Tuna Salad with Sauteed Onions
This is not the traditional tuna salad you would normally find at the deli counter. We’ve added so many flavors and textures to our recipe that friends always want to know what the secret is. There is no secret folks! Adding some umami, carmelized onions and some other chopped love truly makes this a one-of-a-kind tuna salad. Finally, we’re sharing the recipe so we can direct everyone over to our blog. So this recipe is for you (and you know who you all are).
Raw Onions vs Sauteed Onions in Tuna Salad
We don’t have a problem with adding raw onions or eating raw onions. Not at all. But years ago we had some extra caramelized onions leftover and instead of adding raw onions, we just added these cooked onions to the tuna. The flavors were outstanding and the rest is history. Majority of our weekly batch of tuna salad is made by cooking the onions to a nice brown caramel. Occasionally we’ll use raw onions if we’re too lazy to cook onions. But our first choice is always to saute the onions.
Tuna Salad Recipe with Soy Sauce
This is our second and not-so-secret ingredient. Adding a splash of soy sauce really takes the umami flavors of tuna salad to another level. There’s so much more flavor now. But you can always use tamari or liquid amino acids or even worcestershire in place of soy sauce.
Video: Tuna Salad with Sauteed Onions
Tuna Salad with Sautéed Onions
Ingredients
- 10 ounces (284 g) tuna drained (preferably a good chunky tuna in olive oil), (usually 2 cans that are 5 oz each)
- 1 Tablespoon (15 ml) olive oil or butter
- 1 medium onion , or 2 shallots chopped
- 1/2 teaspoon (2.5 ml) salt
- 3 Tablespoons (45 ml) mayonnaise , or to personal taste
- 1 stalk celery , diced
- 2 Tablespoons (30 ml) diced pickles or relish (sweet or dill depending on your preference)
- 2 Tablespoons (30 ml) minced fresh dill , or 1 teaspoon dried dill
- 2 Tablespoons (30 ml) minced parsley
- 1 Tablespoon (15 ml) mustard , or more to taste
- fresh cracked black pepper , to taste
- 1 medium lemon , zested
- 2 teaspoons (10 ml) fresh lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon (5 ml) soy sauce
- 1/2 teaspoon (2.5 ml) hot sauce or Sriracha sauce – optional
- 1 jalapeno , sliced – optional
Instructions
- Heat pan on medium-high heat. Add 1 Tablespoon (15ml) of oil and the chopped onions or shallots. Add 1/2 teaspoon (2.5ml) salt.
- Stir and sauté onions until browned and caramelized. Set aside to cool.
- In bowl, combine cooked onions, 3 Tablespoons (45ml) mayonnaise (or to preference), diced celery, 2 Tablespoons (30ml) diced pickles or relish, 2 Tablespoons (30ml) minced dill, 2 Tablespoons (30ml) minced parsley, 1 Tablespoon (15ml) mustard, and black pepper.
- Add drained tuna to bowl and gently break up large chunks if your tuna is nice and flakey.
- Add lemon zest, 2 teaspoons (10ml) lemon juice, and 1 teaspoon (5ml) soy sauce over the tuna. If you’re adding hot sauce or chiles, then add it now over the tuna.
- Gently stir everything together until combined.
- Serve the delicious tuna salad in a sandwich, with crackers or on a salad. We love serving it with raw vegetables.
Nutrition Information per Serving
Some of our favorite canned tunas
Other Tuna Salad Ingredients
Making a batch of tuna salad is a very personal one. Everyone likes something a little different and we have our favorite add-ons. We’ll rotate these ingredients often so each batch is a little different. But we always have cooked onions.
- Fresh chopped dill is always a favorite and we add handfuls of it in. We rarely ever use dried dill because if you can get your hands on fresh dill, why would you want to use dried dill?
- Chopped parsley or cilantro are other great herbs to add different flavors to the tuna.
- Pickles or olives. It’s always nice to have an extra bite of pickled veggie in there.
- Chopped fresh chiles are great! Adding a bit of heat and spice flavor is always delicious.
- Mayo, greek yogurt or ranch dressing. We love adding some mayo to make the tuna salad a little more creamy. And for us, Best Foods or Hellmans is the preferred choice. But when we’re out, we’ve used greek yogurt which gives a very different tangy flavor profile. If you’re not used to greek yogurt, we suggest to stay away. 🙂
- A squeeze of ranch dressing is a quick and easy way to make a tuna salad.
- Sour cream is awesome too.
- Here’s a great article on the fascinating history of tuna fish sandwiches.
How long does this store for?
We usually eat our tuna salad within 3 days. But you can keep it as long as about 4-5 days in the fridge. Don’t store it for too long cause it can get sour and yucky.
