Healthy Tuna salad is a great source of protein and energy. Tuna has a distinct taste and is seen a lot in Asian cuisine and countries like Austria and Europe.
People often underestimate the health benefits of tuna. To understand the best healthy tuna salad recipes, let’s first start with some benefits of tuna salad.
1) Benefits of Tuna
Just like any other protein, tuna offers a lot of benefits to your health. Understanding the benefits of a healthy tuna salad can make you enjoy this delicious dish more.
1.1) Helps with Blood Pressure
Omega-3 fatty acids found in tuna can help reduce blood pressure. Tuna has potassium which can lower your blood pressure and boost your health.
1.2) Helps Improve Heart Health
Tuna provides you with a lot of care for your heart. It reduces coronary heart disease and also helps reduce cholesterol. According to a study, women who consume more tuna have a lower risk of coronary issues.
1.3) Can Help with Depression
The omega-3 acids in tuna can help control the symptoms of bipolar depression.
1.4) Can Help in Eye Care
Tuna fish can help prevent eye disorders, especially age-related macular degeneration.
1.5) Can Boost the Immune System
Tuna contains vitamin C, zinc, and manganese. These help increase the body’s defense against chronic diseases.
Tuna salad has a lot of nutrients and is quite low in calories. One 3-ounce canned tuna contains only 73 calories but has 17 grams of protein and 210 milligrams of sodium. While people often believe that the only way to enjoy a good healthy tuna salad is with mayonnaise, that’s not quite right because you can substitute the mayonnaise with mustard or Greek yogurt, and the dish would still taste amazing.
2) Healthy Tuna Salad Recipes
Salads are essential to our cuisine, and when made correctly, they taste amazing. Salads are filled with leafy vegetables and provide you with nutrition, vitamins, and other health benefits.
There are a lot of healthy tuna salad delicious recipes, so let’s uncover them one by one.
2.1) Healthy Tuna Salad with Greek Yogurt
Replacing mayonnaise with Greek yogurt makes this recipe healthier.
People on weight loss diets will always have more tuna because of its protein levels. But you may be consuming more fat along with mayonnaise. This salad recipe is full of flavor, low on calories, and easy to make for lunch. Swapping the mayo with Greek yogurt helps save a lot of calories.
Here are the ingredients you need for this tasty, healthy tuna salad recipe:
- Tuna: Canned tuna with a firm texture
- Celery: Crunchy celery for freshness
- Greek yogurt: Greek yogurt for proteins and probiotics
- Red onions: Red onions for flavor
- Lemon juice: Lemon juice for a zing in the salad
- Dijon mustard: Dijon mustard for some additional spice
- Parsley: Fresh herbs to make the dish refreshing
- Salt and Pepper: Salt and pepper for seasoning.
Here are the steps for the recipe:
- Stir Greek yogurt, lemon juice, salt and pepper, parsley, and Dijon mustard in a bowl.
- Add the tuna, celery, and red onions to the mixing bowl.
- Let the salad cool for some time in the fridge and serve.
Even if you’ve never cooked before, this simple recipe is an easy way to make some lunch.
2.2) Healthy Tuna Salad with Beans
This healthy tuna salad recipe of beans and tomatoes provides a delicious citrusy dish. It is packed with crisp vegetables and crunchy beans and topped with a zesty lemon dressing. Since this recipe doesn’t have mayonnaise, it makes the dish lighter and lets the vegetables steal the floor.
These are the ingredients you’ll need:
- Tuna: Drained Tuna
- Cucumbers: Peels and cut
- Beans: Rinsed beans of your choice
- Bell pepper: Diced
- Tomatoes: Cherry or whole, cut into pieces
- Onion: Red, yellow or white, diced
- Lemon juice: for the zest
- Parsley: Fresh and chopped
- Olive oil: To aid with dressing
- Salt and Pepper: As seasoning.
After the ingredients are sorted, here are the steps to bring this healthy tuna salad into existence:
- Prepare the ingredients by chopping, dicing, and cutting them and the herbs for the salad. Rinse the beans and tuna, and then drain them.
- Place these ingredients in a mixing bowl, and sprinkle lemon juice and olive oil. Mix well.
- Season with salt and pepper, and serve.
2.3) Mediterranean Healthy Tuna Salad
This tuna salad is a light and healthy lunch with incredible flavor and fresh herbs. Mediterranean tuna salad has a lot of flavors, nutrition, and health benefits. It is easy to make in less than 15 minutes.
The main ingredient, albacore tuna, requires no cooking, which makes this recipe even easier. The lemon juice and zest used throughout salad cuisine add more flavor.
Here are the ingredients you’ll need:
- Bell peppers
- Red Onion
- Cucumber
- Black Olives
- Albacore tuna
- Chickpeas
- Garlic
- Parsley
- Lemon
- Salt and pepper
- Olive oil
After getting your ingredients ready, you can move to make the salad in these simple steps:
- Mix red bell pepper, red onion, cucumber, garlic, chickpeas, tuna, black olives, and lemon zest in a mixing bowl.
- After mixing everything, sprinkle some olive oil on it. Add some lemon juice, then sprinkle salt and pepper for seasoning.
- Finally, garnish with parsley and serve.
This tuna salad is fresh and easy to make. After learning to make it once, it can become a part of your lunch rut and provide you with a healthy meal.
2.4) Healthy Tuna Salad with Egg
An easy recipe to make is a healthy tuna salad with egg. Since this dish requires eggs, it’ll take some more time to make, but it is always worth it! You can even make a sandwich or a wrap out of this recipe.
Here are the ingredients you’ll need –
- White tuna
- Light mayonnaise
- Eggs
- Celery
- Pickle relish
- Yellow mustard
After you’ve gotten your ingredients, these are the steps you’ll need to follow:
- First, you need to boil the eggs. After placing the eggs in a pot with cold water, bring the water to boiling for 20 minutes and let the eggs cook. Drain the water and add some more cold water to the pot. Once the eggs are cool, peel and grate or chop them into small pieces.
- In another bowl, add the drained tuna and break it with a fork. Add mayonnaise and mix well.
- Add the grated eggs to the tuna.
- Add celery, pickle relish, and mustard and mix.
- Serve with salt and pepper.
- You can store and eat this salad for up to 3 days.
As mentioned earlier, you can also turn this healthy tuna salad into a sandwich. Here’s how to do that:
- Use 1 sandwich thin. Open the thin and spread tuna on the bottom of each. Top this with one large tomato slice.
Here’s how to make a lettuce wrap with this healthy tuna salad:
- Top each lettuce leaf with 1/4 cup of the salad.
- Top each wrap with a tomato.
2.5) Healthy Tuna Salad with Pasta
A healthy tuna salad recipe can be rich in flavor and nourishment with the right ingredients.
The ingredients for this list are broken into parts. For the salad, we are using the following ingredients:
- Pasta
- Frozen peas
- Chopped carrots
- Chopped celery
- Grape tomatoes
- Tuna
Now, we’re going to use these ingredients for the dressing:
- Greek Yogurt
- Mayonnaise
- Dijon Mustard
- Red Wine Vinegar
- Dijon Mustard
- Dried Dill
- Garlic
- Salt & Pepper
After you have sorted your ingredients, please follow these steps:
- Place the pasta in a pot, and add the frozen peas; drain, rinse, and set aside.
- Combine the carrots, celery, tuna, and tomatoes in a bowl.
- Mix yogurt, vinegar, mustard, garlic, dill, pepper, and salt in another bowl.
- Add the pasta into a tuna bowl, and pour the dressing on top. Stir until the mixture is coated with the dressing.
This tuna salad has peas, carrots, celery, yogurt, and tomatoes. It’s a mixture of minerals, antioxidants, and nutritious calories.
2.6) Healthy Tuna Salad with Avocado
Without using mayonnaise, this healthy tuna salad tastes creamy and fresh, thanks to the avocado used. This healthy salad has simple ingredients:
- Sliced Cucumber
- Oiled, drained, and flaked tuna
- Peeled and sliced avocados
- Red onion
- Cilantro
- Lemon juice
- Virgin olive oil
- Sea salt
- Black pepper
Once you’ve got all the ingredients, you need to work on the recipe in this way:
- Combine cucumber, avocado, red onion, tuna, and cilantro in a large bowl.
- Drizzle salad ingredients with lemon juice, olive oil, salt, and black pepper. Toss to combine and serve.
2.7) Healthy Tuna Salad with Apple
This Apple tuna salad is a great way to mix up the classic tuna salad dish. This great dish uses simple ingredients and is great for showers and luncheons. If you want a change to the traditional tuna salad, mix it with sweet, crunchy apples and enjoy the taste of this great recipe.
These are the ingredients you’ll need:
- Tuna
- Apple
- Mayo
- Celery
- Pecans
- Onions
After getting your ingredients ready, you need to follow these instructions:
- Drain the tuna well, or else the salad will be watery.
- Add the apple, celery, pecans, mayonnaise, and onions and stir them well.
- Serve fresh and cold.
If you want to serve the tuna salad with a twist, try serving it with whole grain bread, a croissant, a bed of lettuce leaves, bagels, or stuffed in an avocado.
2.8) Healthy Tuna Salad with Dill Pickles
Dill Pickle Tuna Salad is a great 5 ingredient lunch recipe that tastes amazing paired with your favorite crackers.
Here are the ingredients you’ll need:
- Albacore tuna
- Mayonnaise
- Minced dill pickles
- Fresh dill
- Green onions.
There’s just one step to this dish: mix the drained tuna with mayonnaise, green onions, minced dill pickles, fresh dill, pepper, and salt. Stir and serve.
2.9) Healthy Tuna Salad with Chicken
This dish is a switch on the classic tuna salad. It has simple ingredients and takes 5 minutes to prepare. People who don’t like to eat tuna and would rather have it mixed with chicken love this dish.
Here are the ingredients you’ll need:
- Chicken breasts
- White tuna
- Mayonnaise
- Honey mustard
- Apricot preserves
- Pickle relish
- Chopped red apple
- Dark raisins
- Pepper
After getting your ingredients ready, please follow these instructions:
- Drain the chicken and tuna, and shred them in a bowl.
- Add the mustard, mayonnaise, pickle relish, and preserves.
- Chop the unpeeled apples.
- Add the apples to the chicken and tuna.
- Mix and season with pepper.
- Refrigerate and serve.
If you want to replace tuna with another protein, why not try egg? Check out this article to learn some easy egg salad recipes: 12 Easy Egg Salad Recipes You Need To Try!
3) Short Quick Variations of Tuna Salad
If you’re a person who enjoys eating tuna but needs recipes that are quick and don’t need a lot of effort, here are a few recipes you can try.
3.1) Tuna Niçoise Salad
This salad uses ahi tuna steak, lettuce, asparagus, tomatoes, capers, olives, and green beans. Decorate the salad with some lemon herb vinaigrette.
3.2) Ahi Tuna Salad with Ginger Dressing
Packed with shaved carrots, red onion, avocado, and grapefruit, this dish is an amazing burst of flavors for your tastebuds. The ginger dressing makes it citrusy and delicious.
3.3) Sweet Potato Niçoise Salad
This salad contains sweet potato, cucumber, and apple cider vinegar. It also has pomegranate seeds.
3.4) Dijon Tuna Salad
This quick and easy recipe with tuna, celery, onion, Dijon mustard, salt and pepper, lemon juice, and greens can satisfy your taste buds.
3.5) Lemon Radish Tuna Salad
Its bell peppers and dill pickles make it excellent for a spring day. The lemons and radishes add some weight to this dish, making it a heavier meal. A common way to eat this salad is to have it stuffed into cucumbers.
4) Healthy Tuna Salad – In Conclusion
People often underestimate the amount of flavor the salad cuisine has to offer. They assume that leafy vegetables and greens won’t be flavorful and will taste bland. But this isn’t true.
Healthy tuna salads are just one of many ways to have a healthy diet. Adding a dash of protein to any salad and topping it with some great salad dressing can also contribute to taste and make healthy eating fun. So, please don’t wait any longer; give one of these salad recipes a try and enjoy the taste and nutrition they offer!
Last Updated on by Shagufta
