The Best Tuna Salad

Here's a simple yet tasty tuna salad recipe with low mercury tuna, avocado oil mayonnaise, crunchy pecans, and sweet raisins. This tuna salad will be your new favorite recipe.

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tuna salad recipe

Last week I flew to L.A. to film some collaboration videos, and I made this tuna salad recipe at home and ate it at the airport before my 4 hour flight. The folks over on Instagram wanted the recipe so bad, so here it is! This tuna salad recipe is made with low mercury tuna, top quality ingredients like organic kale and avocado oil mayo, and only takes a few minutes to make.

If you need another lunch recipe, check out roasted chicken salad, it’s very similar to the recipe.

tuna salad
Low mercury tuna salad recipe with kale.

How To Make The Best Tuna Salad

Making epic tuna salad starts with buying the best canned tuna at the grocery store, and that means either getting skipjack or chunk light tuna. Both of these tuna fish are low in mercury because they are smaller, you want to stay away from large tuna like albacore, they are higher in mercury. Add two 5 ounce tins of tuna to a large bowl along with chopped pecans, sliced celery, olives, raisins, and mix well.

You will never find a tuna salad at the store that uses high quality mayonnaise, but my recipe does. Avocado oil mayonnaise is the most heart healthy mayo on the market, just try to buy one without added sugar. Add 5 tablespoons of mayo directly to the tuna along with 1 teaspoon stone ground mustard, lemon juice salt & pepper, and tamari. Tamari is gluten free soy sauce, and just a splash adds a nice bit of umami.

Mix everything well and add the finely chopped lacinato kale at the very end. Make sure to buy organic kale because it’s on the dirty dozen, and look for black/lacinato/dinosaur kale, it’s tender and not so rough as green kale. Check for seasoning, your tuna salad may need a bit more lemon juice or a pinch of salt.

tuna recipe
Tuna salad with kale, raisins, and avocado oil mayo

How Long Will Tuna Salad Last For?

Homemade tuna salad will last for 3-4 days in the fridge in an airtight container. Don’t freeze tuna salad, it will get watery and mushy when you thaw it out. The tuna salad actually gets better after it’s been sitting for a couple hours, or even overnight. When i started eating it at the gate of my southwest flight, it was so much better than 2 hours ago when I made it at home.

Check out my other lunch recipes:

tuna salad recipe

Easy Tuna Salad Recipe

Course: lunch
Cuisine: American
Keyword: tuna, tuna fish, tuna salad
Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cook Time: 5 minutes
Servings: 3 people
Calories: 404 kcal
Author: Bobby Parrish

Start with the best quality tuna and add crunchy, sweet, and tangy ingredients to make the best tuna salad recipe ever.

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Ingredients

  • 10 ounces skipjack or chunk light tuna
  • ¼ cup pecans chopped
  • ¼ cup celery finely sliced
  • 5-7 kalamata olives pitted & chopped
  • 2-3 tablespoons raisins(optional)
  • 2 leaves of lacinato kale(optional) stem removed & finely chopped
  • ¼ cup plus 1 tablespoon avocado oil mayonnaise
  • 1 teaspoon stone ground or Dijon mustard
  • Juice of 1 small lemon
  • ¾ teaspoon tamari soy sauce
  • 1/2 teaspoon toasted sesame oil
  • ¼ teaspoon salt
  • Few cracks of pepper

Instructions

  1. Drain the tuna very well, it’s best to use tuna packed in water for this recipe. Add the tuna to a large bowl along with the pecans, celery, olives, and raisins. Mix well and break up the tuna. Add the remaining ingredients except the kale and mix very well. Check for seasoning, you may need more lemon juice or salt. Add the kale and mix to incorporate. Enjoy!

Recipe Video

Recipe Notes

Tuna will last for 3-4 days in the fridge, but can't be frozen.

 

Macros per serving of tuna, recipe makes 3 servings:

404 calories

6.30 grams net carbs(1.6 grams w/o raisins)

8.6 grams total carbs(3.2 grams w/o raisins)

31 grams of fat

19.5 grams of protein

3.5 grams of fiber

Nutrition Facts
Easy Tuna Salad Recipe
Amount Per Serving (1 portion)
Calories 404 Calories from Fat 279
% Daily Value*
Fat 31g48%
Carbohydrates 8.6g3%
Fiber 3.5g15%
Protein 19.5g39%
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.

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