 stalk of celery, diced
- 2 tablespoons red onion, diced
- 1-2 tablespoons chopped parsley, chives and/or other herbs
- ½ tablespoon Dijon mustard
- salt and pepper, to taste
Instructions
- Drain the liquid from the tuna cans. Then, add the tuna, mayonnaise, diced celery, diced red onion, herbs, Dijon mustard, salt and pepper to a mixing bowl.
- Stir all of the ingredients together until well combined.
- Enjoy the tuna salad plain out of a bowl, wrapped up in lettuce, or in a sandwich.
Lisa’s Tips
- If you’d like a creamier texture you can always add more mayonnaise.
- My favorite tuna is albacore tuna and I always purchase Wild Planet brand.
Nutrition
©Downshiftology. Content and photographs are copyright protected. Sharing of this recipe is both encouraged and appreciated. Copying and/or pasting full recipes to any social media is strictly prohibited.
Perfect proportions, right up my alley! Added a dab of sweet relish. Thanks for the excellent recipe!
Happy you loved it!
I made this last night but didn’t have any parsley. As I started making it, I had a brainwave and decided to use some celery leaves instead. I took the lighter ones from the inner stalks and chopped them fine and added them in. It turned out delicious!
Glad this tuna salad still turned out great Hannah!
I made this recipe as part of your meal prep on a budget and my husband, and I loved it. Thank you for sharing.
Loved it! It was so easy to make, so fresh and you can eat it many ways. I added a little extra Dijon mustard and it was fantastic!
Any recommendations on brands of gluten free bread?
I typically buy Canyon Bakehouse.
I have been looking for healthy recipes that taste good. I’m glad I found this. It’s really good. I can’t help but experiment with recipes, so I added a few hard-boiled eggs in the mix, and since I didn’t have celery on hand, I used dill relish. Thanks for sharing this.
Glad you enjoyed this tuna salad Mark!
perfect served in a gf tortilla wrap with roasted red pepper
Couldn’t agree more!
very nice food tuna salad
Great recipe! I added fresh dill and parsley, a bit of lemon juice, olive oil, extra dried dill, green onion, and a bit of garlic powder and paprika powder. Absolutely divine! I will start making this once a week for lunches.
This is good stuff!! I sometimes add seasoned salt instead of sea/Kosher salt and we love ours as a sandwich with a slice of your favorite cheese lightly toasted in a tabletop sandwich maker. Yum!
How long will they keep In fridge
This will keep for 3 to 4 days in the fridge.
I always add 2 hard boiled eggs, sliced and diced. That’s how my Mom made it and I can’t make it any other way.
Best tuna salad I have ever had. I will be serving it at an upcoming picnic.
I added 1/4 lemon juice as suggested in the video and a few Basil leaves since they were next to my parsley.
Only comment is I mixed all the ingredients other than the tuna. Then flaked up the tuna and incorporated it into the other ingredients. Oh yea, I did add a splash of lemon juice. Ate with boston lettuce leaves which ended up a delicious healthy meal.
My hubby said it tasted fresh and good. I agreed with him. I added no salt and only 1/4 teaspoon black ground pepper and finely diced Serrano pepper. We had the tuna salad with fresh tomatoes and hard boiled egg on the side. It not only tasted good, but it was a colorful plate.
YUM YUM YUM YUM YUM!!!!! The only thing missing was avocado and lime juice, but that was my personal tweak. My son added capers. The base of this recipe is AMAZING!!! Thanks for sharing it with us.
Simple and delicious!!! I used a sweet onion. Red onions give me heartburn 😞 but everything else I followed!! Defiantly a keeper ❤️
Glad you enjoyed this tuna salad recipe Jessica!
Are the nutrition facts for the 4 servings and how much is each serving?
The nutritional information on my website will always be per serving. For this recipe, each serving is between 1/3 or 1/2 cup!
I love tuna salad and tuna casserole!
Recently discovered you on You Tube, and I’m devouring all your videos. Thumbs up for your refreshing approach to food prepping, genius.
Wasn’t to sure what to prepare for lunch this afternoon. I looked in the fridge and pantry and realized I had all the ingredients, so I gave it a try. Placed it on a bed of lettuce. It came together in record time.
It was delicious and filling. The celery was a great additional surprise.
Welcome to the Downshiftology community Michael! Happy to hear you’re loving the recipes so far – especially this tuna salad! Excited to see what you make next :)
Just made this today. Delish!!
Can I use sweet onion if I don’t have red onion?
That’s fine!
Whoa! Awesome, I added some toasted chopped walnuts, mashed avocado, & fresh dill. Great recipe.
thank you. well presented, did I hear gluten free bread? what I need.
Yes! I always use the brand Canyon Bakehouse :)
This was the best tuna salad I’ve had. Thanks for the great recipe!
Add diced apple to this tuna recipe, really takes away the fishie taste.
Hi! Thank you so much for the recipe! It’s so easy to add what fresh herbs you have on hand, and it makes each salad quite different! Nice for variety in the lunches. All I had was coriander/cilantro, and I put it in a corn tortilla, it was fabulous! Thank you!
Absolutely! Glad your tuna salad turned out great Margaret :)
This is a wonderful recipe. I used Lummi Island’s canned Wild Albacore tuna from Washington State. Your recipe is the perfect measurement and content of ingredients to allow this beautiful tuna to be appreciated true to its wonderful flavor and texture.
Happy to hear you loved this tuna salad recipe Larry! :)
This recipe is absolutely great!
Tastes amazing, and it’s well suited for breakfast or lunch. I had it inside of an avocado pit and it was the best breakfast I’ve had in a while.
Thank you for such an easy and tasty recipe!
It truly is a versatile salad! Glad you enjoyed it Victoria :)
Can confirm: BEST tuna salad! So simple, so easy, so delicious.
Glad you enjoyed this tuna salad recipe!
Made this recipe for lunch yesterday and my husband said it was the best tuna salad he’s ever had and I have to agree! 10/10 recommend!!
Amazing! Glad to know both you and your husband enjoyed this tuna salad :)
So yummy! I like to steam the celery to soften it a bit before mixing it in! We love having it on buttery croissants! 😋🥐
I soften the celery because it is a texture preference for me. I still love the fresh flavor the celery gives! 💗
Made this for my family and 5 out of 5 people agreed it was perfect!
And SO easy to make!
Thank you.
This is the perfect pairing with croissants :)
I LOVE this tuna salad. I’ve been making it weekly for about three months! Thanks for sharing :)
Happy to hear you love this tuna salad Virginia! It’s definitely a Spring/Summer staple.
I made this today and I’m already restocking the ingredients because it’s that good. Will be on high rotation.
Wonderful! This is such an easy recipe to keep on hand :)
I made it yesterday and my husband stole the leftovers for lunch today, now I have to go to the store and get stuff to make it again today as well 🤣 definitely going to be a popular one in my house!
This is the best tuna recipe I’ve ever made! The parsley and red onions really make it a standout. I love it and serve it over spring mix to reduce my caloric intake.
So glad you love this recipe Denise!
Is there really only 1g of Carbs? Surely this is a misprint?!
Hi Courtney – There is actually about 1.75g of carbs in this recipe, but the recipe card calculates this to be about 1g.
Lovely! We enjoyed this so much with just a tiny bit of chopped pickle. Not sure about the health balance this way but man alive was it good!
Love the idea of adding chopped pickles to this Nick :)
So good! I thought, hmmm to the Dijon but wow, it’s really tasty!
It really does add delicious taste to this tuna salad!
I use veganize and sweet gerkin pickles diced.
The best tuna salad I’ve had!
So glad you loved this one Dlanie!
Your tuna salad does deserve the name “BEST Tuna Salad Recipe.” The tuna brand recommendation and the lower amount of mayonnaise were on point. In a daring move, I added fresh tarragon :-))
Happy to hear you loved this tuna salad recipe Marian! The tarragon really does make a difference.
What is the serving size?
I was never fun of tuna and in Argentina we usually eat it with rice.
Love the combination of flavors. Now I have a simple and healthy way to eat tuna. Thanks
Glad you loved this one Cuky!
Looks delicious! In your opinion, how long would leftovers last in the fridge? Thanks!
This will last for about 3-4 days in the fridge.
I made the recipe,I used Miracle Whip instead of Mayo.Used green onions instead of red onions. It was still great. Thanks for the recipe.
Glad this recipe was a success Norma! :)
Ok, all these salads are SOOO amazing. They made me actually love eating salads, and excited to make them!!!!!!!
Happy to hear that Bella! ;)
How big is knee serving size? Thanks!
Hi Megan – I would say between 1/3 or 1/2 cup.
By far the best tuna salad recipe! So happy I found it!! I normally don’t make tuna sandwiches often, but I’ve made this 4x in 1 month. It really is delish!! Thank you so much.
Happy to hear you loved this tuna salad Karen! :)
Ur Recipe Is Excellent !!
It Is Almost Identical To The One I Used @ 42nd Street
But We Also Added Some Capers And A Drizzle Of White Wine
Give It A Try…. It Is To Die For Too…..
What’s the point in sharing a recipe when you don’t indicate how much of each ingredient to use…
Hi there – The ingredients and full instructions will always be listed out towards the bottom of the page in the recipe card.
There are millions recepies for tuna salad.
But THIS IS THE BEST one! It is my favourite!
Hi Suzana – I’m thrilled that you love this tuna salad recipe! Sometimes it’s just those little tweaks that make it the best. Enjoy!