Best Tuna Salad Recipe

Albacore tuna
Celery
Radish
Lemon Zest
Dill weed
Hellmann's

Toasted challah
Cheap head lettuce

Bread & Butter pickles
Fritos

Winter version
Campbell's Tomato (made with water)

I always include radishes, scallions, and a touch of hot sauce

My Better Halfs Favorite:
4 cans of drained can tuna, ½ cup mayo, 2 Tbs sweat relish, 1 small onion minced, 2 boiled eggs finely chopped, no salt, pepper to taste. Refrigerate overnight.

My Favorite:
4 cans of drained can tuna, ½ cup mayo, ½ cup green olives chopped, ½ cup celery chopped, ½ cup small onion minced, 2 boiled eggs finely chopped, no salt, ½ tps paprika. Refrigerate overnight.

Bumblebee Solid White Albacore, drained very well and flaked
Finely chopped onion (vidalia) and celery (leaves too if want)
Blue Plate Mayo--lots of it
Squeeze fresh lemon juice
salt,fresh pepper, Old Bay or Bell's seasoning
Mix well, chill
Serve on toasted rye or toasted onion bagel

This conqeured(sp?) huge pregnancy cravings years ago and is still my favorite way of making it. Hubby likes lots of soy mixed in with flaked tuna, some sweet pickle relish, maybe a little onion and only the littlest bit of may of MW to bind --on toasted bread.

Thanks for all the great ideas I would have never thought of--Fritos or chips on sandwich itself, horseradish, mustard--will have to have some tuna salad for lunch and experiment.

I worked for the Good Earth in the late 70's, early 80's.
The tuna did indeed have slivered almonds but what made it was the chutney...Major Grey's Mango Chutney. It gave the tuna an odd yellow-green color but one bite and you're hooked! No pun intended.

quote:

Originally posted by catosaurus

A number of years ago, a chain of healthfood restaurants in Southern California (Good Earth) made a tuna salad that contained toasted slivered almonds, and was it ever WONDERFUL! I'd never have thought of putting almonds into it, myself, but I've missed that tuna salad since the chain closed down.

...some great new ideas for my old standby - thanks!

a can of solid white, drained
1/3 of a vidalia onion, chopped
3 big spoons hellman's mayo
a LARGE handful of fresh dill

blend until smooth in food processor or blender - refrigerate at least 6 hours...

Chutney--oh now another idea to try, thanks!

I probably never make tuna salad the same way twice. The only item that never changes is the tuna; I get the light tuna in olive oil at Trader Joe's and it is the best, in my opinion. I use the olive oil as part of the dressing for the salad. What goes into the salad depends on whatever is in the pantry or the fridge. I love tuna salad in all shapes and mixes but don't eat it often, therefore, I don't feel guilty in using the oil and anything else that suits my fancy.

Sometimes I eat it as a salad, other times as a sandwich or on crackers. I try to eat fish as often as is recommended to tuna, sardines and salmon are almost always in my pantry.

Donna

Yum what a great thread...
A "Best" seller at a restaurant I use to work at was a tuna sandwich called...
"Tuna Special"
Tuna..Cheddar Cheese & Tomato
Grilled on Rye Bread (though my favorite bread was Sourdough)
*hmmmm...I guess this really isn't a "Tuna Salad"
But, try it...you'll like it!!

My parents swear by their Tuna Salad Recipe, but I'm not much for tuna salad. It includes our "Special Sauce" which is a french dressing/sweet and sour type of sauce. Here is a link to the recipe:
http://www.zeidersconcessions.com/tunasalad

My Tuna Salad is pretty basic:
Canned tuna in water, drained well.
Diced onion
Diced sweet pickles
Diced celery
Enough mayo to make it creamy
Salt
Pepper
Spread it on some soft italian bread
Sprinkle some sliced black olives on top
Slap it together and good to go!
Must have the regular fritos on the side, for some reason I can't eat tuna salad without these!

I've started making tuna and beans lately. It's not a traditional mayo based tuna salad that works for sandwiches, but I find the flavor alot better.

1 Can of good Italiian Light Tuna in Oil
1 Can of Canellini beans
1 shallot
1 dash of white wine vinagar
2 Tablespoons of olive oil
salt and pepper to taste.

tuna
mayo
worcestershire sauce

those are the basics. i then add any of the following:

chopped green olives
chopped water chestnuts (i hate celery, these are a great replacement)
garlic powder
cracked black pepper

I'm a lover of all good mayo based sandwich fillings. A dear, deceased friend made a tuna salad sandwich for me that was exceptional. It used good water packed tuna, fine chopped yellow onion, but instead of celery (which he felt made the sandwich "watery"), he added diced water chestnuts. And a few capers. The water chestnuts don't seem to "weep" the water. And the dash of worcestershire is a must. Oh, and toasted white bread!!!

Just whipped this one up and it was good!

1 can White Albacore Tuna
WASABI SAUCE
Mayo
Fine chop Celery
Celery Seed
Fine Chop Onion
S & P
The Wasabi sauce gave it a nice kick. You could substitute Horseradish as an option.

Awesome thread everyone. I've made several new and improved tuna salad sandwiches using ideals from this thread and all were yummy. On a side note, for me it's gotta be Miracle Whip for tuna salad and I agree that if you don't use canned tuna, it's not tuna salad it's something else.

I have not yet tried the chutney and almond variation, I think that's next.

I'm so glad I did a web search for tuna salad, Miracle Whip and found this thread.

If you like tuna melts, take your favorite tuna salad recipe, remove any crunchy items like celery, toast the bread, add some cheese, wrap sandwich in foil and cook in oven or toaster oven until the cheese is nicely melted.

Some folks don't like hot tuna, I like tuna salad and tuna melts, I guess I'm open minded.

Hi Shoot,

I like tuna melts too, but we still left the celery in them. We'd pile the tuna salad (I would skip the boiled eggs on this version) and plop it on sesame hamburger buns, wrap them in foil and get them hot hot hot burningyourtongue hot.

Yum. I know what I'd like for dinner now.

And I agree, MW is the only way to go for tuna sandwiches/melts.

I just made some tuna salad this morning. I usually let the flavors meld in the frige for several hours before checking it out. I put a fresh cucumber out of the garden, jalapeno out of the garden, bell pepper out of the garden and a fresh onion out of the garden. I also added mayo, relish, fresh ground pepper. I can't wait for around noon when I will check it out.

Paul E. Smith
Knoxville, TN

quote:

Originally posted by olphart

For a different flavor, try adding chopped cilantro!

Here is a favorite party recipe of mine. Add a spoonful of tuna salad to a halved, deseeded jalapeño, then wrap in a thin slice of Baby Swiss. Use a toothpick to hold it together.

As a kid, my dad would add chopped pecans to tuna salad. I liked it, but grew tired of it after a while.

PECANS!! sound great!!!

Would cold tuna noodle salad be a different thread?

so far, everyones recipe sounds great....Bob loves tuna salad so I will trying them all in due time-thanks!

My mom always chopped an apple into the tuna salad along with the usual mayo, onion, chopped egg, salt, pepper. It was great.

I like little pieces of cheese (cheddar, american) in the tuna. red onions. Pimentos, too.

If you don't want hi-cal mayo, try plain yogurt. It is good.Salt and esp. black pepper. On toast.

Try using a fine diced celery root instead of celery.
Always butter the bread with room temp butter.
Use dried onion.
Mayo
Some smashed Capers.
Alot of fresh cracked pepper I like to bite into some pieces.
A little grated lemon peel.
Diced Jalapeno or Habenero
Minced dried pineapple
Let sit in fridge for an hour

Add salt just before serving so it doesnt get too wet.

And for a spin use some chopped seedless red grapes....Russ

My husband makes tuna salad made with white tuna in water, mayonnaise, diced celery, sliced green onion, chopped eggs, diced cheddar cheese and small elbow or shell macaroni. I add dill and/or tarragon. We serve this as a salad with potato chips. I like to scoop the salad up with the potato chips.

Love tuna salad! My Mom would make the "typical" and tried and true recipe of canned tuna, mayo, celery, onion, and boiled egg, but would add a bit of shredded cheddar cheese. It was packed well on hot dog buns, wrapped in foil, and baked til yummy hot. She served this on "card club" night along with a stunning jello and whipped cream dessert to her gal friends. Any leftovers were for my brother and I.

A nice alternate that I love is canned tuna, a few capers, a little mayo, and chopped water chestnuts. Served on toasted rye with lettuce. Mouth watering now.