Canned Tuna Shines in These 16 Recipes

16 recipes to take canned tuna out of the sad-lunch realm and into your roster of exciting dinner possibilities.

Updated September 18, 2023

Tuna salad sandwich served on a plate — Serious Eats / Qi Ai

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 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.)

To inspire you to get tuna out of the sad-lunch realm and into your roster of exciting dinner possibilities, we've assembled a list of 12 canned tuna recipes, from a deliciously salty, savory spaghetti puttanesca to deviled eggs with confit tuna and tomato.

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 not a thing fancy about those ingredients, yet carefully layering them and applying colorful garnishes creates a surprisingly attractive display.
Get the recipe for Causa (Peruvian Cold Mashed Potato Casserole With Tuna or Chicken)
Traditional Provençal Tapenade With Capers, Anchovies, and Tuna
Vicky Wasik
Nowadays, we tend to think of tapenade as a spread consisting primarily of olives, but the original Marseillaise version 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.
Get the recipe for Traditional Provençal Tapenade With Capers, Anchovies, and Tuna
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 greater depth of savory flavor.
Get the recipe for Classic Mayo-Dressed Tuna Salad Sandwiches
Mayo-Free Mediterranean Tuna Salad Sandwiches
Vicky Wasik
Not a fan of mayonnaise? In this mayo-free variation, tuna salad gets plenty of moisture and Mediterranean flavors from olive oil, briny capers and olives, fennel, celery, and a squeeze of lemon juice. You'll want the best-quality oil-packed tuna you can find—preferably ventresca, which is cut from the belly—for this recipe.
Get the recipe for Mayo-Free Mediterranean Tuna Salad Sandwiches
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Galician Empanada With Tuna, Onion, and Green Bell Pepper Filling
Vicky Wasik
Unlike the individually formed hand pies of Latin America, the Galician empanada is a single large, baked pie, with a thin wheat crust, sliced into squares for serving. The filling is a tasty mix of onions, green peppers, and a protein of some sort—often tuna, bonito, chicken, or even octopus. We like to use oil-packed tuna here, which adds both saltiness and a lovely richness.
Get the recipe for Galician Empanada With Tuna, Onion, and Green Bell Pepper Filling
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.
Get the recipe for 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
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
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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)
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)
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Pork Tenderloin Vitello Tonnato (Veal With Tuna Sauce)
Vicky Wasik
Here, we take inspiration from the classic Northern Italian dish of vitello tonnato, or veal with tuna sauce—a concept that sounds crazy to the uninitiated, but is genuinely delicious—switching out the mild veal for easier-to-find pork tenderloin. The pork gets cooked in a low oven and 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.
Get the recipe for 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.
Get the recipe for Spanish Tuna-Stuffed Piquillo Peppers (Pimientos del Piquillo Rellenos de Atún)
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.
Get the recipe for Easy One-Pot, No-Knife, Lighter Tuna Noodle Casserole
Deviled Eggs With Confit Tuna, Olives, Tomato, and Olive Oil
J. Kenji López-Alt
Deviled eggs aren't considered sophisticated fare, but they sure taste good—and, since the filling can be mixed or topped with pretty much any ingredient you want, they're very easy to turn into something special. Here, we combine the cooked yolks with good jarred tuna, fresh parsley, black olives, tomato, mustard, lemon juice, and vinegar, for a creamy filling that's both bright and salty. Be sure to follow our tips for making easily peelable hard-boiled eggs, and, when you've polished off the last of these, check out our whole collection of deviled egg variations.
Get the recipe for Deviled Eggs With Confit Tuna, Olives, Tomato, and Olive Oil

Canned Tuna Shines in These 16 Recipes

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